Nova cannon Ordinatus idea?

[depthcharge12]

So in a discussion with Athrawes and his Ordinatus today, I brought up an idea that I'm sure many of you ADB fans out there have been secretly drooling about after reading Helsreach.

 

Athrawes is facing off against a homemade gargant today with his Ordinatus, which brought up memories of the massive Ordinatus Majoris Nova Cannon that the Black Templars commandeered for use against the ork mega gargant.

 

I'd like to replicate this, but on a smaller scale as the current Ordinatus platform is a minoris. The low hanging fruit would just to use the rules for the plasma annihilator on the Warlord, but I don't feel that it accurately depicts the single giant plasma explosion (which is what I presume a nova cannon fires).

 

Here's a rough outline of what I'm thinking:

 

Range 180" S10 AP2 Heavy 1, 10" massive blast, instant death, ignores cover, plasma burn*, Coolant cycle**

 

*plasma burn:

This massive weapon fires a plasma bolt with the heat and fury of a mid sized sun. The residual plasma left after the detonation will cling to armored targets and burn through multiple layers of armor until extinguished by crew.

 

If this weapon causes hull point damage to a vehicle or super heavy with an AV, it causes d3 additional hull points to be removed on a 5+ every player turn. Any other result on a die will extinguish the plasma fire and will not continue additional plasma damage from the original shot. Additional shots that cause plasma burn do not stack, but can start plasma burns if one does not already exist.

 

**Coolant Cycle

Due to the fickle nature of this weapon's machine spirit, it needs to vent excess heat and flood plasma chambers with coolant to avoid a misfire or explosion.

 

At the end of the controller's turn in which this weapon is fired, roll a d6. On a 3+, this weapon fires as normal. On a 1 or a 2, this weapon cannot fire next shooting phase.

 

 

Thoughts?

[Marshal Rohr]

A nova cannon is a magnetically accelerated explosive if I remember correctly.

[Athrawes]

Two points:

 

The Nova cannon is a projectile weapon, but the Ryza Pattern Nova Cannon fire a plasma bomb.

 

The Nova Cannon in fluff/lore is supposed to notoriously difficult to aim, I'd recommend adding a rule that the Nova cannon scatters full 2 d6 without subtracting ballistic skill. Since it is using a 10" blast its almost always going to partially hit it's intended target but it needs to represent the notorious difficult of aiming Nova Cannons.

[Olis]

The Nova Cannon in fluff/lore is supposed to notoriously difficult to aim, 

 

Isn't the scale involved magnitudes smaller than the nova cannons normal operational environment? A 40k battlefield is nothing compared to the distances involved in BFG. I don't think aiming the thing will be an issue... ^_^

[Yoye]

the sonic cannon of the minor one has a bigger range/ impact.... a BFG size cannon shot could cover half the board.... you could had it as part of the mission  but due to the size in the lore it would be larger than the warlord and at least a reaver in height no?

[depthcharge12]

Lol the Helsreach one was like a kilometer long right? And that's an actual Majoris Ordinatus class nice cannon.

[markham82]

It should have some type of beam rule like 

 

every thing in a five" wide line between the ordinatus and its target takes a hit. the ordinatus wiped out everything between it and the gargant.

[Frater Cornelius]

Step 1: Choose a 2x2 section on which the battle is taking place

Step 2: Check if the chosen section contains 'Emperor' or 'Omnissiah'. If yes, return to Step 1. If no, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Remove the section and everything on it from the game.

[GhostMalone]

Honestly on a warlord I'd sort of not make it too op.

 

I agree on the physics but I believe the further the distance the target the further the scatter I'd make 30"-180" 30" 1d6 scatter 90" 2d6 scatter 150" 3d6 scatter

[Memento Of Prospero]

Nova Cannon firing calibration protocols: while praising the Omnissiah and rubbing your chest with engin oil, throw a bowling ball down the table. Any models wrecked by this attack are not removed from play, and are instead permanently part of the terrain.

[Arkangilos]

Step 1: Choose a 2x2 section on which the battle is taking place

Step 2: Check if the chosen section contains 'Emperor' or 'Omnissiah'. If yes, return to Step 1. If no, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Remove the section and everything on it from the game.

More like the whole table, lol.

 

The BFG blast covers several thousand KM.

[Pirate Brushes]

Don't nova cannons take up the entire length of the starship they're built into as well? Making them around 2-3km in length. Also the blast in BFG was around 2" diameter, which was like the size of a small moon (but then again, the BFG boards were pretty abstract in their scales).

 

Pretty sure an area of effect weapon for ship-to-ship action would just wipe out entire counties, and coupled with their minimum range they're surely to large-scale for the tabletop?