Orks and Mk I plasma weapons

[Adoni-Zedek]

Chaos marines have access to Mk I plasma weapons, which don’t need to recharge, but have a nasty habit of blowing up when they jam. I think orks ought to have access to these as well. It strikes me as very orky having a higher rate of fire, but a chance of being killed by your own weapon. (In the interests of full disclosure, I don’t play orks at all, though I do face them frequently) Have you guys ever considered this? Naturally, any heavy plasma guns would need to be the modern version, as the Mk I is too bulky to be carried by anything but a dreadnought, but regular orks could certainly carry Mk I guns and pistols.


(whoo hoo! 300 posts!)

[zippysguitar]

sounds like a good idea to me.
adds yet more flair to playin with orks lol.
ive never played with orks for victory but rather just carnage

[El Capitan]

I'm pretty taken to this idea, I think an immediate implementation amy be in order. The only draw back is that Orks can have more Plasma Guns and without the recharge drawback could it be overly deadly?

[James 40K Champ ***]

that was my initial thought.

that and when a chaos one goes up, you lose a valuable marine, but if an orc one goes up, you dont really care

[Adoni-Zedek]

Chaos marines can take lots of plasma guns as well, 3 per 3-9 man squad. Plus the aspiring champion can take one. Still, that may be a good point about the relative cost of the base model.

[carcerdominus]

why not just raise the price of the MK1 plasma for orks say 50% more for Mk1 plasma

[James 40K Champ ***]

Perhaps, but that may be messing around with things too much.

I think im inclined to leave it as it is. The difference between losing a marine and losing an orc is huge

[Simon]

I'm on the side of leaving it as it is as half of the ork equipment is salvaged off the imperials and the other half is built by the meks. Orks aren't technologically inferior as a race, they're in fact one of the more advanced, just having a crude civilisation rather than crude technology.

[Adoni-Zedek]

I recall reading in the chaos codex that most chaos marines wouldn't trade the Mk I's for the modern version even if they had the opportunity. They'd far rather have the higher rate of fire than a safer weapon. This also strikes me as a particularly orky philosophy, which is why I figured orks would prefer that type of weapon. Still, orks can field Badmoon mobz can all take special weapons, and this could make them extra nasty. My opponent already likes to field 15-strong squads of badmoons with plasma guns. Putting them on overwatch makes for a difficult charge. (My next game I'm bringing three biovores in a 2500 pt army. Maybe they'll help me knock them out of overwatch)

[James 40K Champ ***]

Im sure the developers thought about such things when making the army lists.

Orcs can already be really deadly, I dont think anyone would argue they need more firepower.. and as previosuly mentioned, its just not that bad if you lose an orc!

[El Capitan]

This is an interesting debate, in background terms anyway. I think the increased firepower bonus would probbaly mean we should leave it be, that said lots exploding could put plasma all over the Ork lines, altough usually the explosion would jsut kill the model, 18 points lost...no biggy. A chaos marine is 32 points with a plasma though and if he dies and elaves a plasma ball the squad is in big trouble!

[Adoni-Zedek]

Who's your ork player? Why not set up a few games with orks against various other races, let the orks have Mk I plasma, and see how it goes? If it proves overly lethal, you can leave things as is. If it's not unbalancing, the orks gain a new option.

Codex: Orks was released way before Codex: Chaos, so there's no way to tell if they would have had the option, but it's so orky I have a hard time believing the developers wouldn't have given it to them.

[tturen]

An excellent point but It's still a concern for me given the cheapness of Orks in general. Certainly fits the fluff...

[El Capitan]

Why oh why did they not just make 3rd edition the bringing together of all the 2nd edition stuff

[tturen]

$$$$$$$$$

[zippysguitar]

could just make the mk1 plasma extra expensive for orks so it balances it out