WH40K: Mortars

Mortars

While relatively simple in construction, this weapon provides a medium-range attack capability, particularly against targets behind cover or out of sight, as it fires its explosive rounds in a high, indirect arc. Mortar shells explode with a strong blast effect and also suppress enemy fire as the targets are forced to dive for protective cover. Many are operated in teams, with one manning the weapon whilst the other acts as a spotter to provide targeting information and often communicating the data via voxlink.

Armor Penetration: Reflects how good the weapon is at cutting through armor. When a shot or blow from this weapon hits a target, reduce the target’s Armor by the weapon’s Armor Penetration, with results of less than 0 counting as 0 (i.e., the armor provides no protection at all). Then calculate Damage as normal. For example, if a weapon with an Armor Penetration of 1D hits a target with 2D Armor, the target will only count as having 1D Armor against any Damage the hit causes. Note that Armor Penetration has no effect on energy shields, but it does affect cover.

Name	Type	Scale	Skill	Availability	Weight	Blast Radius	Armor Penetration	Damage
Anti-Plant Round	Mortar Round	Character	Missile Weapons	4	1kg	0-1/3/4/5m	0D	7D+1/5D+2/3D/1D+1
Blind Round	Mortar Round	Character	Missile Weapons	4	1kg	-	0D	5D
Frag Round	Mortar Round	Character	Missile Weapons	3	1kg	0-1/3/4/5m	0D+2	5D/4D/2D+2/1D+1
Minefield Round	Mortar Round	Character	Missile Weapons	4	1kg	0-1m	0D+1	5D
Photon Flash Round	Mortar Round	Character	Missile Weapons	4	1kg	0-3/6/9/12m	-	-
Scatter Round	Mortar Round	Character	Missile Weapons	5	1kg	0-2/4/5/7m	0D	3D+1/2D+2/1D+2/1D
Smoke Round	Mortar Round	Character	Missile Weapons	4	1kg	0-2/5/7/9m	-	-
Starflare Round	Mortar Round	Character	Missile Weapons	4	1kg	-	-	-

Anti-Plant Round

These explosives release a wide range of toxic and viral agents that quickly reduce almost any type of flora to a foul smelling muck, depriving the enemy of cover while not seriously harming other materials. Larger versions are also used to create improvised landing zones and clear foliage for quick camp sites or building locations.

Blind Round

Blind explosives detonate with a burst of dense smoke, IR bafflers, and broadband EM-spectrum chaff, all of which is designed to block detection through the cloud. Sensors and vision that would pierce normal smoke cannot see through haze created by a blind explosives.

These weapons throw up dense clouds of smoke to create cover. When a hit is scored from this weapon, it creates a smokescreen 5D meters in diameter from the point of impact. This screen lasts for 3D Rounds, or less in adverse weather conditions.

Frag Round

These explosives use a combustible charge and special fillers of shrapnel fragments. Imperial frag grenades are roughly the size of a clenched fist and covered with a heavily notched shell, both to increase the shrapnel produced and provide a more secure grip for throwing.

Minefield Round

These shells are designed to splinter open at the highest arc of their trajectory, releasing a plethora of sub-munitions with two impact triggers. Once the first is sprung upon contact with the ground, the second trigger deploys—awaiting only a single, unlucky step to unleash its powerful explosives. Easy to use and safe from a distance, minefield rounds are an effective way to lay down a protective cordon around a bunker or other defensive location. These rounds can only be used in either mortars or missile launchers (not grenade launchers) and cannot be thrown.

Photon Flash Round

Photon flash explosives detonate like a small star, blinding anyone nearby and bright enough to overload primitive vision protection systems. Anyone within 15 meters of a photon flash grenade when it detonates must succeed on a Difficulty 15 Dodge Test or be blinded for 1 round for ever 3 points they missed the difficulty by, minimum 1 round.

Scatter Round

Scatter Rounds combine much smaller and less-powerful frag grenades into a single missile launcher round. These are generally fired in a high arc and disperse into separate microexplosives, spreading the explosive effect over a huge radius. These rounds can only be used in either mortars or missile launchers (not grenade launchers) and cannot be thrown.

Smoke Round

These explosives release a dense smoke which only obscures basic eyesight and optical based systems. They do not block detection systems that use heat or other spectral bands outside of normal human eyesight, but are much more widely available and easier to construct.

These weapons throw up dense clouds of smoke to create cover. When a hit is scored from this weapon, it creates a smokescreen 5D meters in diameter from the point of impact. This screen lasts for 3D Rounds, or less in adverse weather conditions.

Starflare Round

These are fired high into the air via mortar, where they burst into a multitude of small flares. As the flares burn out and drift to the ground, they fully illuminate the underlying area for almost a minute. They can also dazzle the vision of anyone not wearing protective lenses. These rounds can only be used in mortars (not grenade or missile launchers) and cannot be thrown.

Sources

• Only War - Core Rulebook (pages 182-184)
• Warhammer 40k Wiki: Mortar
• thedemonapostle