Bastard.
Let’s be honest here. Grav Guns are crap. Not in the sense that they are useless - in fact, they’re very effective, to the point that they are spammed mercilessly by the beards. But the other problem is that they are simply repeating the function of an existing weapon - the Plasma Gun (and its little brother, the Plasma Pistol).
Apart from bringing out a slow painful tabletop extinction of the Plasma Gun, with its hilarious Overheat rule, it also reflects lazy game design. Put it this way, if you’re going to come up with a new weapon for the Space Marines, would you seriously just come with one that does what another weapon already does? Seriously? Alright, Matt Ward, we know you would, but still...
Yet let’s not look at the problem from a game design perspective, but from the point of view of a Space Marine Chapter Master. Now, restrictions on the arsenal via the Adeptus Mechanicus notwithstanding, what would that commander want for his battle brothers? Well, the Flamer is there to suppress large numbers of foes with weak armour. The Meltagun is there to waste heavily armoured foes and armour at close range, and Plasma Guns can cut just about anything down in a firefight. But what else would a Commander need?
Apart from the obvious allies, of course...
Well, let’s think about the biggest challenge Space Marine chapters face - they’re outnumbered, often heavily. There is a whole galaxy of nasty, gribbly things with violent personality disorders out there and only about a million Space Marines. Put simply, it’s not cricket for the plucky lads in Power Armour.
Now, flamers, plasma guns and Devastator squads can sort of counter this, but there is only so much firepower 1,000 men can unleash, even heavily armed, genetically altered ones. So, what is the answer? Well, Space Marines can beat up just about anyone - if they have enough time, and time is often very sparse especially when you’re being charged by hoards of angry Orks, Genestealers, or Daemon Cyber Bunnies of Chaos...
Carrots for the Carrot God
Lettuce for His Hutch of Lettuce
So, the answer would be a weapon that buys time, and slows waves of enemies down, giving the noble Adeptus Astartes time to riddle everyone with Bolter shells. Now, wouldn’t a weapon that uses gravity fit that job description?
With that in mind, let’s retcon the Grav Gun, Grav Pistol and Grav-Cannon. Give them a new job - slowing down the enemy while the battle brothers focus their fire on other targets. In any case, here are some experimental rules for you to play with. Enjoy...
NEW RULE:
Gravity Well:
If a hit is scored roll 1D6, +1 for each successive hit. If over the unit’s lowest Initiative score, it is auto-Pinned for the next turn. A roll of 1 is an automatic pass. Can’t be used on Overwatch. Immobilises a vehicle and also causes 1 point of hull damage on a 6.
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Grav Gun
The most common grav-weapon used by the Adeptus Astartes, the Grav Gun is also one of the most unusual devices in its armoury. For it is, in effect, a non-lethal weapon. It works by launching a concentrated pulse of heavy gravity which expands into a wide area when it hits its target. All caught in the ‘blast’ are subjected to super-heavy gravity. While nimbler opponents can avoid this effect, most are slowed to a standstill and rooted to the spot until the gravity effect wears off. This is a surprisingly useful weapon for Space Marines; while often outnumbered, being able to slow or halt opponents allows squads to hold off overwhelming numbers until their other weaponry can cut them down. The grav gun also has some effect on vehicles, their greater mass risking malfunction as well as inertia. though it is hard to score the direct hit needed to halt and damage them fully.
Strength Range AP Special
- 24" - Rapid Fire, Gravity Well.
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Grav Cannon
The largest grav weapon used by the Space Marines, the Grav Cannon is most commonly seen as one of the mounted weapons on Centurion Battlesuits, yet it is also deployed to Devastator and Tactical squads, where suppression takes precedence over anti-armour and anti-personnel considerations. It is able to fire volleys of pulses, each able to pin down scores of attackers and, potentially, crippling vehicles and even Knights and small Titans.
Strength Range AP Special
- 36" - Heavy 3, Gravity Well.
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(Obviously, Gravity Well doesn't work with a pistol, so here's a suitable bodge:)
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At first glance, a Grav Pistol is an unlikely weapon. It is too small to suppress vehicles or squads of troops en masse like other grav weapons. Though this effect could be used in a sidearm, it would, at most, effect a single target per shot, which does not bode well when dealing with more than one foe at a time. Instead, the Grav Pistol serves a different role, though based on the same principles as its larger cousin. It fires an unstable bubble of gravity which expands rapidly when it hits, causing a blast which rips apart the target and anyone nearby. Not the most subtle of weapons, it excels in dealing with massed opponents, and does terrible damage at point blank range.
Strength Range AP Special
4 12" 5 Pistol, Blast.
