thrawn:
so, not to be presumptuous, being new here and all, but i couldn’t find a FAQ for the GT army book by coleman (i think that’s his name). should we start something here? I’ve seen some concerns already (ie centuar lord has no weapon/armour options). i have some questions. is blunderbuss move and shoot? can you stand and shoot?
thrawn:
right, thanks! although, it still doesn’t answer, can a blunderbuss move and shoot? stand and shoot?
Gar Shadowfame:
yes, because this comes out from basic rules, no need for faq that
thrawn:
i just watned to double check that cause handgunners can’t move and shoot. the stand and shoot is of course more obvious, but no harm in double checking. thanks!
yes, because this comes out from basic rules, no need for faq that
Gar Shadowfame
Gar Shadowfame:
handgunners cant move and shot cos they have “move or fire” rule, BB dont.
Hashut’s Blessing:
To expand upon what Gar Shadowfame is implying: in the rules for a handgun, it specifies “Move or Shoot”, as do crossbows and Dwarf handguns (and similar things), but the blunderbusses don’t. It is considered that, if they do not have this rule, then they can move and fire in the same turn (not pahse though 
).
CheTralfara:
If you’re looking for a fluff explanation, the whole point of a blunderbuss is that it’s large conical nozzle eases the process of re-loading, where you just drop your ammo feed into the funnel.
thrawn:
so i’ve hit a bit of hard spot with the new clunderbuss rules (kevin coleman’s of course). if a large single model charges them . . . well you know what happens, if you do hit, you’ll inflict one measly str5 hit (or whatever teh unit size is). have other players had this issue? a single character or monster charging your blunderbusses?
i was thinking maybe it should be changed slightly? for 5 models, D3+1 str3 hits, 10 models, 2D3+2 str4 hits, and 15 models or more, 3D3+3 str5 hits? any ideas?
Thommy H:
This is an issue with the current Blunderbuss rules as well.
KramDratta:
However the previous edition had a ‘Concentrate Fire’ option to work around this.
IMO Blunderbuss units should have the option to either shoot at a unit in general, causing a number of hits equal to the enemy model or concentrate all their shots on one target.
In the first case, you roll a number of dice per enemy model, in the second you roll a number of dice per blunderbuss models.
Cheers
Border Reiver:
The “Concentration of Fire” rule hasn’t been in effect since 5th ed. It is long since gone.
mattbird:
we tried out a version that had concentration of fire type rules, and the testers found it too powerful for their tastes.
Hobgoblyn:
The Blunderbuss rules in that thing are sickeningly badly designed. I understand the writer is a fan of Chaos Dwarfs, as are the people on this board, but there is a big difference between making something good and making something so far beyond the pale of broken that one has to wonder if the person writing it was even considering balance.
As written, the Blunderbusses not only get to move and fire, but they just flat out kill large units without even having a real fight. How is it supposed to make any sense?
If you attack them with a group of 5 riders then 2-3 will be hit.
If you attack them with a group of 10 Chaos Warriors then 5 will be hit.
If you attack them with a group of 20 humans then 10 get hit, but if I attack the SAME unit with a unit of 40, instead 20 get hit?!!
Never mind using units of 60 Goblins or something against them.
The more points someone puts into a unit, the more they invest the more they automatically lose. No other weapon or attack in all of WarHammer punishes people like this. Perhaps template weapons do in a way, but it isn’t direct-- and it is entirely against the grain of how people pay for things in WarHammer. If you have a unit above 20 then all the extras never get to fight, they don’t even add to rank bonus until the rest die. Yet you pay exactly the same price for them as you would a second unit.
So the Blunderbuss as designed only serves to further hurt players who are already being penalized for having large units.
But, more to the point, why create wacky unique and broken rules for a weapon that could be perfectly balanced and sensible as a stand and fire weapon with which the front rank gets 2 S4 shots each at half the range of a normal rifle? If you have rules like that they are simple, straight forward, easy to remember and likely not terribly abusive.
Thommy H:
Perhaps template weapons do in a way, but it isn't directActually, I'm pretty sure it's exactly like template weapons. Except you have to roll to hit, so it's actually not as good as any template weapon.
KramDratta:
On the otherhand, if you throw a mounted hero/lord at this unit, you will cause 1 wound (at best). A basic hero (hits on 3+, wounds on 4+ without any magic weapons) can pretty much balance out the CR of the blunderbuss (US, + 2 ranks ?) whilst a combat lord/large target would crush the unit on the charge.
Thommy H:
Yes…it in fact amplifies the only weakness of the original blunderbuss rules by making them utterly useless against single models, while making their advantages so powerful as to be game breaking. Interesting design choice. I didn’t really pay a whole lot of attention to the Indy GT list at that stage of its development, but I kind of wish I had now - was this really the best they could come up with for the blunderbuss?
Border Reiver:
I argued for the retention of the “firezone”/template of the RH rules and the bringing back of the concentration of fire rule, but in the end this was overrulled in favour of “not slowing the game down”. The idea was that people would take an inordinate amount of time to adjust the facing of their blunderbuss units to absolutely ensure that they had the best effect when shooting.
cornixt:
Although I dislike the template rules, these new rules make even less sense. What is wrong with having a fixed number of shots that depends on the size of the Blunderbuss unit?
stevedosdedos:
I can see why some people think this unit is overpowered, however it can also be argued that as a blunderbuss only has a range of 12" and as 3" moving dwarfs are not the most mobile unit, anyone silly enough to move a 60 strong goblin unit within range deserves to get punished…