40k: The Death of the Meltagun
Please lets all hold a moments silence for the passing of a dear friend; the meltagun. I bet you’re all saying “Mercer what are you on about you crazy fool?” well, pull up a seat and let me tell you…
When 5th edition came out vehicles got a survivbility boost and meltagun became like the dog – man’s best friend. But it’s lifespan has been short lived much like it’s range (ho ho ho) and the day of the missile launcher has returned. But I hear you say melta is the king of anti tank, I do not doubt your words.
The problem with melta is it’s short ranged but utterly destructive, if you’ve got a long range weapon which can stop a armoured transport carrying a melta squad it makes that melta less effective as it cannot get into range quickly. If you also consider that the most common front facing armour value is 12 you will actually find melta is over kill. The humble S8 missile launcher can knock out vehicles pretty easily and doubles up as anti troop too, the melta is S8 and even at 12″ away it can still knock out a tank – the only difference at this point is the AP1 which is definitely a bonus. But with cheap ranged weaponry such as the missile launcher AP1 isn’t needed that much because weight of fire (Long Fangs, Devastators etc) from multiple shots will bring down a target with increased odds instead of just a single meltagun shot.
Back in 4th edition the lascannon was the king for anti tank, and while it is still pretty decent needing a 3+ to glance vehicles it’s a bit costly these days so it’s slipped from it’s golden throne and been replaced by the missile launcher which is cheaper and more flexible. The fashion-rage of melta-spam units has come to a end and the long range weapon has once again taken the throne of anti vehicle duty.
But what about armour 14 I hear you cry? Well I totally agree about armour 14; melta is the best tool for that but how much armour 14 do you really see? In the game we’ve got allsorted Land Raiders, Leman Russes and Monoliths – I may have missed the odd one or two units as well. Land Raiders cost a packet and usually carrying Terminators, tackle it with mass melta and the Terminators are walking. Leman Russes have other facing values (13, 11 & 10) and melta doesn’t affect the Monolith at all. Now don’t get me wrong melta still has a place with armour 14 and is good for slagging Land Raiders and Leman Russes, while Land Raiders you see often just not in multiples like Leman Russes but other than that you don’t see armour 14 all that much.
Melta still has a place as a dedicated anti vehicle weapon it’s just not as required as much as it was once though. The current meta (do I dare use that word? lol) is all about transports which are the highest have av12 if I am correct, and melta is just overkill to take these units out – long range S8-S9 weapons is enough. After all you don’t want to wreck a transport unit with your meltas and that unit getting out being a threat to yourself, do it at range where the unit inside the transport has to foot slog to get at you, with them exposed you have a long time to cut them down with fire power instead of a rush job with the enemy unit being on your door step.
Melta, you think it’s time has come and gone or it still the win? What are you all seeing in your neck of the woods?
