Nicodemus:
Week 11 Double-header #2: Dreadquake Mortar
Welcome to the eleventh chapter in the Daemonsmith’s Handbook! Please post your tips and tactics for the Dreadquake Mortar here.
Some suggested topics for discussion:
- Deployment
- Tactics
- Upgrade options (i.e. is the Slave Ogre a “must-have”?)
- Usability and effectiveness vs. other choices for the army.
Samanos:
to be honest i havent used it enough to have a satisfying impression from it but this is what i have so far…
Some points i have made:
- always get the ogre. we want that thing to shoot, and dice can often be treacherous.
- its got 72’’ range. as far as i know there are not many machines (if any) with such a huge range. we can use this to our advantage to place it somewhere outside the range of enemy machinery while we target theirs thanks to our superior range (i still dont think its safe against cannons but anyway… nobody is safe against that…)
- always keep the demonsmith nearby. the fact that it blows up in 1-3 makes it very risky in a misfire and if it goes you just lost 215 pts…
-the fact that it has s5 and armour piercing makes it good against high armour targets especially if you count the fact that it causes DT in the unit if they move.
Da Crusha:
Performance
This warmachine is a very useful stone thrower variant. it has armour piercing and S5 making it the most armour penetrating stone thrower in the game. the Quake! ability causes a dangerous terrain test for every model in the unit if they move, meaning that 16.67% of models affected will take a wound. this can be very effective against hordes or ranked infantry. it can also prevent such units from wishing to move, allowing you to pummel them with more spells or magic or outmaneuver their troops. the effectiveness of the quake diminishes with larger models though. larger models such as a lone dragon or a unit of ogres will likely continue moving since they will less likely suffer casualties. for example a unit 6 ogres, about 180 Points, will only take 6 Dangerous terrain tests and will likely only receive one wound while a unit of 90 skaven slaves, also worth 180 points will have to take 90 dangerous terrain tests and will likely take 14 wounds. failing a dangerous terrain test for a war machine can be devastating since they count as chariots for this test and would instead receive D6 wounds.
The Dreadquake can combo with a few different things in the army. combined with Lore of Fire’s flaming sword of Rhuin it can automatically cause wounds on Toughness 3 models. possibly killing 21 models in a single shot. if you really don’t want a unit to move you can also combine it with Lore of fire’s fulminating flame cage meaning if the unit decides to move it would have to take a dangerous terrain test and a S4 hit to every model in the unit. Lore of shadow’s Melkoth’s mystifying miasma can be used to slow your opponent also adding insult to injury. and our very own Lore of Hashut’s Ashstorm can also be used to slow the enemy (Im not sure if a unit would be forced to take 2 dangerous terrain tests in this case). I have attempted a few lists which rely on slowing the enemy with the dreadquake and spells while pummeling the army with artillery. there is potential.
Upgrades
The warmachine is slow to reload and and taking an ogre is a must! the ogre is a great choice to bring anyway. giving more wounds to the unit and better defense against war machine hunters.
the warmachine is also extremely volatile and having a deamonsmith nearby is also a must. it is crucial to avoid its misfire as it has the worst misfire chart in the game exploding on a roll of 1, 2 or 3!
I don’t believe the Hellbound upgrade is necessary but this is upto personal choice. It would be most effective against treemen, treekin, dryads, K’daai, and ethereal units from the Vampire counts army. against most other troops it is not necessary. The +1 Toughness and +1 Wound will not come into much effect as the profile for the Wound characteristic on the warmachine is not used and the most common units attacking the warmachine from afar (bow fire, fireballs, etc…) will wound it 6s anyhow.
Wound allocation
When receiving wounds on the unit, wound allocation is not covered by the rules or the FAQ. As a result it is often seen as a problem when bringing an ogre. I believe this should be resolved by following the way wounds are allocated in the main rulebook. While receiving wounds during shooting I believe the wounds should be randomized between the crew. While receiving wounds in close combat I believe the attacking unit should be able to decide who to attack specifically.
Effectiveness vs other Choices
Unfortunately I believe the Dreadquake is inferior to the current Hellcannon and cost a similar amount of points. This could change soon though, since the Warriors of Chaos army may get a new book. While the damage output of the 2 units are comparable in shooting, they are not comparable in close combat. the Hellcannon is an unbreakable monster and is capable of charging to defend a flank. the Hellcannon can be very effective unit in close combat. In my opinion this makes the Hellcannon a hands down better choice.
Grimbold Blackhammer:
I believe the FAQ regarding wounding on a 1+ being an automatic wound is gone. I don’t believe casting Flaming Sword of Rhuin works that way anymore.
Grimbold Blackhammer
Da Crusha:
I believe the FAQ regarding wounding on a 1+ being an automatic wound is gone. I don't believe casting Flaming Sword of Rhuin works that way anymore.I don't recall an faq addressing it actually. in the main rulebook there is nothing preventing it. nothing saying "a roll of a 1 always fails when rolling to wound" or anything like that.
Grimbold Blackhammer
Grimbold Blackhammer
Grimbold Blackhammer:
Hmm, a quick scan of the To Wound rules under both shooting and close combat don’t mention it yet I’m sure it’s there buried under something. I’ll let you know if I can find it but in the mean time, I cede the point. Carry on!!
Grimbold Blackhammer
Lava Lord:
I haven’t seen any mention of alternate warmachines to use as the LOA drake. I feel the older earthshaker is the same in function. It has some up grades that are fitting well and can be used as such. Are there any other pieces that could work?
Such as the Magma Cannon has the Russian alternative, which is great.
Singleton Mosby:
Such as the Magma Cannon has the Russian alternative, which is great.The Russian alternative?
Lava Lord
Grimbold Blackhammer:
LOA drake? And there were different grades of earthshakers? Lava Lord has confused me.
Grimbold Blackhammer
Bolg:
I must say, I havent used one in my army yet, but I faced one on the battlefield. It was very good in killing my horde of Savage Orcs. and as the S5 is armour piercing so it is way better at killing knights than the Magma Cannon or the Hellcannon.
And then you have the Quacke! effect, and its awesome, it really makes you think about moving the unit. OK only about one in 6 models will die, but that is without save so its even better at killing Knights.
Yes its not as good in combat as Hellcannon But the Ogre (who is mandatory) does make it cause fear and can still take on most fast cave units. (And if i’m not mistaken gives it 6 wounds so one more than the Hellcannon make it demonic and it has 7, so it cannot be insta killed by a cannonball or other direct hit)
I am so going to build one for my army (:
Geist:
Right so what is LavaLord talking about with the Russian version?
Yes I very much agree that forgeworld needs to put out an FAQ on how wounds are done on it. The orge makes it hard to understand vs shooting. Hand to hand I agree to start using the who do you want to attack rule.
Lastly bare in mind there are 2 banners out there that I know of that make the quake rule useless.
Strider banner that treats all terrain as open. High elf banner that does the same thing.
So when you see a unit thats not caring about terrain, dont expect your mortar to do much against them.
MadHatter:
We are in a dispute here, does all the wounds from a Dreadquake hit cause multiple wounds d6 or just the strength 10 one?
MadHatter:
Why shouldn't all cause d6 wounds?I read the ruling as all hits cause d6 wounds, my friend is comparing it to the hellcannon and other stonethrowers, however those specify it's only the center that cause multiple wounds. However the wording for dreadquake doesn't so all hits should cause d6 wounds, as I read it atleast.
Herby
Dînadan:
I’m fairly sure it applies to all hits as, unlike other stone throwers, it doesn’t specify that only the higher strength hit does multiple wounds.
Admiral:
It applies to all hits. That’s one reason why the Dreadquake has Slow Reload and costs a lot of points for balancing measures.
Bloodbeard:
No. The Tamurkhan FAQ clearly states the d6 multible wounds only counts on the model directly under the small hole. Just like any other stone thrower.
Slow to reload and reason has nothing to do with it. It’s LoA rules also known as ‘written without logic!’.
Dînadan:
I stand corrected 
MadHatter:
No. The Tamurkhan FAQ clearly states the d6 multible wounds only counts on the model directly under the small hole. Just like any other stone thrower.Thank you sir :hat off
Slow to reload and reason has nothing to do with it. It's LoA rules also known as 'written without logic!'.
Bloodbeard
Admiral:
That FAQ. 
Thanks for straightening it out.
Malorndk:
And to be clear: Even without the Tamurkhan FAQ, It still wouldn’t have made D6 wounds on every hit. Most stonethrower profiles (Including the one in the Basic Rule Book) show a Multiple Wound (D6) under the special rules,but the rules before clearly states that it only applies directly under the hole.
In the past weeks we have had a lot of rule discussions, where the answer is right there in the rule book, an army book or the Nagash book. It makes our rule discussions a lot less reliable and understandable when we assume things and don’t check our facts before posting. It might just be me, but I always have Tamurkhan and the FAQ saved on my computer so I can check the actual wordings of things.