Post by majorspeirs on Jul 17, 2012 20:09:32 GMT -5
Under 5th Edition the Master of Ordnance (MoO) was always a questionable purchase due to its considerable unreliability. The advent of 6th Edition has me considering a MoO instead of the simple Lascannon for my cheap CCS build. I’ve always liked just a single lascannon in my CCS, as it an inexpensive backfield unit that can chip away at vehicles and terminators all game with a BS4 Lascannon. Furthermore if it dies a horrible death it doesn’t overly affect my game plan.
Since blast weapons now hit armour at full strength under the whole template a deviation of 4 inches will still hit the average vehicle (if it scatters sideways – when scattering lengthways, or over larger targets, 5 inches will still hit). The MoO is barrage but he may fire directly – if he fires directly at a target in LoS then he subtracts his BS from the scatter as well. This means that the MoO effectively subtracts 8 inches from scatters (though commonly 9 inches is more appropriate). Against armour the MoO is suddenly a contender for replacing my CCS Lascannon. As an engineer (almost), I wanted to know roughly where these two now stood:
Mathhammer Time:
Having crunched numbers (using the conservative 8 inchs) the MoO lands a hit 58% of the time while the Lascannon hits 85% of the time (when ordered to Bring it Down - I’ve factored the likelihood of passing the order test). It gets interesting as the MoO gets “2D6 and pick the highest” for armour penetration, as he is ordnance. Whilst glancing hits are less likely penetrating hits are more common. Now, when the hit and armour penetrations are combined (and penetration damage table results ignored), we get the following likelihoods for the removal of Hull Points (I’ve also included an unordered BS4 Lascannon):
- - - - MoO - TL Las - BS4 Las
AV10 - 0.58 - 0.85 - 0.67
AV11 - 0.56 - 0.71 - 0.56
AV12 - 0.52 - 0.57 - 0.44
AV13 - 0.44 - 0.43 - 0.33
AV14 - 0.32 - 0.28 - 0.22
So, if facing AV10 or Rhino spam the ordered Lascannon is by far the better choice. Against anything of AV12-14 the MoO is comparable. If the CCS chooses not to order themselves then the MoO is a better choice against everything except AV10.
There are a number of other considerations which must be factored into this:
- The MoO has unlimited range, can tackle infantry, but he cannot snapfire so can’t move if he wants to shoot. He can shoot at things out of LoS, but in doing so he is considerably less accurate (though he hits vehicles on side armour). Furthermore he is only AP3 and can’t take pot shots at fliers, and is 10 points more than the Lascannon.
- The Lascannon depends on Bring it Down, and often the CCS orders are more valuable to be used on nearby heavy weapons teams and veteran squads. It is not that great when tackling infantry units, but being AP2 it can chip away at Terminators or equivalent and gets a bonus on the damage table when it penetrates. The Lascannon can snapfire, which means it can still more and shoot, and can shoot at flyers (which means it may as well move in turns it chooses to, as it is hitting on 6s anyway).
These results may seem inconclusive, but they are in fact a huge bonus to the MoO. They show that the MoO can now actually a viable choice for a cheap CCS instead of a Lascannon. Before he was just a fun model for larger or friendly games, who occasionally landed a hit but wasn’t that competitive. Now that the MoO actually has an improved effectiveness (against armour anyway) he becomes a viable choice, which is great as he is one of our most characterful models. The choice I have presented between a MoO and Lascannon is now more about personal preference about character and the mitigation of small weaknesses as opposed to, “I could take the effective unit, or I could take the fun but more-often-than-not useless unit”.
I hope this is of value to somebody. I certainly intend to give the MoO a go from now on. If somebody wants to check my math, send me a PM your email and I’ll send my spreadsheet.
If I've overlooked anything, or if anybody has any alternative views, please speak up.
Since blast weapons now hit armour at full strength under the whole template a deviation of 4 inches will still hit the average vehicle (if it scatters sideways – when scattering lengthways, or over larger targets, 5 inches will still hit). The MoO is barrage but he may fire directly – if he fires directly at a target in LoS then he subtracts his BS from the scatter as well. This means that the MoO effectively subtracts 8 inches from scatters (though commonly 9 inches is more appropriate). Against armour the MoO is suddenly a contender for replacing my CCS Lascannon. As an engineer (almost), I wanted to know roughly where these two now stood:
Mathhammer Time:
Having crunched numbers (using the conservative 8 inchs) the MoO lands a hit 58% of the time while the Lascannon hits 85% of the time (when ordered to Bring it Down - I’ve factored the likelihood of passing the order test). It gets interesting as the MoO gets “2D6 and pick the highest” for armour penetration, as he is ordnance. Whilst glancing hits are less likely penetrating hits are more common. Now, when the hit and armour penetrations are combined (and penetration damage table results ignored), we get the following likelihoods for the removal of Hull Points (I’ve also included an unordered BS4 Lascannon):
- - - - MoO - TL Las - BS4 Las
AV10 - 0.58 - 0.85 - 0.67
AV11 - 0.56 - 0.71 - 0.56
AV12 - 0.52 - 0.57 - 0.44
AV13 - 0.44 - 0.43 - 0.33
AV14 - 0.32 - 0.28 - 0.22
So, if facing AV10 or Rhino spam the ordered Lascannon is by far the better choice. Against anything of AV12-14 the MoO is comparable. If the CCS chooses not to order themselves then the MoO is a better choice against everything except AV10.
There are a number of other considerations which must be factored into this:
- The MoO has unlimited range, can tackle infantry, but he cannot snapfire so can’t move if he wants to shoot. He can shoot at things out of LoS, but in doing so he is considerably less accurate (though he hits vehicles on side armour). Furthermore he is only AP3 and can’t take pot shots at fliers, and is 10 points more than the Lascannon.
- The Lascannon depends on Bring it Down, and often the CCS orders are more valuable to be used on nearby heavy weapons teams and veteran squads. It is not that great when tackling infantry units, but being AP2 it can chip away at Terminators or equivalent and gets a bonus on the damage table when it penetrates. The Lascannon can snapfire, which means it can still more and shoot, and can shoot at flyers (which means it may as well move in turns it chooses to, as it is hitting on 6s anyway).
These results may seem inconclusive, but they are in fact a huge bonus to the MoO. They show that the MoO can now actually a viable choice for a cheap CCS instead of a Lascannon. Before he was just a fun model for larger or friendly games, who occasionally landed a hit but wasn’t that competitive. Now that the MoO actually has an improved effectiveness (against armour anyway) he becomes a viable choice, which is great as he is one of our most characterful models. The choice I have presented between a MoO and Lascannon is now more about personal preference about character and the mitigation of small weaknesses as opposed to, “I could take the effective unit, or I could take the fun but more-often-than-not useless unit”.
I hope this is of value to somebody. I certainly intend to give the MoO a go from now on. If somebody wants to check my math, send me a PM your email and I’ll send my spreadsheet.
If I've overlooked anything, or if anybody has any alternative views, please speak up.