Cross-posted from Dark Heresy forums for those who don't hang out there so much.

The purpose of these house rules is to address the situations where ranged weapons are used in or into different forms of melee combat. There are very few "new rules" as such, mostly its minor changes, clarifications on what is possible and what is not and which skill (WS or BS) is used in which situation.

Shooting in melee

• Pistol weapons can be used in melee and are treated as normal ranged attacks using Ballistic Skill (BS) with all ranged attack modifiers in effect. This simulates the ease with which small pistol weapons can be used in melee.
• Basic weapons can be used in melee but are treated as melee attacks using Weapon Skill (WS) with all melee attack modifiers in effect. This simulates the fact that while you can get your barrel pointed towards enemy and shoot him the action is more like trying to stab someone with sword or small spear than target shooting. Basic weapon attack in melee can be parried.
• Bows, slings and bolas cannot be used in melee. They require room to operate.
• Heavy weapons cannot be used in melee.
• Grenades can be detonated in melee (its not advisable, but you can do it). Throwing grenades (or anything else for that matter) out of melee falls under the rules of “other actions while in melee”.
  

Other actions while in melee

• Character in melee with active opponent(s) is considered to be pinned into melee. He can attack his melee opponents, defend against them or try to move away but the active melee makes it hard for him to concentrate on anything outside melee. If character wants to make ranged attack or take any other action on target outside melee he must pass Willpower check as if being under Suppressive Fire. This is a normal Pinning test and affected by all Feats as usual. If you pass the pinning test you can shoot of take other actions targeting those outside melee but melee attacks against you are made with +10 bonus.
  

Shooting into grappling

• Shooting a grappling enemy from outside melee range is handled as Shooting into Melee regardless of weapon type.
• Shooting a grappling enemy from melee range is possible with pistol or basic weapons and used Weapon Skill (WS) test with the +20 bonus for attacking a grappling enemy. This assumes the shooter is not the one who is being grappled.
  

Shooting while grappling

• When grappled, you can shoot the enemy with a pistol. This is handled just before the grappling and is a Weapon Skill (WS) check. Shooting while grappling is a full action and prevents you from making a grappling check to escape grapple, wrestling away a weapon or do grappling damage later during the round.
  

Grasping a weapon while grappling

• When grappling an opponent with a weapon you can try to capture the weapon. This is an opposed strength check and is make instead of the normal grappling attack. If you succeed you can, instead of doing grappling damage, take control of the weapon.

Polaria said:

Shooting while in melee . I would rule that every shooting in melee uses the WS not the BS. Shooting while people try to bash your head differs a lot from normal shooting. You don't get the point blank range modifier and the opponent can use parry to maneuver the weapon away from him. When you shoot with a basic weapon you get an additional -10 modifier to hit.

Shooting while grappling is another thing I disagree with. If an opponent holds a weapon in a grapple then that weapon will be playing a big part in the whole fight. So the focus of the fight will be the control of the weapon. I suggest that you make an opposed strength test. If you win then you can fire the pistol instead of inflicting grapple damage. If your opponent is holding the gun, you fire at a -10.

Sister Callidia said:

Shooting while in melee

I've edited the original post in DH forums a bit to clear out a few things: While you do use BS skill with pistol in melee all the normal ranged rules (including the one that Point Blank range is not in effect in close combat) apply. I would personally rule parrying pistols out simply because people trained in using pistol in CQB fashion use it in way which makes parrying it nigh impossible. Without going to a long explanation I just say that parrying a pistol held in contact with shooters own body is a lot harder than parryin a rifle barrel.

Shooting while grappling

This is where I disagree. Yes, if two untrained combatants end up in a wrestling match with one pistol between them it will likely end up with both just staring at the pistol, trying to turn it towards the other one. These rules do allow that kind of hollywood-gun-wrestling. However, people trained in using pistol in CQB fashion won't do that. They are trained specifically to techniques of making the pistol unable to fire unless they want it to and if the opponent makes the mistake of going for the gun with both hands he isn't likely to live to try again later. When two trained fighters (and we pretty much assume 40k world is filled with them) end up in wrestling match with one pistol there it'll be a no-holds-barred punching, strangling, eye-gouging match with one hand on the gun and the other one dishing out hurt.

You are talking about people trained in CQB. For starters such advanced skills should be a talent. Most people will not have training in that.

Shooting while in melee.

The idea of parying is to deny your opponent a direct line with the barrel of gun to your body. A lot of martial arts styles have special techniques to do just this. You can do it with twisting away, making an attack against the arm holding the gun etc. It is much harder to hit somebody close and moving wildly then from a distance.

Shooting with grappling.

Anybody experienced knows that if that gun goes of, somebody ends up dead. So at the very least you will make sure that your opponent cannot use that gun. So if you want to shoot that gun, win a grapple strength roll first. Then make a WS attack to shoot, with the aforementioned -10 if you are not the one holding that gun.

I believe that's why Pistols in CQB have always been considered WS in Games Workshop games.

Sister Callidia said:

Shooting while in melee

Whether you use WS or BS makes little difference to the actual probability of hitting in gameplay. Both skills tend to be within same range. The reason I chose BS is because shooting (even in melee) uses BS in basic DH rules and I wanted to make as few changes to basic rules as possible. Keeping it simple also nicely avoids any confusions on many other points of the basic rules. As for dodging, parrying etc. to avoid being shot... There are talents for that, no need to make rules allow "normal" people to dodge shots in close-up. Non-talented people who don't feel confident dodging bullets would likely go for the gun in grappling fight anyway, which nicely leads to...

Shooting while grappling

Actually, if you think about the basic combat rules and the order the things happen it *will* go to that... During first round the one with the gun gets to shoot once (1) before the grappling person acts. This is the thing that happens when someone in melee distance (2-3 meters) decides to dive into wresting range (0 meters). He might get hit, or might not. If he survives the final 3 meter dash for the gun the one grappling for the gun will make an opposed STR test. If he wins he has the gun. If he doesn't the other person has it. In either case the next shot will be fired next round by the person who won opposed STR test previous round. I see no need to slow the game down by calling for multiple opposed STR checks every round before shots go off.