When designing the standard gear of a custom regiment, is there a way to replace the M36 Lasgun with an Autogun without either handwaving it or paying 8 points to have the Autogun supplement the M36 Lasgun rather than replacing it?

I know that the Lasgun is a big part of the Imperial Guard's identity, but surely there must be many regiments that use Autoguns rather than Lasguns.

Is there a good reason (thematic or balance-wise) that you cannot pay a point or two to have an Autogun instead of an M36 Lasgun?

Jutlander said:

For the first bit - no. You'll have to pay 8 points or handwave it.

As for the second, the Imperial Guard are outfitted with Lasguns because of the ease in logistics that brings. It's typically PDF units that use autoguns, as they don't have to rely on long supply lines as much.

I recall a post in the beta for OW discussing how in theory it required something on the order of 100 tons of ammo to be shipped to a regiment on a daily basis, given the nature of conflicts the IG are often called to fight.

So those 8 points are your bribe to the munitorium to not hate your sorry little regiment and their strange choice of primary weapon. Besides, its an excellent way to get trolled by the GM.

-over the vox "We need ammo!"

-allies from a different regiment "On the way with supplies!"

Fight through to get to the supply trucks only to realize its lasgun charge packs. Facepalm. GM chortle.

For what it's worth, I'd handwave the logistical nightmare it creates and just say that making them the standard weapon costs as much as upgrading from a lascarbine to a lasgun.

Thank you, all, for your answers.

Do you use Simple weapons and don't want to be penalized just because you want to play an autogun-using regiment?  If so, just make it so Average SP weapons become Common and Las weapons of Common availability become Average. And, just make it free.