Hello Everyone,

Sorry if this question has been asked before but i did a basic trawl through and couldnt see anything before...

How do the other GM's & their players handle the ammunition on Voss pattern hellguns & hellpistols? In the IH it implies that Hellguns can either run off power backpacks (which i am going to assume are the capacitors listed in the errata...) or standard las-weapon energy packs, but mentions nothing about hellpistols needing capacitors.

1) If you can use a standard lasweapon power pack on a Hellgun, how many shots do you get as the basic rules just state "provides shots equal to the ammo stat of the weapon". So is this 40 (giving you ten shots) or can you use a lasgun pack (giving you 60 and thus 15 shots)

2) Whats the reload time on this? The basic weapon stats give 3 Full Actions (which me and my GM interpret as the time taken to change between capacitor units), but swopping a clip over on other weapons takes at most one full action.

3) Is there anything in any of the rules giving the weight of the capacitor unit?

4) If a hellpistol can run off clips or the capacitor, the current RAW makes the capacitor pointless, as a standard "hellpistol" ammo clip (costing 15 thrones) will give it 20 shots, exactly the same as the 50 throne capacitor, because the hell pistol doesnt burn ammo at the 4* rate the hellgun does. Is this right?

My current Gm (being more well read on the rules than me) thinks the backpack unit should give more shots (along the same lines as the backpack units for Meltaguns, Plasmaguns and Flamers).

Any thoughts?

The errata have some info on the hellgun capacitor

"Hellgun" is both the generic term for super-charged man-portable las weapons as well as the specific term describing the basic-class version. Hellpistols are still a type of hellgun, so the special ammo rules still apply. As the individual descriptions of the Voss pattern hell-weapons say, you get 1/4 of the weapon's capacity when you use a standard las powersource. (5/20 for the pistol, using a pistol-class las pack and 10/40 for the rifle using a basic-class). The D'Laku is a special case and manages to eke out 2 extra shots from a basic-class las pack (12/40 shots with a basic las pack).

It doesn't appear that the Imperium manufactures actual "hellgun clips" like they do for other weapons. The charge packs are, essentially, the 'standard' version for all laser weapons (hell-weapons included, which is why you can use them) - they just aren't designed with the hell-weapon's increased energy demands in mind, and don't provide too many shots. The 50-throne capacitors are the backpack version, and grant you 4 times the shot capacity of a charge pack in exchange for carting around the extra weight.

There's no set weight, even in the v3 errata, and they don't differentiate between basic- and pistol-class capacitors. So the 6kg weight given for both plasma and melta backpack feeders would be a good guideline. Alternatively, you could use the "10% of the loaded weapon" guideline given for other forms of ammo (adjust up as you see fit). Hell-weapons are heavier than standard lasguns, so the capacitors would be proportionally heavier. Weight for standard packs used in a hellgun can just be extrapolated from the weight of the generic laser for that weapon class.

Swapping out capacitors would involve dropping/donning a new one and removing/attaching power cables, hence the 3 round reload time. Popping a clip is probably still popping a clip, so should only take 1 round (part of the trade-off with the greatly-reduced shot capacity).

Cool, that will be a great deal of help. Thanks for the responses.

Swapping out capacitors would involve dropping/donning a new one and removing/attaching power cables, hence the 3 round reload time. Popping a clip is probably still popping a clip, so should only take 1 round (part of the trade-off with the greatly-reduced shot capacity).

Depends on how you plug in the clip - you might attach it to the same interface as the capacitors.

Personally, I consider the capacitor stuff still a bit... odd. You obviously can't carry two backpacks - but the elite troops that are normally handed hellguns would likely prefer having a little more than 40 shots. Thus, my solution is to say that your hellgun has a link to a backpack unit into which you can plug several capacitors (up to your encumbrance rating), although cycling between them will still take the 3 full actions. The master unit is already factored into the weight of the gun while the capacitors weigh 10% each.

I spent a bit of time thinking on this (it's bugged me forever as well) and looking at the old Imperial Munitorum Manual entry. I concur with Lathi's post, as well. My idea is that reloading would require replacing not an entire capacitor unit, but a power cell/pack within, which is overall a more complicated operation. For multiple weapons, one could have two separate capacitors (admittedly that a lot of cables to both weapons, but one would be trained to compensate), with further reduction to the backpack capacity, or possibly a model of capacitor designed to accept multiple cells to the same effect.

However, it does look/sound like the older (non-Cadian/Kasrkin) hellguns did have their own specially made power packs, according to the manual and older Storm Trooper models.