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Hey all, I recently ran a little test with the Ratling gun, just to see how effective it might be. I did 20 "shots" and recorded the number of shots, hits and wounds (assumed T3 for wounding). I just figured I would share this info with all of my fellow dakkite Skaven players for their benefit. Enjoy!

Test Number Shots Hits Wounds (T3)
1 9 6 4
2 11 8 3
3 MISFIRE MISFIRE MISFIRE
4 13 7 3
5 9 3 3
6 9 6 5
7 MISFIRE MISFIRE MISFIRE
8 10 5 5
9 12 8 4
10 MISFIRE MISFIRE MISFIRE
11 11 7 4
12 12 6 4
13 10 7 5
14 6 3 1
15 9 6 6
16 13 7 5
17 MISFIRE MISFIRE MISFIRE
18 6 4 3
19 13 8 5
20 15 8 5

Avg shots if no misfire: 10.5
Avg hits if no misfire: 6.19
avg wounds if no misfire: 4.06
MISFIRE percentage: 20%


The Misfire percentage can be either more or less depending on how conservativly you shoot... Hope it helps, and as i expand the sample size, i'll expand the numbers for you

Not to be a jerk, but you can figure out the averages statistically. And it looks cooler. But a chart like that would definately be good. Likewise, for just about anything. Though some people don't like it. But I'd like to see some charts of WS vs. WS vs. Str. vs. Toughness. Then you can start making some real armchair general decisions like, even though I'm at a 15% disadvantage, my troops cost 25% less, so it's worth it.

Growing up, I played board games with a bunch of mathematicians from the US NSA. They were always killing me because they'd be standing there and go, "hmm, if I position down on this hill, you have a 23.33% chance of killing my general, but I have a 76.67% of taking no casualties." And I'd be like, "shut up, YAR!" and lose.

My wife is a math major, so i know i could have figured up averages, that way, but i'm more scientifically minded... and like to experiment so that i can have real data, not just a statisticall model. However, i get what you are saying. Good news is it is a free country, and if those people who don't like this type of thing show up, they can just choose not to read it... lol

The most important note however, is the fact that they will blow up or shoot randomly alot of the time

I run 3 of them and love the fun you get.

Also, i like the idea of using real data for once, rather than just math-hammering it all.

You're rolling 3 dice, aren't you? You might keep in mind whether you misfire on the 2nd die or the 3rd, as it effects how many shots will end up randomly firing off or firing at S2.

(When the skaven book came out, I caught a few people cheekily saying "I'm always gonna toss four dice at a time, damn the odds lol" ... Except that while they thought they were being flippant and funny, it was also unfairly loading up their misfires with 4 dice worth of S2 or randomly aimed shots (not always a bad thing, the spin), as the gun jams on the first double, with no additional dice being rolled into it. IF you could just toss X dice, you could simply hurl 7 dice into it (thus assuring a double), and have a massive number of dice pump out @ S2 with luck (or spin into an enemy unit with more luck, which could be manipulated by making sure the ratter is deeper into enemy territory somehow, like behind their lines without being killed).)



- Salvage

The way i understand firing the ratling gun is that you roll the dice one at a time, and after each roll decide if you want to roll another one... maybe i read it wrong, but that is the way that i have been doing the testing... i usually ended up getting to 3 dice each time, but, rolled them one at a time. I might have to look that up later on.

you DO roll the dice one at a time. I think thats what Boss is implying also

Yea, sorry if my rant was unclear. I was kvetching about people tossing X dice in one shot, not one after another as the book says to. Also, I very rarely go past 2 dice, only going for 3 when I roll 1,2 for my first 2 (because 3 shots is unacceptable!)

- Salvage

Oh, Ok... Then i have been doing it right... lol..I guess I'm just more of a daredevil with my ratling gun... Usually the results of two dice are just not enough shots for me, but thats part of the gamble of using one, right?