8th Ed. Is the Sallie Flame Template now Simultaneous?

In the old book it was necessary to completely resolve one sallie template attack and remove casualties before proceeding with another template from the same sallie pack. The biggest impact of this was that the number of hits (and subsequent casualties inflicted) was lessened as models were lost. This wording is gone with the new book and it would now seem that the procedure involves a "simultaneous" method as follows:

1) fire all templates and determine how many models are hit by each. Add these up to find a total number of hits.

2) roll to wound based on total number of hits.

3) remove casualties and then the unit takes any required panic checks.

The difference may not seem like much but it has a major impact on the total number of casualties inflicted even when only a two pack is shooting. Also, it can easily completely eliminate a horde of T3/low AS troops in a single round. An example is hitting unit of 40 spear elves/rats/swordsmen/archers in horde from the flank. Two perfectly placed templates each hit ~32 models each, resulting in ~43 total wounds with ~36 casualties inflicted for troops with a 5+ AS.

Although I have been using the old method, which benefits my opponent, I am considering changing to the simultaneous method based on my re-reading of the new sallie rules. However, it seems almost too good to be true so I thought I would check to see if anyone else has the same read and understanding of the current sallie rules. In essence, should a "simultaneous" method as described above be used when firing multiple templates from the same sallie pack?

 

I agree with your reading -- lots more hits are now possible.

 

Without a rule saying other wise, totally shoots same time.

 

I don't supose the rules for the Flame Cannon would clear up anything..?
(salamander entry says it fires as a flame cannon)

 

They don't. No such thing as a unit of flame cannons that you could analogize to.

 

As a follow-up question, let's say I roll my three artillery dice together and one comes up as a misfire. The other two salamanders still hit, yes?

 

Yes, the misfires only apply for the model that got it.

Another question though; if they hit simultaneously, what says that overlapping templates does not cause a single hit on those models, instead of one for each template?

 

The order for shooting is laid out in six steps on page 38 and determining to hit occurs before any to wound rolls. Since there is no wording about a model only getting hit once even it touched by multiple templates, each model can be hit multiple times. This is no different than if a unit of 10 models was hit by 30 ballistic skill based arrows - 30 dice would be rolled to determine the number of wounds, not 10.