Siege engines

Ballistae and onagers on the map: who fires them, where they aim.

Some chapter maps have ballistae and onagers standing on them from the start of the battle, on every difficulty. A unit fires one with the Ballista command (onagers too) from the tile behind it, marked on the chapter map: its class must be one of those listed below — Exalted’s archers and warriors — and it can move there first. The engine itself takes the next tile, which only fliers can enter.

An engine fires only to its own side: at tiles past the one it is fired from, or level with it, within its range counted from that tile (Range Mastery adds 1).

Each engine’s ammunition is its item’s uses, shared by everyone who fires it; when it runs out, the command is grayed out. With the cursor on the engine or the tile it’s fired from, the terrain window shows the shots left (it calls an onager “Stone”). Enemies use them too: one that can fire an engine moves onto it if it can reach it this turn, so the chapter maps count an engine’s reach in such a unit’s range.