Shuriken Catapult

The primary category of Eldar small arms is the Shuriken Catapult. A gun that fires bursts of hypervelocity plasti-crystal ninja stars. Its actual effectiveness is greatly inconsistent throughout the fluff, depending on the source material. On the tabletop, the Shuriken Catapult is just as effective as a Bolter. It should be noted that, according to the earliest versions of the game, the Shuriken Catapult was available to nearly every army (just like most basic weapons) including Imperials. The weapon works by shaving off a very thin slice off a solid munitions core and accelerate it to lethal speeds (if you have read Mass Effect's Codex, it's a lot like that, just with monomolecular disks instead of bullets), with a very high rate of fire. Coupled with the fact that the weapon supposedly does not suffer from recoil since the gun uses a gravity accelerator (yes, not the Gauss tech, its projectiles are not magnetic materials) to propel its munitions at high speeds; it's quite easy for basic Guardians to be a significant threat since they can lay down a curtain of accurate and deadly ninja stars with very little effort.

It is for this reason Orks respect this weapon, due to the fact that it shoots choppy dakka, and a lot of it. The downside is that it has a lower effective range than Bolt weapons. There exist several variations of the Shuriken Catapult.

Shuriken Pistol

As commonly used as the Laspistol by the Imperial Guard, the Shuriken Pistol is the main sidearm for the Eldar war hosts. They are part of the equipment of the Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions and Storm Guardians, and are used by Farseers and Warlocks as well.

Shuriken Catapult

The Shuriken Catapult is the rifle-sized version of the Shuriken weapon series. It's light, sleek, and reasonably powerful, the hallmark of everything Eldar. This weapon is only carried as a primary weapon by members of Guardian squads since other, more elite forces of the Eldar tend to use more specialized and generally better pieces of ranged equipment.

Avenger Catapult

An improved version of the Shuriken Catapult and carried by the Dire Avengers. The Avenger version has a longer barrel and better targeting equipment to achieve better range and accuracy and the weapon itself has been modified to sling out shurikens at a much faster rate than the stock version. Asurmen, the Phoenix Lord of the Dire Avengers, carries a pair of twin-linked Avenger Catapults on his wrists.

Shuriken Cannon

The heaviest of the Shuriken weapons, the Shuriken Cannon is a heavy version of the regular Catapult. It has several uses: it can be mounted under jetbikes, onto vehicles, gun platforms and can be carried on foot. Due to its light design it can be fired even when on the move, allowing nearly any unit in the warhost to augment its firepower.

Shrieker Cannon

Used by the Death Jesters, the Shrieker Cannon fires shurikens saturated with violent toxins, causing any target struck to rupture and explode.

Maugetar

The ultimate shuriken weapon is Maugan Ra's famous Maugetar, that doubles as a power scythe, thus making it a choppy shooty choppa, and is able to cut hierophant biotitans in half. Which doesn't really make sense simply because hierophants are so large that the scythe wouldn't be able to to reach all the way across its body, not even close. Whatever, space magic. That or Maugan Ra is the Eldar's version of cyborg ninjas.

See Also

• Splinter Weapons - The Dark Eldar's dark and edgy take on Shuriken weapons.