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Hi, im having a 1,500 game tomorrow and just sorting out my list.

I dont get much spare time to model/paint/game due to the army and as such im still quite a noob to rules and FAQs.

My question is, i know plasma cannons cant be used to to overwatch or move and fire snap shots, what about shooting flyers?
i guess that comes into 'snap firing' but just needed some clarification.

thanks

This is a rules question and no, blasts cannot shoot at flyers.

Fresh on here so not up to date with 'customs' but thanks!

No prob. Welcome to Dakka!

The denial for shooting Plasma Cannons at flyers(or even hitting them) is twofold:

1) You cannot snapfire Blast weapons and you Snapfire at Flyers, so you cannot even target them with the gun.

2) If you were to somehow give the model with the plasma cannon Skyfire, or the blast scattered onto the flyer, you still could not hit them because the flyer rules specifically state that Blasts cannot even hit them.

Both of these are in the flyer rules under the "Hard to Hit" rule.

Mostly true.

It's zooming flyers that cannot be hit by blasts.

If the flyer is hovering it's just a skimmer, and as such you may nuke it with as much plasma as you want.

No, you cant shoot at flyers with it.
when a flyer is hovering, it is essentially a skimmer instead of a flyer in terms of shooting at it. Once it zooms again, then it reverts back to a flyer in terms of targeting it/limitatons.
Welcome to the forums.

Kinda going off topic a little, it never made sense why a blast weapon couldn't hit flyers, isn't that how flak cannons worked in ww2?

 kitch102 wrote:
Kinda going off topic a little, it never made sense why a blast weapon couldn't hit flyers, isn't that how flak cannons worked in ww2?

Sort of. Flak shells didn't explode because they hit, but because they had some sort of specialized, built in mechanism that caused them to detonate when they reach a certain altitude.

Most blast weapons in 40k are of the "explode on contact" kind. I suspect the reason why they can't hit flyers is because they are too slow, or they aren't designed to go that high...or something. I'm assuming the Flak missiles in the new 6th ed codices use a similar mechanism as the WW2 Flak shells.

There is 1 blast weapon that can hit flyers. It's fielded by the Aquila in stronghold assault.

Rules-wise, blasts can't target Flyers because, if they could, they would be insanely powerful compared to other things in the game. Even if the firer had to use BS1, there'd still be a 1/3 chance that a blast could "hit" a flyer on the scatter, thus making it much more accurate than any other non-skyfire weapon. Hence, no blasts on Zoomers.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 kitch102 wrote:
Kinda going off topic a little, it never made sense why a blast weapon couldn't hit flyers, isn't that how flak cannons worked in ww2?

Sort of. Flak shells didn't explode because they hit, but because they had some sort of specialized, built in mechanism that caused them to detonate when they reach a certain altitude.

Most blast weapons in 40k are of the "explode on contact" kind. I suspect the reason why they can't hit flyers is because they are too slow, or they aren't designed to go that high...or something. I'm assuming the Flak missiles in the new 6th ed codices use a similar mechanism as the WW2 Flak shells.

There is 1 blast weapon that can hit flyers. It's fielded by the Aquila in stronghold assault.

Does it have a special rule that allows it to hit flyers?

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Does it have a special rule that allows it to hit flyers?

Yes. The blast itself doesn't hit flyers, it has a special rule where a flyer can be damaged or killed if the line between the gun and the blast template crosses the flyer. The part that "hits" the flyer is not a normal shooting attack with hits/armor penetration/etc.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 kitch102 wrote:
Kinda going off topic a little, it never made sense why a blast weapon couldn't hit flyers, isn't that how flak cannons worked in ww2?

Sort of. Flak shells didn't explode because they hit, but because they had some sort of specialized, built in mechanism that caused them to detonate when they reach a certain altitude.

Most blast weapons in 40k are of the "explode on contact" kind. I suspect the reason why they can't hit flyers is because they are too slow, or they aren't designed to go that high...or something. I'm assuming the Flak missiles in the new 6th ed codices use a similar mechanism as the WW2 Flak shells.

There is 1 blast weapon that can hit flyers. It's fielded by the Aquila in stronghold assault.

Does it have a special rule that allows it to hit flyers?

Yes. Sonic Boom on the Quake Shell. Though it doesn't really work by targeting the flyer.

What happens is that you shoot the quake shell at a non-flyer unit, and if there is a flyer between that unit and the Aquila, and on a roll of a 1 that flyer dies.

Gah, ninja'd by peregrine.