Well, with the rumors flying about the Internet about potential 6th editions and new codices, I've done quite a bit of thinking/soul searching about 40K. This thinking ultimately led me to a conclusion... Lascannons suck.
Now, I'm not saying this without knowing there are uses for this weapon, and cases in which it might even excel. And, I'm certainly not saying this because I don't like them. As a matter of fact, I can't think of a weapon that epitomizes tank-busting any better, for me. I actually say this with a small bit of sadness, as Lascannons are very iconic for me. But, I just can't shake the feeling that you're wasting your time with them. Most armies that have access to lascannons, also have access to meltaguns. Now, it's been my experience that the mobility of this particular edition of the game has rendered the lascannons' range totally moot. It used to be (at least within my particular gaming group) that the lascannon was the long range tank-killer whereas the meltagun was the assault specialists weapon of choice. But, in the current game environment with plenty of transport vehicles and decent cover saves, pretty much ANY unit can fill that role. Even a squad of guardsmen with meltaguns in a chimera is resilient enough to make it to the enemy tanks to destroy them. Now, to show I'm not totally ripping on the weapon, I'll present my third Tactical Squad to show they are dutifully equipped with a lascannon. I sincerely hope that in the new environment that the new editions propose, that we'll see a resurgence of this iconic weapon.
So, here's to 6th edition bringing back my favorite of tank destroying weapons!
I remember in the early days of 3rd Edition, having to face a squad bearing four of the blasted things...
ReplyDelete...stupid lascannons.
It's true, the lascannon doesn't get much love these days and half the time I think it is because the new codexes charge the old 35 points or them and 1 for a m. launcher. What's funny about that mentality is that at Adepticon, I spoke to one of the top 16, who ran dark angels with two land raiders and just laughed about how people didn't have solutions for it.
ReplyDeleteZoz: Yeah, though it was decidedly a gimmick which only really last for a few games. But, I do remember fondly that squad!
ReplyDeleteOST: That's an excellent point. Nobody really wants to get close enough to a land raider filled with (probably terminators) to pop it with a melta. That might be it's underrated strength!