Plasma weapon Question

If a model is out of range it doesn't roll to hit so can't overheat. They must know they are out of range.

The accepted practice around here is to roll to see if it overheats anyway, since the shooting unit doesn't necessarily know they're out of range, even if you do. In the rules, it says that the unit simply misses if they're out of range, which implies that someone has pulled the trigger. Either simply not worrying about it, or rolling to see if the plasma weapons overheat is fair game, I think.

We (our gaming group) never roll as the rules state that they automatically miss and we just play it that way. We figure no need to add injury to insult.. you already lost your chance to shoot anything meaningfull. It would have to be a house rule as there is no official rule on this.

In the Shooting Process (pg.81) you roll in step 3 so if you stop at step 2 you don't go to step 3. so you would not roll.
1. Choose a target:
2. Check line of sight and range
3. Roll to hit
4. ...
that's how I see it

Precisely. If they're out of range, you don't roll to hit, and since you don't roll, you can never roll a '1' for them, and the plasma gun will never go *foom*.

because there is no pre-measuring in 40k, i play it that when you measure, thats pulling the trigger, so a plasma gun still risks overheating.

i think its personal, RAW or house rules.

We always roll to see if it overheats, as a consequence of 'jumping the gun' so to speak.

While it says that shots that are out of range automatically miss, nothing says those shots were never fired. A plasgun that is fired out of range is still fired and should still (IMO) be subject to an overheat roll.

However, it;s not really supported by the rules, so as far as I know, it;s a housefule.

But one that most people I play with have no problem.

Plasma Guns overheat a silly amount already. No, you don't need to roll since you never actual fire the gun. The Bolters find range for the Plasma if you need a fluff explanation.

I usually lose 3 Plasma Cannon troopers to self-inflicted wounds in a given game anyway, so there's no point making things even more ridiculous.

Ordo Xeno Commander said:

Sorry to be rude, but have you payed attention to the last couple of posts. The rules state if it is out of range, it *automatically misses*. this implies that shots have been fired and therefore the weapon can overheat even if not in range

​

Click to expand...

Let me try to break it down for you.

You automatically miss. You do not roll to hit. Since you do not roll to hit, you cannot roll a one.

I'd love for you to demonstrate how you can roll one or more ones on zero dice.

You're making the classic mistake of confusing fluff with rules.

Read leomunz's post. You check range before rolling to hit. If you're out of range, you don't roll to hit, regardless of what the fluff suggests the rationale for the rule is.

I've already stated that I prefer to play it the other way, but the rules clearly agree with Asmodai.

The plasma gun description says "when you roll a 1 to hit"
Not "when you fire the gun, roll a d6 to see if it overheats"

If you do not roll, you cannot roll a 1.

Now I houserule it so that if you declare your plasma gunner to be firing and he;ls out of range, you have to roll for overheat. Just to give people more incentive to ;learn how to eyeball range more effectively ;-)

Of course, I also give you the option to fire only 1 shot at under 12", or even declare that your plasma guns won;t fire with the rest of the squad. Not like I'm out to screw the plasgun users ;-)

you don't actually have to fire everything, we always say that the plasma guy doesn't have to shoot cause if thats the case then if you had only pistols and a plasma gun, and he HAD to shoot, then it could prevent you from assaulting. so what we do is announce that you are not firing a specific weapon at the beginning, Imagine if you accidentally had your flamer guy in the back of the squad and he HAD to shoot.

so in the situation you choose not to fire a weapon so that you may assault, and then choose not to assault later on, does that mean you are cheating, I certainly hope not.

I didn't mean to imply that every weapon has to fire in a squad all the time. I was just pointing out that in my games I do roll for overheats on out of range shots, but that there are plenty of options for avoiding them as well.

ahh right. i got confused, as im prone to do after a day of bmxing and work

Because of 2" coherency you have some in range and some of the unit clearly well out of range. Then you can get what often happens -- a unit that hasn't moved again fires at a unit that hasn't moved either and took no casualties that will affect range.

It's things like this that call for Keeping It Simple. You measure, then roll. No roll means no overheat.

As stated before though.. any model may choose to shoot or not shoot. I can measure for range and find Im out of range and if someone wants to be a stickler and claim that I have to shoot weapons I will shoot a single bolter otherwise I choose not to shoot the plasma. Now the only way people have around that is to claim that you have to declare all shooting before you measure and thats just rediculous. I would refuse to play with someone who would be that anal.

Thanks for all the feedback. I have in the past rolled for overheat when out of range and have also played where it was not necessary. I prefer the "measure rang if out no shooting". But I will also play the other way if that is the accepted practice where I am playing..
Thanks again .

I think yes you do have to roll to see if it over heats because a similar thing happened to me with my helblaster volley guns in my Empire army.

Lord Sinkoran said:

I think yes you do have to roll to see if it over heats because a similar thing happened to me with my helblaster volley guns in my Empire army.

Click to expand...

The Helblaster has its own very different set of special rules. It's a completely different weapon, in a completely different game.

Can you point to the page in the 40K rulebook where it says that Plasma Guns follow the rules for the Helblaster?

If not, I'm not sure that's relevant. It's like saying you automatically win a game of 40K when you kill the army general, because that's what happens when you take out the king in Chess.