Autogun
"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
- – General Douglas MacArthur
The Autogun is a chemically-powered projectile throwing weapon (i.e. a slugthrower) which can be considered the direct descendant of 20th to early 21st century firearms. Autoguns are (probably) slightly more powerful than real-life firearms, which is why it avoids the title of Stubber. Alternatively, since Stub Pistols are more powerful than Autopistols, it's possible the difference has more to do with calibre and/or tech level.
Simply put, autoguns use a propellant to accelerate a metal projectile to punch holes in things.
Oh, and if the Lasgun is a 'Flashlight' then the Autogun is a "Stapler:" similar power, more weight and less reliability.
Autoguns versus Lasguns[edit]
The Autogun is a significantly older weapon than the Lasgun, and does not see nearly as much use due to the Departmento Munitorium saying it's a bad idea. So if a young and curious Guardsmen tries to ask a superior, likely a Commissar (yes, reasonable Commissars do exist) on why a Lasgun is preferred over an Autogun by Imperial Standards, they will provide you a whole list of things, with the next five points being the most important:
- A lasgun's "ammunition" can be replenished indefinitely as long as the Guardsman has access to a source of power that his lasgun's power packs can accept (such as heat, light, or a direct power outlet). Autogun ammunition, meanwhile, is dependent on logistics.
- Lasgun power packs provide somewhere around 80-120 shots per pack, compared to 12-20 shots for an autogun magazine.
- Lasguns are significantly more accurate than Autoguns; a properly zeroed lasgun will *always* instantaneously hit exactly what the weapon was pointing at when it was fired, meaning that misses and near-misses are almost completely subject to the user's skill and reflexes.
- Lasguns have no recoil, so any conscript from an 8-year-old schola kid to a dusty 70-year-old clerk can fire it straight with minimal training.
- Lasguns have very few moving parts, which lends the weapon a supremely high level of reliability in all conditions.
The big reason that Lasguns are favored over Autoguns is the first one noted above- logistics. Despite this, the Autogun still has a place because there are two things the Autogun has that the Lasgun doesn't. The first is the wide variety of different ammunition types that Autoguns can utilize. These include but are not limited to Incendiary, Armor-Piercing, and Flechette rounds; even High-Explosive rounds. This means that while the Lasgun is preferred for fighting wars on a galactic scale, certain organizations and individual operators may prefer the Autogun as a flexible tactical weapon. The other thing an Autogun can do that a lasgun can't is punch through light cover. A laser will react with things like foliage or even smoke and fog between it and the target, which quickly reduces its effectiveness. A physical bullet, on the other hand, will just punch straight through.
Ultimately, the sheer logistical advantage of not needing to ship massive quantities of cartridges everywhere secured the Lasgun's place as the Imperium's primary infantry weapon. However, in spite of the ammunition problem the Autogun still sees use throughout the Imperium (particularly among PDF forces, who only have to worry about logistics on their own planet). Although the Autogun has been sidelined by the Lasgun in official service, it remains in development.
Autoguns versus Stubbers[edit]
There is significant debate over the actual power of Auto and Stub weapons, with the "higher power" team citing higher tech level and advanced materials, and "modern power" team citing no mention of any kind of recoil compensation (limiting power) and less innovative designs. Modernist evidence implies some or even most autoguns may actually be less advanced than modern firearms. After all, 21st century cannon rounds are definitely more advanced than the average autogun, and autoguns are meant to be built on all sorts of backwater worlds. Regardless, it is more than likely that both sides are right, since strictly speaking an Imperial autogun is generally any type of automatic rifle, firing solid slugs. As such, there are great many models and patterns in existence, different in both internal mechanics of their action and the ammunition they use. While some autoguns *are* just a backwater-colony's locally-designed crude weapons, using black-powder-filled cartridges and prone to jamming, *other* autoguns may be high-tech products of Toasterfucker factories, firing hypervelocity discarding-sabot needle-bullets, capable of easily punching through carapace armour. The debate rages on, with the question being what is considered average or typical for the weapon, with both sides for the most part aware that all types exist.
There is also a third possibility, which involves the Dark Age of Technology. It's conceivable that "Stubber" is a derogatory term for old gunpowder weaponry made before the Dark Age, and "autogun" was a Dark Age classification created to delineate the super-futuristic projectile weapons of the then-modern era from Stub Guns. The difference was only significant during the Dark Age of Technology, when "autogun" meant something more akin to a Smart Assault Rifle and a Stub Gun meant an M1 Garand. But that's not a great theory since the original autoguns were made well before the Dark Age of Technology, sometime early in our current millennium. Bizarre high-calibre low-velocity weapons firing brass bullets.
Another theory is that the main difference would seem to be it's complexity. The heavy stubber, while automatic, relies on size for it's lethality and reliability and is simple for an automatic weapon. It's rate of fire is largely due to the fact that it can fire in long bursts. A high calibre autogun, while firing fairly powerful stubby rounds, is harder to design and build in a functional form. But the Mechanicus' "stub" weapons defy this trend.
The final theory has it come down to ammunition used as opposed to the gun itself, that being a futuristic rifle the weapon can take different sized ammunition, meaning it could be equipped with thirty regular gunpowder rounds no different than an AK-47 or twelve big ass canister rounds filled with jet propellant and in theory act just like a bolter but with a solid slug instead of a explosive round. It also answers the question why local PDF forces in some primitive backwater can field the weapon en mass while the guard (requiring more complex devastating rounds for what they fight) got rid of it for logistical reasons.
For further comparison between Stubbers and Autoguns, click here.
Imperium Variants[edit]
Autopistol[edit]
Most often a machine pistol or submachine gun, the Uzi Autopistol is a single-handed submachine gun which is frequently used by Chaos heretics (and on occasion, traitor guardsmen) and cultists who don't particularly care about accuracy or expenses and wish to be able to make noise and cause death at a close distance (the former is done better by an Autogun than a Lasgun) as they close in to use their swords. Quite fittingly, many of the autopistols manufactured by the Imperium are based off the MAC-10/MAC-11 weapon series.
Autopistols are still in massive use throughout the Imperium and can be found even on low-tech worlds. Like the larger Autogun it is very easy to construct and usually available in large numbers. The autopistol is a common weapon amongst renegades, gang members, and lowly criminals, being as easy to use as it is to construct. If you want something cheap, compact, light and can shoot a lot bullets where range and per-shot firepower are not prime concerns they are a solid option. They are not generally considered a military issue weapon, but are a favorite amongst many military veterans as a supplement for their standard lasgun or as a backup weapon, especially by the ones using unreliable melta or plasma weaponry. Some regiments, including the Cadian 8th, often equip all their troops with autopistols as sidearms, improving their combat firepower. Other commanders allow their troops to acquire spoils from the battlefield for their own use and autopistols are popular choices. It's not hard to imagine why, as while the laspistol wins out for utility, sometimes your life depends on how quickly you can down a charging ork. A weapon that's likely to save your life once or twice is probably better than one with a slim chance but can do it multiple times. Carrying one of each would be ideal.
Autopistols are also a more popular choice for covert operations and forward recon elements in the Guard, as their muzzle flash is far easier to suppress than laspistol's red beam.
| Edition | Range | Type | S | AP | Damage | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th | 12 | Pistol | 3 | - | N/A | - |
| 8th | 12 | Pistol 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - |
Ripper Pistol[edit]
Despite the name, they are in no way related to the Ogryn-toting Ripper Guns.
The Ripper Pistol is a modified Autopistol that fires specially designed armour-piercing metal shards containing a vicious cocktail of venomous chemicals with deadly accuracy. The initial wounds caused by the shards allow the venom to enter the victim's bloodstream and cause death, and thus the weapon can bring down the largest opponents in a single shot.
It is designed so that if the vicious impact of the bullet doesn’t kill the target, the poisons flooding into its bloodstream will. Often, they are the final word in terminal close encounters. Ripper Pistol is favoured by those who venture into hostile jungle planets and Death Worlds like the Catachan Jungle Fighters for example.
It used to be only seen in the Rogue Trader: Into the Storm rule book. However, with the 9th Edition Astra Militarum revamp, Ripper Pistols finally got a model in the form as a sidearm for the Catachan Jungle Fighters. Here, they are a 12" range Pistol 3 weapon with S5, AP-2 and D2. Not too shabby against GEQ as it is an insta-kill. May not look too great against MEQs due to its low S, but it has a special ability that honours its fluff: Each time you select a target for this weapon, you can ignore the Look Out, Sir rule. Moreover, each time an attack is made with this weapon, an unmodified wound roll of 6 would inflict 1 additional mortal wound on the target in addition to any normal damage already inflicted.
Autogun[edit]
There are likely tens of thousands of other Autogun models that have been created over the past eleven thousand years, including more-advanced versions that use caseless ammunition. One common variety is an assault-rifle sized version formerly used by Imperial Guard regiments, known as the Agripina Type-II pattern Autogun (the one specifically noted to achieve terminal ballistics on par with modern Imperial Guard-issue lasguns). While pretty heavy at 6.2 kg / 13.6 lbs. (with loaded magazine), this gun fires powerful (but having somewhat heavy recoil) 8.25mm rounds, accelerated to muzzle velocities of 825 meters per second while traveling through the autogun's 540mm (21.25 inch) long barrel. That's more powerful than NATOs 7.62 round but less powerful than a dedicated sniper round. It sounds a lot like a slightly stronger version of the 7.92mm Mauser (actually 8.22mm), the rifle cartridge of most German rifles and Machine Guns of the first half of the 20th century, or an enhanced .30-06 Springfield (7.62x63mm), a similar cartridge used in U.S rifles and Machine Guns for roughly the same duration.
Autoguns are commonly employed by pirates, rebel groups, Chaos cultists, Kriegers, Planetary Defense Forces, Hive Gangers, Adeptus Arbites and low-tech civilizations/Imperial planets that are too underdeveloped to create even a simple Lasgun, which puts into perspective just how poor these people are. (Hey, that includes us...) On the Tabletop, they're basically Rule 63 versions of lasguns, with the same exact specs.
In Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior, the Stormtroopers used by the Guard detachment on-planet uses Autoguns that have been given special armour-piercing rounds (also known as "Man Stopper" rounds, featuring a penetrator-tip of hardened adamantium alloy embedded in each bullet) to improve their damage output, essentially putting them on-par with Hellguns (which is ridiculous, since lasguns are already generally more powerful than Autoguns, but the Hellgun is now using a backpack mounted power source). Paired with the weapon's fast fire rate, they're probably the earliest weapon you can reliably take down a Space Marine or Chaos Space Marine with, though clearly better options are available.
| Edition | Range | Type | S | AP | Damage | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th | 24 | Rapid Fire | 3 | - | N/A | - |
| 8th | 24 | Rapid Fire 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - |
Rotor Cannon[edit]
The ancestor of the Assault Cannon, firing smaller-caliber, less-capable ammunition and to date only seen in 30k and in the hands of Voidsmen at arms in the hands of a Rogue Trader. While it had much less armour-piercing ability and stopping power than its successor, the Rotor Cannon is man-portable by both Power-Armoured Astartes and unaugmented humans and can be fired on the move by both, whereas the Assault Cannon requires the user to wear Terminator armour, or for the Assault Cannon to be mounted on a vehicle. Its stats were notoriously awful in the Horus Heresy's first edition, but the second edition replaced Salvo with Assault and made it Pinning (with Shell Shock (1) thrown in for good measure), giving it a potent role in locking down enemies for another unit to engage in melee.
A few forces such as the Toastersniffing Greasemonkeys and the Dust-Egyptian Space Marine Legion have improved the Rotor Cannon's utility by loading it with more useful ammo, such as Biocorrosive ammunition for the Technomonkeys and the Thousand Son's own Asphyx shells that both allow for this (")humble(") weapon to be able to successfully wound its targets much more often. However, the Rotor Cannon's limitations against tougher opposition eventually led it to be phased out millennia before the 40k era, as Imperial Guard infantry forces eventually got access to crew-served versions of Astartes-grade Autocannons, Heavy Bolters, and Missile Launchers for their heavy weaponry, against which the Rotor Cannon could not compete even with its ability to be fired on the move by unaugmented humans.
In the 42nd Millennium, the Rotor Cannon appears to have been lifting, as it's now got an addition point of strength, a degree of AP and (bizarrely) 2 damage, turning it into (if the Assault Cannon is an automatic 20mm cannon) basically a .50 Cal minigun. Really though, that 2 damage makes for a strange statline, as many related and much more powerful weapons lack 2 damage. This includes weapons like assault cannons, reaper autocannons, and even the Avenger bolt cannon. Combined with its less-than-impressive rate of fire this also means it's a portable rotary gun that doesn't specialize at horde-munching, instead being able to punch bigger holes in an ork Nob than a heavy bolter does (used to, 9e buffed Heavy Bolters to D2 as well), while also having a harder time actually wounding said Nob. Simply halving it's damage and doubling its rate-of-fire to 8 would've made a weapon that would've been the natural rotary version of an ironhail heavy stubber. Possibly the only logical way to resolve this would be to reason that its aim can only be changed very slowly while firing, and so can't be swept across hordes but can be held on a single target for more damage, but even that makes no sense when you roll badly and fail to kill a single ork boy with a burst of fire. A case of GW taking something weird and bad, and making it less bad and more weird.
Imperial Navy Voidsmen-at-Arms prefer the rotor cannon to other heavy weaponry on the basic Armsmen squads, as the lack of armor piercing compared to a Heavy Bolter is actually helpful when shooting holes into the ship is a real concern.
| Edition | Range | Type | S | AP | Damage | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th | 30 | Salvo 3/4 | 3 | 6 | N/A | - |
| 8th | 24 | Heavy 4 | 4 | -1 | 2 | - |
Autocannon[edit]
The Autocannon is the big-cheese of the Autogun family (and possibly related to the Bofors 40-57mm 20mm Hispano-Suiza GW couldn't tell which is which anyway and they differ based on their world of production and pattern most likely), firing massive projectiles quickly enough that it can infatuate and butcher a group of Orks at the same time. Unlike personal autoguns, the Imperial Guard actually does use it despite the logistics because it splits the difference between the lascannon and the heavy bolter. Most commonly mounted on vehicles, but also seeing use in Imperial Guard heavy weapons teams, it possesses a frightening rate of fire and good armour penetration. Much like a heavy stubber, the autocannon proves that even older tech can work when scaled up in size. Before a certain temper tantrum and its aftermath, it used what were approximately up-scaled Heavy Bolter shells to literally kill anything. Basically, these autocannon shells were to 40k's autocannon shells what Baneblade cannons are to battle cannons. Yeah. By the way most modern cannons actually use advanced shells like this.
The standard Autocannon makes a satisfying POM-POM-POM sound as it chews up targets up to four feet away. It hits at S7AP-1 and is a Heavy 2 weapon that deals D2, making it statistically better than the Heavy Bolter against everything except Toughness 4 and less models. The long-barreled Hydra variation is used on the Hydra Flak Tank, and is designed to serve as anti-air support but used to chew up any cocky infantry that gets too close. Nowadays it gives warning shots that may clip an enemy if that enemy is standing right in front of it and jumps up and down screaming "SHOOT ME" (and even then might miss). Fortunately, it has an additional two feet of range, so while it only has one job, it tends to do it pretty well.
| Edition | Range | Type | S | AP | Damage | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th | 48 | Heavy 2 | 7 | 4 | N/A | - |
| 8th | 48 | Heavy 2 | 7 | -1 | 2 | - |
Assault Cannon[edit]
The Assault Cannon is a rotary ballistic cannon with an outrageous rate of fire, meaning it has to have rotating barrels to stop them from overheating. Although it falls rather short of its terrifying fluffy firepower (consistently going through several ranks of Astartes with each bullet) on the tabletop, the Assault Cannon was buffed up somewhat in 8th Edition. In-lore, this weapon fires unique, diamond-hard rounds at high velocity, resulting in far greater stopping power and armour penetration than might otherwise be expected (hence rending in early editions). Early prototype versions were exclusive to the Imperial Fists and Blood Angels Space Marine Legions, but did have a rare tendency to jam and become useless without some involved repair work. Upgraded jam-free versions were implemented post-Heresy, meaning that Chaos doesn't get these meat-grinders (although Obliterators do).
Assault Cannons are primarily used by Space Marines as anti-infantry weaponry on Terminators, Dreadnoughts, and various other vehicles and aircraft. The assault cannon might actually be a stub-weapon, as some art shows it ejecting spent casings. Only War and several other sources show that there is a difference. Auto-weapons are (usually) caseless and can be anything from merely caseless, chemically-propelled rounds, to railrifles and gravitic-accelerated projectiles. Of course, knowing the Mechanicus, there are probably examples of both auto-weapons and stub-weapons for all solid-projectile weapons of the Imperium.
Being Rotary Cannons, Assault Cannons should in theory be able to spin at different speeds to deliver higher or lower firing rates depending on whether the target is a squishy 'umie or even a vehicle, but this isn't possible in the game. It's possible that the Mechanicus, being the hidebound institution it is, hardwired a one-size-fits-all maximum firing rate in all models of Assault Cannon to make maintenance easier and to keep these weapons from wearing out and overheating too fast, with the ideal firing rate being what a Terminator-armoured Astartes could effectively aim, control, and still be able to carry enough ammunition for in one battle (since faster firing rates also deplete ammunition more quickly). This hypothesis is made more plausible given how the Blood Angels had to resort to mounting twin-linked Assault Cannons in the turrets of their Baal Predator Tanks to get more of this weapon's firepower in one mount, instead of just spinning one Assault Cannon's barrels faster to achieve the same result as in real life. Though another possible reason might be to achieve the desired rate of fire without the commensurate rise in barrel temperature since making the same barrels fire twice as fast might lead to them distorting from the heat build-up.
| Edition | Range | Type | S | AP | Damage | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th | 24 | Heavy 4, Rending | 6 | 4 | N/A | - |
| 8th | 24 | Heavy 6 | 6 | -1 | 1 | - |
Ironhail Skytalon Array[edit]
An overglorified Flak Gun and the main weapon for the Impulsor.
Get two Heavy Stubbers, mount them on a turret, duct-tape them and then twin-link it. Congratulations, you now officially have the Ironhail Skytalon Array, the most generic turret weapon of the Primaris Space Marines. Yes, it is as underwhelming as it sounds. You would think that these upgraded SPESS MEHREENS would be given something awesome like a twin-linked assault cannon, but nope, Papa Smurf seems to be running on a tight budget.
The Ironhail Skytalon Array on tabletop, is as unimpressive as it is in the fluff. With a range of 36", the glorified flak gun won't be sniping birds off a tree anytime soon. At Heavy 6, Strength 4, AP-1, D1, the Array is relativley mediocre against ground troops, scoring the occasional kill off a GEQ and MEQ.
The one saving grace of this weapon is the fact that it is an overglorified Flak Gun. The Ironhail Skytalon Array has a rule that allows it to get +1 to hit and wound vs flyers. For most bog-standard flyers, it’s wounding on a 4, which actually makes the Skytalon not that bad in harassing and taking down those annoying ass flyers. Unfortunately, the Impulsor also gets the Bellicatus Missile Array, which, despite its jack-of-all-traits, is far more versatile than the Skytalon AND is able to target and hit aircraft just as well, if not, even better than the Flak Gun. Suffice to say, if you have the points, change the Impulsor's gun to something better and if you can't squeeze the points in and have to take this just shoot at jetpack infantry.
Tl;dr, it is basically the limp dicked and far more disappointing cousin of the Icarus Stormcannon Array.
Hellion Pattern Heavy Cannon Array[edit]
The primary weapon used by the rare Kharon Pattern Acquistor. The Hellion Pattern Heavy Cannon Array is a row of short-barrelled, cogitator-slaved autocannons that is meant to lay down a hail of suppressive fire as the Kharon arrives in the target area.
Despite outward appearance, the Hellion Pattern Heavy Cannon Array is not a minigun/gatling in anyway shape or form. The weapon does not 'rev-up' its multiple barrels to ensure a consistent high-rate of Dakka. Rather, each barrel fires its load in a sequential pattern. So from everyone's perspective, it may look like the rounds are going around in circles. Given the nature of the Silent Sisterhood, it is very likely that the rounds it fires are laced with anti-psychic properties like those of a Psyk-Out weapon.
On the tabletop, it counts as a super TL-autocannon with S7 AP4 Heavy 4 with Pinning. Great when dealing with those pesky MEQs as your Kharon transports your sisters into a safer position.
Anvilus Snub Autocannon[edit]
The Anvilus Snub Autocannon is one of the three primary weapons of the newly revamped Sabre Strike Tank.
The bigger cousin of the regular old Autocannon, the Anvilus Snub Autocannon is a twin-linked weapon mounted on the front hull of the Sabre. Of all the primary weapons that the Sabre could take, the Anvilus is the vanilla of the vanillas.
The twin-linked nature gives this Autocannon a sustained and consistent firing rate, in contrast to the semi-automatic nature of the smaller Autocannon. This gives the Anvilus a much higher rate of fire, which is great against fast moving light to medium armor. The Anvilus gets its snub name due to its relatively short barrel length for a weapon its size. It can be reasoned that the reduced length is there to balance the center of gravity for the Sabre so it could fire on the move.
Taurox Gatling Cannon[edit]
The kid brother to the Punisher, in the same vein as the Taurox Battle Cannon's role to the Battle Cannon. Although, unlike its big brother, this one ups it by having two gatling barrels. This nasty little bugger is a weapon mounted on the Taurox Prime in situations where the Taurox Battle Cannon is insufficient against large hordes.
Though smaller than the Punisher Cannon from which it was adopted, the Taurox Gatling Cannon is a still a fearsome weapon. These weapons lay down an impressive curtain of anti-infantry fire Dakka all for a relatively cheap price compared to the Leman Russ.
Crunchwise, the Taurox Gatling Cannon is a 24" ranged, Strength 4, Heavy 10 tarpit cleanser of goodness. In total, on a single round, you are outputting on average, 20 shots at Strength 4. Blob armies cry when they see this thing paired up with a Leman Russ Punisher.
Castigator Gatling Cannon[edit]
Somewhere around the same size as the Punisher Gatling Cannon, the Castigator Gatling Cannon is one of the hull-mounted weapons of the Astra Militarum's Rogal Dorn Battle Tank, with the other being the more siege-focus Pulveriser Cannon. As expected from its looks, it is used to scythe down enemy infantry.
Because of its anti-infantry purposes, Castigator Gatling Cannons is often paired with the Oppressor Cannon in order to cover the weapon's weakspots of horde enemies. Likewise, the inverse is true if the Dorn Tank has the twin-linked Battle Cannon, as the MEQ mulcher that is, a twin-linked Battle Cannon, would make the Castigator pointless. So replacing it with the Pulveriser Cannon would be a no-brainer if one wants to still exploit the tank's siege properties.
Of course, given that it is hull-mounted, the Castigator Gatling Cannon's true capabilities is gimped at only firing at the front of the tank. If you really want to maximize its anti-GEQ and MEQ firepower, you can swap the side sponsons with Heavy Stubbers instead.
In 9th Edition, the Castigator Gatling Cannon is a 24" ranged, Heavy 12, S5, AP-1, D1 weapon. This is going to be your overwatch buddy and tarpit remover. Can actually be fired in melee thanks to not having blast.
Punisher Gatling Cannon[edit]
The Punisher Gatling Cannon is the primary armament of the Leman Russ Punisher tank and one of the Vulture Gunship's variants, and is a recent addition to the Imperial Guard armory. Design-wise, the weapon looks like someone was impressed with the Assault Cannon's firepower, but became increasingly frustrated with the inability of Imperial Guard forces to procure it and its unique ammunition, and so decided to resurrect the concept of the long-discontinued Rotor Cannon (see above) and improved on it in most respects. The Punisher Gatling Cannon thus ends up as an intermediate step between the older Rotor Cannon and the much-vaunted Assault Cannon, possessing stopping power almost at the level of the latter weapon while not improving on the former's lackluster armour-penetration ability (likely a conscious design choice to keep manufacturing and ammunition costs down, below even what Heavy Bolter shells might require since Heavy Bolter shells have better armour-piercing ability compared to the Punisher's own ammunition).
Where the Punisher truly shines lies in the fact that it is vehicle-mounted only; since it's not bound by the need to limit its firing rate to allow a single Terminator-armoured Astartes to both effectively control and still carry sufficient ammunition for, the Punisher can instead achieve quintuple the firing rate of an Assault Cannon. This is a literal torrent of anti-infantry firepower, and puts the Punisher squarely among the fastest-firing weapons in the Imperial arsenal, outstripping even going toe-to-toe with the Vulcan Mega-Bolter (as of 8th edition, both the Punisher and the Vulcan have the same rate of fire) which is restricted to being mounted on superheavy tanks or Titan-scale walkers. In fact, the Punisher doesn't so much as go DAKKADAKKADAKKA, it instead goes BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT. Able to churn out more shots than a squad of Tactical Marines at even greater strength, this baby will swiftly ventilate any block of infantry it comes across and can even threaten Monstrous Creatures by sheer weight of fire even with its unsophisticated non-armour-piercing ammunition. The Punisher Gatling Cannon also has a kid brother in the form of the Taurox Gatling Cannon, which has less strength and half the shots.
| Edition | Range | Type | S | AP | Damage | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th | 24 | Heavy 20 | 5 | - | N/A | - |
| 8th | 24 | Heavy 20 | 5 | 0 | 1 | - |
Punisher Rotary Cannon[edit]
A souped up version of the above for the Emperor's finest. Like all things originating from the good ol'days of the 31st Millennium, the Punisher Rotary Cannon is far and above of higher quality than its 41st Millennium counterparts. Interestingly enough, the Punisher Rotary Cannon was the main armament of the once common Cerberus Pattern Main Battle Tank, but the discovery of a Neutron Laser Projector and the general stupidity of placing a anti-infantry weapon on a fixed-hull mounted vehicle meant that it was eventually replaced as the Cerberus' go-to primary weapon. Loses out on two shots, but gains -1 AP and 50% more range to compensate. Later equipped on what else? The Sicaran Punisher.
Due to its natural ability in unleashing a torrent of unrelenting Steel Rain, the Punisher Rotary Cannon quickly rose to fame among /tg/ of being an absolute rape machine against blob armies of infantry and even vehicles when it first came out. And that is just the weapon firing simple solid ferro-carbide slugs, imagine them with actual Bolt rounds....Seriously, nobody is going to go out okay when they face 18 Heavy Bolter shots in the face that can re-roll failed hits on a 1.
| Range | Type | S | AP | D | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | Heavy 18 | 5 | -1 | 1 | - |
Onslaught Gatling Cannon[edit]
The latest weapon for the Adeptus Astartes, and currently restricted to use as a secondary weapon on the Repulsor Hover Tank and Redemptor Dreadnought. As such, it is another weapon exclusive to the Primaris Marines. Why in the Emperor's mummified nipples a gun such as this cannot be wielded by the more common Space Marines just begs the question. Why?
This weapon was found thanks to the reintroduction of Robot Gullytan the Third and Uncle Cawl. It has the strength and armour penetration of a heavy bolter at two thirds the range and twice the rate of fire.
On the Redemptor Dreadnought, due to its size, the Onslaught is wielded much like an oversized Powerfist lugging a hand-held autocannon. The sheer size of the Dreadnought's fist in contrast to the comically small Gatling Cannon is bound to spawn a few compensation jokes. Suffices to say, this eventually led to the creation of the Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon as shown below.
On the Repulsor, it is notorious for being one of the primary weapon choices on a vehicle infamous for its weapon placements and the amount of guns it carries along on the battlefield.
Given it's a Heavy Bolter but better, don't be surprised if this weapon ends up being wielded by the Chad's Devastator equivalents.
Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon[edit]
Maximum dakka for the Astartes, the Heavy Onslaught is the primary weapon of the Repulsor Hover Tank and Redemptor Dreadnought and one of the coaxial weapons of the Repulsor's Executioner variant. Basically the Dreadnought's equivalent of a penis extension or a metaphor for the foreboding erection the Dreadnought pilot is about to feel before being let loose.
Like its smaller brother, the Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon is a weapon exclusive to the Chadmarines and like its smaller brother, it came to fruition thanks to the management of Grandpa Smurf and Uncle Cawl.
It has the same strength and armour penetration as its smaller brother, but a 30" range and an incredible 12 shots. Interestingly inferior to the Punisher gatling cannon against everything that doesn't have heavy (2+) armour.
Anvilus Autocannon Battery[edit]
You take a normal Autocannon, get three of its brothers and than duct taped them together. Congratulations! You now have the Anvilus Autocannon Battery.
Not to be confused with the abovementioned Anvilus Snub Autocannon, although it could be due to the fact that they are made by the same company/forgeworld. The Anvilus Autocannon Battery, also known as the Anvilus Pattern Autocannon Battery, was the main ballistic weapon system used by the ancient Deredeo Pattern Dreadnoughts of the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. The Anvilus Autocannon Battery was a set of two Anvilus Pattern Autocannons that shared a mount and firing system.
The Deredeo Dreadnoughts were armed with two such batteries that were then twin-linked together. The Anvilus Autocannon Battery was a fearsome development of the Autocannon that was able engage and destroy enemy armored targets with a punishing salvo of BRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTT. The Anvilus Autocannon Battery is still found in use by the various Space Marine Chapters and possibly the Traitor Legions that still maintain functioning Deredeo Dreadnoughts in the 41st Millennium.
Leviathan Storm Cannon[edit]
The Hurricane Bolters of Autoguns. The Leviathan Storm Cannon is the Anvilus' somehow MORE Dakka cousin.
The weapon is a heavy ranged ballistic weapon usable only by Imperial Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnoughts. It is used when the Leviathan Dreadnought really want that horde army dead in its tracks.
Similar in design and function to the ubiquitous Autocannon, the Storm Cannon is a quad-linked rapid-firing weapon, purpose-built to scythe down infantry and clear out the defenders of tactical objectives.
On the Horus Heresy tabletop, this monster is a 24" range S7 AP3, Heavy 6 horde cleaner with the Sunder rules. While the range is mediocre, its sheer rate of fire and high AP value makes sure that even TEQs stay the fuck away from this thing.
Hydra Autocannon[edit]
In-between the Anvilus Autocannon Battery and the Icarus Stormcannon Array. The Hydra Autocannon is the primary weapon battery mounted on the Hydra Flak Tank. It is made up of four long-barrelled modified Autocannons with a modified reciever and beefed-up barrels to withstand a unholy amount of Dakka.
Its Machine Spirit-assisted automated turret contains targeting and tracking equipment, including a predictive logic-engine, which allows it to lock onto and track enemy aircraft regardless of any evasive maneuvering. These control the four long-barreled Autocannons firing heavy calibre, high velocity explosive rounds capable of firing six hundred rounds a minute, shredding through enemy aircraft fuselages like papermache thanks to their high rate of fire. When used against infantry and light vehicles these rounds would change from papermache maker into mincemeat blender, allowing even a single Hydra to decimate entire formations in a heartbeat.
In 8th Edition, the Hydra Autocannon can hit ground troops on 5s and FLY units on 3s, and with its 6 feet of 8 S7 AP-1 D2 shots, it's a potentially good investment even if you didn't expect FLY from your opponent.
In 9th Edition, Games Workshop finally changed the stats to reflect the increased penetration, given the higher muzzle velocity, relative to that of the standard Autocannon. Now is S7 AP-2 D2, same 72" range and shots number (8) as before.
Icarus Stormcannon Array[edit]
The big brother of the Anvilus Autocannon Battery for the sole basis of having a bigger bore-size.
The Icarus Stormcannon Array is a Space Marine anti-aircraft platform mounted on Stalker vehicles. Made up of two independently traversing turrets of triple-barreled cannons and a large radar dish, the Icarus Stormcannon Array can track and fire at two separate aerial targets simultaneously.
The Stalker mounts an array of two Icarus Stormcannons granted a capacity for independent targeting by the servo-mind conclave (Cogitator array) to which they are shackled. The cannons have a high rate of fire and can launch hundreds of solid rounds into the sky.
Each servo-mind can direct the Stormcannons to track separate targets with a lesser degree of accuracy, or when faced by more potent foes the array can concentrate fire in a single, withering salvo that will tear even the mightiest winged beast or enemy aircraft from the skies.
Siegebreaker Cannon[edit]
The main secondary weapon of the new Imperial Knight Dominus. The Siegebreaker Cannons can come in a configuration of either one or two depending on your preferences. They are mounted on the back or the shoulders in order to resemble the Warlord Titan.
The Siegebreaker Cannon is an automated turret that is aimed at demolishing light vehicles and MEQs and even TEQs if the going gets tough. Nevertheless, its nature as a secondary weapon is meant to pick off stragglers when the primary weapons are busy dueling out with some big ass units.
Crunchwise, the Siegebreaker Cannon is basically a more random version of the Autocannon. Each one is a Heavy D3 gun with a range of 48", s 7, ap -1, damage D3 and is capable of doing a maximum of 9 damage if you rolled perfectly, but on average will be exactly the same as the Autocannon. Do note that being d3 instead of a flat 2 damage like the standard Autocannon actually makes it worse against 2 wound models, however.
Ironically, while GW tries to claim that "If siegebreaker cannons were mounted on mainline battle tanks, you’d take them in every game", the Siegebreaker Cannons are shittier version of a Battle Cannon, aka the main gun of the most spammed tank in the galaxy.
Ferrumite Cannon[edit]
The Ferrumite Cannon is one of the two primary weapons for the giant rubber duck known as the Skorpius Disintegrator. Essentially looking like a normal tank gun with a disproportionately enlarged muzzle break, the Ferrumite Cannon is the 'vanilla' weapon of the Skorpius Disintegrator as much as the Battle Cannon is the 'vanilla' of the Leman Russ Battle Tank.
Judging from its name ("Ferrum" being latin for iron, and "ite" meaning rock or stone. ), the Ferrumite Cannon probably shoots out a solid slug of pure iron at its targets which, if true, is strange given that depleted uranium is a thing both in real-life and in 40k and is a denser and much better penetrator than conventional iron. Another option might be GW half assing the latin and splicing "Ferrum" and "thermite", perhaps implying it's suppose to be shooting Red Hot or even molten Iron/Steel at the target, making this more like a lava cannon in practice. Or it fires ceramite projectiles, being a hybrid of metal and stone and “ferrumite” basically meaning metal-stone.
On tabletop, the Ferrumite Cannon is your heavy hitter and is a threat to enemy heavy armor. Considered an Autocannon on steroids, it’s got a fixed damage of 3 with a fixed rate of fire of 3 – that’s a possible 9 damage. That, and it is Strength 8, AP-3, which means it is gonna be reliable in punching a straight hole towards a Leman Russ Tank.
Battle Cannon[edit]
The big cheese of the Autogun family without going full on Titan. The Battle cannon is a larger and heavier version of the autocannon, its size restricting its use to vehicles only. It is the primary weapon of the Leman Russ Battle Tank, where its explosive shells can decimate both infantry and other armor. It is also common armament on Imperial Knights, though for these mighty machines are used special Rapid Fire Battle Cannons with improved rate of fire. Fulff says it's a standard 120mm cannon, but just look at that thing, that 200mm easy. Perhaps it uses sabot and so has a 120mm shell but the barrel is around 240mm. It is likely that either it is not sabot (despite some sources saying it is) or the 120mm refers to the projectile itself and not the barrel, unlike the modern method, and so the covering for the projectile might not be included in the 120mm measurement thereby resulting in a much larger barrel than a 120mm shell should be used in. Due to it being of Autogun in function, it has a wide variation of different ammunition that it can use. such as:
High Explosive: The standard round fired by Leman Russ battle cannons, HE shells like the Leman Russ Mk4 G4 round contain a highly explosive material such as Fyceline which detonates upon impact with the target. Since a high velocity is not necessary for the shell to work, a small amount of propellant allows for a larger amount of explosive material than in other shells. The explosion causes a blastwave lethal to anyone close by and shatters the thin shell casing into deadly high-speed shrapnel, making them deadly when used against infantry and light vehicles. While the sheer size of the blast can cause minor damage to armored vehicles, even stun or kill the crew within, HE shells lack the penetrative power of true anti-tank shells.
Anti-Tank/Armour Piercing: Anti-tank or armor piercing shells like the standard Leman Russ Mk12 G4 round are used to destroy hardened targets such as enemy tanks or bunkers. They consist of a solid round topped with an adamantium tip covered by a soft metal cap. A large propellant charge launches the round at high velocities, where upon impact the metal cap melts and creates a "sticking" effect so that the adamantium tip does not slide off of sloped armor or break. Most AP shells cause damage through kinetic energy, the sheer violence (and mass) of a penetrating hit causing spalling within the enemy tank's interior to damage internal systems and kill crew. Others include a small high explosive charge which detonates upon impact, causing additional secondary damage.
Infernus: Inferno shells like the standard Leman Russ Mk7 G4 round, also known as incendiary, phosphorine or thermite shells, work in similar principle to HE shells. However instead of an explosive charge these shells are filled with a combustible substance which instantly is scattered upon impact. The substance burns instantly and is particularly deadly when used against infantry.
Smoke: Smoke shells are used to create an instant smoke screen, hiding the tank or other friendly forces from enemy observations.
Hunter: Hunter shells are very rare tank rounds which can be fired by a battle cannon or Conqueror cannon. They contain a small logic-engine similar to the one found on Hunter-Killer Missiles which locks onto a target and directs the path of the shell towards it. Just before impact the shell's Machine Spirit causes it to rise above and hit the enemy vehicle on it's thinner top armor. Only ever produced on the Forge World Tigrus, the knowledge to construct Hunter shells was lost when the world was overrun by the Orks. Most tank crews will therefore never even see a Hunter shell, much less have the honor of firing one.
Skyreaper Battery[edit]
The Ironhail Skytalon Array's and Icarus Stormcannon Array's bigger brother.
The Skyreaper Battery was a type of anti-aircraft system used by Space Marine Mastodons during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. Resembling two giant Assault Cannons that has been duct taped and twin-linked, these weapons allow the Mastodon to have an effective deterrent against would be enemy attack planes. With how large of a target the Mastodon is, having a dedicated anti-air platform was a pretty smart design all things considered.
On the Horus Heresy tabletop, the turret-mounted Skyreaper Battery is a 48" Interceptor autocannon-analogue with a Strength 7, AP 4, Heavy 5 stats with both the Skyfire and Twin-linked rules. This makes it more than enough to threaten almost any conceivable aircraft short of super-heavy transports like the Stormbird.
Avenger Gatling Cannon[edit]
The Avenger Gatling Cannon is a six-barrelled (Though it can also come in triple, quad and eight-barrelled versions) Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon firing high velocity mass-reactive bullets bigger than Autoguns, not to mention being much larger as well overall. It is an available option for the Imperial Knights Warden and Crusader in place of their standard-issue large-ass chainsaw.
The highly feared avenger gatling cannon is like an oversized assault cannon, though its larger calibre shells are more destructive and its rate of fire is even more prodigious. A single blazing volley from the rotary weapon can stitch a pattern of death across the foe’s battle lines, causing charges to falter and fail or destroying entire attack columns of light vehicles. Well-placed shots from the weapon also has the capability to destroy heavily armoured infantry and put a heavy dent into battle tanks.
There has been some confusion between this weapon and the Avenger Bolt Cannon due to the fact that both of them look like oversized miniguns as well as having the names 'Avenger' in them. However, it can be assumed that the Avenger Bolt Cannon's internal mechanics is more suited and specialized towards the gyrojet nature of the bolt rounds, whereas the Avenger Gatling Cannon is a more conventional rotary machine gun that just have a enlarged bore-size for it to fire massive bullets.
| Edition | Range | Type | S | AP | Damage | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th | 36 | Heavy 12, Rending | 6 | 3 | N/A | - |
| 8th | 36 | Heavy 12 | 6 | -2 | 2 | - |
Thunderhawk Cannon[edit]
A Battle Cannon given a penis enlarger.
The Thunderhawk Cannon is a powerful, oversized, ballistic Battle cannon mounted on a Space Marine Thunderhawk Gunship. It is an over-sized version to allow it to be fired from the air at the most vulnerable parts of an enemy position or for clearing an area to land troops in.
However, despite the power coming from this weapon, most Space Marines would rather just replace the Cannon with the more destructive, accurate, ammo effecient, recoil friendly, longer ranged Single-Barrelled Turbo-Laser Destructor instead.
How the hell the Thunderhawk manage to stay stable without the cannon's immense recoil tearing the plane apart is unknown.
Accelerator Autocannon[edit]
Back when the Emperor still walked, the Imperium was capable of developing new and improved weapons, and the Accelerator Autocannon was one of those. Basically a cross between the Autocannon and a Rail Gun, the Accelerator Autocannon coupled a high rate of fire with a powerful shell and high accuracy. It shares it name with the Accelerator Cannon used on the Fellblade and Astraeus Super-Heavy Tank. Which would imply that this is a downsized version.
Currently the Accelerator Autocannon is primarily mounted on the main variant of the Sicaran Battle Tank. Each Sicaran has two of them. Why Tech Marines didn't bother mounting them on the larger more advanced Dreadnaughts is because they don't know how, lazyness, or they have so much recoil it's impracticable. However individual Space Marines, with JETPACKS, can carry them now. Though only Suppressors so far. Looks like somebody actually remembered these things still exists during M42.
Quake Cannon[edit]
The Quake Cannon is a gigantic artillery piece mounted on Imperial Titans and Super-Heavy Tanks. The Quake Cannon is used to engage targets at extreme range. Each Quake Cannon shot contains a fragment of a planet that has been subjected to Exterminatus, which is to say the energy of the Exterminatus is harnessed and then weaponized....which is....unnecessarily complex to say the least....anyways, the weapon draws the contained earth-shattering power out and containing the blastwave within a Quake Shell.
On Titans, the Quake Cannon is commonly found on Warlord Battle Titans. The Imperator class titan can also carry one or more Quake Cannon on its carapace hard-points.
On Superheavies, the Imperial Guard Banesword Super-Heavy tank is also equipped with a Quake Cannon.
| Range | Type | S | AP | Special Rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 180 | Ordnance, 10" Blast | 9 | 3 | - |
Cruciator Gatling Array[edit]
Imagine the Skyreaper Battery grown a tad bit too large.
The Cruciator Gatling Array is basically the Gatling Blaster's little brother that has been twin-linked. As its name suggests, the Cruciator Gatling Array seems to be aimed towards an anti-aircraft role, as it is placed too high for it to be considered as an anti-infantry weapon.
This weapon system is the main secondary weapon of the Warmaster Iconoclast Heavy Battle Titans. They are hull-mounted and fixed on the top of the lumbering giant, which is an odd design choice given that it is meant to target aircraft, so a full rotary turret should suffice. Therefore, the Revelator Missile Battery would actually be a much better choice than the Cruciator. The shells might be guided, or it is a specialist weapon against aircraft swarms.
Gatling Blaster[edit]
Strapped to the mighty Reaver Battle Titan and above, this is the weapon you field when you need the biggest dakka the Imperium of Man has to offer, it's basically an Assault Cannon, except that it fires Battle Cannon shells rather than bullets, yeah... this is what you get if you thought about the Schwerer Gustav using Gatling Technology. Now if only they had some kind of Macro Gatling, ridiculous as that would be (Good news! Forgeworld has decided that Warlord titans do, or at least did during the Horus Heresy).
By function, each of the Gatling Blaster's six barrels fires once in turn during each revolution of the barrel cluster. The multiple barrels provide both a very high rate of fire and contribute to long weapon life by minimizing barrel erosion and heat generation. The Gatling Blaster is pneumatically-driven and electrically-primed. The gun rotor, barrel assembly and ammunition feed system are rotated by a hydraulic drive motor through a system of flexible drive shafts. The round is fired by an electric priming system where an electrical current from a firing lead passes through the firing pin to the primer as each round is rotated into the firing position. One of the drawbacks of the initial design was that the ejection of spent links created considerable (and ultimately insufferable) problems. The Adeptus Mechanicus compensated for this issue by creating a linkless feed system.
This is actually a pretty reasonable and practical solution; a rarity in the AdMech. As what kind of sane Guardsmen would like to die from giant empty bullet casings?
Galting Blasters can be mounted on the weapon limbs of Reaver and Warlord Battle Titans and the carapace mounts on Imperator Titans. It is too large to be fitted to Warhound Scout Titans however.
Nemesis Quake Cannon[edit]
The Quake Cannon on steroids, or the holy lovechild between a Quake Cannon and a Gatling Blaster, whichever you ask.
The Mars-Alpha Pattern Nemesis Quake Cannon or the Nemesis Quake Cannon for short, is a larger, thicker and longer version of the standard Quake Cannon with more girth. Tl;dr, its a literal penis extension. We in /tg/ like to joke that the Basilisk Artillery Gun and the Goliath Mega-Cannon are nothing more than a compensation weapon, but it seems that GW had forgotten the memo and took this shit seriously.
Mounted on the new and shiny Warbringer Nemesis Titan. This giant six-shooter of doom is designed to kill enemy Titans on sight, thus in any sensible usage, this weapon is regulated at the back lines as a giant sniper, unfortunately the Imperium lacks any sensibility and uses these as front line weapons instead. Nevertheless, having a fast firing Quake Cannon is a boon to any forces as now you have a very quick way to whither down the Void Shields of enemy Titans in a quick and efficient manner rather than risking the time reloading. And seeing how this Titan gained prominence during the Horus Heresy when Emperor Battle Titans were common enough to be thrown left and right like normal battle tanks, the nature of this weapon makes a whole load of sense. This cannon also works wonders against heavily fortified encampments and any forms of fortifications in general due to the monumental concussive force unleashed as its shell impacts the ground setting off powerful localized earthquakes.
Even if it doesn't directly hit its target, the concussive force from that cannon could still indirectly halt the advance of nearly anything on the battlefield up to and including battalions of Superheavy Tanks and enemy Knights.
Deathstrike Cannon[edit]
Not to be confused with the similarly named Deathstrike missile.
The Deathstrike Cannon is a starship-grade Macrocannon that is fitted on a Warlord-class Titan. A rarely-fielded and obscure conversion, it requires the whole head of the Warlord to be removed, and the cockpit to be installed on the top of the Titan's carapace instead (Usually exposed), it is as stupid as it sounds. One of the Titan's carapace hard points is then fitted with an advanced fire control system tower. This configuration opens two additional hard points that can be used to mount additional Titan-grade weapons.
The cannon's recoil is so powerful that it needs to be mounted along the centre line of the Warlord Titan. Despite the severe limitations, this imposes on the Warlord, the Deathstrike Cannon's colossal range and power make it a useful artillery weapon, able to obliterate fortifications or harass an enemy's rear lines and staging areas at extreme long range.
It is assumed that the Nemesis Quake Cannon is a more modern iteration of the Deathstrike Cannon. (An iteration is like a different model or version, while an alliteration is a literature term.)
Macro Cannon[edit]
The Biggest of the Big. 'Macrocannon' seems to be a catch-all for any auto-type weapon larger than a Gatling-Blaster, ranging from fortress-mounted field artillery to the literally apocalyptic, cathedral-sized weapons found on voidcraft. As is clearly evident, it causes a quantity of Rape proportional to its size, but even the smallest land-based Macrocannons are capable of laying waste to mostly everything, including flyers. It is at its basest an autocannon that fires bullets ranging in size from that of a man all the way up to the size of a Baneblade, depending on the weapon's calibre (no, seriously), and since this is the Imperium, instead of an automatic reloader, they need dozens of slaves to move each bullet for the ship-mounted Macrocannons (heretical theories suggest this is either because it is actually cheaper for the Imperium, which is overloaded with humans and not resources, or because they are stockpiling resources, or they are cutting down on chances of daemonic incursions through humans by putting more of them in the killzone, or they are testing to see just how far people will comply with slave labor in a totalitarian state, or - most heretical of all - some suggest it is a bureaucratic screw-up with paperwork or that the AdMech doesn't know how to repair the loading cranes).
Provided yields for these weapons can go from 42 exajoules (about 5.297 times more powerful than the most powerful earthquake ever recorded; a 42 exajoule earthquake would be approximately magnitude 9.98) right down to the measly 15 tetrajoules...*sigh* Games Workshop never fails to surprise us. Seriously believe us, we know that tetrajoules isn't an official unit of measurement, but since tetra is Latin for four this essentially gives us....4 joules 60 joules of power....which is almost twice the force of a child's punch.... Don't believe us? We got that from Rogue Trader rpg: BattleFleet Koronus pg. 31 & 20 which is quote on quote:
- "Look at her, son. Isn’t she a beauty? Over two hundred Vulcan mega-bolter defence turrets, fifteen tetrajoule Sunsear las-broadsides, prow plating ten metres thick, the finest auspex masts in the battlefleet… And the lines on her! Fluted prow, elegant statuary… those xenos scum won’t know what hit them!” – Bosun Phineas Jhule tempts fate at the embarkation of the Fire of Heaven
- "The Avenger dates from an earlier period of fleet tactics, when, squadrons of grand cruisers were employed as “line-breakers.” Traditionally, they were thrown into the midst of massive fleet engagements, soaking up enemy fire while racing into the middle of enemy formations, then crushing their opponents at short range with tetrajoules of energy from their oversized broadsides."
Yeah...we in /tg/ aren't sure whether this was intentional or a gross example of a severe typo. So...um....FEAR THE 60 JOULE BROADSIDE BATTERIES!. The fifteen broadsides. The fuck shape is that ship? Sounds heretical. A possible explanation for this stupidity is that GW forgot that the term "quadrillion" is a thing and is using "tetrajoule" to mean 1 000 000 000 000 000 joules (as the word "billion" comes from the latin word for two, "trillion" for the latin word for three and so on.). This gives a result of 15 quadrillion joules in a broadside, which is 15 trillion times as powerful as the world's largest laser and over three and a half megatons of energy. Much better.
Jokes aside, if we use the picture to the right as a reference for size, and estimate the shell as a solid slug of density equivalent to lead, launched at a planet from geosynchronous orbit above an Earth-like planet (36,000km), you're looking at somewhere in the region of 50 Tera-Joules of energy when it strikes the ground, or slightly less than the Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima (and that's just from gravity, not including launch energy). About fifty or so of the land-based Macrocannons would equate to one ship-mounted Macrocannon, or one point of firepower in Battlefleet Gothic. Oh yes.
Squat Variants[edit]
Ironhead Autopistol[edit]
A cousin of the Ironhead Stub Gun. The Ironhead Autopistol trade firepower for more dakka. Used only by the young Diggers of the Ironhead Squat Prospectors from Necromunda, this Autopistol variant is one of the first weapons a Ironhead Squat would receive upon his induction into the Prospector clans.
Like the rest of the weapons made from the Ironheads, the Ironhead Autopistol sport the same double-barrel, drum-fed magazine design. However, given how teeny-tiny that drum magazine is, this Autopistol is gonna chew through ammunition with two seconds. Seriously, we can't believe we are saying this, but GeeDubs should have given the gun a bigger drum magazine.
Another thing that is unique to this weapon is that it seems to automatically come with a scope. Now, why there is a need for a scope on a weapon that literally fits the definition of "Spray and Pray", we have no idea. You would expect that the more accurate, slower firing and harder hitting Stub Gun variant would be given the scope right?
Ironhead Autogun[edit]
The Ironhead Autogun shares the same structural profile as the Ironhead Heavy Stubber and the Ironhead Boltgun. It is a two-handed heavy machine gun that is designed to be a heavy weapon because of how big and bulky. It is used by the Drill Masters and Drill-Kyns of the Ironhead Squat Prospectors from Necromunda.
As a natural twin-linked weapon, the Autogun unlike conventional Autoguns, is very unwieldy to carry. But this is alright when you come in packing with lots of dakka. As it is twin-linked, conventional wisdom goes that this should be put in the combi-weapon category, however, the reality is that this Autogun is somewhat similar to the Storm bolter, as it is not two weapons duct taped together, but a single weapon system that just so happens to have two barrels.
What this means is that rather than firing each barrel separately in tandem via a hotwired single trigger mechanism, the gun fires two rounds at the same time, due to the fact that the entire firing mechanism being fused together. To compensate for the sudden increase in firepower, the Ironhead variant sports a huge drum-fed cylindrical magazine; holding a shit ton of ammunition at the expanse of weight. Fortunately for the Squats, they just so happen to be strong enough that such cumbersome weight is a non-issue. This design stays consistent with the rest of the Ironhead's weapons, even their pistols sport the same double-barrel, drum-fed magazine design.
Compared to the Heavy Stubber or Boltgun cousins, the Autogun does not fire as fast as the former nor hit as hard as the latter. The only thing going for it is that it is very cheap to manufacture and does not cost as much, allowing your Squats to launch a hail of cheap yet potent dakka. Yes, it is a bit underwhelming as it sounds, but this is still a SAW you are looking at.
MATR Autocannon[edit]
One of the few known Squat Autoweapons in the Leagues of Votann.
The MATR Autocannon is a three-barreled Autocannon Gatling weapon system used by the Leagues of Votann. It is known to be mounted on vehicles such as the Sagitaur ATV and Hekaton Land Fortress as one of its primary weapons. It is by far one of the more normal-looking weapons in the world of bullshit crazy that is the Leagues, so there is nothing much to speak about other than having better weapon performance and handling. Unfortunately, it also looks suspiciously similar to the HYLas Rotary Cannon and vice versa, so don't be too surprised if folks get confused with one another.
In terms of rules, these are 24" Heavy 6, S7 Ap-2 D2. Your typical autocannon, but with a couple of extra shots. An option for the Sagitaur, whilst being a standard on the Land Fortress.
Chaos Variants[edit]
Reaper Autocannon[edit]
There is the regular Autocannon and then there is the Reaper variant, which only the Chaos Space Marine Havocs get because Assault Cannons were discovered after the Horus Heresy, and everybody Imperial promptly thought they were cooler than the Reaper Autocannon. The reaper is an infantry-portable twin-linked Autocannon that wants to put its shells in your face at 36" or less. The reaper is effective against light vehicles and monsters, but the Imperials switched to the other gun for its boons against infantry. The current Imperial gun is mostly popular due to its reliability and durability, capable of operation for years without much care even if someone used it as a club. By comparison, the reaper autocannon needs its barrels to be replaced after each battle or else it loses reliability or even explodes (maybe the admech were drunk that day).
Then at some point, the Traitor Legions and their Dark Mechanicus pals looked at the Reaper Autocannon and asked, "How can we make this even more rapey?" So they came up with the Helstorm Autocannon, which apparently can only be fitted to vehicles and aircraft such as the Hellblade due to its sheer rate of fire. It has the same profile as the Reaper except for firing an extra shot per attack and adding delicious Rending because fuck assault cannons. Now if only GW would let the forces of Chaos get their collective shit together and replace every vehicle mounted heavy bolter with S7 AP4 Heavy 3, Twin-linked, Rending.
Soulreaper Cannon[edit]
You remember how we said earlier that the Thousand Sons AKA The Prodigal Bookworms found a way to make the god awful Rotor Cannon somewhat viable? Yeah, here is the end result of it all.
The Soulreaper Cannon is a type of gatling Inferno Weapon used by the Thousand Sons. This heavy weapon bears a strong resemblance to the Space Marine Assault Cannon, but since it is basically a modified Rotor Cannon, the Sons of Magnus can basically lug around this gun with their normal Rubric Marines. This actually increases the effectiveness of these walking tin bins as it boosts their firepower to a ungodly amount. Awesome.
As the Soulreaper is an Inferno weapon, it uses literal magic to further boost and enhance the weapon's lethality. Who says that mixing science and sorcery is an absurd idea eh? Suck it Crons!
Reaper Chaincannon[edit]
Not to be confused with the similarly named Reaper Autocannon.
The Reaper Chaincannon is basically an upgraded Rotor Cannon that has been tinkered for 40,000 years by the Spiky Bois because the original was so shit in everything.
Sporting longer, thicker barrels, beefier rotary cyclic mechanism and upscaled ammo that might as well be bolter shells. The Reaper Chaincannon does what the Rotor Cannon failed to do, which is to get shit done. Compared to the Soulreaper Cannon, the Reaper Chaincannon is more ungainly, unwieldy and lacks the unique attributes of Inferno weapons, but it is also more utilitarian and can be used by non-Thousand Sons units. In contrast to the Reaper Autocannon, which fires heavier rounds but with a much slower rate of fire, the Reaper Chaincannon exceeds even an Assault Cannon in its BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT-ness.
On the tabletop, this thing shreds through GEQs like their reinforced cardboard was only basic paper mache. It is able to fire 8 shots in one round, all at strength 5 and AP-1 but, for some reason, despite having a longer barrel, it only has a underwhelming 24" range.
Fun fact, the Reaper Chaincannon apparently uses two belts of bullets in its ammo feed. How the fuck that is able to fit inside the gun, let alone properly fire without the two ammo belts interfering with the firing mechanism, we have no clue. While a button to switch between them would work, there is nothing on the weapon that indicates this. Most likely the belts take turns like how bullets in a magazine work. Don’t think of them as belts, think of them as one very long magazine.
Avenger Chaincannon[edit]
Not to be confused with the similarly named Avenger Gatling Cannon nor the Avenger Bolt Cannon.
The Avenger Chaincannon is one of the primary ranged weapons used by the Chaos Knight War Dogs, specifically, the War Dog Knight Stalker and the War Dog Knight Brigand. It is a six-barrelled weapon that vomits out a large amount of lead at the target with appropriate results.
It is considered as the more evil, spikier but smaller counterpart of the Avenger Gatling Cannon since it is only mounted on the Chaos-version of an Amiger. So its dakka is less powerful and has less range, but is possibly much easier to maintain and handle.
Crunchwise, from what we know, it is a pretty nasty anti-infantry weapon, spewing out its 12 infantry-shredding shots in a single turn.
Hades Autocannon[edit]
The bigger version of the Reaper Autocannon.
Also because Chaos likes to add daemons to things, and daemons make things goofy, Chaos Space Marines have access to another vehicle-mounted variant, the Hades Autocannon, which bafflingly can only be mounted onto a dinobot (probably because it's propelled by warp-flame or something). Fielded onto a Heldrake for air support or in pairs on a Forgefiend for heavy support, the Hades Autocannon (R36", S8, AP4, Heavy 4, pinning) suffers the Reaper's slightly gimped range compared to the vanilla autocannon, but is slightly stronger and can pin units (but don't count on pinning too much); while it's not twin-linked like the reaper, having double the firepower more than compensates.
A Forgefiend can mulch most infantry short of Terminators, pounding through power armour on sheer weight and power of fire, can make most Monstrous Creatures' lives flash before their eyes, and can hurt even a Land Raider or Monolith if the dice gods are in your favor. It's almost really/absolutely a real shame that the average Forgefiend isn't known for being a phenomenal shot.
Skullshredder Cannon[edit]
The smallest of the weapons in the ridiculous Tower of Skulls Daemon Engine.
The two sponson-mounted twin-linked Skullshredder Cannons is used primarily for anti-infantry defense and it behaves similiar to a twin-linked Autocannon. Because it is mounted on the side, it can only target opponents in its field of view.
The Skullshredder is often seen as the least important weapon especially when there is the Doomfire Cannon situated just above the Skullshredder. Thus, it is often used to pick off any stragglers or provide additional wounds to would-be attackers.
Like all weapons from the Daemon Engine, it is powered by pure hatred.
Skullreaper Cannon[edit]
The Reaper Autocannon's father.
The Skullreaper Cannons is found only on the ridiculous Tower of Skulls Daemon Engine and is the primary hull-mounted weapon of the Tower itself. It is located further up the tower's height, and it is where the two hull-mounted Skullreaper Cannons is situated.
The Skullreaper Cannons resemble large hexa-barrelled weapons akin to a Hurricane Bolter, although it is not known whether the Skullreaper itself is a type of Bolter weapon, other than it fires large shells of pure hate. It is by far one of the most devastating anti-infantry weapons on a vehicle brimming with anti-infantry weapons, this is thanks in no part for simply having more barrels to load bullets in.
Due to its nature, it can be assumed that the Skullreaper is powered by the pure hatred of the Daemon Engine and uses the aforementioned shells of pure hate. It is unknown where the Daemon Engine supply the ammunition from, although it could be noted that the sheer size of the Tower of Skulls would mean that there should be ample room for stored ammunition, or we could just use the Warp simply whisking free ammunition like candy from a white van.
Nevertheless, because it is a six-barrelled weapon, the Skullreaper Count as a heavy weapon that can mulch most infantry trying to charge and attack the Tower of Skulls. Its unusual height advantage means that it can target enemies hiding behind cover with ease.
Unfortunately, the less can be said for its firing field of view, you could thank the stupid ass tower for being in the way.
Doomfire Cannon[edit]
A giant fuck off gatling cannon that resembles a lot like the Space Marine's Thunderfire Cannon (Some may even accuse it of even being part of the Thunderfire kit, proving that GW can to, kitbash), heck it even behave like the Thunderfire Cannon, creating large explosions to shred infantry akin to a Bolter.
It is one of the secondary hull mounted weapons of the ridiculous Tower of Skulls Daemon Engine. Because it is mounted on a turret, the Doomfire Cannon is given a near 360 degree firing position. This makes it far more reasonable than the hokey Skullreaper Cannon whose very design seem to mimic the Arrowslits found in medieval castles. Yes, you heard us right, GW and Khorne thought that was a 'good' design choice.
Of course, because it is lower to the ground, it has less range than the Skullreaper Cannon and is meant to rip apart closing infantry. Due to its explosive nature, it is unknown whether it is a Bolter, although Battle Cannons are known to have a blast template, so it could be assume that it just fire that big of a shell at such a rapid rate that it creates small blast templates in its wake.
Seriously, look at that bore size and tell me it doesn't fire fucking huge bullets?
Scorpion Cannon[edit]
The Scorpion Cannon, also known as the Sting Cannon, is a large, multi-barrelled weapon that is wielded by Brass Scorpion and it is what happens when you have a Hades Autocannon mounted on a giant scorpion.
The weapon is mounted upon the Brass Scorpion's tail, giving the weapon a full 360 degree arc of fire, making it perfectly suited to unleash rapidly fired torrents of ballistic projectiles upon enemy infantry at close range. The cannon fires heavy caliber shells that are effective against most lightly armored infantry and vehicles.
The Scorpion Cannon features a set of blades allowing it to be used as a backup melee weapon against enemy aggressors. The weapon receives its ammunition from thick, semi-organic cabling that travels up the rear side of the creature's tail. It is basically Mortal Kombat's scorpion given more of a Khornate feel. Hence it receives the seal of Awesome.
Harvester Cannon[edit]
Take an Obliterator's hand cannons and than multiply this by a hundred. You get the Harvester Cannon.
A Harvester Cannon is a large, multi-barrelled, rapid-firing weapon that is wielded by Soul Grinder Daemon Engines. The Soul Grinder is usually armed with a single Harvester Cannon on one arm, used in conjunction with an Iron Claw close combat weapon located on its other arm.
The weapon is attached to the daemon's wrist, on its right arm and can be used with an organic pincer version of the Iron Claw that it wields on its other arm or with a daemonic Warpsword. The Harvester Cannon is capable of firing large caliber solid shells that are effective against infantry and light vehicles and can also fire specialized flak shells to engage enemy aircraft. This thing is a very versatile form of Dakka and it can mow down both infantry, aircraft and vehicles alike.
Butcher Cannon[edit]
A Butcher Cannon is a heavy caliber, rapid-firing gun used by the Forces of Chaos. Think of it as the Reaper Autocannon on steroids.
The Butcher Cannon is commonly found on Chaos combat walkers and it is another primary weapon of the Decimator Daemon Engine as well as a weapon of choice for Chaos Contemptor Pattern Dreadnoughts. The shells fired by the Butcher Cannon are bound with sorcerous Chaos runes of anathema and bloodletting which causes severe blood loss. When used by Chaos walkers, the Butcher Cannon usually features a large blade that is attached beneath the weapon's twin barrels; this allows the walker to engage enemy forces in close combat if they get too close for it to effectively use the weapon at range.
It is not recorded in Imperial records if any other Chaos walkers such as Chaos Dreadnoughts or Helbrutes, Daemon Engines such as Defilers or Soul Grinders, or Chaos Space Marine tanks such as the Predator or Land Raider are able to be armed with a Butcher Cannon, although it is presumed to be possible.
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Side view.
Gallery[edit]
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Autoguns - Better Than Your Crap Flashlights!
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A typical mass produced model.
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Traitor Guardsmen armed with Agripinaa-pattern Autoguns and Autopistols. You know you want 'em.
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The Punisher Gatling Cannon and its tank. Sometimes you just need a little more gun.
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The Gatling Blaster. For when you need big dakka.
