RiTides:
Nice discussion, I’ll be trying out both 
I was personally disappointed with the hellcannon when I used it with WoC. I never used the lore of death “doom and darkness” trick with it, though (I was usually fielding lore of tzeentch).
Imo, that’s pretty situational… but definitely good for me to keep in mind! I cannot remember if the hellcannon can use the daemonsmith’s ability, I think the FAQ said yes… because with WoC I was always missing with it whenever it shot! And could never decide whether to shoot or move it forward to get into combat… with dwarfs sitting still for a bit, that question is more easily answered (i.e., Definitely shoot at the beginning of the game, at least!).