Ordnance Scattering Into Yourself

it is one of the peril of ordinance, there is no rule preventing it, it happens in real life, it could clearly happen in 40K and does

Ummmm, the last time I saw an Abrahams tank shoot behind itself with its cannon pointing forwards..... was never. So, it IS a bit pointless in some instances. The boy has a point.

The last time I saw and abrhams tank fire its main gun as ordinance was, erm never either mate, just setting asside leman russ for a moment, most ordinance is equivalent to Arty, SP or otherwise, conventionally this has a range of 10 miles +, it doesnt really fit on the 40K board, add to that the particle whip is not shooting out a projectile down a barrel and that governs it.

further, we have all seen rounds skip, indeed this has been used in certain conditions to the advantage fo the firer, they can ricochete and go in any direction, equally there is no reason why rounds in the 41st millenium could not have a safety timer akin to that on modern torpedos, this would allow direct fire ordinance weapons to have rebounds land behind them and then go off

A self-propelled howitzer can fire directly (in 40k this would be direct-fire ordnance) and it would be physically impossible for a round to land behind the actual gun barrel without some catastrophic disaster happening.

I understand that 40k doesn't always mimic real life but there have been rule corrections to bring it closer to reality. I was simply wondering if this was one of those times. Since two highly respected posters answered in the negative I think it's safe to say it can happen at any time in 40k.

Thanks guys.

LordCreampuff said:

A self-propelled howitzer can fire directly (in 40k this would be direct-fire ordnance) and it would be physically impossible for a round to land behind the actual gun barrel without some catastrophic disaster happening.

I understand that 40k doesn't always mimic real life but there have been rule corrections to bring it closer to reality. I was simply wondering if this was one of those times. Since two highly respected posters answered in the negative I think it's safe to say it can happen at any time in 40k.

Thanks guys.

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Yup I agree that it can scatter in ANY direction. Although it does seem odd that things can scatter BEHIND you.

Blame it on the wind.

You are assuming the round travels straight from the barrel. Most ordanance weapon fire in an arc trajectory. So inorder to hit something that is so close the round would have to be pushed out the top hatch by the gunner. The barrel would be pointed almost vertically so the round goes up travels only a short distance and drops onto its target. Thus the round could land behind the firer.

sanguinary lord said:

You are assuming the round travels straight from the barrel. Most ordanance weapon fire in an arc trajectory. So inorder to hit something that is so close the round would have to be pushed out the top hatch by the gunner. The barrel would be pointed almost vertically so the round goes up travels only a short distance and drops onto its target. Thus the round could land behind the firer.

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you are describing indirect fire, what creampuff was describing is direct fire, the only feasible eplanation I can think of for this on barrel fired projectiles is a safety fuse and a riccochette

There is a lot of things that dont make much sense in 40k. As long as a human (or equivalent) has a 16,67% chance of being able to continue the fight after taking a direct hit in the chest from a battlecannon (because it wounds on a 2+), sure the battlecannon can also scatter so bad that the shell lands behind it. If the shell scatters on to the tank, you could always rule that the shell defonates in the barrel, that actually happens from time to time.