Plasma cannons on power-armored marines

[Upstartes]

So, I split a couple of Dark Vengeance boxes with my buddy, and I took all the marines. I now have two tactical marines with plasma cannons, and some previously-owned bits that would let me build a third. I also have a number of other marines with different heavy weapons for swapping in or out of tactical squads or for building devastator squads. In general, however, I have never used plasma cannons on tactical marines before. I'm curious to hear how people use them. Do you prefer them in tactical squads or devastator squads? Do you use them in squads that camp home objectives, or do you put them in squads moving forward - and if so, foot-sloggers or transported?

 

I'm just generally curious about how people use their PC-toting marine grunts.

 

Thanks in advance.

[DarkGuard]

I never use them on Dev squads, just too expensive. I take them on Tactical squads at the moment. They're cheap enough that if I don't combat squad and move them forwards I don't have to worry too much about wasting points. And when I do combat squad they're generally a very powerful weapon which can turn that small Tactical squad into a real threat.

 

At the moment, they're my number one heavy weapon on Tactical squads.

[Muctar]

I never use them on Dev squads, just too expensive. I take them on Tactical squads at the moment. They're cheap enough that if I don't combat squad and move them forwards I don't have to worry too much about wasting points. And when I do combat squad they're generally a very powerful weapon which can turn that small Tactical squad into a real threat.

 

At the moment, they're my number one heavy weapon on Tactical squads.

Seconded. C:SM makes them far too expensive for devs. Great fun, but not most effective.

 

PC's are great on tacticals for the cost. I find myself combat squadding them and leaving the PC on some home objectives, or in other cases dumping them out of a rhino onto a midfield one while the other half of the squad continues to move up and put pressure on the opponent. A few of these can really make a difference in a game, not just for their killing power, but for the threat of what they can do. Many people will choose to forgo shooting and run after deep striking in order to avoid taking a PC blast to every model in their squad, for example.

[Giga]

Plasma cannons are sort of a double-edged sword, and not just because of gets hot. I use 2-3 in most of my lists, because they offer the greatest raw destructive potential available to tac squads (popping a transport and then dropping a couple of plasma cannon blasts on the nicely bunched-up passengers is incredibly devastating), and if your meta is mostly MEQ they're absolutely terrifying to most armies.

 

However, they're pretty crappy against things like monstrous creatures, vehicles, fliers, or just well-spread infantry. And then there's the gets hot! So, if your meta has a lot of MC or horde armies, the bog standard missile launcher is IMHO the better option.

 

As for how to deploy them, there's only one real way: put a combat squad with a plasma cannon in tall terrain or behind an aegis defense line, with good lines of fire. Keep the bolter marines in front of the plasma cannon marine to protect him from shooting. PC can't snap shot, so any sort of movement is ill-advised, you want them shooting all game long. Always pre-measure before firing them, you don't want to have to pass a gets hot! roll and then discover they're out of range.

 

Basically, you want to get opponents into situations where they have multiple units in range of your plasma cannons, forcing them to bunch up or at least have two or more widely spread units in one place, making missing with a blast almost impossible. ANother good thing to do is to block them with empty rhinos and then pop smoke, forcing them to assault said rhinos, blow them up and, because you can't consolidate after vehicle combat, remain nicely bunched up for your PC to roast them.

[Hellios]

There are two units occasions on which I regularly field Plasma cannons. One is my Space Wolf Long Fang squads. Here I team them up with with missiles... They can normally shoot the same target, and I always have split fire if that isn't looking good. The other occasion is with my Dark Angels combat patrol (I've not sorted it out for the new DA codex) which contains a Tactical squad with a Plasma Pistol, Plasma gun and a Plasma cannon, as well as a Devastator squad with 4 Plasma cannons.

 

The restrictions on Combat Patrol games make the Plasma cannon an excellent choice, and as my Space Wolves don't rely on my Long Fangs popping Heavy armor the Plasma Cannons fit rather well with the Missile launchers; they provide a little more bite when it comes to heavy infantry.

 

Plasma cannons can be taken in Dev squads but they are not the cheapest weapons and it takes up a HS slot. So are you happy with your ability to bust armor elsewhere?

 

My preference would probably be to take them in a Tactical squad and hide in cover somewhere, combat squad if you wish. If you are sitting right at the back you might have some issues with range, so consider who you are playing against.. You should be able to hit something most of the time if the enemy is coming towards you. In the first turn you may need to decide if you want to shoot transports with your PC or not. If your heavy AT is going to be shooting at the transports it might be better to wait and fire on passengers, if it isn't the plasma cannons have a chance against the transports.

 

I'm going to disagree with Plasma Cannons not being great against MCs. Not optimal but not bad. Let's see what a Missile Launcher does against MCs with a 2+ save. It's okay against vehicles (but it has a lower strength than a ML and less shots than an AC). I also disagree with the Plasma cannon being bad against well spread infantry... It is less effective against well spread infantry, but I still feel my Plasma cannons kill more marines when they are spread out than my MLs do. Obviously they are a waste against soft gribble.

 

As Giga says you want good LOS, ideally to a large area of the board, and to try and get your enemy to bunch up out of cover. I personally don't find Gets Hot to be an issue. Plasma cannons are great. They should however come after you have sorted your armor busting out. Against IG, Orks and Nids they are overkill most of the time.

 

I would say the PC is around the same level as an auto-cannon or ML, but much better against Terminators. The other two probably win out in different areas. Best advice? Try them out in a few games and see what you think.

[Azash]

I use them in defensive tactical squads. Plasma cannons are a great defensive weapon so I use them to hold a back line objective somewhere.

 

Things like terminators and MC's that people like to rush up and toss in your face hate plasma so a good defensive squad to me is a plasma heavy squad. So Combi-plasma, plasma gun, and plasma cannon all in one squad sitting in some cover or behind an aegis. The only thing your losing is a snap shot with a heavy weapon if you get charged but really one snap shot with a missile launcher is not going to be the end all be all make or break moment of the game. Being able to plate a terminator squad that just deep struck in and take out 2 or 3 with one shot....that can keep your back line alive.

 

If your not getting rushed the PC has just enough range where with a little forward placement or one round of movement by the squad and our PC can now provide some fire support. At the very least its gonna make someone move towards cover.

[Captain Idaho]

Tactical squads struggle to beat opposing power armoured opponents in most situations so a Plasma Cannon is the best way round this. Even though Grey Hunters out class the Tactical Marines up close, putting a few plasma blasts on them swings the situation in your favour.

[Paulochromis]

Don't forget pseudo-devs (aka Sternguard). Quite a lot of lists in 5e featured 5-man, 2PC squads in rhinos (top-hatch).