Plasma - Gets Hot!

[Cent404]

Hello,

 

I think I have been playing this incorrectly.

 

Generally I run a tactical squad with a plasma gun and plasma cannon. Sometimes I know the plasma GUN is not in range, but the CANNON is so I shoot anyway and roll the "Gets Hot!" for both guns.

 

Then I was flipping through the BRB and I saw these 2 "statements" in which I think I could have avoided losing my plasma gunner prematurely.

 

Page 16. under the "WHICH MODELS CAN FIRE" heading: "A player may choose not to fire with certain models if he prefers. This must be declared before checking range, as all of the models in the unit fire at the same time.

 

This makes me believe that I should have been saying, "I'm going to be firing all the weapons except the Plasma GUN at target X, let me check range" This would allow me not to roll for "GETS HOT!" for the GUN because I explicitly choose not to fire it before I checked range.

 

Additionally, on page 66. under the "FIRE POINTS" heading: "Unless specified differently in a vehicle's entry, a single passenger may fire out of a fire point and the other transported models may not fire."

 

That statement leads me to believe, When I was firing from a Rhino top-hatch with only the Plasma CANNON, I should certainly have not been rolling for "GETS HOT!" with the GUN as well because that model was not even eligible to fire because of the fire points rule.

 

...So have I been playing this wrong?

 

Thanks a ton guys.

[JamesI]

Well, you can always decide you don't think the plasmagun is in range and not fire it (of course saying this before you check range). Or you can just decide not to risk the gets hot roll and not fire it if you don't want to.

 

And, I believe codex space marines says the fire point lets 2 models fire out.

[Vanor]

And, I believe codex space marines says the fire point lets 2 models fire out.

 

It does, but again you don't have to fire both plasma weapons.

 

And to the OP yes you were rolling when you didn't need to. You can always choose to fire with fewer models if you want to for what ever reason. Even if your plasma gun was in range, you don't have to fire it, in which case you don't have to make the 'get hot' roll.

[Cent404]

Thank you for the quick reply and clarification.

[Wonderbraa]

Have a quick question along these lines, and didn’t think it was really worth a new thread. The other day my friend had 3 chaos space marines in his rhino, one with a plasma gun, which fired, got hot and killed the marine in question. Normally this would of forced a moral check for losing 25% of the squad, but as he was in a transport so we didn’t really know what to do.

 

BRB Pg 63 says the crew is unaffected by moral but the space marines were clearly passengers.

 

As it was largely unimportant by that stage of the game we thought we’d have a laugh and see if we could get them to "fall back" out the back of the rhino and run like girls because one of their number managed to evaporate themselves =D. Unfortunately for us, they passed their leadership test as we missed a comedy moment =(

[Vanor]

Have a quick question along these lines, and didn’t think it was really worth a new thread.

 

Good question. :) Here's my take on it.

 

If you fail a moral check you fall back. But seeing how the Rhino and/or crew can't fail a moral check then it will never fall back. So even though the passengers might be cowering in the back of the transport I would say it's unlikely they'd actually disembark and then fall back.

 

So I'd say as long as they are in the transport they wouldn't be effected by a failed moral check. You could rule I suppose that when/if they disembark they'd have to roll a moral check and abide by the results of that one.

[Walter Payton]

I agree. If you are afraid, why get out of the adamantium box that keeps you safe?

[Wonderbraa]

I agree. If you are afraid, why get out of the adamantium box that keeps you safe?

 

 

It was mostly for laughs, and i guess you could argue that if you are dying in your metal box, you might want to try and hide somewhere a little safer. We pretty much figured you wouldnt need to take a test but as we couldnt find a hard ruling, thought we would have some fun with it.

[greatcrusade08]

I can understand why its not covered in the rules since there are few occasions when troops inside transports take casulties and stay inside..

 

however it is a squad and is techincally on the table for shooting purposes so id say they had to take morale checks as normal.. if they failed im not sure what the result would be, would they disembarkl??? im not sure

 

edit: just so you know its not that marines run away with fear, they fall back tactically to a safer area

[Ntin]

This is one of those situations that are not covered in the rule book. I can see a group of Space Marines hiking up their tabards and shrieking about a body in their rhino though.

[Frosty the Pyro]

I agree. If you are afraid, why get out of the adamantium box that keeps you safe?

Because that adamantium box is not heading toward the (perseved) safety of your table edge.

 

I would personaly allow them to stay in the transport only if the transport follows the fall back rules, excepting that the transport is not immobalized and it is not removed when it reaches table edge (but the passengers are). Passengers may of course disembark and continue falling back on foot at any time (assuming of course they would have been able to dissembark normaly)

[SeattleDV8]

I disagree, the rules on pg. 63 (Vehicles and Morale) talk about the crew being immune to Morale checks and are effected by shaken and stunned instead. Seeing that embarked units are also affected by shaken /stunned while embarked I believe they also are immune to morale tests.

[Isiah]

Yep SeattleDV8 seems sensible rather than making up rules to fit (or don't fit without hideous consequences). Just a quirk of the games in the specific example given by Wonderbraa I guess.