The Ratling Gun is the latest and perhaps most powerful weaponry Clan Skryre has ever invented, a large multi-barrelled death-dealing machine that has the potential to change the very face of warfare in favour of the Skaven race. It can fire up to 100 bullets per minute using its multiple barrels,[3a] but is extremely mechanically unreliable and takes nearly two minutes to reload and reprime after disgorging its ammunition supply (which it can do in a mere five seconds of continuous fire), greatly limiting its sustained firing rate.[4a]
Role[]
Though a relatively new design and of highly questionable reliability, the Ratling Gun has nonetheless proven itself so successful that Clan Skryre simply cannot make enough to satisfy the greedy demands of the Warlord Clans. Powered by warp-steam and kicked into gear by the prodigious working of a hand crank, the six-barrelled Ratling Gun would begin to spin before it unleashes its payload of warpstone bullets.[1a]
As is typical of Clan Skryre work, there is a large diversity of different design patterns, including a wheeled variant, one with a small shield, a tri-pod mounted version, and much more. In any case, the Ratling Gun is just as equally deadly no matter the design, but also just as likely to malfunction or overheat like any other Clan Skryre weaponry. As is common amongst Weapon Teams, the Ratling Gun requires two Skaven; one to hold and crank the warp-steam while another aims the gun forward.[1a]
Some scholars, such as Wilhelm Leiber, theorized that the Ratling Gun used by the Skaven could be based on the fantastical sketches from the workbooks of Leonardo da Miragliano.[3a]
Warfare[]
In combat, the Ratling Gun is capable of laying down an ungodly amount of firepower in an extremely short period of time. A solid barrage from a Ratling Gun is more than capable of single-handedly scything down a mob of charging Orc Boar Boyz or take down a monstrous Griffon in mid-flight. Few can stop a Ratling Gun once its gung-ho weapons-team gets in gear. As with other Skaven weapon teams, Ratling Guns are usually deployed as a support weapon for the wave attacks of the Clanrats, a situation that is as beneficial as it is terrifying for them. Skaven Chiefs will happily order the gunners to fire into the engaged Clanrats if it serves the purpose of killing the enemy, something that the Clanrats are all too aware of. The rapid fire guns are also prone to misfiring or otherwise malfunctioning with unnerving frequency, sometimes with spectacularly disastrous results.[1a] Jammed barrels, scalding from warp-steam, or even deadly explosions could face the operators.
Ratling Gunner[]
"The standard configuration of the Ratling Gun requires a Weapons Team of at least two Clanrats, but the weapons bought by Clan Fester for the assault on Ubersreik are of an experimental lightweight design, capable of being wielded by a single Stormvermin-sized specimen."
- —The lone Ratling Gunner.[2]
Although this fearsome weapon of unparalleled rate of fire is normally operated by a Weapons Team, a version exists that seems to be of a lighter, experimental type. Capable of being moved and fired by a single Skaven, often one of the black-furred elite, it sacrifices the amount of ammunition it can use in order to be more portable.[2]
Encumbered by the weight and unwieldiness of the weapon, the Ratling Gunner is far from quick on his feet, but once he cranks up his weapon and opens fire, Warpstone-laced hell is unleashed. Single minded and persistent, the Ratling Gunner will pick a target, and then continually track it, firing relentlessly until either the weapon jams, needs to reload or his opponent lays dead and shredded beyond recognition.[2]
The Ratling Gunner won't let a small fact like Clanrats or Skavenslaves blocking his line of fire stop him. If an opponent can keep their wits about them, they can make the Ratling Gunner callously mow down his kin, whilst dodging from cover to cover. However, they must be sure to not get caught in the open, or face a rapid fire death in a hail of Warpstone gunfire...[2]
Ratling guns are sometimes being seen carried by single operators, bigger than normal Skaven.[2]
Notable Regiments[]
- Teeth-Breakers - An elite unit of Rattling Gunners equipped with Eshin concealment bombs.[5]
- Warpshields - This unit was noted for the strange luminance of their green-glowing eyes, the green splotches on their clan-marked shields, and the sheer amount of wealth they had to spend.
Miniatures[]
Trivia[]
The word "Ratling" is a play on the word "gatling," the name of Richard Gatling, an American Civil War doctor who invented the first multi-barrelled rapid-fire weapon, the "gatling gun." Since then, the word has become an umbrella term for various weapons with a similar makeup.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: Skaven (7th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 60
- 2: Warhammer: The End Times - Vermintide (Videogame)
- 3:The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin (Lore Book)
- 3a: pp. 56-57
- 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG)
- 4a: pg. 73
- 5: Total War: Warhammer III (PC Game)