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FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:

 Pyroalchi wrote:
@ Fezzik: which parts of fluff mention them prefering solid projectile weapons? At least in the 8th edition codex artwork they are shown with lasweapons and flamers

But I don't own any BL books focussing on them

There is no books that I am aware of that focus on who I am referencing. Sly Marbo, Harker, and Strakken are all the most iconic Catchachans in the "Fluff", and they are all pictured using solid round weaponry. There is also this: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/908617.Death_World

How nice of you linking pic of catachans usrng las weapons.

Also look at catachan infantry box. Las, las, las.

Catalhans use las as main weapon. Which btw has power to punch through most things. Power armour is issue. Leave isn't.

Another aspect to keep in mind is the bureaucratic monster that is the Imperial Munitorum.

Regardless of the most effective weapon for a circumstance, a regiment may not end up with it. They may get a standard lasgun because that's all the guard get.

If they're extremely unfortunate, they may end up in a situation like in one of the Gaunt's Ghosts books where they had lasguns but didn't actually receive ammo for them and had to go into battle with the equivalent of two spare magazines.

One of the Last Chancers books has a load of Armageddon Ork Hunters preferring to use autoguns because the loud noises from the solid projectile weapons were more likely to spook the orks when ambushing them.

The lasgun magazines can be recharged in the lore, some by solar, some by thermal energy etc etc, which is why the lasgun is so common, it cuts down logistics considerably.

Well resourced guard regiments, be it ties with a forgeworld or their would is rich can be a bit more flexible with their choosing of weapons.

And some get autoguns because they just happen to come from a world/sector that is one of the main sources for them in the imperium.

You can make the lore fit, choose what you want.

I love the idea that you can recharge lasting power packs by leaving them in the sun. I get the feeling that the amount of power actually required to drive a high energy laser weapon would mean you would not so much need to leave them out in The sunlight, but rather actually drop them into the sun in order to recharge them in a meaningful time. Similarly with fires.

A campfire probably gives out about 100kW of heat energy in total. The thermal converter would need to be pretty magical to scavenge sufficient heat to charge a relevant amount of energy.

You're not supposed to think about the actual energy requirements of any of this stuff!

You need to be careful with explosive weapons when there's lots of intervening terrain. You don't want a heavy bolter firing in support from behind to strike a tree or shrub and explode next to your own guys.

I read the British lessons-learnt from fighting in the Reichswald forest in WW2 and this was specifically something that they noted. HE was too hazardous to use for your own troops, but AP was highly effective at demoralising troops as it smashing through trees and leaves and such made a god awful noise.

Hankovitch wrote:
The 5.56 NATO round is a bit exceptional in that it tends to deform and throw off small chunks when it hits the body (despite not technically being a hollowpoint or frangible bullet, which would be naughty according to our interpretation of the rules of war). This creates a larger and more destructive wound path than it would if the bullet remained structurally intact.

Note a fair few nations do their best to use slightly more expensive bullets that fragment less. There are plenty of situations outside total war that causing disabling but not horrific internal wounds is more in line with your campaign plan.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 posermcbogus wrote:
There was something wrong with the shell, and it didn't detonate when it was supposed to. Went into a tree, THEN blew, turning most of the trunk into flying shards of wood, and dropping the rest on two enemies, killing them. Never forget, OP, the the trees can be your friends, too.

Yep. Plenty of wargame writers with real word experience will say stuff like woodland makes artillery barrages worse and that it is player expected convention it just gives benefits. A few games give an additional negative to troops inside it when shelled, but not many.