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.

So it can fire Ordnance 2 at 72" range... does that mean at half range (36") it can fire 2x(Ordnance 2), basically 4 pie plates? Has their been any official ruling on this?

A weapons name doesn't have anything to do with its rules. Heavy Flamers aren't Heavy weapons and Assault Cannons aren't Assault weapons.

If it doesn't have Rapid Fire in its weapon profile then it doesn't have Rapid Fire

Does a heavy flamer have the heavy rule? Does an assault cannon have the assault rule?

Look at the special rules it has, not the name.

I get the point gents and I'd thought the same at first... but Heavy Flamers used to be 'Heavy' way back in the day remember, and this is a little different you have to admit, we already have the Battle Cannon all over the place, now suddenly a brand new "Rapid-Fire" Battle Cannon that isn't really Rapid-Fire.

But I guess they thought to call it 'Rapid-Fire' to explain away the 2nd shot... which is better than rapid-fire after-all.

Knights had a Rapid Fire Battle Cannon in Epic, when Knights were first introduced, which was the Battle Cannon the could fire twice as much as a normal Battle Cannon. Kind od a no-brainer that GW kept it the same in 40k.

SJ

Yes it IS a rapid fire battle cannon. If you think about the imp guard battlecannons. It shoots once. The imperial knight battlecannon shoots twice. Hence rapid fire

 Gunzhard wrote:
but Heavy Flamers used to be 'Heavy' way back in the day remember

Which day was this? There's no Hflamer in Rogue Trader (1st ed), and it was Type: Assault in my 3rd ed WH Codex.

It was classed as a heavy weapon in 2nd Ed, although at that point it was just a description that had no impact on whether or not you could move and fire it. For as long as 'Heavy' has meant 'move or fire', it's been an Assault weapon.

I don't think most opponents would be too thrilled if you made a superficial connection between the weapons name rather than it's rules to a twenty year old edition of the rules reinterpreted to the current rules to double the amount of shots you got.

It honestly sounds like the kind of thing you'd see posted up on the wall with bits of newspaper and yarn connecting it to the second gunman in the Kennedy assassination.

Four things:

1. Rapid Fire and Heavy are both "Types" of weapons as defined by the rules. The rules for Types state that a weapon can only have one Type. You therefore cannot have a weapon that has two Types without a rule specifically allowing it.
2. Only "Heavy" is mentioned under the "Type" heading of the weapon profile. There is no rule to suggest that the name of the weapon defines its Type - as others have said, you can't use this to claim that Assault Canons are Assault weapons.
3. The rules for "number of shots" state that the number of shots a weapon has its defined immediately after its Type. This further reinforces that Heavy is the weapon's (only) Type.
4. The rules for Rapid Fire don't say that you get to fire the weapon twice at half range; they say you get to fire two shots at half range. Even if you could argue that the RF Battle Cannon has the Rapid Fire type, you still wouldn't get to fire more than two templates at half range. And, in fact, you'd be limited to only one shot at maximum range.