It is not as powerful as the conventional stone throwers, delivering lowly str 3. However, there are good reasons why you should love this device :-
- They can move and fire (unlike other 'stone throwers'), have a move of 6 inches and also act like chariots - including impact hits (!)
- They have a good defence against (non-monster level flyers) and can look after themselves
- The scraplauncher has the killing blow special rule (no armour or regeneration saves, although ward saves can be taken)
- The scrap launcher uses the large (5 inch) template, not the usual 3" template.
- They cause fear, which might occasionally deter a flyer attack and could be handy when charging.
So do you like the sound of this war machine ? I certainly do !
The down side is the strength 3 hit, only 1 wound and normal armour saves apply.
It's move rate makes it more flexible than usual stone throwers. It can be moved out of (or into trouble) and used offensively in later stages of the game. It is powerful enough to protect itself (3 str 5, Ws 3 attacks from the Rhinox and 6 str 2, Ws 2 attacks from the Gnoblars). Not brilliant but good enough against some fast cavalry, skirmishers and flying mounts (not monsters) usually used to target stone throwers. And last but not leats, don't forget that the scrap launcher also has chariot impact hits !
Because it uses the large 5 inch target template a direct hit will fully cover 20 models in a 4x5 rank and file formation. The scraplauncher will hit 50% of other models partially covered by the template (which could mean about another 10 models)
So, at 165 points I have noted the Gnoblar Scraplauncher as a 'must have' special unit choice (especially because I would not recommend one of the other special units - we'll come back to that in a later post).
