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I'm mostly an IG player, and recently started a SM force as allies and a second army. Whereas before plasma cannons were only available as sponson weapons or on the overcosted Armored Sentinel, I now actually have the option of using them...and I'm not really sure I want to.

Small blasts have always been pretty useless to me. I might, best case, hit 3 people. 90% of the time I can only hit two, and scatter means that I probably won't even hit that 2/3s of the time. Even running PC sponson Executioners, with 5 PCannon shots, I'd generally kill maybe 5-7 marines per volley.

Plasma guns seem to be far better for the exorbitant cost of cannons, although really this applies to all small blasts in general. Am I crazy, or are small blasts just not that good?

Plasma Cannons either punish an opponent for bunching up, deep striking, getting out of a transport, etc. or force them to move differently than they usually would.

I take 3 in my army, at the moment. All it costs me is 15pts, especially since I don't have a ton of missile launcher models!

They've blown up Assault Blood Angels who got too bunched up, fried tanks, put wounds on demon princes, etc.

They're a little better against vehicles since you can reliably get S7 hits. But the above poster has it right, I think. Plasma Cannons are for shots I opportunity. They protect you against risky and dangerous moves your opponent needs to be discouraged from making.

Its harder to get cover, especially since models without cover themselves can be targeted, so more bunching up does happen.

Plasma cannons are best on mobile platforms. My favourite is the dread. Being able to move lets you catch more models out of cover- even if you vaporize 2-3 guy its fairly comparable to other weapons you might have on it. TLLC will probably vape a marine, the HB has a decent chance of at least one but potentially 3. The Autocannon will force 2 armor saves. The assault cannon will cause 2-3 and maybe a rend, up to 4 wounds. The plasma cannon hitting 2-3 guys is fine for me since they are probably going to just vaporize. The juicy shots when you get a bundled up squad are just the cherry on top.

They're fantastic against 2+ save units, like Termies, Sanguinary Guard and the like. The small blast isn't so much of an issue here since the unit is generally smaller anyway - you only need to take out one or two to make a big difference. You're going to be wounding on a 2+ as well.

However, in a Devastator squad they get very expensive very fast. Far better to run them separately, on say a Dreadnought or sponsons, to keep the cost down.

Well, I'm undecided. For IG, plasma cannons pretty much means the Executioner. Which also means (assuming max firing rate) 5 chances per turn to inflict glancing hits on myself. And I'm REALLY good at rolling ones.....................

don_mondo wrote:Well, I'm undecided. For IG, plasma cannons pretty much means the Executioner. Which also means (assuming max firing rate) 5 chances per turn to inflict glancing hits on myself. And I'm REALLY good at rolling ones.....................

Just so you know, the Executioner's main gun doesn't have "gets hot".

I like Plasma cannons aswell on infantry, When a vehicle explodes, wrecked or they deepstike near me i can reliably kill most squads that do.

don_mondo wrote:Well, I'm undecided. For IG, plasma cannons pretty much means the Executioner. Which also means (assuming max firing rate) 5 chances per turn to inflict glancing hits on myself. And I'm REALLY good at rolling ones.....................

I have the same problem which is why I wouldn't use Executioners in 6th. If your just using them as allies you can put one in a tac squad. It is less points than a power weapon and you can combat squad them if you want to move up the special weapon. I would advise against using them in dev squads as you will be paying a huge premium.

I like to use them in my Long Fangs Squad. I usually take 4 missile launchers and one plasmacannon. Since the long fangs can split fire, I can shoot the PC at something different from where the ML's shoot. I also like to use a psyker with divination powers to give re-rolls to hit. That way, if I DO roll a 1, I can re-roll it. This reduces the odds of "getting hot" from 1 chance in 6, to 1 chance in 36 and increases the odds of actually hitting with that small blast from 44.44% to about 70%.

I like to shoot them at anything that has 2+ or 3+ armor - especially terminators - mostly because its really difficult to find AP3 weapons in a SW list, while cheap heavy bolters are AP4.

Admittedly limited... but a slannesh army with a lash sorcerer sets up the opponent for plasma cannon blasts. It is good to force deep strikers to run instead of fire...

I'm not a fan of plasma cannons. They look good on paper but the small blasts don't really put out the fire power you expect. I've run an executioner through out 5th and found it lackluster compared to expectations. It does its job and earns its keep but with a board sometimes literally covered with necrons or dark angels, I would hope for a few more kills here and there. I wouldn't take it a single weapon. It's much more useful in pairs or more. That way you can decimate a squad and finish the left overs off with some small arms fire.

blue_crystal wrote:

don_mondo wrote:Well, I'm undecided. For IG, plasma cannons pretty much means the Executioner. Which also means (assuming max firing rate) 5 chances per turn to inflict glancing hits on myself. And I'm REALLY good at rolling ones.....................

Just so you know, the Executioner's main gun doesn't have "gets hot".

Well I'll be, I had automatically assumed it did. That changes things................

I find Plasma Cannons are very good, once you get past the “Gets Hot” Rule, my rule of thumb is ignore it [not the rule but the fact it can happen] and just go for it.
I used to run a 21 Plasma Weapon List with 11 Plasma Cannons. There are very few armies that will not melt away und that fire power.
After a rebuild of my Marines and turning them into Wolves I ended up with a 5 man Long Pack with 5 Plasma Cannons. I can cripple if not outright kill any infantry squad in one Volley. My favorite target is Chaos Terminators or Oblits.

I use plasma cannons a lot (fielding Obliterators), and they usually deliver.

They are an opportunist weapon, yes, but the 'opportunity' for their use is not hard to come by: enemies arriving via Deep Strike, dropping out of wrecked transports or bunching up to avoid difficult terrain. My cannons have melted MeQs and termis by the dozens, but they do lack volume of fire to deal with, say, hordes of nids and orks. Can't have everything...unless you use a Ward codex.

One of my friends got so tired of having his rhinos cracked and the packed marines vaped by plasma cannons that he started walking the troops in a line behind the empty rhinos across the board for cover. It worked reasonably well until the end of 5th.