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I have no idea what to call it, but here's the rule:

Blast and Large Blast weapons may be fired at flyers so long as they don't have the 'barrage' special rule. When this happens, the weapon is treated as though it did not have the Blast or Large Blast rule, and is simply fired as a normal weapon of its type.

Justification: I can fire missiles, lasers, plasma blasts, ion blasts, bullets, and psyker energy at flying things: But, if at any point any of those weapons suddenly have an area effect, I can't aim them at flying things. I understand them not affecting flying targets when aimed at ground units, but why can't I shoot the weapon at it like I would any other?

Okay, so a missile hits a wall/ground/face and explodes, giving it the aoe...

What does a missile hit in midair?

It hits the flyer and explodes, or misses and hits nothing, just like any weapon that deals damage by exploding even though it doesn't have 'blast.' Space Marines, Tau, Imperial Guard, and Ork all have some variant of missile that is treated the same way you'd treat a bullet, except it usually has a higher strength.

There is a big problem with your proposed rules.

Units without skyfire hit flyers on a 6
Blasts use the scatter die, which is equivalent to hitting on 5+

So now not only can Blast weapons hit flyers, but they are better than at other non-skyfire weapons at hitting in the first place.

Orks get to fire Blast weapons at flyers with no penalty.

I never said anywhere in the rule that they would get to ignore that. If they didn't have skyfire, they'd still be hitting on a 6+, like anything else.

Like I said, the only thing that changes would be that you fire the weapon as though it didn't have the blast or large blast rule. It would be treated like any other weapon of its type (heavy, assault, ect.) you'd just ignore the blast/large blast part.

You can't shoot blast weapons at flyers because blast weapons in 40k represent area-effect weapons that aren't really precise enough to hit a point target like a flyer. A proximity-fused frag missile isn't going to do anything to a 40k flyer because it's only going to hit one by blind luck.

If that's the case, why do I have to aim my blast weapon at a specific model, as opposed to any point on the board I like?

Simple: You still aim blast weapons, the same way you aim Any weapon that deals damage via explosions or the like. How well you aim the weapon is effected by your ballistic skill, the same way anything else is.

However, I find it interesting no one has stated mechanical reasons for this, instead opting to try going for reasons based in realism... in 6th edition 40k.

Necroes wrote:
If that's the case, why do I have to aim my blast weapon at a specific model, as opposed to any point on the board I like?

Because it makes it easier to identify the starting point when you scatter the template, instead of arguing about whether you're really measuring scatter distance/direction from the correct arbitrary spot on the table.

However, I find it interesting no one has stated mechanical reasons for this, instead opting to try going for reasons based in realism... in 6th edition 40k.

So? You haven't given any mechanical reasons for making this change, your entire argument is based on realism. If you want a purely mechanical argument then the system works just fine exactly as it is, and there is no need to change anything.

I think its a good idea.

Take the Battlefield game engine: Tanks vs Choppers.

Tank cannon is a small AoE, and does nothing if sent into the sky and misses. If it hits (slim chance, easily a snapshot), the chopper dies.

I can see this working very well in all complete honesty


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And actually it makes sense, if a Leman Russ sees a Storm Raven bearing down on it, it will not continue to pick on infantry, it will lift its barrel and try and hit the Raven. if it does, well done, you get noticed by something, if not, oh well, you would have died anyway.

Mechanical Reason: Blasts already rape everything in the damn game as it is, they don't need to get any better at it.

no they don't, Blasts don't do a great lot....

And I always thought it was strange you cant snapshot blasts, it would just be a case of you don't minus your BS, and still scatter the direction of the pointer if you score as hit

I understand not snap-firing blast weapons, as a safety protocol if nothing else (though, with certain armies not caring about safety, even that's a stretch)

Mechanically speaking, there's no reason for it to be added. Mechanically speaking, there's no reason for anything to be added, as long as the game is functioning correctly. However, there also isn't any reason for it not to be added. It would just add another option to the game.

How about a rule where you can snap fire blast weapons but they automatically scatter (even on a hit) for the full 2d6. Same rule if fired at flyers but the template can only hit flying models in that circumstance, and one not fired purposefully at a flyer cannot hit it as per standard rules.

 curran12 wrote:
Okay, so a missile hits a wall/ground/face and explodes, giving it the aoe...

What does a missile hit in midair?

It is called a proximity fuse. I see no inherent reason you couldn't put one in an artillery shell or tank shell. It is stupid, but so is most tech in 40K from a logical standpoint.

To make up for the difficulty maybe only hit with blasts when both a 6 and a hit is rolled on d6+scatter die.

Tho personnely i think the problem lies with the weapon catergory blast, along with AA and snap being tied together, could you really see tanks like a vidicator shooting down an air craft?!

No i think youd need to over haul weapons classifications, its not worth the hassel. massed fire and dedicated AA are plentiful enough.

I don't think anyone would use it. Most blast weapons are one shot so if you fire at air craft you have a one in six chance to hit a target. But if any other targets are left on the board you will have a much better chance to hit multiple targets. That and any vehicle mounted weapon that can't actually move vertically is assumed to have a 45 degree vertical fire arc so in most cases vehicles won't be able to target the air craft any ways (but that might just be last edition not sure).