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I would have to go with the gauss flayer. Instant kill on a direct hit. It will literally strip you molecule from molecule.

Closely followed by the trusty bolter ofcourse.

NL_Cirrus wrote:The main problem I see with the Pules Rifle is, if they get to close then your screwed. after all that's one big and probably very heavy rifle to try and whack things with. And in 40k people get REALLY close REALLY fast.

IIRC Pulse Rifles are lighter than Lasguns. A bolter would be far heavier than a Pulse rifle. Source: Firewarrior.

Weight isn't an issue for the Pulse rifle, but it does make a bad CC weapon.

No duh ok tau suck at close rang the oley live bc of the krout to keep them far away

Skull snatcher wrote:No duh ok tau suck at close rang the oley live bc of the krout to keep them far away

Would you please do something about your spelling and punctuation, your posts are very difficult to read.

liquidjoshi wrote:

NL_Cirrus wrote:The main problem I see with the Pules Rifle is, if they get to close then your screwed. after all that's one big and probably very heavy rifle to try and whack things with. And in 40k people get REALLY close REALLY fast.

IIRC Pulse Rifles are lighter than Lasguns. A bolter would be far heavier than a Pulse rifle. Source: Firewarrior.

Weight isn't an issue for the Pulse rifle, but it does make a bad CC weapon.

Really? Well, that doesn't make any sense, you'd think they'd be much heavier, but then again this is GW and they're not known for making sense.

Lasgun. It's small, efficient and easy to keep clean.

All in all, it gets the job done.

You don't think the AK-47 is so popular because it looks good, do you?

Sasori wrote:Then, they stand back up, and melt the Russ.

they stand back up....aaaand get blown back up.


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Scipio Africanus wrote:You don't think the AK-47 is so popular because it looks good, do you?

In the western world, it's popular because of memetic devices.


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Weirdly enough, the DW rules don't have weights for Tau weapons. Must not be intended to be used by player characters?

Bolter. Caliber size: .998

For those of you with real firearms knowledge... that is a massive massive round. That gets my vote.

IronSnake wrote:Bolter. Caliber size: .998

For those of you with real firearms knowledge... that is a massive massive round. That gets my vote.

Meh, the modern world has bigger, Next!

IronSnake wrote:Bolter. Caliber size: .998

For those of you with real firearms knowledge... that is a massive massive round. That gets my vote.

Heavy Bolters aren't a basic weapon. Boltguns/Boltpistols use a .75 calibre round.

Id say a shoota.
Its all the weapons combined with some wire and one trigger!

Too inacurate and short ranged IMO.

Sparks_Havelock wrote:

IronSnake wrote:Bolter. Caliber size: .998

For those of you with real firearms knowledge... that is a massive massive round. That gets my vote.

Heavy Bolters aren't a basic weapon. Boltguns/Boltpistols use a .75 calibre round.

Ohhh that's right. I forgot. Still... .75 is a huge round.

IronSnake wrote:

Sparks_Havelock wrote:

IronSnake wrote:Bolter. Caliber size: .998

For those of you with real firearms knowledge... that is a massive massive round. That gets my vote.

Heavy Bolters aren't a basic weapon. Boltguns/Boltpistols use a .75 calibre round.

Ohhh that's right. I forgot. Still... .75 is a huge round.

And on that topic, how the hell does an average human shoot the Bolt Pistol, with augmetics the handling of said pistol makes sense, but without those I would think most operators would end up with a pistol shaped indent on their forehead.

Wardragoon wrote:

IronSnake wrote:

Sparks_Havelock wrote:

IronSnake wrote:Bolter. Caliber size: .998

For those of you with real firearms knowledge... that is a massive massive round. That gets my vote.

Heavy Bolters aren't a basic weapon. Boltguns/Boltpistols use a .75 calibre round.

Ohhh that's right. I forgot. Still... .75 is a huge round.

And on that topic, how the hell does an average human shoot the Bolt Pistol, with augmetics the handling of said pistol makes sense, but without those I would think most operators would end up with a pistol shaped indent on their forehead.

With boths hands, in the prone, with a buttstock, and a tripod mount.

That's no joke too. My .45 caliber 1911 provides quite a bit of kick. The Desert Eagle .50 caliber is even worse.

.75 in a pistol would be... not good on the wrists.

I think that the bolt pistols normal humans use are a lot smaller than those used by marines!

I'm sure that there is a marine one in the Soul Drinkers books that is captured and it is too big for the normal people to use.

Melissia wrote:

Sasori wrote:Then, they stand back up, and melt the Russ.

they stand back up....aaaand get blown back up.

Only if they stand around and stair at the Russ waiting for them to reload, otherwise the Russ is nothing but dust.

Castiel wrote:I think that the bolt pistols normal humans use are a lot smaller than those used by marines!

I'm sure that there is a marine one in the Soul Drinkers books that is captured and it is too big for the normal people to use.

There are definitely boltguns/boltpistols made for humans hands - several Guard sprues have them, the Sororitas use them and some Commissars/Inquisitor models have them. From the BL Eisenhorn recieves a specially crafted bolt pistol as a gift from the Deathwatch, I think it was.
At Warhammer World in Nottingham, England, there is a scale model Stormbolter in a case. From the size of its grip and the trigger I'd personally need to use at least three fingers on the trigger with the other (aching) hand/arm to support it. They're big ol' things and even humans with huge hands would have trouble using them, I think.

Some are not really getting the question.

Which is the the best for service NOT which is the most powerful.

Bolter Big,heavy must carry large amounts of ammo that can only come from supply.

Shoota Fluff wise not really a weapoan more a psy. focus

Shuriken Catapult ammo that can only come from supply.

Splinter Rifle ammo that can only come from supply.

Gauss Flayer large,glows in the dark unknow power not easy to replace.

Flesh Borer not a weapon but a phy ability like spiting

Pulse Rifle unknow power not easy to replace.

lasgun light weight, easy to sevice, can be adjusted to be a sniper rifle to the power of a bolter. can be recharged with anything from the sun to your morning cook fire. Cheaper to make.

And the bolter still gets my vote. Uses simple ammunition and is very powerful. I also can't imagine them needing much maintenance. During the entire months long war of Helsreach not once is it mentioned that a bolter malfunctioned. The servo's in the Black Templars' power armor started to wear before their weapons did.

Steel Angel wrote:Some are not really getting the question.

Which is the the best for service NOT which is the most powerful.

Bolter Big,heavy must carry large amounts of ammo that can only come from supply.

Shoota Fluff wise not really a weapoan more a psy. focus

Shuriken Catapult ammo that can only come from supply.

Splinter Rifle ammo that can only come from supply.

Gauss Flayer large,glows in the dark unknow power not easy to replace.

Flesh Borer not a weapon but a phy ability like spiting

Pulse Rifle unknow power not easy to replace.

lasgun light weight, easy to sevice, can be adjusted to be a sniper rifle to the power of a bolter. can be recharged with anything from the sun to your morning cook fire. Cheaper to make.

Remember, that power is a very important thing, also remember that with lasguns yes they can be recharged with fire, however it is VERY bad for the magazine (iirc magazines can only be charged that way a few times, and also it takes time to do so), also remember that many lasguns don't have power settings. Gauss flayer would not be easily replaced, however there is something to be said that with millions of years of inactivity that the weapons still operate, also it can pierce armor, from Flak armor to Land Raiders.

Steel Angel wrote:Some are not really getting the question.

Which is the the best for service NOT which is the most powerful.

Bolter Big,heavy must carry large amounts of ammo that can only come from supply.

Shoota Fluff wise not really a weapoan more a psy. focus

Shuriken Catapult ammo that can only come from supply.

Splinter Rifle ammo that can only come from supply.

Gauss Flayer large,glows in the dark unknow power not easy to replace.

Flesh Borer not a weapon but a phy ability like spiting

Pulse Rifle unknow power not easy to replace.

lasgun light weight, easy to sevice, can be adjusted to be a sniper rifle to the power of a bolter. can be recharged with anything from the sun to your morning cook fire. Cheaper to make.

You seem to be making the assumption that we are picking the best weapon for guardsmen to use, and that is as illogical assumption because most of the weapons listed CAN'T be used by guardsmen. Not to mention at no point did the original poster say who we were selecting the weapons for and as three of the choices -gauss flayer, flesh bore, and shoota- would only work in the hands of the group that originally made them it would be a logical to assume that the OP meant "Which is the best basic weapon in the hands of the original owners," therefore the majority of your arguments are invalid. Ex: a bolter would be neither big nor heavy in the hands of a SM, The power source of a pulse rifle would not be unknown to tau and so on and so forth.

I can see how you would think that. But I'm choosing and list by if I was forming an army.

If you go by "Which is the best basic weapon in the hands of the original owners," then you have to break it down to what the units job is.

IE: All SM are shock troopers not Infantry so their weapon is for that.

Dark Eldar are raiders so their weapon is disigned for quick in and out actions .........ect ect

so I'm not going by which unit has the best gun.

I'm choosing the best rifle alone not in anyones hands, But as if they are sitting on a table and I need to buy one.

gauss flayer, flesh bore, and shoota- would only work in the hands of that one group. To me anyway means it';s a good weapon ,But not the best cause noone else can use it.

So if G.I. grunt,Ellen Eldar,And tom Tau are shopping in a market which would be the best rifle to choose.

But thats just my 2cents on it.

But what do I know I'm still playing with toy Armies going pew pew all the time

the question as presented is pretty much up in the air and open ended as to what it means. It basically amounts to 'what you think is the best weapon' and it doesnt really ask or expect any logic, because of how open ended it is. You can't compare 'best weapon for Eldar/Dark Eldar' 'best weapon for Ork' 'best weapon for Necron' 'best weapon for Space Marine' or 'Best weapon for guardsmen' because they're all different and they have different abilities and requirements.

For the arguments to go anywhere in this thread some sort of framework has to be set up.

Agreed all answers are right all are reading the question different. Lol

It's not a matter of 'right/wrong' its a matter of appropriateness. Bolter or shuriken weapons don't suit Dark Eldar needs generally because they are meant to subdue and capture, often with great pain. And when they do kill, that is also designed to be deliberately painful (which is rather inefficient) because pain is something the Dark Eldar want and desire. It suits their purposes for that. But for most anyone else (except maybe Adeptus Arbites) DE weapons would be inappropriate and ineffective, because it does not suit the roles to which those forces are employed.

Harriticus wrote:Which army's standard service rifle is the best in fluff? Go go go go go.

Is this even a question? A bolter is of course! They freekin explode when they hit their target.


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Steel Angel wrote:Some are not really getting the question.

Which is the the best for service NOT which is the most powerful.

No dude, the question says "Which is THE BEST"

Not the best for service, which service gun is the best.

In that case I'll stand by what I said, pick the pulse rifle and outrange everything with a very respectable fire power.

Remulus wrote:

Harriticus wrote:Which army's standard service rifle is the best in fluff? Go go go go go.

Is this even a question? A bolter is of course! They freekin explode when they hit their target.

I thought they exploded after a time delay. Either way that could be a bad thing. Like if they do in fact explode on contact they wouldn't be as good at penetrating armor as explosions don't do penetration, and if they explode after a time delay they could ricochet and damage/injure friendlies. I suppose they could have both, like explode on contact after a time delay, which would still have the latter problem.