((This is kind of absurd, are the rolls just that bad all the time, or are the penalties just so big?))
((A mixture of several factors I guess.
The Rolls are really bad. Half your guns would be joining the flamer in Jamsville if they weren't Reliable. This has also gone for the Orks for their pinning rolls.
The penalties are also really big. I went over most of them before. This is partially my fault, since I designed what this game considers to be a long range engagement. This is partly game design, since it is made so melee characters can have a fighting chance of getting close to ranged ones. The Running + Vehicle Moving Penalty is really hard to get over. Keep in mind that if you got closer your Chimera would automatically splat them if you passed a single Ram roll. Also keep in mind this would have taken a few minutes in an in-person game.
Finally everyone involved in this fight is a low-level n00b. As far as the game is concerned all the PCs are fresh-out-of-bootcamp recruits with potential to become heroes. They're weaker at the start than someone playing RT, so they'll miss more. Especially since we only have one character focused on Shooting things.))
Keep Axeork pinned. Hopefully someone can actually deal with it.
((This is kind of absurd, are the rolls just that bad all the time, or are the penalties just so big?))
((I'm guessing part of it is that "low level" encounters are balanced around a lot of missing because nothing can take very many hits. A way to draw out fights longer when reasonably we'd be feeling the pain from just a couple Slugger shots.))
The Ork is now pinned! Well he would have been pinned anyway, but now he's super pinned. Unable to enter melee he lootz a stub rifle from the ground, ripping off the trigger guard so he can use it with his massive hands.
With nobody shooting at the Rocket Ork, he has recovered his bravery. He loads up a new rocket into his haphazard launcher.
Still far out of the range of their guns, the Orks with Guns continue to rush forward.
Across the battlefield there are many sounds. Gunfire and explosions being the most common, but there is a strange new sound joining them. A distant roar of an engine? One quite less subtle than your Chimera?
40 meters 11:25 Allied Machine Gunner and loader
60 meters 11:55 Allied Flamer Weapon Jammed
60 meters 11:40 Axe Ork 7 Wounds Pinned Stubber Ork now?
140 meters Railway
101 meters 12:25 Ork Gunner Running
176 Meters 11:05 Ork Gunner Running
240 Meters 1:25 Ork Rocket User