4 plasma cannons.

[Montuhotep]

As part of my army building project I'm currently in the throes of doing a Devastator squad - full 10 man. At the moment it stands as 2 launchers, 2 plasma cannons.

Now, as this squad is kitted out to look like Dark Angels (dressing gowns aplenty) I'm seriously pondering the idea of 4 plasma cannons, just for the fluff reasoning that as the first of all, they're meant to have a profusion of them. And plascans are fun anyway - I had quite a bit of luck with them over the last year and a bit.

 

Sensible, or daft as all get out and keep with the launchers?

[Something Wycked]

Depends. Do you face a lot of MEQ opponents? I do, and my 4xPlasCan Devs wreck face.

[Crimson Hawk]

Personally, they are WIN. The amount of carnage 4 can cause is just phenomenal. Except when they all blow up, at the same time, killing all 4 gunners. True story.

[Montuhotep]

I haven't really faced a lot of anyone at the moment! Only really played 5 times in the last year and a bit - 2 Guard, a nid and a dark eldar army. Did nasty things to the Guard, was totally swamped by the bugs and it was half dead DE, half dead Marines so not really a strong comparison one way or t'other.

[Something Wycked]

As an example of what I mean, facing my buddy's Chaos army, he DS'ed a group of Terminators behind my lines to get combi-weapon shots at rear armor on my vehicles. My PlasCans opened up on them and didn't scatter a single shot- even the shots that rolled to scatter rolled 4" or less on the dice, so didn't move. That was something like 6 hits x 4 shots = 24 hits... He couldn't make enough Invulnerable saves and the unit vaporized ;)

 

If you don't face much MEQ, you might be better off with the original mixture you planned. It'll be cheaper and more versatile- Frag Missiles do the same thing to Nids, Eldar and Guard that PlasCans do to MEQ, and they're much cheaper and have better range AND can switch to Krak mode to knock off their vehicles.

[Ethrion]

I've done it before and yeah four plasma cannons is awesome fun. Just be ready for some to fry themselves and have other weapon options in other units to destroy armour.

[Aduros]

As part of my army building project I'm currently in the throes of doing a Devastator squad - full 10 man. At the moment it stands as 2 launchers, 2 plasma cannons.

Now, as this squad is kitted out to look like Dark Angels (dressing gowns aplenty) I'm seriously pondering the idea of 4 plasma cannons, just for the fluff reasoning that as the first of all, they're meant to have a profusion of them. And plascans are fun anyway - I had quite a bit of luck with them over the last year and a bit.

 

Sensible, or daft as all get out and keep with the launchers?

 

4 plasma cannons in a 10 man squad, hmm...

[KingDeath]

Very expensive and only moderately useful. Even meq armies will be heavily mechanised which makes plasmacannons ( w00t scatterweapon ) of questionable worth.

How the Terminator story from a few posts above works is beyond me. Shouldn't the Termies have fired their combiweapons on arrival? Do i misunderstand something?

[Brother-Sergeant Bohemond]

The termies were focusing on rear Armour of tanks, while in the players next turn amazing luck from 4 PC wiped them out. None scattered of target and the Termies failed to save 24 saves....

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

Used to love the plasma cannon goodness of my long fang squads, I just wish chaos havoks could have them, hopefully that will be rectified in the new dex...

[Something Wycked]

Very expensive and only moderately useful. Even meq armies will be heavily mechanised which makes plasmacannons ( w00t scatterweapon ) of questionable worth.

Always remember your meta is not my meta. :) Mechanization isn't widespread in my area. That makes PlasCans only moderately expensive, very useful, and extremely valuable :(

 

How the Terminator story from a few posts above works is beyond me. Shouldn't the Termies have fired their combiweapons on arrival? Do i misunderstand something?

As Bohemond said, but more detail: the Terminators Deep Strike, and instead of Running to un-clump, they shoot. They came in with the intent to destroy vehicles, not my Devastators (who were in cover anyway, so even if the Termies shot at the Devs they would have had only minimal impact on my 10 man squad.) Since they were clumped so beautifully, I scored about 6 hits per non-scattering shot, and none of them scattered. 4x6 = 24 hits, wounding on 2+, saved on 5+. Poof! No more Termies :)

[Sons of the Forge]

YES

 

I run in mostly half my games no less then 8 Devs with plasma cannons 4 in each squad and at times they rip entire holes in armies. Espically fun to watch 10 Terminators vanish off the board. Other times they just blow themselves up. Its very fun to play with them and if like me you will grow to love them. Competitive wise though il be very honest is not were they belong due to their cost and get hot risks. Its more for fun play really.

 

P.S. I count myself as one of those PLASMA NUTS out there :)

[Atlantic]

I think Missle Launchers are a better choice.

 

They are cheaper and multi purpose. I've been running a 3 dev squad list and sometimes I run 12 missle launchers. With the exception of dreadnaughts in drop pods they mess stuff up. 12 krak missles into a marine squad is devastating.

[Sons of the Forge]

I've been running a 3 dev squad list and sometimes I run 12 missle launchers.

12 krak missles into a marine squad is devastating.

 

Thats acturally a brilliant idea why didnt I ever think of that. Cheapish and quite effective.

[KingDeath]

Very expensive and only moderately useful. Even meq armies will be heavily mechanised which makes plasmacannons ( w00t scatterweapon ) of questionable worth.

Always remember your meta is not my meta. ;) Mechanization isn't widespread in my area. That makes PlasCans only moderately expensive, very useful, and extremely valuable ;)

 

How the Terminator story from a few posts above works is beyond me. Shouldn't the Termies have fired their combiweapons on arrival? Do i misunderstand something?

As Bohemond said, but more detail: the Terminators Deep Strike, and instead of Running to un-clump, they shoot. They came in with the intent to destroy vehicles, not my Devastators (who were in cover anyway, so even if the Termies shot at the Devs they would have had only minimal impact on my 10 man squad.) Since they were clumped so beautifully, I scored about 6 hits per non-scattering shot, and none of them scattered. 4x6 = 24 hits, wounding on 2+, saved on 5+. Poof! No more Termies :)

 

My apologies but in that case your opponents are simply using comparatively weak lists. We should not give out advise based on subpar lists, at least not as long as we have to assume that the op's opponents play with stronger and therefore heavily mechanised lists.

Regarding the termies, what the warp was your opponent using? Six termies ( i assume six termies because every plasmablast caused six wounds ) for termicide ( there is no other reason to use Chaost Terminators )?

Still i think that a compromise is in order. For casual gameplay where opponents bring suboptimal lists ( huge chaos termi squads, Defilers, footlists, spawn or AunVa okok, just kidding noone brings the spacepope or spawn :P ) then plasmacannons might be acceptable.

For harder, more competative lists, missile launchers ( cheaper, good against light to medium vehicles, acceptable against infantry ) or, even better, no devs at all might be more advisable.

[AKA_Tattoo]

I've had decent luck running 4 PC in 1 dev squad and either 4 Las or 4 ML in the other. I also put a PC or 2 in my Tac's, just cuz I LOVE plasma!!

[Mysticaria]

I've had decent luck running 4 PC in 1 dev squad and either 4 Las or 4 ML in the other. I also put a PC or 2 in my Tac's, just cuz I LOVE plasma!!

Wow. That's pretty expensive way to get lascanons into an army. Only reason to do this is if your heavy support slots are all taken. For 240 points you can get a pair of combipredators which has 4 lascanons and 2 autocanons. Meanwhile a dev squad with 4 lascanons is something like 310 points.

 

For devestators, I like 5-guys with 2x missile launchers in a rhino for 155 points. It gives them a way to deploy on Dawn of War deployments, and in regular deployments they can either go in a building or a rhino bunker depending if you need the rhino for anything else.

 

I've also seen plenty of people taking small 5-man squads in razorbacks, again it gives them deployment options and another gun on the razorback for less than 200 points. The only option this one doesn't have is firing from inside the vehicle.

 

On Plasma Canons... it depends on your typical targets. If you played here that unit probably wouldn't do much because... when shooting at rhinos, dreads, predators, wave serpents, and chimeras... plasma canon < missile launcher. If you find your static infantry unit often wanting to shoot at infantry standing around in the open.... then go for it. That just doesn't happen where I play.

 

-Myst

[AKA_Tattoo]

Only reason to do this is if your heavy support slots are all taken.

 

 

or if you don't have any preds or razorbacks for the army yet <_<

[Ming]

I too have been putting plasma cannons in my dev squads. Anyone who tells you its a bad idea probably likes to deep strike units or has invulnerable saves on everything. Add a librarian for null zone, and many of the heavy hitters of the codex world just collapse...

[DarkGuard]

I've also seen plenty of people taking small 5-man squads in razorbacks, again it gives them deployment options and another gun on the razorback for less than 200 points. The only option this one doesn't have is firing from inside the vehicle.

 

That would be me <_<.

 

Recently I've been running a 5 man Dev squad with 4 missile launcher, and points allowing a las/plas Razorback. Comes to 150-225pts, depending on whether I have room for the Razorback. Useful squad to have, as mass missile launchers can deal with most things, and even a 5 man squad can be quite durable in cover. Of course, it suffers from the problem of being made up of special models, so any hit will either take out a missile or the Sergeant, no bullet catchers.

 

As for quad plasma cannon, on the one hand it's handy to mass them like that, as if one Gets Hot! you still have another 3 most likely to shoot. And against most armies on foot they can be devastating. Impact against mech is slightly lessened, although 4 S7 templates can still do a good job against light vehicles, we all like the Rifleman right?

[Mysticaria]

Only reason to do this is if your heavy support slots are all taken.

 

 

or if you don't have any preds or razorbacks for the army yet :tu:

Yeah, forgot about that one. Also thought of one more... if you don't take any vehicles, like in a foot list, you'd want to consider max devs.

 

-Myst

[spartan249]

The Quad Plasma Cannon devastator squad fills a niche that is not covered at all by Missile Launchers: mass model removal. Missile Launchers kind of cover anti 3+ save and cover anti-light vehicle and anti-light infantry. Plasma Devs create a devastatingly dangerous situation for squads that attempt to use deep strike as their means of conveyance or must traverse open terrain to engage your army. When they are protected adequately (= bolstered ruin and a 10 man squad), they are a major pain in your opponent's side and are an obstacle that must be negotiated before their infantry can really breathe easily.

[MagicMan]

On their own four plasma Cannons seem like a bad idea against mech armies, but thats looking at them in a vacuum.

 

Complimenting the rest of your army, 4 PC shots against a unit thats just bailed out of their transport (And is likely fairly bunched up, and not in cover) is golden.

 

 

Not exactly the same, but in a game yesterday i used my friends Orks against meched up Chaos, everytime the Lootas destroyed a Rhino, the Battlewagons kill-Cannon would lay the smacketh down on the disembarked squads. I was fairly lucky with the scatter dice, but still. Same rule applies.

[Mysticaria]

On their own four plasma Cannons seem like a bad idea against mech armies, but thats looking at them in a vacuum.

 

Complimenting the rest of your army, 4 PC shots against a unit thats just bailed out of their transport (And is likely fairly bunched up, and not in cover) is golden.

 

 

Not exactly the same, but in a game yesterday i used my friends Orks against meched up Chaos, everytime the Lootas destroyed a Rhino, the Battlewagons kill-Cannon would lay the smacketh down on the disembarked squads. I was fairly lucky with the scatter dice, but still. Same rule applies.

I know it sounds good to kill stuff after it hops out of a transport, but it never seems to work where I play. T-fire canon would do similar damage for much cheaper and still allows to upgrade a ruin. Reason for this is that units are not really "bunched up" when they get out of a rhino (definately shouldn't be if they are getting out of an ork transport since they are open topped) and they are also "in cover" so they are getting a 4+ or 3+ save (MEQs can go to ground then play combat tactics tricks). Its just a lot of points that must rely on other units to do its job, and even in an ideal situation it isn't that good. I guess my opinion versus mech is that "plasma canons aren't bad in the right situation, they just aren't that good".

 

Now, as mentioned, if your opponent plays lots of terminators and deep strikes a lot without drop pods, they can be awesome. Depends on your metagame.

 

-Myst

[Guest Drunk Guardian]

I would love to run something like this but I frequently play against Mechdar with several Wave Serpents and Fire Prisms...

 

How would everyone here deal with something like that when running 4xPC?