Some pros and cons regarding OW vs BC and other systems.

Pros:

1. Scatter back to the old rule. - Yay shotguns are usable again, but why only 1d10+3 for pump action?

2. Twin-linked back to the old rule - Double yay

3. Regiment creation rules are ok,

4. Eviscerator is back! - a little nerfed but still ok, a real can opener.

5. All weapon modifications! - back to weapon porn! And with their own availibilty too. All the best stuff from other systems collected. Very nice. I would also write one sentence that some more complicated modification cannot be freely switched between weapons.

6. Cybernetics - same as mods - all the good stuff.

7. Orks! And Dark eldar with all their fancy deadly weapons. Very nice. Also - lances are IMBA OP deadly ass hell. (not that they shouldn't) Maybe too much initial damage, but only little.

Cons:

1. Plasma weapons back to being weak. Or usable every other turn. Why? Were plasma guns too powerfull in BC? They were finally better than boltguns.

2. No power armours

3. Heavy flamer nerfed too much. No real difference between normal flamer= leave it at home.

4. Triplex pattern lasgun availability rare = same as hellgun (hot shot lasgun). Now compare stats.

5. Needle weapons very toxic, but still very weak - they are very rare, and need weapon talent. I'd pick long las with mods every time.

6. No utility powers - All powers ported directly from 6ed 40k. I understand this is only war and grimm dark. But psyker still should be able to send toughts or read mind. Or set up imperial tarot to divine his future. Lift a simple object with telekinesis or light a lho stick with piromancy. This things make this game less rpg and more dumb shooter.

7. Endurance power too weak. Change number of recovered wound to PR and should be ok. Or instead have it remove points of fatigue.

8. Tanks are too tough. Armour should be reduced. AV 10 = 20, Av 11=25, AV 12-30 etc.

I would like to say some stuff about Cons 1, 2 and 3:

1): While the damage was scaled back again, they are also using the old Overheat rules again. In BC Overheat damage was automatic and at full damage and penetration, allowing a human Heretic to kill him or herself from full health with an Overheat. In OW they -again- allow you to drop it in time to avoid any damage and even if you do decide to not drop it, the damage is at Pen 0, so not that dangerous in comparison. The extreme lethality to the user plasma weapons had in BC probably made the high stats not worth it for many people.

2) The highest any PC is ever going to be is Storm Trooper or Commissar. Perhaps "Captain" if you are very generous with what the so-called "Sergeant" specialty encompasses. Considering that even a Colonel will still not get his own Power Armour just willy-nilly I do not see how the inclusion of Power Armour stats would have added anything useful to the game.

3) It still has higher damage, higher penetration and -most importantly for a Spray weapon- higher range. Depending on what you are fightin those added 10m could engulf a serious number of extra foes compared to a simple Flamer.

Saibot said:

1) Purified plasma. Even if I get burned i'd still take it Totally worth it.

2) Agreed.

3) You have to brace it. It weights a ton. You dont fight hordes anymore, so 10m isnt that game changing for me to favor it over simple flamer or better - two hand flamers!

Allow me to adress the flamer.

There's 3 types of flame throwers in OW. The Hand Flamer with a range of 10 meters, the Flamer with a range of 20 meters and the Heavy Flamer with a range of 30 meters.

They may seem very similar since they all deal more or less the same damage but let's look at the area they cover.

The area of a circular sector is r^2 * pi * x / 360 where x is the angle of the sector (in our case 30°) so it's r^2 * pi * 30/360 = r^2 * pi / 12

So the area that each flamethower covers is:

Hand Flamer: 26 m^2 = 280 square feet

Flamer: 104 m^2 = 1120 square feet

Heavy Flamer: 235 m^2 = 2530 square feet

I think the difference is obvious by now.

There's also the Inferno Cannon which is obviously in a different category all together but anyway:

Inferno Cannon: 654 m^2 = 7040 square feet

If anything I'd say the inferno cannon reduces the usefulness of the heavy flamer further. Portability has trumped everything in the games I've played so far.