Sootson's Guns (Mortar)

Sootson's Guns (Mortar) is an Elector Count State Troops from Talabecland added in The Empire Undivided Update in Total War: Warhammer II. An expert in putting down the living and the dead, Bennec Sootson's guns always fire sure and true.

Description
Mortars are short, heavy weapons, designed to lob a hollow, explosive shell high into the air so that it drops onto its target. While a solid cannon ball may plough through several victims, a Mortar shell explodes with tremendous force, scattering razor sharp shrapnel over a wide area and scything through whole ranks of enemy warriors. Firing a Mortar is always a tense moment, for the quality of fuses is highly variable and it is not unknown for one to burn through before the crew have finished loading the shell. As a result, Mortar crews tend to be superstitious and carry a large number of good luck charms about their person.

The legendary artillerist Bennec Sootson, upon his return from the Sylvanian crusade, impressed upon the Talabheim gun batteries, including great cannons, mortars, and a Helblaster volley cannon, how best to destroy the dead as well as the living. Each of their cannonballs and mortar shells was inscribed with the holy symbol of the Heldenhammer and chased with thrice-blessed silver.[1a] He is also known for being the former caretaker of the cannon known as the Hammer of the Witches.

Abilities

 * ↑ Anti-Infantry: Anti-infantry units have an advantage against targets that are smaller than a horse. This advantage can be a damage bonus against small targets, superior weight used to smash through lighter enemies, or an explosive attack from range that effects a large area.
 * No Friendly Fire: These blessed munitions would never harm the righteous! Friendly units caught in their explosion suffer no damage.

Strategy
Sootson's Guns remain a highly valuable regiment even after you've unlocked better forms of artillery, due to the extremely rare No Friendly Fire ability they possess. This allows them to fire into melee brawls with no fear of collateral damage, and thus cause massive hurt and morale damage to an enemy's front line at all times. They are still Mortars, even if better statistically than regular ones, so their ability to deal damage is limited compared to later pieces like the Helstorm. However, if you're running infantry-heavy, calling up Sootson may be a better choice than the wildly inaccurate Helstorms. And of course, no-one's saying you can't mix the two!