If I read it right, in effect the Kill-Team has unlimited ammo?

I know this is a Sci-fi/fantasy game, but isn't that a bit much. I am going to be starting 2 campaigns soon (yes, 2 - I have two different gaming groups who are each their own 5 man Kill Team) and I was wondering, what is reasonable in the number of reloads each marine can carry on their person? I would prefer to have them take in account of ammo than go full auto every single combat turn. I like a little bit of semi-realism to the game.

So, my fellow GMs out there (or DeathWatch Masters as my players are calling me lol), how many clips of bolter ammo would you say one marine can carry? What about flamers and such. And honestly, can you see the Devastator with the Heavy Bolter carrying another full backpack of ammo around for a spare?

Any Comments and suggestions welcome.

Oh, for the record:

Team one consists of: 3 UltraMarines- Apothecary, Devastator, & TechMarine, a Dark angels Librarian and a Space Wolf Assault.

Team two consists of: Dark Angels TechMarine, UltraMarines Librarian, Blood Angel Assault, Space Wolf Tactical and Storm Wardens Devastator.

Arkidda said:

Yes and no. The basic purpose of this rule is to avoid what you want to have in your game: ammo management. Only to that end ammo is unlimited. As per RAW, ammo is unlimited unless ammo management is part of the scenario design, the players lose lots of ammo or the players are part of an extensive campaign without resupply.

As for how much, the general consensus is somewhere between 3 to 8 mags per weapon, I think.

Alex

ak-73 said:

yessir, many a post was made on this topic. Eratta quelled the debate nicely by saying 'if you don't want ammo managment, track only specialty ammo, and if you want ammo managment each weapon has 3 reloads.' That means, typically, 9 clips for standard boltguns with fire selectors or 3 clips for your flamer or 3 for your meltagun, etc.

Also, before another thread errupts on the topic that often follows suit, if you want to know how much "other stuff" your characters can carry into battle, please see page 208; read the full paragraph right under the section titled "Carrying, Lifting, And Pushing Objects."

All of this, of course, is subject to the GM's whim and the tone and style (s)he wants the game to have.

Charmander said:

Problem is, Space Marines quickly off the bottom of that chart. A typical marine would start with 40 strength and toughness, add in the unnatural modifier and the total SB+TB is 16. 18 when you include power armour. Both values starting at 50 is possible, meaning a starting Space Marine in power armour has already fallen off the chart. Has anyone ever contacted FFG asking about values off the bottom of the carry limit chart ?

You can even use this rule for limiting ammo. I refer you to page 158, where it says that if it becomes important, ammo weighs 10% of the weapons weight. For Rogue Trader I clarified this further:

- A weapons weight included the weight of 1 clip.

- Only the compact modification altered the weapons weight for the purpose of determining ammo weight.

- The fire selector did not include the weight of the extra clips.

However, this is likely to allow them to carry more ammo than the 3-8 clip guideline ak-73 suggests.

I plan to go with ammo management, to add another layer of strategy and choices for the players. I think it will cut down the 'pray and spray' mentality, and make players think about an encounter, as opposed to simply hosing every single encounter in bolter shells. Nothing wrong with that, if they have the ammo reserves (bunkers, etc), but I don't want that for every combat, or the game gets boring. As much as I love table-top 40K, a large part of it is a bloody dice-fest.

For how much they can actually carry, I go more with common sense than with tables and strength scores. I noticed in the Ultramarines that they were using mag-locks to attach their bolters.

Thing is, Marines are huge, monstrously strong, have huger armour and a big power gennie on their back. But their equipment is also oversized. I mean, forget how much weight they can carry, put yourself in a Marine's shoes: where the hell are you going to put 3 Boltguns, 2 Flamers, 3 Flamer cannisters, 1 chainsword, 6 grenades and 12 clips of ammunition (not including specialist ammo) that are each probably bigger than a Bren machine gun's sickle mag?!

Seems logical to me, but I guess people have different styles of play.

Bilateralrope said:

Please note I'm refering to the text, the FULL TEXT, not the chart. God I did it myself, didn't I, I've started it again...

for my grp i introduced the rule that a marine can carrie 8 magazines on the back or 4 drums + 3 mags for sidearms on the belt or in the holster of the pistol ect... it gives the game a additonal aspact to manage for the grp. till now it workes out great.

for some ideas check the Wh40k concepts in the "warhammer" rider Philip Sibbering

www.philipsibbering.com/WH40KRP/40K__10_Bolter.shtml

Charmander said:

God I did it myself, didn't I, I've started it again...

It's your fault... All your fault. We blame YOU... You... you... ... ...

I would like to tank all my fellow GMs who answered my post, greatly appricated.

Now I have a idea as to what I will do. And today, I start off Alpha Team on their first mission. Decided to use Final Sanction as the jump off point, since this is the first time using this game system for all of us. Might as well introduce them to Nids right off the bat.

As regards the Dev's backpack ammunition... It's not very feasible for them to carry two, but it is very feasable and probably standard procedure for team-members who haven't already got a back-pack ammo supply or a jump pack to carry additional ammo for the support weapons. I wouldn't take issue with the tech-marine, librarian et al carrying additional ammunition.