Mortar
From Lexicanum
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The mortar is a muzzle-loaded indirect-fire projectile weapon whose origins go back to well before any other weapons currently in use by the Imperium, even the shotgun. It fires a large round which explodes over an area.
Despite its modest technologic principle, it has the special advantage of being able to be fired speculatively at out of sight targets. Naturally, however, firing at targets whose exact locations are unknown is not very accurate.
The mortar is effectively a large tube into which is placed the explosive round. The round falls and hits the firing pin at the bottom of the tube, which ignites the round and the force exerted on the round is sufficient to launch it over very long distances, in an arc shaped curve.
The mortar is currently only used by the Imperial Guard and requires a two man team to carry and operate it. While the hand operated mortar is fairly common, the heavy mortar mounted on the Griffon Mortar is a stronger version, but has since been removed from Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex) and now requires Imperial Armour Update and the opponents permission to use.
Sources
Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 1st Codex)
