Friday FAQ #5

Normally we'd have an odd rules query here but instead, since 'Ard Boyz is tomorrow for us in America, we decided to list a few rules (with page numbers) on questions that may arise during the tournament, including the Guard Codex which many people may still be unfamiliar with heading into the tournament.

Rule Book

- Morale checks are taken at the end of EACH phase (page 44 under "Taking Morale Checks", point A)

- If a falling back unit comes in CONTACT with a table edge, the entire unit is removed from the game (page 45, last paragraph under "Fall Back!")

- Both Barrage and Ordnance Barrage weapons may choose to fire either directly or indirectly. Why would you want to fire indirectly if a unit is in LoS? To deny cover saves or to cause a pinning check of course! (Page 58, second paragraph under "Ordnance Barrage weapons"). If within line of sight and firing "Barrage" one can still deduct the Ballistic skill of the firer from the scatter roll (ninja edit by Dictator).

- If vehicles are in squadrons, "Immobilised" results count as "Wrecked" and "Stunned" results count as "Shaken" (Page 64, second paragraph under "Damage Results Against Squadrons")

- If a unit is in contact with an enemy's vehicle at the start of the enemy's Assault phase, said unit may perform their attacks as normal (page 63 under "Successive turns")

- If a unit performs a Death or Glory attack and fails, the model that performed the attack is removed (regardless of wounds or saves) and no morale checks need to be taken (Page 69, third paragraph under "Death or Glory!")

- The "Stealth" special rule does not confer a bonus cover save in the open since the rule states it only improves your cover saves by +1. Since you don't typically have a cover save in the open, it cannot be improved by +1 (Page 76 under "Stealth")


Codex: Imperial Guard

Orders (Page 29):
- Must be issued at the start of the shooting phase (third paragraph).
- Must be issued Company Command first, Platoon Command second (third paragraph).

- The orders "First Rank, Fire! Second Rank, Fire!", "Fire on My Target!" and "Bring it Down!" cause the ordered squad to follow the order IMMEDIATELY after passing (Page 30 and 36 under the respective headings).

- Infantry Squads have the option of joining together using the "Combined Squads" special rule found on page 37.

- If a Leman Russ wishes to move at cruising speed, it must roll an additional D6 for movement as per the "Lumbering Behemoth" rules on page 48.


Any rules questions you guys have (in the rulebook or the various codices)? Send 'em in! If we don't post it on an FAQ, we'll still answer it so there's nothing to lose! Just send your queries to us at terranforge@gmail.com. Have a great weekend guys and good luck to those participating in the 'Ard Boyz tournament!

Titan Terrain (Part 2)

As promised by Twitter (updates over there, on the right) I would post up the big-ass piece of Titan terrain Alex and I built and painted the other night. Not counting dry time, this probably only took us 4 hours to build and paint which is pretty awesome. Then again, the titan body and head themselves were already built before we dove into this project (I built a full titan last year which then got crushed by multiple things, including my foot). Anyways, here it is:








Size comparisons:




I also added an extra touch to the Titan foot (rust):






Slowly Alex and I are getting a battlefield with appropriate Terrain. Woot!

We interupt this broadcast....

Kevin here, bringing you an incredibly non-40k related post:

I pre-ordered Dream Theater's new album Black Clouds and Silver Linings (the special edition 3-disc set). DT said on their homepage, though I can't find the news post, that a limited number of people who pre-ordered it would receive the lyric booklet autographed. My CD came the other day and it was just a plain old booklet, no autographs, but I didn't care because it was a great album (the instrumental tracks on the third disc are really cool). Today I got a small parcel in the mail, opened it and saw this (click for larger image):



OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111oneoneone11eleven!!1111!!

For those of you that don't know, Dream Theater is my all time favorite band and I idolize each member for their musical skill. A dream of mine is to sit down with, at the very least, Jon Petrucci over a beer discussing music. Anyways, I got the next best thing, all of their autographs!!

And so you know who each autograph's is:


To say I'm happy would be a gross understatement. This is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten.

That is all :D

Friday FAQ #4

It's Friday again meaning, you guessed it, another Friday FAQ!
This week we'll be touching on a VERY hot issue right now, the question about pinning weapons. Haven't heard it yet? Well here it is:

In 4th edition, any amount of wounds inflicted by a squad with pinning weapons required a single pinning test (4th ed RB pg 32). In 5th ed (pg 31) the wording of the rule has changed substantially. One camp suggests that the changed wording means that if a unit with pinning weapon successfully wounds a unit then that unit must take a single pinning test no matter how many wounds they suffered. The other camp says that the new wording clearly indicates that each weapon that successfully wounds the enemy unit at least once requires a pinning test.

To summarize:

Side A - Multiple pinning wounds from 1 enemy unit = 1 test regardless of the number of pinning weapons

Side B - Multiple pinning wounds from 1 weapon = 1 test; multiple wounds from multiple pinning weapons = 1 test per wounding weapon.

Who is right?

(question courtesy of Deathboon from Astronomican)
Ok, here's what page 31 says:

If a unit other than a vehicle suffers any unsaved wounds from a pinning weapon, it must immediately take a Pinning test.

Well the ambiguity lies with the word "weapon". What the hell does that mean? Weapon type or a single weapon? If I have a squad of three mortars which cause a wound, do they EACH cause a pinning test (assuming they all cause unsaved wounds) or one pinning test since it's one weapon type in a squad? Very confusing and there are excellent arguments on both sides of this. Let's dig a little more through the rule book though, shall we? The term "weapon" is never clearly defined in the rulebook. It is described as a type of weapon in some sections and as a single weapon in others. Thanks for being clear GW!

Well a paragraph down it mentions the effects of pinning and going to ground. Originally Alex and I skipped past it but came back (because there is NOTHING helpful in this rulebook) and noticed something very particular:

. . . going to ground does not protect it against the fire of the pinning weapon that caused the test (or indeed of any other weapon fired by the same unit that phase). . .

Notice something? The term "pinning weapon" is singular, not plural. It references ONE weapon causing ONE test.

Terran Forge final opinion: Never does it specify multiple pinning weapons in a squad, therefore by RAW Alex and I both believe that the wording absolutely, 100% implies that each pinning weapon that causes an unsaved wound in a squad causes a pinning test. That means one squad can cause multiple pinning test. However, that said, we do not believe GW intended it to be this way, but it is what it is (sadly). And as a clarification, that's still one pinning test per weapon, not per unsaved wound!

Disappointing. Alex and I have always believed it to be the opposite of what we have discovered. However, GW did write this book and for tournaments I highly suggest asking the tournament organizer what their official ruling is. Please feel free to send us more questions at terranforge@gmail.com!

Back to my first love...

....Space Marine! Despite the love I have for my new Valhallans, I could never neglect the power armored monsters of the Imperium! That, and I want to have more guys painted in time for 'Ard Boyz. First on the plate, a scratch built (sorta) Land Speeder Storm. I just canabalized my old Landspeeder that I forgot I even had and made this out of it in about an hour:





Then, of course, the Scouts that go inside!




I have a tactical squad nearly finished, so expect another update soon enough!