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 Grey Templar wrote:
If Guard are beign charged, they are dead anyway. At least squads that are toting plasma around.

This is how I feel about it.

 kcwm wrote:
I always fire, but not the combi-plasma in the Space Wolf situation, unless it was a unit of Terminators charging me. Wasting that once in a game shot on a chance to hit on 6s isn't worth it to me.

qft

I only use my combi-weapons when they can be most effective.

I will agree with that one as well. If its a combi weapon, unless a flamer/skorcha, I wouldnt waste it either. UNLESS the unit in question will more than likely be wiped out. Then, fudge it, shoot em

Always fire the Plasma Guns... but I'm a Tau Player, so I don't know what problems you silly imperials would have with that!?
(I know because of Gets Hot!, but you silly imperials don't have the sense to turn your gun down a tiny bit so it doesn't explode when you fire it.)

Hey, Im an Ork player at heart. We have the KMB, we take the Imperial ways of melting ourselves, and make it even stronger! HAH!..............................wait what was your point?

Just weight it up.

Whats the chances of firing the plasma gun and hitting, wounding and them failing a save AGAINST the chance of the gunner surviving cc, hitting and wounding in CC. I'd suggest the vast majority of times the str and AP of plasma will make the shoot more likely to kill, so your probably gonna want to shoot it.

Not to mention its AP2. So yea, fire the blasted gun. Itll probably miss, but if it doesnt, then guess what? Something is probably dead.

Besides, I dont get why people are so scared of plasma. You have a 1 in 6 chance of it fudging up, and even still you get your armor save, its pretty unlikely your going to die from it. So whats the problem?

Marines should always shoot plasma I think. 3+ save or in some cases 2+ save means they rarely die to "gets hot". Granted its a slim chance to hit with snap fire, but much greater chance of your opponent dieing to the result than you dieing to the bad roll.

So it will common that they will die anyway or will probably not die to gets hot.

The rest of time it isn't really a mathhammer situation where the average result shows the best way.
Moreover if you get a few lucky plasma hits then that can really change the tide of a messy cc towards your favour, whereas a few deaths to get hot can shift the momentum away from you.
All I am saying is there are fairly likely black swan events to take into consideration.
In this case either boosting your cc or making it more likely that you will lose in the first turn and leave the enemy in the open, both which should be cool.

Hetelic wrote:
Just weight it up.

Whats the chances of firing the plasma gun and hitting, wounding and them failing a save AGAINST the chance of the gunner surviving cc, hitting and wounding in CC. I'd suggest the vast majority of times the str and AP of plasma will make the shoot more likely to kill, so your probably gonna want to shoot it.

Okay. With a Marine firing, you have a 33.3% chance of a hit, and then a 33.3% chance of a Gets Hot. With a 3+ save, it goes down to 11.1% chance of the Marine actually being removed as a casualty. Against most models, after the 33.3% chance to hit, you have around a 27% chance of doing a wound, which of course is unsaveable because it is AP2. Then you have to factor in invulnerable saves and the like. For a Guardsmen, the chance of being removed is doubled to a 22.2% chance of suffering a wound. So 1 in 5, not terrible odds.

However, there are rarely reasons to not fire! Heck, some dude on the first page posted a massively unbalanced scenario to prove as to why plasma guns shouldn't always be fired, but the fact of the matter is that it's still a good idea to use them.

Again, this is a game of dice and anything could happen.

Its not a 33.3 % chance of Gets hot!, its only a ~16.6% chance of gets hot, so its ~5% total chance of gets hot killing a marine.

I totally agree with the other Guard players, if a squad gets to fire overwatch, that squad is most likely dead anyway, so the kill(s) they would get from overwatch would just be a pure bonus.

As a Vanilla space marine player you really want to fire that plasma.
If you are lucky(!) you will die 25% to the plasma overheating and you can chose to fail the Ld test and fall back. And sneak away from the assault.

Vombat wrote:
As a Vanilla space marine player you really want to fire that plasma.
If you are lucky(!) you will die 25% to the plasma overheating and you can chose to fail the Ld test and fall back. And sneak away from the assault.

Hmm, are you sure you take a leadership test if you lose 25% of your own squad while firing overwatch? That seems unlikely to me, but I don't have the rulebook here.

Lately I have been running a IG/SW allied army with a Rune Priest in the blob. The blob has plasma, the RP has divination. So I get to re-roll the ones for Get's Hot. I fire my plasma every time...

Last I checked you take Ld tests at the end of a phase you took 25% casualties in, if you aren't locked in combat (which has its own rules regarding that).

Though it could have changed.

 TheLionOfTheForest wrote:
Its not a 33.3 % chance of Gets hot!, its only a ~16.6% chance of gets hot, so its ~5% total chance of gets hot killing a marine.

He's talking about rapid fire, so 2 shots at 16.6% each equals a 33% chance of one of those rolling a 1.

From the perspective of somebody who charges into lots of plasma units, overwatch can be a scary thing.

In my footdar army, I am either charging with a fortuned harlequin troop, a wraithlord or the avatar.

Overwatched plasma into my harlequins is laughable, as I will probably ignore the wound. That said, it might take one down before I mince the squad, so no reason not to fire.
Against my MC's, plasma is incredibly dangerous, and since my opponents know they are dead(even plague marines die easily to a wraithlord) overwatch plasma is worth it. I try to get precision shots on these units before I get to charge range.

Overall, I think overwatching plasma is a good idea unless you know you will win combat and the charge is a last ditch effort by your opponent. Also, probably best to save combi plas unless you know you will lose.

I play tau and we dont suffer from overheat so....yes absolutely I fire plasma on overwatch

I play Orks, our plasma not only gets hot, but we use Krak missiles as a platform for the plasma shot. So fudge yes we over watch it

As a Space Marine Biker/Dark Angels Ravenwing player (if for what ever reason i do end up in a posisition to be assaulted) i have Twin-linked Bolters so it depends entirely on the unit that is assaulting.

MrMoustaffa wrote:For IG, we're dead either way, may as well take a few down with us on the way in.

This is true for when i use my Guard.

Peace Out!
Jonny!

Yea, TL weapons in 6th are just so much better now. I love rerolling for that 6, you always seem to spit a bunch out on that reroll