AR Marksman

Bombenschuss 60 (BS60)

> A scoped semi-automatic rifle suited for taking out enemies at long-distance ranges.
>
> Journal description., Wolfenstein: The New Order

The **AR Marksman** is a scoped select-fire weapon available in *Wolfenstein: The New Order*.

## Description

The AR Marksman is a select-fire rifle issued to elite Nazi personnel in 1960. Visually, it resembles the standard Assault Rifle 1960, though internally it is fundamentally different, and uses an additionally unusual form of ammunition. While in its default configuration, the AR Marksman fires high-caliber rounds semi-automatically while the weapon's barrel is at full extent and the scope is available for use. As a marksman rifle, this weapon is the best ranged choice in The New Order, despite the rather low scope magnification by sniper standards. A direct headshot is often enough to kill any standard enemy instantly.

When upgraded, the weapon can also be switched to become a fully-automatic plasma rifle. Upon switching modes, the scope swivels off its base to the right hand side of the rifle revealing an energy meter and the barrel retracts. In this mode the AR Marksman behaves similarly to a weaker LaserKraftWerk, and drains battery power just as quickly. The configuration is first encountered on the Nazi Lunar Base, where it is used extensively by the installation's staff; Lunar AR Marksmen cannot be switched to normal operation. The AR Marksman in plasma rifle mode is vulnerable to Tesla Grenade explosions, which can drain its battery instantly.

AR Marksmen are rare finds during gameplay and their ammunition rarer, so careful use must be planned ahead of time if the weapon is to be fielded. Dual-wielding the weapon in the default configuration is very wasteful as a result, though much less so in plasma mode due to the overly abundance of power nodes during the late stages of the game.

## Upgrades

### Alt-fire:

* **Plasma Mode:** Pressing the secondary fire key (default "C") will toggle the AR Marksman's energy rifle configuration, allowing it to fire powerful bolts of plasma fully-automatically until the battery power runs out. It is gained automatically upon picking up an AR Marksman during the Lunar Base mission.

### Perk Upgrades:

* **Marksman Magazine +:** Increases the AR Marksman's magazine size by 4.
* **Battery +:** Increases the AR Marksman's battery capacity by 180.
* **Deadeye:** Increases the AR Marksman's headshot damage when sighted.
* **Quick Draw:** The AR Marksman is equipped faster.
* **Quick Reload:** The AR Marksman is reloaded faster.
* **Double Reload:** The AR Marksman is reloaded faster when dual-wielded.
* **Endurance I:** Increases sprint speed when dual-wielding AR Marksmen.
* **Dual-wield Expert:** Increases the AR Marksman's standard total ammo capacity. Dual-wielded AR Marksmen have a higher chance of dismembering enemies.

## Gallery

Marksman Plasma RifleB.J. wielding the rifle.Blazkowicz dual-wielding two Marksman Plasma Rifles.A scoped Marksman.Dual-wielding scoped Marksman's.A Space Trooper wielding a Plasma Marksman.
## Trivia

### General

* The AR Marksman are obtainable on Chapter 3 The New World in both Fergus and Wyatt timeline.
	+ The AR Marksman can be seen on the rooftop after using the flying fox rope in Wyatt timeline.
	+ The AR Marksman can be seen in a secret tunnel under the elevator where MG-60 is required to break through the fence in Fergus timeline.

* The white letters on the scope read *"Okular Th3030"*, *"Dioptre 5x65mm"* and *"Thalberg-Werker"*.
* The AR Marksman's model is visually recycled from the standard Assault Rifle 1960, which gives it the latter's stock configuration with an unusable spare magazine inside the diagonal slot.
* The AR Marksman's scope doesn't actually interface with the rail system it is supposedly mounted on, as seen when it swivels off to the side during the plasma mode operation. Upon closer inspection, the energy counter/scope base seems to clip into the rails rather than clamping down on them during normal use.
	+ The AR Marksman does not make use of ironsights, as seen when toggling over to the plasma mode. This is a tactical detriment especially at longer ranges, as the user will not have a clear reference point to determine where the shots will land during operation.
		- As the weapon in this configuration was first found on the Lunar Base where enclosed corridors and spaces are common, however, it is likely that the mode was designed for in-base combat at point-blank range where just by firing casually in a general direction will likely score successful hits, thus eliminating the need for sights.

* The over-folding bipods of the AR Marksman were likely inspired by those of the Walther WA2000.
	+ The AR Marksman rifle of *New Order* seem to be also inspired by the Walther Gweher 43. Exactly like the gun ingame , the G43 was a German-made, magazine-fed (although it was often reloaded with stripper clips) semi-auto rifle used during WW2 and the Marksman rifle of the game could eventually be a more effective and futurized successor of it , since the G43 had often jamming problems. There was a G43 variant with a scope , named the ZF 4 , which had existed too . Plus the Walther Arms German society , which had created the G43, will made also later the WA2000 semi-auto sniper rifle during the Cold War , which had certainly also inpired the AR Marksman rifle seen in *New Order*.

### Rifle platform

* Classification of this rifle as an assault rifle is not an appropriate for a weapon of this configuration and purpose, as it denotes a select-fire weapon with at least one automatic mode (full-auto or burst) firing intermediate caliber rounds. The correct designation for the AR Marksman would be "Designated Marksman Rifle" (DMR) due to its semi-automatic nature, small magazine and used of high-power rifle cartridges.
* Apart from the Laser Cutter and the Laserkraftwerk, the AR Marksman in its default state is the only obtainable weapon not seen used by any character in the game. The rifles fielded by the Nazi Space Marines are all permanently set to firing plasma bolts instead and conventional ammunition cannot be collected from them, however their remaining battery power can be siphoned off of those for the player's own use..

### Plasma mode

* The journal entry for the AR Marksman's plasma mode upgrade depicts Blazkowicz shooting energy beams from the rifle in its default configuration instead of its proper mode, against Nazi Space Marines in a level where the weapon is permanently locked to the alt-fire setting.
	+ The AR Marksman in plasma mode still generates recoil when fired automatically, despite being a directed-energy weapon where recoil should be negligible due to the very low mass of the projectile compared to the weapon.
* It is unclear how the weapon switches between the two modes, the scope assembly just swivels on and off when the plasma rifle setting is toggled.