My unit has no ranged weaponry other than 'small arms: 15cm' no AP or AT value etc.  Can it still be used to get within 15cm and 'shoot' in order to lay a BM before an assault?

_________________
MoK's Painting Blog
Now Showing:
Mok's Modular Modern Messy Guard Army

Sorted.

_________________
MoK's Painting Blog
Now Showing:
Mok's Modular Modern Messy Guard Army

Hena is right, there's an FAQ on it:

Q: Can a formation with units armed only with weapons that are Small Arms fire at an enemy formation to place a Blask Marker on them ?
A: No. As the rules currently stand, units armed only with Small Arms cannot shoot and therefore can't place a BM on an enemy for causing them to 'come under fire'.

This doesn't really make sense to me from a realism perspective (20 bolters would probably have a fairly equivalent effect as 4 heavy bolters on a tank), and it really doesn't gel with the suppression FAQ from a game-play perspective - if they're not shooting then why on earth can they count as being suppressed?

That was one of the hardest things to get my head around with Epic. The weirdness of some of the abstractions.

Example - Marine Scout Squad w Rhinos (4BM)

Within 15cm of target.
Rhinos behind Scouts = 4 Shots.
Rhinos in front of Scout = 2 Shots.

Within 15cm of Armoured Vehicle.
Shooting = 1BM, no chance of casualty.
Engaging = 4x5+, 2x6+ to inflict wounds.


Example - Tactical Squad (transported) w Rhinos + Hunter (6BM)

Aircraft within 15cm
Hunter closest = AA shot.
Hunter not closest = no AA shot.

I understand how it works for game balance, but it definitely breaks into WTF territory when regarding 'reality'.

Morgan Vening

The game abstracts small arms into a group of weapons that is only usable in assaults. You draw a line somewhere and sometimes it doesn't make sense literally.

The problem comes about IMO from then allowing these non-firing weapons to soak up suppression.

_________________
Guns don't break formations. Blast Markers break formations.

I'd agree, allowing small arms to soak up suppression just muddies the water.

_________________
[url=http://tinyurl.com/bott2015][img]http://i62.tinypic.com/205fcow.jpg[/img][/url]

In terms of reality, it makes some sense.  In general, for various reasons, Squad automatic weapons/support weapons tend to be the last weapons silenced in combat

There's also the aspect of antiaircraft - if the only weapons suppressed were those that were able to hurt the target, it would be vastly easier to silence flak.