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This has been bothering me for a while and a search of this forum turned up nothing.  So, my question is, why would anyone carry a plasma gun?  You are essentially playing russian roulette every single time you fire.  You would have to be utterly insane to fire a gun that will potentially kill you 1/6 times or even 1/3 times if you are rapid firing.  Plasma weaponry is supposed to represent an ancinent and lost technology that was increadably powerful.  If the gun blows up 1/6 times you shoot it, how are these things still around?

Personally, I'm thinking of house-ruling plasma to be exactly like tau plasma.  One less strength makes more sense for use against troopers (how many times have you really needed that Str7?) and killing the space marine carrying it on 1 out of every 18 shots is insanity.  I realize the rule is in there for balance, but does it really make any sense?  Can't we drop it by one strength point?  That would take some of the min/maxing out of the standard las/plas squad and make everything a bit more reasonable.

Not that it makes things much better but you can safely assume that most models removed from the game as casualties aren't actually dead, just injured or incapacitated for the rest of the engagement.

Under that presumption we can say that imperial plasma guns aren't quite as fatal to operate as they would appear at first glance.

As far as the "How are there any plasma weapons left?" question goes, note that the weapon overheats, but it doesn't mean that it is necessarily destroyed.

Allowing for pictures of bandaged plasma gunners it implies you get surface burns, not lethal wounds. This is a problem of itself.

As for dropping the S by one point, the regulator technology is no longer there so you get the full 'runaway' reaction. Until the plasma technology was lost the Dark Age plasma guns were likely safe and S6, just like Tau and Eldar technology.

Heh, when converting trooper to carry plasmaguns I often dont bother resculpting the hand holding the forestock. Now I know why -- he is a "veteran" Plasma gunner with his trademark stump!

Just like in the U.S. Army, when a weapon overheats it is often discarded until it can be given to an armorer. Just imagine its something pretty simple to fix on a durable weapon that the tech priests have forgot how to do.

Orion

Ok, I suppose all of that makes sense. I would really like to see a rule such that the trooper drops the gun because it is hot and uses a pistol of some sort for the rest of the fight rather than becoming a casuality. But I guess that is something to be house-ruled.

I've always thought of IG with plasma weapons as being punished.
"Bob, you get the plasma gun today."
"Why? What did I do?"
"What do you mean? It's a powerful weapon!"
"Yeah powerful enough to kill me. Can't I just have a lasgun?"
"No, take the weapon."
"How about some gloves? Don't we have gloves in this century?"
"No, now take it and get out there."
"No please, I'll do anything, not the plasma!"

Why would you give unarmored troops a hand held weapon powerful enough to incapacitate a space marine in power armor holding it?

Ahaha. Nice dialog. I completely agree.

It makes sense rules-wise for balance, but I think I will just house rule it so that the trooper drops it and uses a pistol. If Dan Abnett's Space Marines did it, so can mine.

I always imaging that they have a safely feature that vents excess plasma should the weapon reach a critical temperature.

Unfortunately it might mean that things get a little bit exciting for the user but at least ity doesnt actually explode.

You probably could justify it as it overheats, gives the user 2nd degree burns, and puts both of them out of the battle until the medic and techpriest can get to them...

I always assumed the guy had to run back to the local techpriest when the gun overheated. He couldn't fire it anymore because its hot and it just expelled all its ammo, so he really isn't usefull to his buds, and so he would hurry to get it fixed in time for the next battle. That way they don't get so many "lost" in action, and it explains why somebody else doesn't just pick up the gun after it cools down. The fact that the carrier often got burnt by some errant venting just hurried him along. If the person survived the armor save then their gun is still capable of operation and has ammunition remaining, so they can stick around.

I know this isn't fluff but I run a four man plascannon dev squad and at most usually lose one man per game this way. This is after they have decimated two troop units, a light vehicle squad and diabled a vehicle. So its worth it to me.

Don't they give the guards weilding it gloves, that would make sense?
Then they would'nt get burned all that much. :S

Please don't post in ages-old threads. It's perfectly alright to make a new one instead. Thanks!