The crude warmachine known only as the Scraplauncher
The Scraplauncher is an impressive war machine. It is a large and unconventionally built catapult pulled along by an enormous woolly beast. It's design is haphazard -- the ramshackle construction seemingly built 'on the go' with a random collection of cast off materials. With each stride of its shaggy beast of burden, the jury-rigged device teeters precariously while a frenetic crew of Gnoblars swarm about -- running alongside, clambering on its ropes and pulleys like sailors amongst the rigging, or just hanging on for dear life.[1a]
For all its slovenly appearance, the Gnoblar Scraplauncher is a devastating engine of destruction. Too slight (or lazy) to lift rocks, the Gnoblars pack the launcher cup with bundles of weapons that have been accrued during battle. As the so-called 'thinling weapons' are too tiny for Ogres and too large for Gnoblars, they are used as ammunition. These loose-knit bundles of nastiness are hurled towards an enemy life a deadly rain. While the deluge of sharp instruments may sometimes only pincushion the ground or clang loudly against a foe, so many lethally sharp bits fly through the air that odds are at least a few will strike tender flesh. After a battle it is a simple matter to gather the weapons back during the pre-feast corpse-harvest. Many of the blades have seen more battles than the Gnoblars who fire them.[1a]
The beast that tows that scraplauncher is usually a young Rhinox -- adult Rhinoxen are simply too stubborn to haul anything, but the younger ones are not yet so strong-willed. Other creatures have been tried, from the Mournfang to the Thundertusk and even a Stonehorn, but the results were unfavourable at best, with lots of smashed timber and squished out Gnoblar-shaped blotches left behind. A Rhinox, even a young one, is a massive creature that hardly strains to pull whatever the Gnoblars build -- including great sledges topped with loading platforms, winches, and even vast support beams braced on the beast itself. Unlike most other war machines, the scraplauncher moves at a steady clip and is just as deadly smashing into enemy units as it is at shooting, the Rhinox being only too willing to put down its head and charge.[1a]
