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I would have said the same thing. Then again, I have already seen at my own company how little trust the powers-that-be place into their customers' intelligence nowadays. In many cases, this is certainly deserved, yet I continuously deplore how great games get simplified in order to appeal to the smallest common denominator.

And I can certainly imagine some kid going crazy because "hellguns" don't have anything to do with flamer templates. :(

Then they could have come up with a far better name. The "Storm" pattern Heavy Lasgun comes to mind immediately as one potential.

Thx for the replies and I will call them hellguns then, way cooler

I also thinks that Hellgun is better.
I don't know about TT rules but as for fluff... having much more stronger version of Lasgun that can fire fullauto from medium to long range is much better to me then a rifle that is stronger but fires slower and on medium range.

There is no doubting that the "hot-shot lasgun" sounds like a three year old attempts at word lego.

though i have just been reading over some old fluff and indeed the Hellgun is different to the Hot-shot lasgun.

as far as i know the difference lies in the powerpack. the hellgun is a slight improvement on the Lasgun as the pack provides a slightly more powerfull (but more thursty) shot so the backpack gives the extra storage.

the hot-shot is a much more powerful shot and comes from an overcharged cell whith the backpack giving the nessasary capasity.

i think it is simmilar to Larkins sniper as one minuate hot shot is one shot per cell the next you have a few shots its all a bit frustrating that people cannot keep the fluff straight (as per my confusion ealier)

Other sources indicate that the hellgun is powered by a backpack while the hotshot is a standard lasgun (or a long-las variant) with a powercell, analogous to the magazine carried by a modern assault rifle. Yet still other sources indicate that the hotshot isn't a weapon at all, but a type of specialist powercell used by long-las rifles as a sniping charge.

Psienesis wrote:Other sources indicate that the hellgun is powered by a backpack while the hotshot is a standard lasgun (or a long-las variant) with a powercell, analogous to the magazine carried by a modern assault rifle. Yet still other sources indicate that the hotshot isn't a weapon at all, but a type of specialist powercell used by long-las rifles as a sniping charge.

it's frustrating they can't keep the fluff straight

Or perhaps like other lasweapons, hellguns come in different patterns and designs that can be powered in different ways. Having a backpack power source is all well and good, but it has drawbacks (thermal signature it presents, the fact you can have a large quantity of energy strapped to your back that could be unleashed very violently if it takes a hit, etc.)

Personally I think they just spelled Hellgun wrong from the start. It should be HELgun for High Energy Laser, obviously (A grunt translation of Mechanicus terminology, perhaps)

Flinty wrote:Personally I think they just spelled Hellgun wrong from the start. It should be HELgun for High Energy Laser, obviously (A grunt translation of Mechanicus terminology, perhaps)

That's rather a smart idea; I like it.

Well troops always end up nicknaming things differently. Best example, US tanks in WW2. To the Americans they were identified as the M4 or M3 or M8. The British, being British, nicknamed some after US Civil War Generals or other things. M3 'Lee' & M3 'Grant' (British variant), M8 'Greyhound' and T17 'Staghound' and, of course, the M4 'Sherman'. These nicknames all ended up as official designations in the end.

So maybe the Hellgun started off as the HELgun, but Guardsmen would be more likely to start calling it the Hellgun because it's a gun that sends the Emperor's foes to the very depths of whatever hells exist. Then, maybe, the term Hellgun stuck and became official. However, not all Hellguns are referred to as such officially. The Krieg XIV (Heavy) is only referred to as a Hellgun by the Korpsmen themselves.

chromedog wrote:In 2nd ed they were "hotshot lasguns".
In 3rd ed they became "hellguns"
In 5th they went back to "hot shot lasguns".

Yep. It was a change back to the original terminology.

That doesn't mean the original terminology was not ridiculous.

As far as I know "Hellgun" is a term coined by a Black Library writer (I'm looking at you Dan Abbnet) which has been largely adopted cause it sounds cool.

Hot-Shot lasgun is the official term for the guns that Stormtroopers carry.

The oldest wargear entry I have on it is the 2nd ed IG codex.

And then two editions between where it's Hellgun.

DeffDred wrote:Maybe they didn't feel that "Hell" was an apropriate prefix for an imperial weapon.

Wrong