[NetEpic ML] Gargants and their Balls

From: Kelvin <kx.henderson_at_...>
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 09:15:04 +1100

>Great Gargants have the Gut Buster which is not only great aginst infantry
>but it is also the best anti-titan weapon in the game. It is easily better
>than the Squat Cyclops main gun. If it hits it is assured of knocking down
>all shields and will practically auto-penetrate the leg armor, which on an
>Imperial or Eldar titan means death since the Void Shields are gone or on
>the Eldar due to lack of motion the Holo-fields won't be useful.

Which is why at our local club we introduced a house rule for dealing with
the Ball round. It only knocks Void/Power Fields down if it loses 1cm for
each field of its rolling distance. Thus, if the Ork player rolls low for
the roll, it may not get through all the shields (but usually does). If it
does knock down all the shields, then it won't travel as far.

I have a proposal for changing the way the Ball round works which kind of
incorporates the rules from AT and from 2nd Ed Epic:

When a Gut Buster Kannon fires a Ball round, the Ork player nominates a
landing point for the shot and rolls for scatter as for an indirect
barrage. Once the true landing point is determined, the Ork player rolls a
further 3D6 to see how far the ball rolls and moves the ball template the
number indicated on the 3D6 in cm in a straight line away from the Gargant.

If the template touches any solid object (such as a building, tank,
fortification, Praetorian or Titan) roll a D6 (starting with the first
target touched, naturally). On a 1 the ball simply bounces off the target
and keeps travelling while the target makes an unmodified save (to
represent the dangers of being hit by a large, rolling object). On a roll
of 2+, the Ball detonates. Replace the ball template with a standard
barrage template. Any target caught under the new template will be hit on
a 3+ with a -2 save modifier. Infantry will not detonate the ball but will
get their unmodified save to represent them getting out of the way. A Ball
that rolls into a forest, swamp or other soft cover will detonate on a 4+.

Ball rounds will travel through active Void Shields and Power Fields
unhindered without knocking them down (it travels too slowly to affect
them). A Ball that detonates on a Titan or Praetorian INSIDE its active
shields can cause some serious trouble as the shields will contain the
blast. When a Ball detonates inside a Titan/Praetorian's Shields, don't
replace the Ball template as the Titan will be the only target affected.
The Titan/Praetorian will be automatically hit D6 (D3?) times with the hit
locations determined randomly. Locations get their saves at -2.
Unshielded Titans are affects as per the normal rules (i.e.- place barrage
template, hit on a 3+ with -2 save).

A little complex sounding, but really quite simple in application. How's
that sound to everyone?


-Kelvin....

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         "Of course I'm paranoid!
       Everyone's trying to kill me."
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Received on Tue Dec 07 1999 - 22:15:04 UTC