Marienburg class Land Ship
The Marienburg class Land Ships, also known as the Wonder of the Age are experimental war machines produced in Nuln for Marienburg. [1]
History
Having hired, at vast expense Steam Tanks of the Empire for their own defence, the guild masters of Marienburg sought to possess their own equally powerful war machines. When the Imperial School of Engineers and the Dwarfs would not assist, they turned to the Imperial Gunnery School of Nuln to produce something better than the Steam Tanks. [1c]
The proposition and large sums of money offered were irresistible to the engineers and with their Countess's tacit approval they accepted the commission. However it quickly proved to be a far more difficult task than they had anticipated and various disasters caused the project to become known as a Coffin filler. As the merchant Lords of Marienburg grew increasingly angry at the delay, the engineers became more and more desperate. [1c]
It was Hezekiah Guttmann who finally came up with a solution, the main issue had been making a boiler as small as that within the steam tank. So, he reasoned, why not make the whole machine bigger. The provost-marshal of the Gunnery School proclaimed it the Wonder of the Age whilst presenting it to the Countess and the legation from Marienburg. It seemed the merchants were equally impressed because they ordered ten of the machines. [1c]
As the great horde of Tamurkhan approached Nuln, Countess Emmanuelle ordered that the prototype landships be pressed into service as part of the defences of the city. [1a][1c] The merchants agreed, but only with appropriate compensation. [1c]
The land ships were dispatched with a strong cavalry escort of Outriders to engage the mighty war machines of the Chaos Dwarfs and a brutal melee ensued between the two forces. Although only a single vessel survived the firestorm of battle, they and the mounted engineers destroyed many of the enemy machines and left them in no condition to aid the main horde. [1b]
Weapons and Equipment
The deck crew are armed with a variety of Handguns, Pistols and Sweepers to use whilst also piloting the vessel. The vessel is huge and well protected, but the boiler is large enough to a great danger to those who crew it if anything goes wrong or it suffers damage in battle. [1c]
- Culverin: A light cannon installed in the prow. [1c]
Miniatures
Sources