Auto cannons...

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Sterling191**

TangoTwoBravo wrote:
Unless I've got a bad copy of the MRB or missed an FAQ, the Predator Autocannon does not have Blast in 9th edition (it is not included in the list on page 359).

Can confirm this, so my bad. Of even more interest (to me at least) is the fact that the Armiger Autocannon, which is statwise identical, is likewise not a Blast weapon.

Something be fishy.

**Flinty**

Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:

That said, the Hydra is definitely described as firing high-explosive shells at some stupidly high rate of fire that seems much greater than Heavy 8 [though also, Heavy 8 represents ability to service discrete targets, so presumably it's firing a lot more than 8 shells per turn]

The rules are an abstraction. The number of dice you roll to hit does not correspond in any way to the number of shots fired by the weapon. Just an indicator of how likely the weapon is to be effective against a given target within the undefined time of a single turn.

**Insectum7**

Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
Insectum7 wrote:
Sterling191 wrote:
Insectum7 wrote:
mmm, not so sure about that. Nearly all of them actually had a blast prior to 8th. The Predator cannon got a buff for 8th and it appears to have been representative of a blast.

What weapons did before 8th is irrelevant.
Precedent is always relevant.

TangoTwoBravo wrote:
Unless I've got a bad copy of the MRB or missed an FAQ, the Predator Autocannon does not have Blast in 9th edition (it is not included in the list on page 359).

Yup, checked my BRB too. No Blast, just random shots.

Oh, okay, I was told in a game that it was blast and I couldn't use it to break my pred out of CQC, and I couldn't find the page in my CA and didn't think to check when I got home, so I guess I'm wrong about that.

That said, the Hydra is definitely described as firing high-explosive shells at some stupidly high rate of fire that seems much greater than Heavy 8 [though also, Heavy 8 represents ability to service discrete targets, so presumably it's firing a lot more than 8 shells per turn]

Yeah, the space marines have a lot of options for autocannon-like capability in the rules, though I'm not nearly convinced that a Heavy Bolter, Plasma Cannon, or Multimelta would really able to fully perform the same role with the same versatility and effect of an autocannon based on their lore. Autocannons IRL are really pretty great weapons to stick on things.

Aye. The Plasma Cannon winds up superior in game terms but there's something satisfying about a sustained, high calibre pummeling of metal. At last the CSM can get a ton of them.

**TangoTwoBravo**

Kayback wrote:
Gadzilla666 wrote:
I always considered the auto cannons carried by csm to basically be full auto Lahtis. With bayonets, because, why not?

But with solid AP not HE.

At the risk of talking about real-world stuff too much, our 25mm cannons fire a Frangible Round (for helicopters and trucks etc) and High Explosive Incendiary (HEI-T) in addition to the usual Sabot. We didn't think much of the HEI-T before we went to Kandahar in 2006, then once fighting season kicked in we pretty much tried to buy the world's supply.

So we can imagine that the Chaos Terminators are firing HEI equivalents when they are shooting soft, squishy targets and a Sabot at tanks and power armour. In game effect is the same. Come to think of it, they'd enjoy shooting Frang at soft targets too...