The Titan Cannoneer: Methods

The Titan Cannoneer doesn't usually get a lot of love from Skorne players in general, but it's gradually become one of my favorite beasts.  In many of my lists, the Cannoneer is the lynchpin of my advance, giving my army the edge it needs to outmanuever my opponents in the early and middle stages of a game.  Here's how I've been using it.

I play the Cannoneer as a front line warbeast supported by at least one other heavy, usually a Gladiator.  At the front, the Cannoneer threatens a large area with its gun (16" to 18" radius depending on whether it has Rush cast on it). Its main jobs in this position are to kill off support models, bait the enemy into charging it, and attack high value models like 'beasts/'jacks and casters.

The cannon is instrumental in all these jobs.  The Cannon is one of the best weapons available to Skorne against support units and solos.  It can cover most of my front line, meaning that whenever a solo or support piece is in position to give me grief, I'm usually in position to shoot it.  In fact, I started using the Cannoneer so I'd have something to do against the support pieces a Cryx-playing friend of mine kept using to ruin my day.  Because this is perhaps the Cannoneer's most important role, an Extoller Soulward is a necessary support piece for Guidance.  Many enemy support models will have Stealth or Incorporeal, or will use Forests and Cloud effects to protect themselves.  Eyeless Sight and Magic Weapons let's the Cannoneer ignore all these restrictions, and the Soulward is the only model I routinely take whose main job is supporting the Canoneer.

The cannon also projects attrition against bigger targets like Warjacks, Warbeasts, and mainline infantry.  This doesn't end up killing many targets, but does help the Cannoneer bait charges.  A single cannon ball doesn't really threaten either mainline infantry or enemy heavies, but can do moderate damage consistently, forcing the enemy to find some way of dealing with the the Cannoneer, usually charging it.

The Cannoneer, however, is quite good at taking charges.  Its animus, Diminish, though generally pretty weak, makes the Cannoneer slightly tougher than a Gladiator against melee attacks.  Stacked with other defensive abilities like a Def or Arm buff, or the Agonizer's Gnawing Pain ability, the Cannoneer can (and does) shrug off multiple charging heavies.  In fact, stacking defensive tech on a Cannoneer can force opponents to retreat and try to set up a better charge.  Far from being a bad thing, this just gives me more of an opportunity to shoot more, and set up my own charges.

Once the Cannoneer draws a charge, I can use both it and whatever other support it has to kill off its attacker.  Enrage from a Paingiver puts it at Pow: 18/17 with its weapons, which will kill a lot of low def heavies pretty reliably.  Boosting to hit makes it decent against nimbler heavies, as well as lights and high-def solos.  The Cannoneer's backup is usually another heavy, often a Gladiator.  Even if the attackers survive the Cannoneer, there's a much lower chance they'll survive the Gladiator too.  The Cannoneer is also a little more expendable than the Gladiator in melee, so it's a more acceptable trade-off to kill one of my opponent's heavies.

This isn't to say I won't charge in with the Cannoneer.  It's just as effective, if not more so, leading the charge itself.  Backed up by Rush and/or other movement buffs, the Cannoneer is fast enough to get the first strike in on a lot of things in its weight class, and can do significant damage while debuffing enemies with Diminish for the followup turn.  Good positioning with supporting warbeasts lets me charge them into whatever targets Diminish is affecting, which is nice when I can pull it off.

Overall, I treat the Cannoneer as a melee/attrition heavy which happens to have a gun.  Skorne doesn't usualy have the firepower to support a mostly ranged strategy, so the Cannoneer is always moving toward melee.  The cannon is there to put pressure on enemy lists by removing support, and grinding down heavier targets.  While the gun pressures my opponent to engage me, the toughness I achieve by combining Diminish with other defensive abilities makes engaging the Cannoneer a bad proposition for a lot of models.  Whatever the Cannoneer can't finish itself is likely to be destroyed by the other models supporting the Cannoneer.

Using the Cannoneer this way supports my playstyle well.  I like the ability to advance cautiously, and play an attrition game, attacking and grinding down my opponent's army.  The Cannoneer let's me position my models without worrying too much about harassment from enemy solos, and snipe out support pieces which let my opponent match my maneuverability.  This lets me set up the engagement as much on my own terms as I can.

Most of the support I use has been mentioned, but I'll include more detail, as well as a couple of my army lists, in the comments.