Grudge thrower

Grudge Thrower is a Dwarfs siege engine unit in Total War: Warhammer. More rudimentary than the cannon, a Grudge Thrower is still an effective long-range weapon against enemy infantry.

Description
Catapults were one of the earliest of the Dwarf-made war machines and have been used to command the approaches to Dwarfholds for many millennia. During the War of Vengeance, so great was their fury with the Elves that the Dwarfs began the practice of inscribing grudges on the rocks being used as ammunition. This custom stuck, and many crew believe that the engine is only as good as the grudges it throws - and therefore spend as great deal of time carving their anger directly onto the shaped stone ammunition. Grudge Throwers are still used by all Dwarfholds and over the long years there have been many famous engines whose renown has spread far and wide across the Karaz Ankor and beyond. Perhaps most famous of all was the 'Gob-lobber', a legendary catapult which drove off a great many Greenskin attacks during the Goblin Wars - although this was more down to the crew's use of live gobbo ammunition rather than pure accuracy.

Strategy
The Grudge Thrower is the first piece of artillery the Dwarfs can unlock, and with a talented crew, it can remain viable for an extremely long time. Its downsides are slow projectiles--slow enough that even the AI can attempt to evade them--and somewhat poor accuracy, both of which will eventually come to hurt its viability. However, its advantages outweigh these downsides, especially in the early game.

Grudge Throwers are devastating against all types of enemy infantry groups, with a large area of effect and a "skid" on the projectile allowing it to plow through an entire regiment front to back, scattering troops like bowling pins on the way. Additionally, the Grudge Thrower--being a catapult--has an arcing projectile unlike any other Dwarfen artillery, allowing it to shoot over hills and walls better than its more advanced counterparts. No other Dwarfen artillery is as comprehensively effective against all types of infantry--however, the all-around effectiveness of the later Organ Gun will eventually challenge the Grudge Thrower for its spot.

Early-game Dwarf armies should always include at least one Grudge Thrower unit, and preferably two. Other races might debate the value of being slowed down by the artillery, but dwarf armies aren't going anywhere fast anyway. Against infantry-heavy early game armies they produce devastating results, and they can provide the crucial service of forcing AI enemies to come to you and break on your heavy infantry lines, rather than forcing your dwarfs to jog over to them. Grudge Throwers, like all artillery, need to be protected against cavalry flanking and flying attacks, and while they can knock out enemy artillery, more accurate weapons like the Doom Diver Catapult will beat them in a duel.

Grudge Throwers CAN be used against enemies engaged in direct melee with your front line thanks to their arcing projectile, but this is highly risky and should only be done in absolute need, since the projectiles will happily smash your own infantry from behind just as easily--and they are not precision weapons like later Dwarf guns.