Been trying to fix this one, roll a 9 and lose all your ammo seems a bit harsh, especially if you've got a backpack ammo case. Wondering how anybody else has done it.

I think about it that way:

Keep the flamer jamming on 9 (of course it still does damage), but do not make it destroy ammo. So we have the situation that Guardsman fires his flamer on the heretic. Heretic fails his Agility test and takes damage. Guardsman rolls nine, so heretic takes damage plus must test Agility not to get on fire. But Guardsman's flamer has jammed. He must unjam it (BS test) in order to fire it again, but still he does not lose fuel, as most probably he just has to clean the pipes or fluel ejector.

I think this is the best way, as I don't find good explanation for flamer fuel being destroyed because of jamming without harming the wielder. In case of normal weapons it is viable as ammo loaded in the clip got damaged or stucked, but in the case of flamer it is rather about cleaning the pipes than 'doing something' and changing the fuel canister.

If this option doesn't suit you, you can always give players the opportunity to make their flamers good quality (reliable) at lower cost.

Hope that helps.

I believe what they were going for with the Jam of the flamer was to represent the fuel spilling out on the floor or a hose getting disconnected. I would not say loose all the fuel, just 1 charge. Even if you are clearing ports or lines you would need to loose some fuel in the proccess as you disconnect parts andput it back together.

BlacKat

Reilly said:

The most common way a real-life flame-thrower would malfunction is a problem in ignition system (a dud ignition charge or electrical failure) which would result in either spraying the target with unlit fuel (lose once shot worth of ammo) or nothing at all, depending on if there is safatey catch preventuing the fuel flow when ignition is off.

Polaria said:

There's a good idea, if your Flamer jams you effectively hit the daemon with a squirt gun. That won't piss it off. Could lead to interesting roleplaying at least. I'll be using that from now on

Well you know the whole "lose ammo when jamming" is kinda ridiculous already. I mean, just because there is a jam doesen't mean the other 29 rounds in the magazine are useless or fouled, and with revolvers it would probably only be a dud anyway.

The way I've run it in my game so far is that in the event of a jam the machine spirit has rejected the ammunition so the ammunition is sacrificed to appease it.

If I wanted more realistic flamethrower jams I would have use "unlit fuel" for a simple 9, but roll an die and if you get another 9 (or a 1 like on Reliable), there is a catastrophic failure and the user needs to take an agility test or lit himself on fire as if hit by his flamer.

I'm not really sure about the flamer rules altogether. I mean, since it's an area attack of sorts. What I mean is, why am I more likely to jam shooting at more than opponent than if I shoot at one since any time you roll a 9 on damage it jams?

Netherek said:

I've used that argument to say that flamers roll once for damage, hitting everyone with the same amount.

Well, doing that cuts down on book keeping, but isn't too realistic, since how much coverage you get from target to target can vary drastically. I asked the first of my players that's started using one, which he would prefer and he likes rolling damage for each target. Something about not putting all his eggs in one basket. And since its pretty rare that the can cover a horde, it isn't really too much extra work. The FA guys still take way more time to resolve their turns then he does.

To not screw him I've House Ruled that its only the first damage roll that can jam the flamer. Everything else after that is a freebie.

you burst into falmes for failing the empra....considering lasguns can do that now it doesn't seem too far-feched