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Written by: Carnifexus

Screaming Skull Catapult
The Ultimate Weapon in Destructive Synergy

What to Target
Skulls of the Foe
Magic
Defending It, What to look out for!
Deployment
Role – First Turns
Role – Mid Game
Role – Endgame
How to Shoot!
Army Specific Tactics

The best all round Rare choice we have. While most other choices excel against some opponents the Screaming Skull Catapult or SSC (as we will call it from here onwards) is versatile enough to use against all armies. What makes the SSC even more potent is its integration (Synergy) with the rest of the army in particular the TK magic phase! In an all-comers list you will often find this as the only rare choice taken owing to its effectiveness against all armies.

What to Target?

The SSC excels at taking out anything in large blocks! With its automatic Panic test it can throw battle plans into disarray and because it does d6 wounds it can act for us as a monster killer.

Elite Infantry/Cavalry (Iron Breakers, Chaos Warriors, Grail Knights)
Perhaps the best target, owing to stone throwers allowing no armor saves. SSC’s are particularly good at whittling down a “Hammer” unit reducing their effectiveness. As said above best when used against large blocks as it allows for more casualties

Low Leadership Infantry (Goblins & Orcs, Any Beasts, Empire & Skaven)
With the automatic panic test you can glance one of these units and still take them out of the game for two turns, perhaps even cause them to run off the board. This can often remove units that were the Anvil (provides the static CR) to a battle.

Heavy Hitting Monsters/Monster Mounted Champions
The TK army struggles to deal with large powerful flying monsters, this is not a perfect solution, however it is perhaps the best a TK army can come up with. Combined with magic you should be able to get 2 shots a turn per catapult to try and land a skull on said monsters skull. Causing d6 wounds even dragons sit up and take notice. Particularly good against daemons as it removes their ward saves as will as flammable targets like treemen. Note: this strategy won’t work every time but is still the best we have, other options include running 20 skeles into it to stick the monster in the mud

What not to Target:

There are still times that you will want to target units in this list, it happens if you don’t deploy correctly or the list you’re fighting against has you stretched. There may even be times where you need to target these units to break the game. This is not so much a list of who not to as to who you are less likely to be as effective against.

Immune to Psychology units(Frenzied, Immune to Psychology, Unbreakable)
As above not necessarily don’t target them, but be aware that one of the SSC’s main value adding features the auto panic test is removed from play. It can still be done to great effect, like up against Vampire Counts where you have no choice. Just be aware that you will take out more points and more than likely cause more headaches for your opponent by targeting breakable units.

Small units (Cavalry Lines, Single Targets, Skirmished Units, Other War machines)
I added Skirmished units in here because the gist of the argument is that unless the units are tightly formed up the amount of kills you get will be rather small. Again still useful if you need to force a panic check or just whittle down those chosen chaos knights but your chance of success drops owing to your shot scattering 66% of the time.
Note: You may have noticed in the above section single Monster Mounts, I Included this in the above section because Characters on Monster Mounts are generally worth throwing the shots at because of the points they are worth and because we don’t have much else to combat them with.

Skulls of the Foe

Generally there aren’t too many armies where this isn’t a great idea for only twenty points it can provide you with a devastating effect. Having said that, armies which are leadership 9 or 10, you might find that the 20 points needs to be spent on a command for the skeleton unit etc., rather than for skulls of the foe. The chances of Skulls of the Foe causing them to flee are much lessened at higher Leadership.

Note: If you fight against a foe who uses a lot of immune to psychology, Frenzied or Unbreakable Troops. Do not waste the points.

Definitely Take:
Ogres
Skaven
Empire
Brettonia
Beasts

Maybe Take:
Dwarves
Elves
Lizards

Don’t Take:
Vampire Counts
Tomb Kings

Magic.

Perhaps the reason why the SSC is so valuable is the place it holds in the magic phase. A stone thrower that pumps out 2 shots a turn with the first shot being a range finder and causes automatic panic tests when you cause more than 1 wound is scary.

What makes it tie in so great is that early on in our Magic phase there is not a lot for us to do. No one is dead so no one needs raising, no one is in range of our Magic Missile and it’s not really that Scary, Movement phases at the start are like marching its not the end of the world if you let it through.

But there is something seriously scary about watching your 400 point knights of the realm with Battle Standard Bearer fail their auto panic test and run off the board in the first turn. Or watching the immovable Iron Breakers, who never die, lose half their unit to a direct hit from a SSC which has had a chance to take aim and find its range.

The SSC plays a very important role in making our magic scary from turn one and drawing out those nasty Dispel Scrolls. Which means later in the game when you really need to make that charge, there is nothing stopping you.

With this in mind its important to keep your priests and or Tomb king close by. You could have the priests join the SSC unit, have him hidden in a unit of bowman nearby or in the casket placed right next to the SSC.

Lastly SSC’s can be raised, if the crew die you can raise them back as long as the machine lives on, and vice versa. This is very useful if you drop to one crewman and can only fire once every two turns or if a cannon ball rips clean through your machine. Note: if destroyed due to a misfire both the machine and crew are removed.

Defending the SSC, what to look out for.

Because the SSC causes fear it is more resilient than most war machines however it is still vulnerable to fast moving cavalry and fliers. It is particularly vulnerable to heavy single fliers such as a Daemon Prince or a Character on a Monster Mount. This of course therefore leads us onto Deployment!

Deployment

As always deployment is everything. You can easily waste 3 or 4 turns with bad deployment especially with a SSC.

Hint: Never Deploy the SSC first

When placing your Screaming Skull Catapults try to think 1 turn ahead then 2nd turn then 3rd turn, Make sure that they have a good range of targets that conform to what you want to hit, Make sure that their line of sight will not be blocked by units moving in front of them or due to combat.

On a hill is generally recognized as the place to be but be aware that being on the hill opens you up to disadvantages as well. For starters all enemy war machines can now see you and cannons and bolt throwers are much better at destroying you, than you are them. It also means that flying units will almost certainly have line of sight to charge you. While these disadvantages are there, the advantage of being able to pick and choose your target is a significant one. Just be aware of in deployment having a unit to intercept threats or block line of sight.

Some options are:
• A unit of tomb Swarm placed directly in front of the SSC. While it does not prevent LOS at all and therefore still allows you to shoot it will prevent assault troops from fighting the SSC alone and may allow you to cause significant enough damage to beat the attackers, it may also be enough of a deterrent to prevent the charge
• Having a unit of skeleton bowman up on the hill with you. Have them near the edge and placed to screen the SSC from war machine fire while allowing view of the other side of the board. When you do need LOS to the archer side simply move the archers off the hill or reform them to provide LOS to the given target.
• Have a unit of carrion ready to intercept. Any units that are intending to attack your SSC, Charge!! While you may consider this a waste of points, and sometimes it is, a live SSC can cause a lot of damage and can, if rolling well, single-handedly win you the game. Besides tying up that daemon prince with 4 carrion isn’t so bad.

Make sure when you deploy that you have significant magic help nearby. In your initial turns you will most likely want to focus your magic on making the SSC fire.

Role – First Turns

This is the Phase when all war machines perform their best, but, arguably none more so than the SSC.

In the First turn you should have LOS to all the juicy targets. There are a few tactics here you can employ.
• Shoot into high density areas. By shooting into these areas you maximize the chances of hitting something and cause damage and it also allows you to be a bit off with you range guessing
• Targeting (breakable) units close to the board edge. My favorite moment in the game is watching my opponents army run off the board in terror in the first turn. When achieved it can leave a hollow feeling in your opponents stomach from which he will likely never recover. This tactic is particularly awesome against Brettonians who will always take a knee. In fact this tactic may mean that they don’t take a knee for fear of losing half their army.
• Monster Mount Targeting. Generally this needs to be done early and if you wish to do it shoot everything at the bastard until he’s dead. If you leave this for too late in the game, he will already be fighting you in CC, maybe as early as turn 2.

Remember to keep firing lines open to your planned targets when moving and to prevent early assaults from Flying Units, Fast Cavalry or Scouts. Make sure that most of your magic is used to cause your SSC’s to shoot twice.

Role – Mid game

In turns 3 and 4 units will now start to be in combat. Often options at this time become limited to what you see. However it’s a good idea to be aware of certain circumstances in which the SSC can be of great assistance:
• Prevent the Flank Charge. So your unit of chariots got bogged down in his black orcs due to some bad rolling. Don’t let that unit of 30 gobbos charge you in the flank giving the combat a massive Static CR in favor of the Orcs. Try and lob a set of Screaming Goblin Skulls into the midst of them and watch as the perfect plan gets ruined by the Goblins Fleeing away from their designated position.
• Archers. With the Lack of Targets Sometimes Bowmen are great options generally they will aim to be on hills so that they can pick their targets, thus allowing you to see them over the prevailing combats that rage on around you. While generally thought of as a risky target early in the game because they generally tend to be in a line formation mid game their easy victory points when no juicier target presents itself.
• Fleeing units close to the Board Edge. Generally this will apply more to turn 4 onwards. So those Chaos Warriors managed to evade your pursuing tomb guard, not to worry drop a Screaming Skull on top of them and they will be forced to flee again. What’s even more evil is that they can be forced to flee in your movement phase (flee from a charge), in your magic phase (when you land a burning screaming skull in the champions lap), and in the shooting phase (when the poor bastards are out of breath). You could cause a unit who was halfway on the board to exit stage left.

Later in the game the effectiveness of the SSC drops and so dare I say it, it might become expendable. As battle lines become fudged and the nice neat order of raging hordes littered across the battlefield takes over the SSC will find it harder to hit and cause significant damage. Note that this doesn’t mean charge that spearmen just so you might outnumber them. The SSC is still useful but you might want to think about letting the tomb swarms, who were set to guard duty, go and tie that unit of cold one knights down for a turn or two or to have the carrion perform a flank charge.

At this stage your magic will mainly be used for getting charges off but if you can’t do anything else you might want to allow that catapult to have a couple of goes at someone.

Role – end game

Sorry guys basically the answer is at this point is SHOOT WHATEVERS LEFT! Generally your magic will be either causing charges or resurrecting dead guys.

How to Shoot

This is not only applicable to the SSC but to all stone thrower guess weapons. This is merely my insights and opinions and is by no means a scientific and guaranteed way to improve your aim. However I know that through using these techniques I have developed such a reputation for landing my skulls just where I want them, that when I miss there is a moment of stunned silence in my gaming group.

1st Law of Guessing
Pay Attention, Write, Record, Watch!
Know how far you deployed your SSC in from the Table Edge, Know how big the table is. Watch how far he deploys his troops. Keep track of how far he moves his units in each of his turns. Note down each one of your shots for later reference. There is nothing funnier than landing a shot dead centre on a unit one turn and then next turn forgetting how far you guessed last turn and overshooting, or even from one phase to the next.

2nd Law of Guessing
Work it out
So you know your 6” on the board you know he started as close to you as possible 12” on, and the board is 48” Wide. He’s 30” away from you adding 1.5” to land in the centre of his unit that makes a guess of 31.5%

3rd Law of Guessing
Use Arcs and Pythagoras
Oh did I scare anyone away? I’m sure you learnt it in school the hypotenuse of the triangle is the square root of each of the two sides squared and added together. More than likely this is well within your abilities to calculate otherwise grab a calculator if people allow it.
As for arcs this is more an imaginary process. If you know the distance to a point, such as your last shot or the table edge try mentally projecting a circle centered on you with a radius equal to the distance to your point. This will allow you to shoot at targets on angles and guess much smaller distances (the difference between the radius of your circle and where the centre of the unit is).

4th Law of Guessing
Its not Natural
Some people are not naturally born with the ability to know that the Chosen Chaos Knight Champion is exactly 14.5” away from you and therefore will not make there charge. It’s done through practice. The more the better, of course if someone does seem to be guessing exactly each time make sure your not playing on a checkered table cloth.

Army Specific Tactics:


If you have any insights or thoughts into the SSC which I have missed please feel free to post them and i will add them to this article. Feel free to offer any army specific tactics on using the SSC

Carni