Tutorial Compilation of ways to fight cannons (updated with responses)

Re: Compilation of ways to fight cannons (updated with respo

The rules on monsters and handlers state that skinks basically don't exist for most gaming purposes, and all attacks / shots / etc go against the monster. When the monster is successfully wounded, a D6 is rolled, and on a 5 or 6 the wound is ignored and a skink is removed instead.

It's actually not entirely clear to me that the whole cannon shot is wasted, even so. The roll off happens after the monster "takes an unsaved wound", but it doesn't specify you do it before the multiple wounds (D6) roll happens, which also states to do it "after an unsaved wound". The order of operations is not clear to me.

 

Re: Compilation of ways to fight cannons (updated with respo

The order of progression for a cannon ball starts with scoring a hit (determine who got hit), then you determine if that target suffered a wound (roll to wound), then determine if there are any saves (ward or monster handler), and then, if the target is a multi-wound model, and the wound was not saved, then roll a d6 for the multi-wound rule. The "skink save" works because it transfers the initial cannon ball wound from the salamander to the skink. The skink is not a multi-wound model, so there is no need to roll a d6 for the multi-wound roll - the skink is dead and extra wounds won't transfer from the single wound model to other models in the unit.

Think of a cannon ball as doing just the one hit, it can only multiplied into d6 wounds against that single hit and only if that hit is against a multi-wound model. If the hit is not against the salamander, then the cannon can only do one wound to the skink.

 

Re: Compilation of ways to fight cannons (updated with respo

Then the cannon ball stops in this unit, because handler save and no killing of multi wound unit (salamander) can't hit a monster behind.
Good message for carny

Thanks a lot.

 

Re: Compilation of ways to fight cannons (updated with respo

If the Salamander doesn't die, then yes, the cannonball stops.

However, ASK is wrong. The rules for monsters and handlers don't work the way he indicates, they work the way I explained in my post.

A Skink is never hit by the cannonball, and the roll involved here is not to distribute the hits. After the monster takes wounds, you roll a die for each wound; on a 5+ the monster is not wounded, and a skink is removed from the unit instead.

There is good news, however. I checked the general FAQ, and it clarifies the order of operations. It confirms that the roll-off to see whether or not a skink is removed happens before the expansion to D6 wounds. This means that if a skink is "hit," the cannonball is indeed wasted!

 

Re: Compilation of ways to fight cannons (updated with respo

Functionally, there is no real difference in how I described the rule and what you are saying. The only difference is that you actually roll to see if the salamander is wounded before transferring that wound, rather than rolling to wound the skink. Either way, the cannon wounds on a 2, the same die is rolled for the "skink save", and the same result is made. You were not clear in your post that the extra wounds from the cannon's multi-wound rule were wasted on the skink, and that the living salamander functionally stops the cannon ball due to the "skink save". Regardless of order, the "skink save" is a valid tactic for stopping a cannon ball.

 

Re: Compilation of ways to fight cannons (updated with respo

 

Re: Compilation of ways to fight cannons (updated with respo

If playing with Lord Kroak and Tetto'eko you can vanguard a sacrificial skink priest with cloak of feathers, fly into enemy lines and spam deliverance, getting it off once will clear most war machines

 

That works, just make sure that you are out of range of any Ballistic Skill shooting that may be used to trigger the charmed shield prematurely.

 

The group that I play with think that war machines in 8th ed are too effective and need to be guess range instead of point and shoot (They were also thinking about having a d6 scatter).