Friday, August 28, 2009

Friday FAQ #10

This week we have a question I've been seeing pop up a lot since the release of the Guard codex: Melta-Cannons and half-ranges.
When a Melta-Cannon fires at a vehicle and the hole is within half range when you target it but it scatters outside of half-range do you still get the extra D6 for Armor Penetration? Conversely, if you place the blast template outside of half-range and it scatters within half-range and still hits the vehicle do you get the extra D6 for Armor Penetration?
Let's take a look at the melta gun rules in the rulebook to see what it says first. Page 32 of the BRB on the right-hand column under the title "Melta":
Melta weapons. . . roll an extra D6 when rolling to penetrate a vehicle's Armor Value at half range or less. If the weapon is more than half its maximum range away, a single D6 is rolled as normal.
Now before anything further is said, let's look at the Blast Template rules on page 30, first section in the left-hand column (we're interested in the bit in the sixth paragraph):
Note that it is possible, and absolutely fine, for a scattering shot to land beyond the weapon's range and line of sight. . . in these cases hits are worked out as normal, and can hit units out of range and sight.
So to answer the questions we have to look at how you determine when to measure half-distance, before or after the shot is fired. Looking at the context of the Melta entry, you do not get the extra dice if the shot is more than half distance away from the target and combining it with the blast rules would seem that the range does not matter once a scatter is rolled. It's tough to say definitively since the rules are vague on this issue, but I would say since the Melta-Cannon's range to target (before scatter) is half distance, you would get the extra D6 for Armor Pen. However, in using this interpretation, if your marker was placed outside of the Melta's half-distance, you would not get the extra D6 for armor pen.

Terran Forge Final Opinion: As long as the targeted vehicle is within the Melta gun's half-range, you can claim the extra D6 for Armor Penetration. AMENDED. Changed "template was placed" to "targeted vehicle is".

As always, these FAQs are unofficial and just meant to help speed up game play if you choose to agree with them. Please email any rules questions you have to terranforge@gmail.com and we'll be sure to answer them!

3 comments:

SC John said...

hmmm makes me think about it a bit,

I would have to say that the reason for the extra dice is that the weapon is more effective/ powerful when used at close range, and if the template wanders out of that more effective range it should not get the bonus from being "close"

just my take, based more on a "realistic" totally made up space man gun point of view.

BTW I enjoy these FAQ posts, thanks for posting them.

John
Santa Cruz Warhammer

CreativeName said...

What happens if what you say is true but the scatter takes the shot to a different vehicle that was not within range? I just doesn't seem right that you'd get 2d6 against a vehicle you didn't even target that was outside half range.

Kevin said...

That's true. Perhaps it should be amended that as long as the distance from the barrel of the cannon is within half-distance of the vehicle being targeted. That is much more specific and clear.

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