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.

Hey folks,

Generally wondering if the 6th ed rules about blast weapons and scatter might make a Venerable Dreadnought (BS5) somewhat more viable with a plasma cannon ... I've always kinda liked the idea of the plasma cannon (AP2 blast!) but it never seemed really effective.

Granted, for the same points cost you can get an assault cannon (which definitely has advantages with BS5 and rending), but with 1/3rd chance of hitting on the scatter die and an average scatter of 2" (7 being the most common roll on 2d6) and a 3" blast marker it feels like the Plas Cannon is most often likely to get at least 1 hit per shot, with the possibility of more (which makes me somewhat unhappy about trying to run TDA this edition).

What do y'all think?

Venerable Dreadnoughts as a rule have always been too expensive. At least since 3rd edition. You are halfway to a second Dreadnought with a single Venerable Dreadnought, and if you have the FOC slots a second Dreadnought would be better than one Venerable Dreadnought pretty much always.

Plasma Cannons are wicked awesome at killing MEQ/TEQ in the open or when they arrive from Deep Strike. But they can't hurt Flyers or AV 14, they're overkill for your typical horde-lings, and they can't cause Instant Death to T4 critters. So they tend to lose out to the slightly cheaper Missile Launchers which are better against a variety of targets.

That said, when I take Bjorn I give him a Plasma. Not overheating and limited scatter is nice. But there are only two lists I've ever seen where it was okay to take Bjorn competitively, and one of them doesn't work in 6E. On regular Dreadnoughts I'd stick with Autocannons, Assault Cannons, and Multi-Meltas.