Lasgun

Lore & history

Across a million war-torn worlds, the humble lasgun is the rifle that holds the Imperium of Man together. While Space Marines are numbering in the mere hundreds of thousands, the regiments of the Astra Militarum march to war in the billions, and almost every single Guardsman carries a lasgun in his hands. Cynics and Space Marines sometimes mock the weapon as a "flashlight" when comparing a single laser pulse to a .75-calibre mass-reactive bolt, yet the lasgun is arguably the greatest logistical triumph of the Departmento Munitorum. It is cheap to stamp out by the million on any hive or forge world, has virtually no moving parts to jam in mud or desert sand, requires no bullet supply train, and is simple enough for a freshly conscripted trooper to strip, clean and fire under artillery bombardment.

More importantly, an Imperial Guard regiment never fires a single lasgun in isolation. On the battlefield, Cadian Shock Troops, Death Korps of Krieg grenadiers and Mordian Iron Guard form up in multi-rank firing lines and respond to their officers' barked orders—"First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire!"—by unleashing a blinding, synchronized storm of thousands of ruby laser beams. What one las-bolt merely chars, five hundred las-bolts striking in the same heartbeat will burn straight through—cooking Chaos Space Marines inside their ceramite, blinding Carnifexes, and scything down charging Ork hordes in smoking windrows.

To a Guardsman, his lasgun is his life. Uplifting Primer regulations prescribe execution for losing or mistreating one's rifle, and veterans from Cadia to Tanith learn every quirk of their weapon's focusing crystal, bayonet lug and power pack long before their first campaign is done.

Design, mechanism & battlefield effect

A lasgun is a solid-state directed-energy rifle that emits a brief, high-intensity coherent beam of electromagnetic radiation in the visible and near-infrared spectrum. Rather than chambering chemical cartridges, it draws energy from a standardized, rechargeable liquid-metal capacitor magazine—universally known as a Size-3 Munitorum power pack—which holds enough charge for forty to sixty standard-intensity shots before needing replacement.

When the trigger is pulled, charge from the power pack dumps into a step-up capacitor bank and discharges through an emitter diode and a series of precision focusing lenses inside the barrel. The beam travels at the speed of light with zero ballistic drop and virtually zero recoil, accompanied by a sharp, whip-like crack as the laser instantly ionizes the air along its trajectory. When the pulse strikes unarmoured flesh, the water inside the target's cells flash-boils into steam in a microsecond, blowing out a cauterised crater and frequently severing limbs cleanly.

Perhaps the lasgun's greatest logistical miracle is its power pack. A depleted pack can be recharged from any standard Imperial generator, vehicle socket, or solar array—and in desperate survival situations, a Guardsman can even throw his empty power packs directly into a campfire to thermal-charge them for a handful of emergency shots, though doing so warps the casing and shortens the pack's lifespan.

Patterns, variants & doctrine

Every famous regiment and forge world produces its own distinct lasgun pattern. The Kantrael MG "Short" pattern carried by the Cadian Shock Troops is famed for its rugged reliability and nineteen-megathoule punch; the Lucius No. 98 pattern of the Death Korps of Krieg operates at a higher twenty-one-megathoule charge, trading rate of fire and battery capacity for heavier single-shot stopping power and heavy bayonet-fighting durability; the Catachan Mark IV lascarbine is shortened for dense jungle warfare; and the Tanith First and Only favour blackened Nalwood-stocked lasguns fitted with silver "straight silver" bayonets.

For elite stormtroopers—specifically Cadian Kasrkin and Militarum Tempestus Scions—the Munitorum issues the Ryza-pattern Hot-Shot Lasgun (or Hellgun). Powered by a heavy backpack generator via an armoured umbilical cable rather than a standard box magazine, a Hot-Shot Lasgun fires supercharged pulses capable of punching cleanly through Space Marine power armour and heavy carapace plate. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Long-Las sniper rifle uses an extended barrel and hot-shot packs to take out enemy commanders at extreme range.

Notable patterns & relic examples

• Kantrael MG Defender Pattern: The legendary standard-issue lasgun of the Cadian Shock Troops, famed for its ruggedness across the Cadian Gate.
• Lucius No. 98 Pattern: A heavy, single-shot overcharged lasgun carried by the Death Korps of Krieg, built to double as a brutal trench club and bayonet pike.
• Hot-Shot Lasgun (Hellgun): A backpack-powered high-penetration laser rifle wielded by Cadian Kasrkin and Militarum Tempestus Scions.
• Long-Las: A precision marksman variant fitted with an extended focusing barrel, flash suppressor and hot-shot power packs, used by Tanith and Cadian snipers.

Wielded & Fielded By

Characters (5)

• 
  Ursarkar E. Creed · Lord Castellan of Cadia
• 
  Ciaphas Cain · Commissar, Hero of the Imperium
• 
  Sebastian Yarrick · Commissar, Hero of Hades Hive
• 
  Ibram Gaunt · Colonel-Commissar of the Tanith First and Only
• 
  Arcadian Leontus · Lord Commander Solar of the Astra Militarum

Related weapons & vehicles

LascannonFlamer & Heavy FlamerBolter & Bolt RifleMeltagun & Multi-MeltaPlasma Gun & Plasma IncineratorStorm BolterSonic Blaster & BlastmasterShuriken Catapult & Shuriken Pistol

Primary Faction

Astra Militarum