Druchii.net

Hi,

Saw a OnceBitten360 battle report the other day and he was deploying his cannons behind his combat blocks and simply firing through them, no hills etc. I've seen it done elsewhere too.

This pleases me not - how do you guys play it and is it legal? I would imagine it is (as OB is doing it).

It's legal but pretty lame.

Cannons can shoot avoiding units in the path but got no penalty while arrows got a huge penalty...

Legal with True Line of Sight (TLOS), but unlikely and probably pushed over too much.
Usually, people declare "cannon aims at this unit, farthest extremity minus 10 ps", but that's not the legal procedure.
Rulewise, the cannon does not aim at the targeted unit. The cannon must aim at a specific point on the ground, to which TLOS is necessary. From that point, the cannonball will overshoot 2 to 10 ps and bounce 0 to 10 ps.
If there is a whole unit in the way and as the cannon is lower than unit, changes are high that TLOS is obscured.

Cannons are really tricky under the new rules. Some players are reasonable and would never fire through a unit like that. Others have laser pointers and shine them through tiny gaps in the unit (around, beside, and sometimes even UNDER models) to get their shot in.

Yes, it is perfectly legal in the rules to make the 'laser-guided' shot through a unit, IF the player can demonstrate there is LOS.... however obstructed.

Unfortunately.

My advice is to avoid playing those players whenever possible. Cannons are (at best!) Renaissance-era muzzle-loaders, not modern howitzers!

Good lord.
If someone shone a light under a unit to demonstrate true line of sight I'd immediately shake them by the hand and congratulate them on their victory and respectfully ask them never to even offer to play me again.