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Monday, August 9, 2010

Mistake Mondays: SPEHSS MAHREEN Edition

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So the Marines of Space. The most common force in the grim darkness of the far future, if sales and players are any indication. Knowing their rules would seem to be a pretty relevant thing, so perhaps you want a little brush-up on the common errors.

#1: And They Shall Know No Error
ATSKNF lets you bypass most all of the rules about regrouping except that you still cannot do so if you are out of coherency or within 6" of an enemy. They always pass the Leadership test to regroup and are allowed to move (or to not move) normally once they do so.

#2: And They Shall Know No Retreat!
In close combat, ATSKNF functions as a slightly confusing version of Fearless. Once combat has been fought and a winner determined, if the Marines lose, they make their Morale check to hold as normal. If they fail, they receive the normal chance to escape with Sweeping Advance, and if they win, they break away from combat normally. Finally, if they have failed BOTH the Morale test and the Sweeping Advance rule then the normal consequences for Sweeping Advance (dying instantly) with suffering wounds as though from No Retreat! (i.e. one armor save per point you lost the combat by.)

#3: Squad Thrusts
Units are broken into Combat Squads when you deploy (or choose to reserve) them, and thus will be placed on the field or rolled for individually, as appropriate. Drop Pods are the exception to this- if you deploy a unit in a Drop Pod, you can choose to separate it into Combat Squads when it arrives.

#4: "I'll Be... Here, I Guess."
Any friendly models in a squad wearing Terminator armor prevent you from making a Sweeping Advance roll, even if other members of the squad normally could.

#5: This Isn't Where We Parked!
Drop Pods are not immune to mishaps; they will still suffer one if they scatter off the table or if your initial "this is where I want to land" spot would cause you to mishap. (You can only reduce the distance to avoid landing near units/terrain.) Also remember that the Pod itself landing in a valid spot does not guarantee that there will be enough room for the Marines to get out.

#6: I Have the Power
Power of the Machine Spirit doesn't allow you to move if you are Stunned anymore, and also fires its extra weapon using the vehicle's normal BS. It also lets you direct your extra gun at a separate target than all of the others.

#7: Terminator Assault and Battery Squad
Thunder Hammers reduce anyone they hit to I1 in the following combat phase; against vehicles that can't fight back, they always inflict Crew Shaken in addition to anything else a successful damage roll does. Lightning Claws, in addition to being power weapons, also reroll wounds.

#8: Point and Click (And Wait)
The Chapter Master's Orbital Bombardment can only be used if he didn't move that turn, even if he is wearing Terminator Armor. His Ballistic Skill is not applied to the result of the scatter dice, even if he has LOS.

#9: Chapter Tacticals
You only get one Chapter Tactics; you have to pick which one you get if you take several such characters. Vulkan's Chapter Tactics function differently than most of the others; you lose Combat Tactics on anyone who has it, but the bonus to Flamer/Melta/Hammers applies to any units carrying these weapons, not just units that had Combat Tactics.

#10: Grab Bag Special!
Null Zone, for all intents and purposes, cancels out Fortune with regards to invulnerable saves. Vanguard Vetrans can't run or shoot in a turn which they attempt a Heroic Intervention, and may not do so if they have an IC attached to them. Units assault from a Crusader or Redeemer get Frag Grenades. Rhinos can attempt to self-repair instead of shooting. A Force Weapon can't be "activated" to kill a model if you already used a psychic power that turn.

That's all for this time; subsequent weeks will delve into various other codices a bit. As always, questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.

11 pinkments:

jabberjabber said...

Excellent summary and reference guide mate!

Unknown said...

1. You cunningly sidestepped the issue of the 3" consolidation when marines regroup. This is in some cicles controversial.

3. Is puting in reserve "deploying"? Does one "deploy" units in reserve or are they deployed when they enter the board?
This isn a very important distiction because one "combat-squads" when one "deploys" the unit.

It would seem that when one puts a full unit in reserve, one rolls for the whole unit and then combat squads them when they come on the table.

6. Can PoTM fire when smoked?

Anonymous said...

@Abuse Puppy
Nice Summary.

#10 Use a Force Weapon ... Unless an Epistolary!

#4 This is the one I always had trouble working out. Links back to Page 11 mixed units moving at the speed of the slowest model but not obvious.

#1 The friend that taught me to play 40k was always getting this one wrong and rallying in my shooting phase.

@Grav
#3 - The rules for Combat Squads and Reserves are not that well written (along with so much else). Deep Strike uses the word "deploy" when the unit becomes available. Interesting idea...

#6 - Yes as written POTMS can fire when smoking!

TMiles001 said...

Fortune/Null Zone is fun together. They will always reroll the save, pass or fail...

If they fail - reroll with Fortune. If they pass - reroll with Null Zone. The second result always sticks because you can't reroll a dice more than once - regardless of the source - effectively negating each other as you said...

So very, very backwards... :D

GreyICE said...

@grav:

#1 - is this controversial? You get a 3" consolidation movement when you regroup, and ATSKNF does not state otherwise.

Maiku said...

... I just realized something re-reading Vulkan's blurb on Chapter Tactics; correct me if I'm wrong.

"All Thunder Hammers in YOUR ARMY will count as Master-crafted, and ALL flamers, heavy flamers, meltaguns, and multimeltas count as Twin-linked."

Note that when it mentions flamers, HFs, and melta weapons, it doesn't state that it applies to just the ones in your army? I suppose that it's all about how you read it and I'm just being a huge RAW dink right now; just thought it was interesting.

VT2 said...

You forgot about Vulkan not being a captain.

AbusePuppy said...

@GreyICE, grav
The rulebook does not provide any clear distinction here, so I didn't address the issue. Some groups play it so that you don't get the 3" move (only your regular move), some don't. Personally I favor the latter, as it seems silly to let the Marines move 3" and then not count as moving, but the book makes no distinction.

@grav
It is heavily implied by the note about Drop Pods that units in reserve must choose their Combat Squad status when the player places them there.

PotMS and Smoke is another issue with no direction in the rulebook. In this case it seems that since 0 + 1 = 1, PotMS lets you fire one gun. Likewise the Stormraven and going Flat Out.

@VT2
True. :P Cassius and Tigurius ain't no captains neither, don't know why people always assume the Big V is.

@Maiku
40K Rulebook FAQ notes that only models in your army benefit from your wargear and rules unless specified otherwise.

Unknown said...

I know the marines get their 3" consolidation in addition to their "count as not moved"-status. It just seems like something that should be mentioned in an article like this.


The PotMS + smoke is not simply 0+1=1.

One could argue it doesn't say you can fire zero weapons, it says you cannot fire any weapons.
Like ap- is not thesame as ap0, "not any" is not thesame as "zero".

Perhaps the right parallel would be a 9-man Ork mob + IG psychic Battle choir.
Battle choir does -x Ld but since the mob rule is a "continuous effect" and the Battle choir is a one-time shot the leadership stays at 9.

VT2 said...

I was once told that Vulkan gets a command squad because he costs so much.

AbusePuppy said...

@Grav
A Land Raider that is shaken/stunned also "cannot fire any weapons." Likewise, one that has moved more than 6". Why is smoke a special exception? (I'm not saying it's not, but I'd like ot hear the reasoning.)

Your Ork example isn't really a very good one because you can argue that either way.

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