So i think suffice to say the engine of the gods is one of the units which players really need to tamper around with to realise its full potential in a game today i was discussing the engine with the manager of my local gw and a veteran tournament player, and they made it aware that according to the rules the following is 100% legal An engine can charge and gain its d6+1 str6 impact hits then in the same turns magic phase use the burning alignment (Since this is not a magic missile and does not require line of sight i so far have not been able to find any rule stating this cannot be cast in combat) and do a further d6 str 4/5 hits on the same unit and then use a slann to channel drain life (or cleansing flare) through the same skink priest) and do a further d6 str 3/5 hits to the same unit now i know what you are all thinking, that because it states magic missiles in the new channeling rules drain life and cleansing flare cant be channelled. But the manager for my local gw said this is simply a mis-interpretation and you can in fact channel any spell through any skink priest from the slann. Now i didnt believe this either, but there is in fact an article on the games workshop website itself which states the above tactic in using the engine maybe im being sceptical, or maybe im just stating something which everyone but me has been doing, but what does everyone think on the consensus of the above?
If it is a mis-interpretation then GW made the mistake of printing, i quote: "The Slann can channel a magic misslie spell through any skink priest." I seriously doubt it is possible to cast "normal" spells aswell.. I've read around aswell that GW folks arent the brightest bulbs.. even most army lists they show are not even correct.. BUT! if it is true.. then i got some serious "Whooping" to do..
Only the Army Book can be relied on for clear-cut rules. It is possible that they originally planned on channeling of any spell through the skink priest. Far more likely however, the person who wrote that article did not fully read his the army book before posting that tactic! I see it in White Dwarf battle reports all the time, little misunderstandings of the rules here and there. GW needs to employ a "rules rat" to proofread their stuff so that people aren't misled by inaccurate postings of rules. Or maybe require the people who write for them to actually understand the rules... but now I'm asking for the moon!
but none the less you could still drop a 2 d6 magic missle on that same unit that you charged and still do a tremondous amount of damage so the tactic is still valid just has to be used a little bit differently i think most units in the game would have a hard time living through that kind of punishiment unless they are unbreakable but is still worth a shot for those really tough units
I don't think you would be able to throw a magic missile from combat or into combat though... It is a bit unclear, the spell is cast as if the Slann was there. If the Slann was there (in the combat) he couldn't use a magic missile. Maybe he can from a skink on engine though, I would say not from one on foot. I guess I read this thread after replying to you mentioning the tactic in the other thread. Really GW makes a LOT of mistakes in their articles, battle reports and army lists which is the probable cause, and certainly for now since it does exclusively say magic missile you can not say that it was a mistake, I would never accept it as the opponent given the current wording and I wouldn't try to pull 'oh it was a mistake' on my opponent as the LM player. I would love if it were true though after the FAQ. The only one not happy would be my poor carnosaur, he would get shelved in place of a Slann in a second. The amount of potential to channeling if any spell could go through any skink is just insane.
As we are already on the topic how do you guys treat your burning alignment wounds? Do they come from the front rank to deny attacks or do you allow them from the back like regular shooting? Also as it it not a spell do you think it would get rerolls from potent of far?
Casualties are removed like shooting, and if the unit in question is in hand to hand, no panic can be caused from BA. I do not think you'd get to reroll with it and portent of far.. it happens in the magic phase and is generally considered "magical".
Don't you have to declare what engine power you are using and use it at the start of your magic phase though? That would mean that you wouldn't have a portent in play when the engine fires off. I would allow shooting casualties to be removed from the back when in combat, remember the stegadon will get his impact hits to murder their front rank with.
Does it say it has to be used before other spells? The book says that you have to choose the effect at the beginning of the magic phase. This probably won't make a big difference, but just for the sake of knowing.
Very rarely (if ever, I can't think of a case) do you choose to use an ability and then the ability happens later on. It's just a bad way for rules to be carried out, as then you or your opponent can forget what was declared and it just causes confusion. That said, I would say the intent was clear enough but they just didn't use the right wording there to make themselves lawyer proof. This happened in another instance in the new Lizard book, but I won't bring that up again...
Hmm yeah technically by the wording it just says choose at the start, but really you say you are choosing the burning alignment, it happens then. The others activate straight away and just carry on until they stop. I think it is pretty clear it was intended to happen at the start, even if it means you cannot use a spell to move the steg closer before blasting it.
There are alot of Items that must be used at the start of the Magic phase. Bound spells etc. the old Move d6 inches banner for instance was a must use at start of magic phase and there are a few other items, abilities that must be activated at the start of the phase. I dont think its worded poorly in the least and I think you would really have to spend a abnormal amount of time looking to gain some sort of loophole out of the wording... As I said intent IMO isv very clear.
The Skink Priest may use the power of the engine, in addition to any spells. I understood it so that you can infact do either one first. Or am I mistaken?
Actually, now that I think about it, its quite probably, EoTG ability first and then any spells the priest can cast. Shame-
Yeah the engine goes first, the priest is treated like any normal wizard so can cast whenever he likes in the magic phase.
Casting a spell through the Skink Priest on the unit he just charged is only possible if explicitly stated in the spell description that it can be cast in combat. Since only magic missile's can be channeled through the Skink Priest and the rule book states that magic missile's cannot be cast while the caster is in combat I highly doubt that it is possible. You do however get the Burning Alignment hits in the magic phase and the impact hits before attacks to make sure you wipe the unit in a turn (or two). Oh and you can choose when to use bound items. You don't have to use them at the start of the magic phase.
I diddnt say all bound items have to be used at the start I said some specificly state they must be used a tthe start of the Magic phase.
I wont quot the book because that is illegal but when you get a chance, look at the second pargrapgh under channelling on pg 48. the wording used there means that you use the slann's rules when casting into combat. As long as his model is not in base to base contact, which it would not be, he could cast a magic missle. if someone smells a rules lawyer than please say so, i dislike lawyers