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I also think multilasers don't have the same "stopping power" of heavier weapons. And we all know that Choas has a trait of being quite resillient. So having stopping power is quite necessary.

Hazard30 wrote:I also think multilasers don't have the same "stopping power" of heavier weapons. And we all know that Choas has a trait of being quite resillient. So having stopping power is quite necessary.

The Imperial Guard field Heavy Bolters and Multi-Lasers have more stopping power than they do.

Melissia wrote:

Laodamia wrote:Well, AFAIK, heavy bolters have a much greater rate of fire than multi lasers.

For game purposes they're equivalent. Heavy bolters penetrate armor better while multilasers wound better.

...and yet they're better at penetrating vehicle armour.

Polonius wrote:I'd always imagined that to maintain a steady rate of fire would require far more power than could be man packed. Lascannons proably only fire a few times, but a multilaser should fire more or less continously.

It's also possibly that multi-lasers are simply complicated. They may not be able to tolerate being shoved about in the field.

This diplomatic answer suits me. It's complicated.

If anybody knows how to get their hands on the old confontation rules published in old white dwarves you could find out shots per powerpack. I remember the Lascannon got one shot per pack, but it held 10 packs. I don't remember the multilaser stats.

I think it's about common target type and weapon stats. This argument is about why heavy bolters might be used instead of multilasers:

The Imperial Guard is probably most commonly employed against traitors, rebels, heretics and Orks. Those have something along the following stats:

1. T3 5+ (Traitor soldier)
2. T3 4+ (Traitor stormtrooper/heavy infantry dude)
3. T4 6+ (Orkboy, Nob)
4. T4 4+ ('ard boy/Nob)

Let's look at the Multilaser first, mathhammerwise. One shot nets:

1. 0.55 killchance
2. 0.42 killchance
3. 0.83 killchance
4. 0.42 killchance
Sum: 2.22

The heavy bolter on the other hand:

1. 0.83 killchance
2. 0.83 killchance
3. 0.67 killchance
4. 0.67 killchance
Sum: 3.00

This is a rules- and theorywise support for the following thesis: The heavy bolter, in an anti-infantry-role, is better suited to successfully eliminate the Imperial Guard's more common enemies. It can be argued further that AP4 is in "the real 40k world" more useful against even traitor marines than AP6. Heavy bolters are probably also better for shooting through heavy cover. Going from the pseudoscience-explanations of how both weapons work, a multilaser blast, which has no kinetic energy, might explode on a brick wall, denting it, but not hurting the guy on the other side. A fist-sized heavy bolt will probably punch through the brick, THEN explode and absolutely frag anything on the other side of that wall.

I think it's really about hitting power in this case. HB provides more reliable killiness then MLAS in an anti-infantry role, and IG likes its reliability. The MLAS is therefore probably kept in the light AT role it is able to serve on a Chimera or Sentinel. (Why it is rules-wise better at penetrating vehicle armor than infantry armor might be hard to support fluff- and science-wise, but I guess there might be some lasey plasma-ish effect thingy that might affect the targets electrical systems more than an explosive round punching against the armor, I guess. )


This argument is only related to killyness. It might work in conjunction with the "heavy batteries" argument to form a stronger thesis.

2nd edition Rapiers were single shot, the same profile as a lascannon but they did 1D20 wounds (!) The variable wound die was also figured into armor penetration rolls so the Rapier was about the best thing in the 40k universe for killing greater demons or heavy battle tanks (a little off topic but the Rapier question was raised. And I wish we still had them too)