Sunday, November 11, 2012

Stormy's A.S.S.: Rules Questions

One of  Dan Abnett's best.
It's been a while since I'd done one of these but a few things have arisen in 6th edition that have piqued my interest with odd rules interpretations, despite GW's best attempts to cock-block silly combos through the use of Allies.

One of these is how Victory Points for Lone Wolves after the latest Space Wolf FAQ. On page 2 it says:

Page 29 – Lone Wolves, A Glorious Death.
Replace the last two sentences with: “Furthermore, in missions that award Victory Points for each enemy unit that has been completely destroyed, a Lone Wolf does not concede a Victory Point if he dies in battle. Instead, to represent his failure to meet a spectacular end, a Lone Wolf awards a Victory Point in such a mission if he survives until the end of the game!”

So the thing I'm wondering is if the Lone Wolf is the first unit killed in a game does he deny the enemy a Victory Point for First Blood?


In missions that award Victory Points for each enemy unit that has been completely destroyed, a Lone Wolf does not concede a Victory Point if he dies in battle.
I've highlighted this bit as it makes no distinction between Victory Points (First Blood v Purge the Alien) nor does it make a distinction between being the first unit killed or the second.

Page 122 of the BRB says:

First Blood
The first unit, of any kind, to be removed as a casualty during the game is worth 1 Victory Point to the opposing player at the end of the game.

Unit of any kind can refer to either a choice from the Force Org or Unit Type (Infantry, Vehicle etc) or both. I reckon its both. So the unit dies and gives away a VP. The Lone Wolf FAQ response kicks in and so the Lone Wolf does not give away the Victory Point despite being the first unit killed.

I take it I have this right?

I have asked this on a forum or two but some say that because they are the first unit killed they give away the point but they aren't able to say why there is a difference between a VP for First Blood and one for Purge the Alien, beyond saying 'Its different' despite there being no distinction. Every mission uses Victory points for completely destroying a unit as they all award a VP for First Blood, after all.

Next question, and quite a popular one that crops up on a lot of fora.

Can a Dark Eldar character benefit from the Eldar Fortune power if it is cast on a unit that he is in?

On page 3 of the Eldar FAQ is says:


Taken from Dakka.
Q: Do Dark Eldar allies count as Eldar for the Farseer psychic powers Fortune and Guide? (p28)
A: No.

There are two ways to read this, however. The first is that you cannot cast it on the unit at all as the unit is no longer an Eldar unit for the purpose of targeting them with Fortune. The other is that you can cast it at the unit, as it is always an Eldar unit regardless of attached characters (Tau can also join Eldar units as they are best buds) but the attached character can not gain the benefits of the power.

This leads me to ask whether you can cast Fortune on an Eldar character that has joined a non-Eldar unit also. He might be an Eldar but he's in a non-Eldar unit - its pretty obvious that he can't cast it on the Dark Eldar unit but can he cast it on himself?

Pretty.
Can you get a 2+ Cover save by going to ground behind a Ruin while in Area Terrain?
Cover saves are on page 18 of the BRB, as are the rules for going to ground.

Area terrain is on page 91. It says:
Area terrain is always difficult terrain. Models in area terrain receive a 5+ cover save, regardless of whether or not they are 25% obscured. Models that Go to Ground in area terrain receive +2 to their cover save, rather than +1.
Ruins are on page 98 and say that they are difficult terrain and always provide a 4+ cover save. Further, it says that ruins with a base treat the base as area terrain.

The question is do units that are behind a wall of a ruin, and in area terrain that go to ground get a 2+ cover save (4+ for being behind the wall, +2 for going to ground) or does the +2 for going to ground only apply to the cover save granted by being in area terrain?

There's a few questions for you to mull over while I finish typing out more thoughts on Ahriman.


6 comments:

  1. I didn't know you got +2 cover when going to ground in area terrain.

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    Replies
    1. Ara, I didn't but it was something that came up in conversation a few days ago. It's not something that will work but I did want to put it to rest anyway.

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  2. "In missions that award Victory Points for each enemy unit that has been completely destroyed, a Lone Wolf does not concede a Victory Point if he dies in battle."

    First Blood does not give Victory Points for EACH enemy unit destroyed, it gives a Victory Point for THE FIRST unit destroyed. So it may not work in some missions, but might in Purge the Alien?

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    1. This is the response I got aswell - he doesn't surrender *any* VPs in Purge the Alien (including First Blood) but it doesn't affect the rest of the rulebook missions.

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  3. I think there is another interpretation of the eldar casting rule. Fortune is cast on a model not a unit. So if you cast on an eldar model the squad with that model benefit from fortune. What the faq does is stops you casting on say a unit of wyches. Unless that unit is led by an eldar ic and that ic is the target of fortune.

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    Replies
    1. The root of that problem though is what the unit is: is it a Dark Eldar unit with an Eldar IC attached or is it classed as a mixed Eldar/DEldar unit, both of which would prevent you from casting Fortune upon the unit, as it isn't being cast upon an Eldar target.

      Another line of thinking suggests that you can cast it on the Eldar who will be the only affected by it, while another line is what you have suggested above. Its a bit of mess really, and probably best if you ask a TO ahead of time to standardise an approach.

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