Sam's 6th Edition Rulings

[Sam]

Chase:  Here is a list of all of Sam's rulings.  It's probably a good idea to read ALL of them in case his original ruling changed for some reason.




Flyers: The main rulebook has an appendix that lists all the units in the game, and declares their unit type. Flyers are listed as such, including Valkyries/Vendettas, Stormtalon's, and so on. No Forge World units appear in the main rulebook.

The Onslaught power actually says that units may not assault after running, unless they also have Fleet. Rather than specifically allowing the maneuver, this statement sounds like a reference to the 5e rules for Fleet (which specifically allowed an assault after running). Since Fleet has changed, I don't believe Onslaught will provide an exception to the rule.

Boneswords do a whole lot of stuff that power weapons don't, and aren't specifically mentioned as being power weapons (they just don't allow armor saves). Elsewhere, Codex: Space Marines for instance, power weapons refer directly to the main rulebook. In this case, I think boneswords function as written.

Singing Spears function as Witchblades (as written in the rulebook), but also have the improvements listed in the Eldar Codex. They have a ranged profile as well, listed in the codex and the main rulebook. Is there an ambiguity?

Spirit Stones do grant an extra Mastery level, based on the FAQ clarification about Eldrad.

[Sam]

Steve: The unit listings are in Appendix 2 of the main rulebook, page 410.

For Flakk missiles: Armies have the upgrade options listed in their codex and FAQ/Errate document. If the Flakk missile upgrade does not appear in either of those places, your army cannot currently take that upgrade.

A Daemon Weapon would pretty much be the definition of "Unusual Power Weapon", so it would follow the rules set forth on page 61 for such things: AP 3 Melee with whatever special rules stated in its entry.

The Glaive Encarmine would be typed according to the model, since it only adds the Master-Crafted special rule to an ordinary power weapon.

The Executioner's Axe has unusual close-combat rules, so it'll be AP 3, and function as written in the codex entry.

[Sam]

Yeesh, people! I go to my other job for a couple of days, and look what happens! All right, let's start where I left off:


Skyfire:
-"Why does it mention skimmers?" Because it can only take Snap Shots at the targets not listed, and they wanted it to shoot normally at Hovering flyers.

Flakk missiles:
-"No really, why can't I take them?" They're not in your codex, and not in your FAQ. The same reason why Codex: Space Marines can't take Stormravens. Flakk missiles are an upgrade to missile launchers that has yet to appear in a codex. That may change in the future, but right now, the upgrade is not available.

Daemon Weapons:
-"Are daemon weapons unusual power weapons, per the rules?" As I said in my first response, yes. They don't get the normal weapon type bonuses, just AP 3 and the abilities listed in their codex.

Dual Power Fists:
-"+1 to Attack?" Yep, just like 5th edition. Hulk hands!

Power of the Machine Spirit:
-"Can the Machine Spirit fire an Interceptor shot while the rest of the vehicle fires with Skyfire shots?" Nope. Power of the Machine Spirit does what it says it does, and no more. You pick your firing mode and stick with it.
-"Can the Machine Spirit fire a third missile?" Good question. As currently written, yes, unless an FAQ says otherwise.
-"What about superheavy flyers?" They're not in the rulebook. Wait for 6e Apocalypse.

Allies:
-"Can I take Coteaz as an ally?" Yes, but he can't join your squads.

Power Weapons:
-"Can I model whatever kind of power weapon I want on my guy?" A model can be equipped with whatever options it came with, per the package. Slapping axes on Death Cult Assassins is modeling for advantage, and the models would be removed at any tournament I'm judging.
-"But if that's true, wouldn't you have to have searchlights on your vehicles, and paint your Ork vehicles red?" WYSIWYG is still a thing, as far as I'm concerned. So, yeah, same as always.
-"Can I use a Necromunda model that has the wargear options I want?" That's a bit trickier. I'm thinking not, for the same reason that you couldn't grab a power weapon you like from a Death Company sprue and throw it on one of your Bloodclaws. If we're restricting people to what the official model for that unit has, then we're doing it across the board.

Flamers:
-"Does a flamer using the Wall of Death rule have to worry about placing the template over allies?" No, because the template is never placed. Indeed, the enemy unit doesn't even have to be within range; Wall of Death Overwatch attacks are an exception to the usual rules for line of sight and range.


Whew!

[Sam]

Trying to keep up with this, until I go to bed:

Death Cult Assassins:
-"What if they've already got axes?" What Chase said.

Runes of Warding:
-"Do Runes of Warding affect members of an allied force, if they are Allies of Convenience or Desperate Allies?" Looks like they do, since they are considered to be enemy units. Don't bring Eldrad along with your mon-keigh psykers!

[Sam]

More questions, more answers:

Conversions:
-"Are you banning conversions in Plainville?" Nope. I don't believe I said anything of the kind. People are free to model how they wish, as long as the rules they use conform to the rules of the game. That has always been the case, and continues to be.

Yet More Power Weapon Stuff:
-"Are all Techmarines armed with a power axe, since they all have a modeled weapon that looks like an axe?" Yes.
-"No, really, do we actually have to stick to using the rules for the weapons that came with the model, even if we really, really want to use weapon options from other kits?" Yes.
-"What power weapon are these Triarch Praetorians carrying?" None. They're carrying voidblades.

To prevent this from continuing on forever: I am very unlikely to change my mind on this point until an official FAQ comes out and contradicts the rules as they appear in the book. Barring that occurrence, BG tournaments will require power weapon options to be limited to what the official model came with, at least in how they play on the table. As always, you are free to make your army look as awesome as possible; that's never a bad thing. Just remember that for tournaments, WYSIWYG is in effect, and certain models just don't have every potential option.

[Sam]

Assault Marines and power axes:
-"Can I use a power axe in an Assault Marine squad that had them back in 2nd edition, even though it's not on the newest sprue?" I believe this is the newest sprue: http://artgoblin.pl/Spruepics/Assault%20Squad/Sprue1Back.JPG There's a power axe on the top right. So no question there. Regarding older models in general, I'm going to hash out my thinking with some folks at Thursday night 40k. I'll try to post my thinking afterwards.

Techmarine:
-"If a Techmarine strikes at two different initiative steps, does he get a pile-in move at each one?" Yes. Initiative values may be modified by weapons an wargear, and in this instance, the Techmarine has two initiative values. Thus, he meets the requirements to pile in at both Initiative steps.

[Sam]

Update to the power weapon situation on the other thread: http://www.battlegroundgames.com/forum/index.php?topic=4388.msg40527#msg40527

I'll be churning through these rules questions again when I get some time. Thanks for your patience, folks!

[Sam]

And here's the latest:

"Do units that are not slowed by difficult terrain suffer an initiative penalty in close combat if they do not have grenades?" Nope, they can strike at their normal initiative.

"When taking Allies, do you need to take manadatory choices?" Yes; the Allied Detachment essentially acts as its own small army from that codex. Likewise, if a commander can only be taken in a Tau army of 1500 points, you'd need 1500 points from Codex: Tau Empire to field him.

"Commander Farsight attacks 'as a monstrous creature in CC'.  Does that mean he has Smash and AP2?" I can find no such text in the codex. Farsight's Dawn Blade does ignore armor saves, and he rolls 2d6+5 for armor penetration. As written, he is unit type Infantry (Jetpack, Character), and so does not get any Monstrous Creature attributes.

"Do beams/novas automatically hit fliers?" Nope. Shots against Zooming fliers are Snap Shots, and any shooting attack that does not roll to hit cannot be fired as a Snap Shot. Hat tip to Zaroth for catching this one.

"If a model in a target unit is out of range/line of sight from the firing unit, can it be removed as a casualty from shooting?" No; only models which were within range and line of sight at the time of firing can be allocated wounds.

"Sunburst has a Weapon profile of Assault 2D6. Does this mean I roll 2D6 and that's how many it hits in total, or do I roll 2d6 and it hits every enemy model in range 2d6 times?" Neither. Nova powers hit units, not models, so each unit in range would be hit 2d6 times (roll once and apply the result to each target unit). Prometheus had it right.

"How much leeway do we have in building a Bastions?" Exactly as much as Ben said in his reply. This is easy!

"Are we still keeping the same ruling for Necron Command barge flyovers, where a line has to be drawn from the starting position of the barge, through the target unit, to the ending position of the barge?" Given that Flat Out movement is now done in the Shooting Phase (limiting the command barge to 12" in the movement phase), and based on the chariot rules in the main book, Command Barges will be able to move normally and make a Sweep Attack over any one unit they pass over in any way. No more line.

[Sam]

"How does Hammer of Wrath interact with poisoned attacks, rending attacks, etc?" Hammer of Wrath is resolved with a specific Strength and AP, so the usual close combat bonuses do not apply (you're just kicking a dude in the head). Ignore poison and other effects when resolving Hammer of Wrath.

"Can 'Look Out, Sir!' saves be taken against Perils of the Warp?" Perils of the Warp does not allow saves of any kind. I consider Look Out, Sir! to be a type of save (since it's a sidebar on the page of the rulebook dealing with saves), so a desperate Psyker character may not pawn the daemons off on some unsuspecting grunt.

[Sam]

Regarding fortifications, I'll be a little more explicit. A tournament has more stringent guidelines than casual play, and adding terrain can have a major impact on how the battle will play out. For the time being, you should keep your custom models close to the official ones in terms of size and layout. Changing the aesthetics is fine, but moving things around for in-game advantage is dancing very close to the line, and I'd rather we just avoid it. So, to address your specific questions:

"How close do the size and shape of a homebuilt bastion need to be to the imperial model?" As close as possible.

"Do the heavy bolters actually HAVE to be arranged in a perfect square?" Yes.

"Can we make Bastions with a different layout of access points?" No.

"Can we make Bastions with a different layout of fire points?" No.

"What's the arc of fire on those heavy bolters?" They appear to be the equivalent of hull-mounted weapons, which means a 45-degree arc of fire.

[Sam]

"The aegis defense line kit comes with two 8" sections and four 2" sections for a total of 24".  Could you make it 6" sections instead or should we stick to the two 8" sections and four 2"?" The rules for Aegis Defence Lines refer specifically to long and short sections, so you'd need to keep them at 8" and 2" (or in wall sections divisible by 8" or 2", up to the number allowed).

"If a Flyer (such as a Storm Raven) enters hover mode, thus counting as a Fast Skimmer, can it fire all 4 missiles at once?" The Skimmer type does not provide an overriding interpretation of the missile rules, so they would still be limited in the usual way. Machine Spirit says that you can fire one more weapon than is normally permitted, which is super vague. In the absence of any indication that special rules do not work on bold text, I'm sticking with that ruling for the time being.

"What's the airspeed velocity of a laden flyer in 6th edition?" The Zoom rules have little bearing for transports, since you can't embark or disembark when the transport is zooming. On the turn in which a unit embarks or disembarks, the flier would have to be in hover mode. Later on, it's free to zoom as normal.

"If a beam is fired from a flyer who has chosen to skyfire this turn, is it still a snap-shot?" Page 81 says that shots against a flier are resolved as Snap Shots, unless the model or weapon has the Skyfire special rule. If a flier is firing a beam in Skyfire mode at another flier, the shot is not a Snap Shot, and hits normally (though it cannot hit ground units).

"How do blast weapons interact with units that the firing squad cannot see at all?" From the Blast rules on page 33 of the rulebook: "Note that it is possible, and absolutely fine, for a shot to scatter beyond the weapon's maximum range and line of sight.... In these cases hits are worked out as normal and can hit and wound units out of range and line of sight (or even your own units, or models locked in combat)." I believe that blast weapons in general are an exception to the normal line of sight rules, once a legal target has been chosen. So invisible squads can still be hit and wounded.

[Sam]

"Do enemy units roll 2D6 and discard the highest when charging the deathleaper?" Oddly enough, units charging through cover normally roll 3d6 and use the two lowest (not discard the highest). So when charging through terrain near Deathleaper, the unit just rolls 2d6 and keeps what they roll. Bizarre, I know, but them's the breaks.

"Ymgarl genestealers are specified as special characters in the FAQ. Does this mean that every member of the squad is a character?" The FAQ says that Ymgarl Genestealers are considered Genestealers. The phrase "Special Character" is used as shorthand for the named versions of the various Tyranid creatures. There is no update granting them Character status, so they retain their type as standard Infantry.

"Wait, so Death Rays again." A UNIT/WEAPON WITH SKYFIRE CAN USE A SHOT THAT DOESN'T ROLL TO HIT TO ATTACK FLIERS, BUT NOT GROUND UNITS. A UNIT WITHOUT SKYFIRE CAN USE A SHOT THAT DOESN'T ROLL TO HIT TO ATTACK GROUND UNITS, BUT NOT FLIERS. I can type it again in larger font, if necessary.

[Sam]

"Since only the Swarmlord is based on a unit that is a character, is he the only one that is?" Correct.

[Sam]

"If a zooming Night Scythe is destroyed, do embarked troops go into reserve before or after s10 hits?" Ooh, good one. The rules aren't clear on when exactly the unit goes into reserve, but I'm going to rule it as happening before the actual crash, triggered by the initial destroyed state of the flier. So no crashing damage for transported troops.

[Sam]

"Can a Necron command barge sweep attack a flyer?  Is this the same as a Flying Monstrous Creature's Vector strike?" The two rules are almost word-for-word identical. The difference between them, however, is that Vector Strike specifically allows the attacker to target fliers, while Sweep Attack does not (even in the chariot rules). So as of now, a command barge cannot sweep attack fliers.

"While we're at it, do Flying Monstrous Creatures get skyfire?" With the rules as written, they do not. An FAQ may grant them the ability at a later date, but for now, they're stuck with snap shots and Vector Strikes.

"Can Haywire (and EMP) affect Fortifications?" The rules for buildings say that they may be shot at or charged as if they were vehicles, and then provide specific exceptions where appropriate. Based on that, Haywire works just fine, for the same reason that Melta does.

"When Coteaz turns in his powers for random powers from the book, does he give up hammerhand?" Since Coteaz knows three powers but may only exchange two (according to the FAQ), he follows the Grey Knight Librarian restriction and may not trade in Hammerhand.

"In a challenge, do wounds in excess of the number required to kill the challenger/challengee carry over into the rest of the squad?" The rules state that the two characters in a challenge can only be struck by each other, but does not limit wound allocation in any other way. By the current rules, excess wounds will go into the squad.