Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomsdad
I take the abstraction point, but I thought 1" = 2 yards was still canon?
Really? it's been a long time I'll have to pull my old books out tonight!
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No, or at least I am not aware of it being so. Every book since has failed to mention any solid range rule explicitly to avoid it, as they realised 1"=2 yards was... well, a bit dumb, but didn't want to change the rules or tie themselves down to anything like they did initially. I think the little "learning to play" rulebook in the 4th edition starter set (with Tyranids and Space Marines) had some throw away line about a "sliding scale", ala Flames of War (where 16" is "effective small arms range" and artillery then has a range of 48"), but I haven't seen anything like that since. They have realised tying themselves down to a scale leads to daft things (like the 90m range Battletech machine guns, which, while now stated to be a game abstraction, apparently featured in in-canon novels before they formalised it into "the weapon ranges are purely a convention for playability, not their actual ranges"), yet they like the rules they have... or at least are too scared to kill the golden goose that they are unwilling to drastically change the core of the rules.
And yes, there is an optional rule somewhere in the 1st edition ruleset for longer ranged shots. First you needed a 6 "to hit" and then make another BS check. Think it is towards the end of the combat section, but I am not totally sure. Going to admit I am not 100% certain on the range multipliers (it might be x5 for projectile weapons and x2 for energy weapons), but I am pretty sure it was x10 and x5.