Why use Double barrled weapons

I am thinking of starting a Gunnery school of Nuln warband, they have lots of double barreld weapons which lets you roll one dice to hit but two dices to wound, you must then spend two turns reloading the weapon.
I am very new to mordheim but why use a double barreld weapon when you can get a brace of pistols for the same price which you can shoot with every turn. It maay not have the same whammy effect but you get so many more shots. Also a double barrled weapon cannot be combined with any of the shooting skills if I interpret the rules correctly, thougbh that could be house rules of course since those rules did not exist when the skille were written.

Welcome to the forum.

The first advantage of a Double Barrelled Pistol is that it is like having a single pistol but with the added advantage of being able to fire twice at the same target in a single turn if both barrels are loaded. You can still shoot once per turn with a Double Barrelled Pistol if you only shoot with one barrel each turn. The second advantage of a Double Barrelled Pistol is that you can have a brace of Double Barrelled Pistols allowing you to potentially let off four shots in a single turn. Reloading gets messy after that. EDIT: If you want to find out how it works then do a search as there was an excellent forum post some years back that explained how reloading works. Here is the link to the thread about reloading Double Barrelled Pistols: https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t5896-double-barrelled-pistols-pistolier-and-maybe-hunter

It is my understanding that Shooting skills can combine with double barrelled weapons. The Pistolier skill will even work with a Double Barrelled Pistol as the rules for a Double Barrelled Pistol specifically mentions firing a brace which is only possible with the Pistolier skill.

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The first advantage of a Double Barrelled Pistol is that it is like having a single pistol but with the added advantage of being able to fire twice at the same target in a single turn if both barrels are loaded.

@RationalLemming Unfortunately it's not right. About 2 weeks ago my friend pointed out, that:

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Any enemy is hit by two blasts rather than one (i.e. a pistol causes two S4 hits rather than one for each successful hit).

So you cannot fire each barrel separately in one turn. They can either be fired as described above (one roll to hit for 2 barrels) or one barrel each turn. It's especially important in close combat since one succesfull roll parries two barrels at once.

@catachanfrog... yes that is what I meant but and are right that I said it wrong. You can either shoot both barrels together at your target as a single shot or a single barrel at your target. That is still an advantage over a brace of pistols though which without the Pistolier skill will only ever be able to cause a single S4 hit per turn while a double barrelled pistol without the Pistolier skill will be able to cause two S4 hits in the first turn and then is equal to a brace of pistols thereafter.

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yes that is what I meant but and are right that I said it wrong.

@RationalLemming Oops, sorry then.

Hi, thanks for the welcome!
I did find that thread but found some stuff confussing, I also wonder how you interpret the rules to allow you to shoot one shot with double-barreld weapons every turn?

Ostland
"A double-barrelled gun (of any sort) is treated
exactly like a normal version with one
exception..." Treat as normal pistol with prepared shot.

"However, each barrel takes a full
turn to reload (although if you
reload only one barrel you can fire
it like a normal pistol/rifle)."

Nuln
"If firing a single barrel, treat the shot as you would a
normal weapon" Normal pistol with prepared shot again.

"Token removal should be the last thing done in your
shooting phase and you cannot shoot in the same
phase as your reload." So after firing both barrels you reload one barrel, fire that barrel in your next turn, then you must reload again making it a normal pistol?

As displayed like in the other tread this is how many shots i interpret one to get with a single double barreld pistol.
2 0 1 0 1 0 1

Have i interpreted it wrong? I am new in this game. Hope you understand what i mean with all of this.

Have fun
landoro

No worries catachanfrog. I don't mind being shown that I'm wrong (or at least being unclear). I don't want people to play wrong because of something that I've said.

@landoro... I have been slightly wrong. I find quoting is a good way of clearing things up.

First, here are the rules for reloading a pistol.

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Prepare shot: A pistol takes a whole turn to reload, so you may only fire every other turn. If you have a brace of pistols (ie, two) you may fire every turn.

Second, here are the rules for reloading a double barrelled pistol.

Quote :

Reloading: After firing both barrels, place 2 tokens on the model. In your next shooting phase remove 1 token to represent one barrel having been reloaded. Token removal should be the last thing done in your shooting phase and you cannot shoot in the same phase as your reload.

The last post of that other thread says...

Quote :

2 guns WITHOUT pistolier would be:
1 1 1 1 1 1 (can't double fire without pistolier, remember?)

Comparing the above to the post with the main information in that other thread shows that a brace of pistols can get off more shots in the long run than a single double barrelled pistol.

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A) 2, 0, 1, 0, 1, etc.
B) 2, 0, 0, continue as any option or repeat
C) 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, etc.
D) 1, 1, 0, 0, continue as option A - C.
Any turn after a single 0, the model has a single barrel available to shoot.

The only slight advantage that a double barrelled pistol has is that it can cause two S4 hits in the same turn some times. Therefore if you are firing regularly then a brace of pistols is better. However, if you are firing irregularly then a double barrelled pistol could be better. Pistols are close range and hand-to-hand weapons so they are generally used just before charging or just when a charged occurred. This means that a warrior may not get full use of the potential benefit offered by a brace of pistols over a double barrelled pistol.

I have a strange question....

Supposing I have two handguns... may I shoot every turns. Shoot, Shoot & load the other one, Shoot and load the other one...

RAW yes, and in my group I have a dwarf player with an engineer who does exactly that until he can get Hunter online.

Except for the debate over whether a warrior can have two of the same missile/blackpowder weapon...

I suppose you can call it a debate, but RAW doesn't allow carrying 2 missile weapons of the same type except pistols. Naturally you can house rule anything.

I imagine them being useful for this.

"Ok, I charge you, so I go first. I've got WS4, so I'm hitting on 3's. My dagger first, I hit on a 3."

"Right, I'll parry. No...failed. Lucky charm? Yeah, passed."

"Cool. Now for my double barreled pistol. I hit. And that means 2 str 4 AP hits."

"Wait, what?"

So like all pistols, nice for when you get the charge and want to put the enemy down fast. Otherwise, it just seems to me that you pay 2x the cost for alot of reloading headaches.

Or, if you'd imagine this. A brace of double barreled pistols. If both hit, that's 4 str 4 AP hits in one go! Bloody expensive though.

Expensive?: yes. Worth it? totally

Von Kurst wrote:

I suppose you can call it a debate, but RAW doesn't allow carrying 2 missile weapons of the same type except pistols. Naturally you can house rule anything.

So it does. No-one bothered to look it up and it doesn't seem that powerful on the table. Ah well - I guess we have a new house-rule .