Dwarf Cannons, Grudge Throwers and Bolt Throwers may be inscribed with up to three of the engineering runes described below. The newfangled (to the Dwarfs!) Organ Gun, Flame Cannon and Gyrocopter may not have engineering runes. Note that a shot from a war machine inscribed with any engineering runes counts as a magical attack.
Developed as a defensive measure during the War of Vengeance against the firepower of the High Elves, this rune has saved the lives of many crew.
The war machine and its crew are always assumed to be in hard cover to enemy shooting.
When making a cannon, with each hammer blow an Engineer strikes, a Runesmith must recite a special litany. This can take weeks to complete.
Multiples of this rune have no further effect. Can only be placed on a Cannon. Allows the owning player to re-roll the Artillery dice when he rolls a Misfire. If you roll a Misfire when rolling the Artillery dice either to hit or to bounce, then you can roll again, but you are bound by the second roll even if it's another Misfire.
This rune masically distorts space around the machine, rendering it almost invisible.
Until it moves or shoots, the machine cannot be seen, and cannot therefore be targeted with spells, shot at or charged. Once the machine has moved/fired, or if an enemy unit moves to within 3" of it, the machine is revealed and can be seen and attacked as normal for the rest of the battle.
Devised to stop machines falling to the enemy. It is invoked only in desperate circumstances.
One use only. The Dwarf player can cause the machine to explode at the end of any round of combat before determining the result. The machine and its crew are all killed. Each enemy unit in combat with the war machine takes 2D6 Strength 4 magical hits allocated as shooting.
Elf mages helped create this before the War of the Beard. There's no mention of this in Dwarf records.
One use only. This rune may only be inscribed on a Bolt Thrower. Once per game the Bolt Thrower hits on a 2+ with no modifiers. You must choose to use this rune before rolling to hit.
Once a missile inscribed with this rune is launched, the rune glows, invoking the winds of magic to blow the stone in the right direction.
Multiples of this rune have no further effect. May only be put on a Grudge Thrower. The Dwarf player may re-roll the Scatter dice if he wishes (Note: Only the Scatter dice, not the Artillery dice), enabling the machine to shoot more accurately. If you re-roll the dice, you must accept the result of the second roll.
Discovered by Magnus Hammerson, who broke Runesmith tradition by selling it to the Engineers Guild
One use only. If a machine has the Rune of Fortune, the player may use it to amend a dice rolled on the machine's Misfire chart to a result of 6.
This rune is inscribed onto the war machine's ammunition, making it more hard bitting.
The Strength of a hit from the war machine increases by +1, to a maximum of 10.
Many Dwarfs believe that a machine with this rune on it will last forever.
This rune adds +1 to the crew's combat resolution score.
Dwarf crews are famed for always defending their machines to the bitter end when attacked.
As long as their war machine is not destroyed, the war machine crew and any Master Engineer character joined to it are Unbreakable.
This rune makes Bolt Throwers deadly against flyers by magically directing the bolts to their target.
Bolt Throwers only. Each rune adds +1 to the Bolt Thrower's to hit rolls against targets with the Fly special ability but cannot reduce the score to hit below 2+.
When a war machine has proved its worth, it may be empowered with this rune.
The war machine can shoot every turn, as long as there is at least one crewman left, even if the machine has rolled a Misfire in the previous turn.
Any ammunition shot by the machine bursts into flames as it hits its target.
The war machine makes Flaming attacks.