Plasma Cannon - Tactics / Reviews

[vulpine]

Looked all over google and I couldn't find much advice on this super heated marine killer!

Its Strenth is good against all infantry including mariens and It cqn take out light tanks. Also its AP is fantastic, but i think its underused, The fact that it scatters with a blast marked it more random, is that what puts people off I wonder?

So:

• Does the randomness (especially for BS3 guard players) put you off?
• Have you used a plasma cannon with success or dismay?
• How so you use it tactically?
• How do the stats (based on BS3) fair in the field? How many SMs does it kill on average?
• As above, how does the Leman Russ Executioner with Plas sponsons Vr SMs fair
(5x as many I suppose)

[loempiaketzer]

ghehe,
i am running a sentinel with plasma cannon at the moment. mostly playing eldar.
i think plasmacannon is a big investment only put on walkers or tanks.
walkers are not the best choice i guess, so putting 75points into it for a single shot is a bit much.
then again, putting some plasmacannon sponsons on a leman rus is a very expensive tank with a big marker on it to take out fast.

the randomness of the blast template... 1/3 chance you will not scatter. 2/3 it scatters and of those scatters i gues 1/8 rolls below 3 or 4 for a minimal scatter.
Then again, you got the invulnerable saves and coversaves and such... so its difficult to determine how many marines it would kill. i also guess any player will keep his units wide when playing against a LOT of templates thrown his way

so i guess, yes it does a lot of damage but its randomness and pointcost is a drawback.
i dont think i helped at all with the questions at hand... but this is what i think of it at the moment.

[vulpine]

That's fine mate, good start. For me, having to think about moving my men in a "wide" formation to avoid weapons can be a pain and that extra little confusion can be the winning thing.

I'm thinking of running a tooled up Plasma Russ and it may attract fire, but that leaves my other things free. I'm also thinking, leave my Russ on the flank to hold it. I think that's something alot of units won't want to walk past or towards.

[Empirespy]

did the maths, if you get 3 marines under each template, from an executioner with plasma sponsons, you will kill roughly 12 marines. That's without cover. Same stats again but with standard, terminators, 8 dead. TH/SS terminators, 4 dead. From one round of shooting, that's pretty good, but as soon as you factor in cover it goes down.

[vulpine]

That's not bad, but your basing that on all hitting???

[Jacob]

I never understood why it even mentions "Get Hot!" under Plasma Cannon's in the Codex seeing how none of our Infantry can equip them and vehicles arent affected...


Also the "Get Hot!" rule itself is very ambiguous. The placement of the vehicle note, right after the wounds, made it rather confusing as to whether or not vehicles did "Get Hot!"

[DadCRO]

They just copied from the SM codex.

[Walrus]

It says somewhere (big red book I think) that vehicles don't get "gets hot" because it's hooked up to the vehicles cooling system.

[charlesmartel]

Not sure where I read it but I heard the same as Walrus.

Also, I find the Executioner w/ plasma sponsons to be a Godsend. It murders everything it hits, and I have lucky dice too

[vulpine]

Yeah, tanks don't get effected by 'gets hot'. Good to here that the Russ variant is viable. Would you stick Pesk in?

[Empirespy]

It's because servitors can take them.
I wouldn't waste Pask on a Blast tank, he's much more useful on a direct hit tank

[Deathkorpsman]

The Executioner with plasma sponsons is already plenty expensive. Save Pask for something that benefits more from his BS4 (as well as being much cheaper) like the Exterminator.

An Executioner is definitely solid. I field one every game now. Occasionally it will totally whiff all its shooting with scatters, but generally it gets some solid hits and that is all it needs. Elite infantry give it a wide berth and it is a super fire magnet. Both of these are to the good if you take advantage of it. People tend to overlook the fact that many of my squads are full of melta and plasmaguns, which are just as deadly, as they try to skirt around the Executioner.

Plasma cannons on a Sentinel seem like a point sink on an odd unit that I've not found a solid use for yet. If I take them, it is usually stock or perhaps with flamers.

[vulpine]

Sounds good. I'll leave Pesk out.

[WestRider]

Going to ramble a bit here. Hopefully some of it proves useful.

I love my Executioners. Amazing Tanks. In general, though, Plasma Cannon are severely overcosted for what they do in 5th Ed. So often, your targets have 4+ Cover available, are spread out enough that it's hard to hit more than one or two per Blast, are weak enough that Frag Missiles would do basically the same, or some combination of the above.

At 46 Points per Plasma Blast, on a durable platform (i.e. an Executioner), Plasma Cannon are pretty good. At 75 Points per Blast on a more fragile platform (i.e. Armoured Sentinels), not so much. On a really fragile platform like Long Fangs or Devastators, they're not even worth 35 Points per Blast, in part because the 36" Range brings them into striking distance of a lot of nasty stuff that the extra foot of Range on the more common Missile Launchers can keep them out of.*

Some math:
1/3 chance of a Hit on the Scatter die
2/3*1/6=1/9 chance of an Arrow on the Scatter die and 1" or less on the Distance at BS3. That's the most that will still hit a single Model on a 25mm Base.
4/9=8/18, compared to 9/18 for a direct fire shot. Not that much difference. If there's even one other Model in the Unit, or that single Model is on a 40mm or larger Base, the Blast actually becomes more accurate than direct fire.

The best place I've found for Plasma Cannon is on an Executioner, paired with something that can pop Transports nicely. Even if they are in a Crater, the passengers are going to be nicely bunched up after that, and even a couple of hits can do horrendous damage.

*There are a couple of other factors here as well. Perhaps most notably, Marine Armies can't bring the same volume of fire that we can, so the extra point of Strength on the Missile Launchers is really important for reliable Transport cracking.

[krasimirova]

If you feel that the price on a Executioner with Plasmasponsons (this is btw the only tank where the plasma sponsons synergize 100% with the main weapon) is too tall.. Consider the Main Battle Tank withj Plasmas sponsons, the LRMBT, being a anti MEQ unit, synergizes okay with the blasts from the Plasmacannons..

This setup comes in at 190 points so the same price as a Executioner.. But with 1 Large blast 8/3 and 2 small blast 7/2.. Sure it looses some of its anti TEQ killing power but has advantages in price and Range.. + Both weapons deny FNP to jump pack BA lists, which is pretty nifty..

Problem with cover.. Well that is 5th edition..:/

[vulpine]

Was about to put my army list down but don't want this to go off subject and onto talking about my list. However a new thread 'New regiment ready for IGMB deployment (Pretorian)' has been posted. Please take a look

[shifty60]

I bring my Executioner every chance I get. I make back his points just about every game. It’s not uncommon for him to blow away a full SM squad in one turn. I’ve had him kill a 5man devastator squad in one turn, kill a 7 man Death company squad in one turn and blow away 5 man assault marines.

Sure the BS3 isn’t amazing but on the 3-5 blasts it throws out it doesn’t hurt that much.

[labadamier]

So, slightly off subject and pardon my "newness," but how does LoS with plasma cannon sponsons work? Can both sponsons fire at the same target considering the 90 degree (i believe) firing arc rule?

[DadCRO]

Don't even get me started...

[krasimirova]

Remain stationary..

Front 45 degree arc.. All weapons..

Sponsons can fire at targets at 90 degree, on their "own" sides.. (So straight ahead all the way to the right/left)

Hope it helps..

[egon]

Apr 5, 2012 3:07:13 GMT -5 krasimirova said:

Remain stationary..

Front 45 degree arc.. All weapons..

Sponsons can fire at targets at 90 degree, on their "own" sides.. (So straight ahead all the way to the right/left)

Hope it helps..

Actually, no. Check the relevant pages in the Core Rule Book. DadCRO can tell you which ones.

[krasimirova]

To be a bit more helpful next time, i'd suggest posting the page then.. That way you don't come of as condescending as you did just now..

Page 59 Main rule book.. Diagram on the side..

Front mounted weapons; 45 degrees as mentioned..

Sponsons; 90 degrees + 5 to 10 degrees, this creats a sweet spot infront of the Leman where the sponsons can't hit.. If you take a ruler and put it down ontop of the sponson and draw a line from the pivot point of the sponson to the hull.. That way you will find the blind spots..

Mind you that there isn't any 100% clear rules regarding the sponsons, and is determind by the position of the sponson on the model..

Hope that help you out labadamier..

Kras..

EDIT: Sorry Egon mate, got a bit carried away there..

[vulpine]

This is odd. So a model 1inc infront can't be hit by the turret (to long) or the sponsons of a Russ, possibly it's Stubber? If his hull is destroyed qnd it imobilised I'd sit mooning an enemy Russ!

[Empirespy]

Tank shock them to the side, then blast 'em!
Does anyone else wish you could actually run over enemies with tanks, and make tank shock a decent move, instead of a last ditched attempt?

[Wraelis]

Oh man, I would love to be able to run over enemies!