Can blunderbuss misfire?

Using the optional misfire rules can blunderbuss misfire. It says you misfire if you roll a one to hit. But I thought the blunderbuss didn't misfire. But it doesn't say anything about blunderbuss being an exception.

The edited rulebook says: "Misfires: Each time you roll a 1 when rolling to hit with a blackpowder weapon (handgun, pistol, blunderbuss, warplock pistol, etc), roll a D6 and consult the chart below."

So blunderbuss is listed... but you never roll "to hit" with a blunderbuss, so they don't misfire.

We're playing with the optional misfire rules in our current campaign and have made the house rule that you roll a D6 to see whether a blunderbuss misfires. The dice roll only has an effect if a 1 is rolled though because it is not a 'to hit' roll. This is a house rule though because technically blackpowder weapons only misfire when rolling a 1 'to hit'.

It is a 1 shot item, so making it misfire 1/6th of the time makes it worse.

I mean it does make sense fluffy wise because it is basically a hollow metal tube with a bunch of metal and gun powder shoveled into it. So I could easily see things going wrong with it.

I have played a few campaigns of Mordheim, and really only 2 guys have played with them. So from my experience it won't come-up that often.

We don't play with that optional rule anyway. We find that blackpowder weapons tend to be under-used even without it.

If you do use the misfire option, and want a house-rule to make misfires apply to blunderbusses, you could say it fires, and roll your "to wound rolls" for the hit models - but the first time you roll a 1 "to wound" you stop and roll on the misfire chart. So it can misfire but still hit some models.

I think the limitation that a blunderbuss can only fire once per game is sufficient, personally.

I don't buy that a blunderbus can't misfire.

Using the logic that a blunderbus automatically hits so no roll is involved which means misfires are impossible.... What about weeping blades automatically wounding? You don't need to roll to wound so they are impossible to crit with right? I don't buy that either.

We use black powder optional rules, and blunderbuses do roll for misfire like any other black powder weapon. Similarly, when weeping blades auto wound, we have the person roll a D6 just to see if they crit.

"What about weeping blades automatically wounding? You don't need to roll to wound so they are impossible to crit with right? I don't buy that either."

Certainly a reasonable analogy to make, but not perfect. For one thing, the rules specifically say you may still roll to wound to see if you have a crit, in the case of the Weeping Blades (or, more specifically, the Black Lotus description the WB description refers you too):

A weapon coated with the sap of the Black Lotus will wound its target automatically if you roll a 6 to hit.
Note that you can still roll a dice for every wound inflicted in this way. If you roll a 6, you will inflict a critical hit with that roll.

Also, in terms of game balance, the weeping blades are not one-shot-per-game weapons, unlike the blunderbuss. On average, I probably catch between three and four models with a blunderbuss blast (if anyone is grouped to allow more models than that to be hit, they're begging for it). A skaven with weeping blades gets two attacks with them every round he is in melee.

In my experience, the blunderbuss is most useful as a psychological weapon. Swarm warbands are much more careful about scattering when their is a blunderbuss around. If you force a roll to hit for every model caught in the blast for purposes of a misfire, then that benefit is lost.

Bottom line, of course, is that any group that feels blunderbusses need nerfing, and who are already using the misfire rules, can create a house rule to apply misfires to blunderbusses. Doesn't bother me - I'm sure not everyone feels the need for some of the houserules we use, either.

Blunderbuss do auto hit anything in the area that they fire, so they can hit multiple targets, but they are a 1 use item, and everything they still have to wound. Yes they are potentally really powerful, but they are also extremely limited, and are not cheap.

Usually these kind of attacks work more like magic spells, but since most Dwarves, and Mercs don't have magic users I think they added it to give them an ability that funtions a lot like a spell.

So if you play a Blunderbuss can missfire, does that mean the item is gone for that game?

I mean the one shot rule is more because of the special ammo requirements right?

So would you allow the person with a misfire on the Blunderbuss a chance to fire again following the same type of rules for blackpowder weapons. Giving the carrying player a chance to fix the fuse etc.

@HornedRat... I hadn't thought of that as my blunderbusses have yet to misfire. Yes I would let them shoot again (unless the misfire rules said that the weapon was destroyed or couldn't shoot for the rest of the game) because technically they haven't been fired.

Here are the misfire rules.

misfires
Each time you roll a 1 when rolling to hit with a blackpowder weapon (handgun, pistol, blunderbuss, warplock pistol, etc), roll a D6 and consult the chart below.

BLACKPOWDER WEAPON MISFIRES

1 BOOM! The weapon explodes with a deafening roar! The shooter suffers an S4 hit (this does not cause critical hits) and the weapon is destroyed.

2 Jammed. The weapon is jammed and useless for the remainder of the battle. You may use it as normal in the next battle.

3 Phut. The weapon fails to fire and you must remove the shot. This means that the shooter must wait one extra turn before he can fire this weapon again.

4-5 Click. The weapon fails to fire, but there is no additional effect.

6 KA-BOOM! The weapon roars and spits a cloud of black smoke and flame! The shot
hits the intended target and counts as having +1 Strength.

So I am thinking that the following should happen:
1. You fire it, but it exploded in your face
2. The weapon is broken so it cannot be used this combat
3. You might be able fire again, but you would have to spend a whole round not moving or fighting and just fixing it then trying again
4. and 5. it didn't fire this round, but you could try again next round
6. You fired and it worked! So no firing again.

Radeboy: nice insight on the spell analogy.

I have house ruled that it misfires, but they are rarely used so it has not happened yet. If it did I would treat it like any other blackpowder weapon, possibly being destroyed or causing massive death!

It is a fun physiological weapon, and really scary with superior blackpowder.

Still not planning on using the rule, but if you do use it, result 3 would logically mean that the weapon was out for the game:

3 Phut. The weapon fails to fire and you must remove the shot. This means that the shooter must wait one extra turn before he can fire this weapon again.

The rationale for why they can only fire once per game is that they take too long to reload for it to be feasible in a game.

lol

Yeah I guess that is true mweaver. Misfiring blunderbusses are seeming worse and worse than they already were.

Actually, you could just ignore (or re-rationalize) the explanation and keep #3 as it is in terms of game effect. That would make more sense. I was feeling too literal yesterday, apparently.