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I've seen a lot of people complain about the new scatter rules both online & at my FLGS. Mostly cries of "Wow so an ork & SM have the same chance to hit with only a 2" difference in scatter, Bull!" I propose a new rule that I've play tested a bit & it doesn't seem to unbalance the game.

For scatter weapons roll to hit as normal. If you hit you don't scatter. If you miss roll to scatter as normal however you always scatter (If a hit is rolled just use the little arrow on the hit symbol) & you scatter the full 2D6. For twin linked weapons you may choose to either reroll the scatter or the "to-hit" but not both & it must be declared before shooting.

This is done to compensate for a SM being a much better shot than an ork & it seems to work well.
Thoughts?

Sounds like a decent idea

What about ordinance which always scatters? Maintain the standing rules?

The Odessey wrote:What about ordinance which always scatters? Maintain the standing rules?

Ordnance always scatters even if you roll a hit in 5th ed? If so keep current rules.
Sorry I play Tau, Nids & SM (No ordnance in my list) so I'm rusty on the Ordnance rules, AND some guard players have been cheating

Sounds like a good rule, just it's hard to imagine from a fluff-standpoint. What does it represent when the weapon doesn't fire? That shot scattered so terribly that it completely flew out of the way of the entire battlefield?

What do you mean when it doesn't fire? If you hit, you hit (No Scatter), if you miss (As in a standard marine rolls a 2 to hit) you scatter the full 2D6. Even if you roll a "hit" on the scatter die it will still scatter.

So if i understand this right, you are proposing that a preliminary roll to hit is made before the blast or large blast is placed. This roll to hit is just like with any normal weapon and is dependent upon the users BS.

Then if you hit (ex a marine rolls a 4 with BS3) then no scatter die is rolled. But if you miss (ex a marine rolls 2 with BS3) the shot always scatters and it scatters the full 2D6.


This doesnt seem like a bad idea however it is very in favor of Space Marines. I always justified the current scatter rules being alright because the weapon design is inherently in-accurate. So to me a space marine or an ork could use the weapon with near the same results. Another thing is that for blast weapons 2" is most of the blast and makes a significant difference. I believe the current system is good where its at but dont play with many blasts or ordnance.

...I'm confused. Are you people wanting the rule to be changed to you hitting like with a normal weapon?

Or are you all saying it's always been that way, because it hasn't.

I think the rules should stay the way they are... they're fine as it is.

I'm proposing that the models BS affect his chance to roll a "Hit" and not affect the scatter.
I know it hasn't always been that way.

@mrwittwer, yes it does favor SM, but they aren't the only ones. IG (Especially vets), Tau, Necrons, Tyranids (Many being BS3 or higher now). Almost everything beside orks will benefit & orks won't be hurt that drastically. (only losing the 2" reduction on their scatter)

I'm not saying the rule needs to be changed (I hardly ever use blast weapons) just saying I see a lot of people complain & tried to think of a better way.

The Odessey wrote:
What about ordinance which always scatters? Maintain the standing rules?

You are wrong ordnance weapons use the same rules for scattering as small blast.

Orbital Bombardments always scatter, not ordnance.

It's a nifty idea, but it does seriously favor armies with a high BS. Blast weapons are designed with this weakness: they just don't hit right on target about 2/3 of the time. The way I interpreted it, it's much safer to have a skilled shooter use a blast weapon. An orc in a tank, though, might just "accidentally" blast his own army. I think it also really downgrades the usefulness of the few weapons in the game that are blast and twin-linked (i.e. every CSM's favorite Havoc Launcher).

It might be better if, when the weapon misses, it scatters like normal, rather than the full 2D6". Sorry about my prior misunderstanding, I wasn't really getting it.

ZoomDakkaDakka wrote:It might be better if, when the weapon misses, it scatters like normal, rather than the full 2D6".

Maybe, but I feel if you get an increased chance to hit AND a reduced scatter it would give too much benefit to higher BS armies.

MekanobSamael wrote:It's a nifty idea, but it does seriously favor armies with a high BS. Blast weapons are designed with this weakness: they just don't hit right on target about 2/3 of the time. The way I interpreted it, it's much safer to have a skilled shooter use a blast weapon. An orc in a tank, though, might just "accidentally" blast his own army. I think it also really downgrades the usefulness of the few weapons in the game that are blast and twin-linked (i.e. every CSM's favorite Havoc Launcher).

Well blast weapons did not always scatter. Some you had to roll the hit and if you missed, well you missed.