Deck Gunners

are a missile infantry unit introduced in Total War: Warhammer II with Curse of the Vampire Coast.
==Recruitment==
* Unlocked with: Black Powder Depot or Cannons
==Description==
Clunky, cumbersome, and with bone-shattering recoil, it takes the heftiest of crewmen to operate the mounted swivel guns commonly seen mounted on the decks of warships and pirate ships of the world’s seas. In the field, they are seldom used by the armies of the living, since very few mortals possess the strength and bravery required to carry and use a firearm which for all its destructive advantages, is prone to explosive failure due to imperfect castings or poorly mixed black powder. For the zombies of the Undead pirate hordes, however, the prerequisites of bodily strength and bravery are no hindrance, since the reanimated possess supernatural motor functions and mindlessly carry out the will of their masters. So it is not uncommon to see Deck Gunners of zombie pirate crews haul their massive volley guns into a land confrontation in two-zombie teams, frenziedly firing directly into crowds of ill-fated victims.
==Attributes==
== Unit Abilities ==
=== Passive Abilities ===
* Crumbling
* Disintegrating
* Black Powder Aplenty
==Strategy==
Deck Gunners do excellent armour piercing missile damage and apply Shieldbreaker on missile attacks, and distinguish themselves from Handgunners by their much greater range. This is crucial when fighting enemies like the High Elves who have many units that significantly out-range Handgunners and can shoot them pieces before they can return fire. Because of their low model count and single target nature of their projectiles, they are best used for sniping high value units (lords, heroes, monsters, cavalry) as they are inefficient in killing off high model count units (infantry). 
They have higher damage per shot and a slightly higher unit count compared to Warplock Jezzails and Crane Gunners, giving them among the best damage of all units in their class. This comes at the tradeoff of less health, armour, range, movement, leadership, and no shields, so they trade poorly in a firefight against other long ranged units, and will disintegrate instantly if even sneezed on by enemy cavalry. However if you can keep them alive, they can outdamage anything short of a Skryre Jezzail.
Because of this they are a high priority target, and will be wiped out quickly if left unprotected. In contrast, the other Zombie gunnery mobs' higher model count makes them much more resilient and more cost-effective in dealing with other high model count units. If keeping a unit of Deck Gunners alive is proving too difficult, consider replacing them with their RoR variant Shadewraith Gunners for a whopping 55% physical resistance (but even then, avoid trading with Sisters of Avelorn or anything else with magic damage!).
Category:Curse of the Vampire Coast units