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I should probably mention first that this is, by point of fact, my first post on Dakka so hello.

In brief I just recently took up 40k after being a longtime 40k lore fanboy. Getting a great deal on Dark Vengeance finally brought 40k into my price range and thus I chose Dark Angels as my prime army.

Regardless, my observation comes from the type of theorycrafting and number crunching that only comes from a man who thinks about 40k than actually plays it.

I was crunching the numbers on my mathhammer spreadsheet the other day, figuring a new outfit for my new tac squad, and noticed just how difficult to use Melta is. The outrageously short range on the standard Melta Gun seems to me prohibitively limiting. With a strength of 8 (only 1 more than the vastly more versatile Plasma Rifle) the melta is exactly as effective against MEQ and other common troop choices. As the primary goal of a Melta Gun is in popping the really heavy hitters it only performs mildly better than other weapon types. Unless you close your troop to within 6" (a seemingly absurd distance to reach given the speed of most heavies) it's effectively a plasma pistol. Even if you do miraculously close to within 6" for the melta bonus it's unlikely to happen more than once a game. In this respect the Melta Bomb outperforms the Melta Gun to a nearly absurd degree in terms of points efficiency because atleast you arn't paying for a phantom second melta shot.

With that realization I decided that taking melta seems a silly idea unless your using it for psychological warfare, or creating the worlds smallest no-go-zone. Granted this zone would be fantastic if there were more melee armor in the game, but given the shooty state of armor today it seems hardly intimidating. I

I know that full melta tac squads are commonly used in drop pods for spot on anti-armor, but still given the scatter inherent in deep-striking it still seems relatively unlikely that the melta drop within 6" of its target.

Having cast off the prospect of vanilla melta out the metaphorical window I look at the alternatives: plasma rifle and flamer. Already having a plasma rifle I feel compelled to choose something else. So the flamer seems a potential close range alternative. Used appropriately flamers are quite efficient and effective. Lacking any hard anti-horde firepower in my current force it seems compelling. But given the choice of heavy weapons (HB, LC, PC, MM) it doesn't synergize at ALL. I could see the Heavy Bolter working appropriately enough (given the anti horde duties), but having to choose between HB and flamer means one is going unused, likely the flamer. This leads me to believe that the flamer is almost entirely defensive, meant for overwatch, but not worth 10 points. If you combat squaded this combo would be alot more viable, but engaging in close combat with a 5 man squad seems unwise.

That brings me to the upshot of my post. Everything which isn't plasma seems to me a woeful waste of points. Perhaps it is my Dark Angels Pro-Plasma chauvinism peeking through here, but the numbers for plasma are just too good (except perhaps the overpriced plasma pistol). If you take a plasma rifle it WILL get you atleast one kill, likely against a MEQ making it points neutral. If you take a PC my EMPEROR you will get kills. Granted you can get screwed on scatter rolls, but in my experience, and in mathhammer you average around a wound a turn, which is crazy points efficient. Even if these kills are against Imperial Guard equivalents it's still paying for itself atleast.

In terms of sheer efficiency an all plasma squad seems best to me, but I'd like to hear some more experienced voices on this. I am but a padawan show me your zen.

If you were TLDNR: Melta: Bad, Flamer: Niche, Plasma: Always Super Fantastic Awesome

Heya!

Welcome to Dakka Dakka!

And...

...are you devious enough to beat Xevious?!?

Thank you sir,


I cannot claim to blame the game,
nor to have the killer skillz that thrillz.
for xevious,
though devious
I cannot trick
the joystick

-The Name's Devious

Hi,

Welcome to Dakka

Knightley is 100% NOT Devious enough to beat Xevious.

You Defenestrate that meltagun!

Welcome to dakka!

Welcome to Dakka! As a fellow DA player, I love my plasma guns too... despite the fact that my dice and I apparently love rolling gets hot!

Sadly, I don't think Scipio Africanus and frozenmilk are devious enough to beat Xevious either!

Welcome to dakka! You are right about the melta weapons and their short rangededness, Sometimes they are crap and sometimes they pop the closest tank in the vicinity... And then become crap. However, this is why you pod them in with melta/combi-melta and NO HEAVY WEAPONS. tactical squads are awful with heavy weapons and should always be kept cheap and mobile, whether in rhinos or pods. If you do want to throw heavy weapons in them, combat squad and leave a 5 man squad in the back for objective camping, (this works best with 48' heavy weapons)

hyozanman is also on the 'doubtful' list in terms of whether or not he's devious enough to beat Xevious...

 Alpharius wrote:
Sadly, I don't think Scipio Africanus and frozenmilk are devious enough to beat Xevious either!

Hello! Welcome to Dakka Dakka!

Byte is almost a Spambot in here - DEFINITELY not devious enough to beat Xevious!

C'MON DAKKA!

IS THERE ANYONE HERE DEVIOUS ENOUGH TO BEAT XEVIOUS?!?

Welcome to Dakka!

Completely agree I use plasma as much as I can get it and it will go great with the dark angels fluff as they love plasma weapons (something from there preheresy lore they had a lot more access to new plasma technology than the other legions)

Hello, and Welcome to DakkaDakka!