8th Ed. Character on stegadon v8

[hdctambien]

If they don't want players to use the BS of the chief for the bow, they should have put out those intructions. As it is, until there is a FAQ, paying 40 points to have 5BS instead of 3BS seems more than enough based on other point values. It is not forbidden (yet) and it makes the bow worth something, where's the harm?

Anytime someone says "because its against the rules", remember you can always say the chief replaced the guy holding the giant bow, until they put out another FAQ that says different.

But it is against the rules.

GW has never intended for a character to man a Stegadon weapon. In no previous edition has a character been allowed to fire the weapons on a Stegadon. If it was a new ability being granted to the army, they should spell it out rather than kind-of sort-of allowing it through vague language.

GW uses troop names more strictly than I think most players realize. A Skink Priest != Skink Chief != Skink Skirmisher != Skink != Chameleon Skink != Skink Crew != Terradon Rider != Ripperdactyl Rider.

All of those things are "Skinks" but they are all different troop types and any rule applying to one of them does not apply to another.

The rules for the Giant Bow and GIant Blowpipe both say: "... one/two of the Skink Crew may fire the giant bow/giant blowpipe" The capital letters are important. They are not saying "one of the skinks that are currently crewing the Stegadon" they are saying "one of the models with the troop type Skink Crew"

When you put a Skink Chief on a Stegadon, that Skink Chief does not *become* a Skink Crew. He replaces a Skink Crew, so you remove 1 Skink Crew model and add 1 Skink Chief model. But the Skink Chief does not all of a sudden gain Skink Crew abilities or the Skink Crew troop type.

Arguably, if you read "Skink Chief replaces Skink Crew" to mean that the Chief "becomes" a Skink Crew then that same argument would mean that the Skink Chief's stat line "becomes" the Skink Crew's statline, and suddenly he is BS 3 again... and only 1 wound...

Look at the Predatory Fighter rule. When it mentions a "Skink character" it clarifies that to encompass Skink Chief and Skink Priest troop types. If they intended the Chief to fire a Giant Bow then they would have written something like "...a Skink Crew or Skink character (Skink Chief or Skink Priest) may fire...". As it stands the only models that can fire a Stegadon weapon are models with the troop type Skink Crew.

The harm in not following the rules is that you are opening the door for your opponents to not follow the rules, and then you're not playing Warhammer, you're playing some ruleless game using Warhammer miniatures (which is fine if that's what you want to do, but don't fool yourself into thinking you're playing by the rules)

 

[Lizardmatt]

Does that mean if I fill the front rank of a cohort unit with skink chiefs, you can't attacks the krox?

-Matt

 

[hdctambien]

Does that mean if I fill the front rank of a cohort unit with skink chiefs, you can't attacks the krox?

Yes. A "Skink Chief" is not a "Skink" and the rule says: "... can only target a Kroxigor within a mixed unit if ... enemy model is in base contact with a Skink who is in turn in base contact with a Kroxigor."

And if someone tries to argue against that, then go ahead and shoot your Giant Bow with a Skink Chief!

 

[Markhaus]

Yeah, some of the rules are just plain silly. The skink chief knows how to fire blowpipes, use a sword, throw javelins, dual weapons, but a really big switch is far to complicated to aim and fire. I guess they really did not want LM to have viable ranged weapons.

If a rule my enemy plays doesn't break the game I would not know enough to call him on it. And even if I did, I probably wouldn't care. Heck, the anvil blasting my units from behind cover across a river without me being able to dispel was game breaking, and it was in the rules.

I guess I really am more into what is fun than what is in the rules. Although I would say they are "different interpretations" or "house rules" before saying it is a completely different game.

 

[Sleboda]

Keep in mind, playing by the rules IS fun for lots of people.

 

[Lizardmatt]

Keep in mind, playing by the rules IS fun for lots of people.

I would always let my opponent use the chiefs BS on a steggadon.
Because, it means he just dropped 255 points minimum to run something other than Cowboys, Tetto 'eko, or support priests.
Honestly, if somebody wants a 255 point S5 bolt thrower, I'll let them run as many as they want.

-Matt