7th Ed. quick giant bow questions

okay I was reading about the poison column killer and had just a couple questions.

one how does this work with say a necromancer on a corpse cart in the back row? if you did get lucky and auto wound.

when firing do you basically line up the arrow with a particular column of the target unit and that's the column that gets hit and or wounded?

and last but not least if you do auto wound and you roll d3 for each rank and say your roll a 3 each time, how are those 3 auto wounds worked out, 3 dead in each rank or still just 1 dead?

 

Well it is d3 wounds for the model that is hit. So if you went down the side of an ogre unit for example, it would be very devastating. In the case of single wound models, there isn't any point rolling the d3 wounds, dead is dead, no extras can be killed from the same rank.

I'm answering backward.. You generally go through the longest rank. ie. if they had a unit 5x4, but 2 had already died, you could go through 4 models instead of 3. You can't really pick out the line with unit champion or character in it.

Don't quite get your first question... Characters always line up at the front, it is no different for the corpse cart necro. So that wouldn't really happen. In the case of shooting a lone corpse cart with necro, it "counts" as a single model, so if you hit then the shot is randomized between cart and necromancer, 5+ necro. It doesn't go through both.

 

A To Hit roll of 6 for the Giant Bow would auto wound the first model only. Subsequent models behind the first would require a roll to wound (There is no roll to hit, so there is no chance at poison auto wounding) at the appropriate reduced strength in a simlar way to normal Bolt Throwers as described in the Warhammer Rule Book.

The rules for the Giant Bow firing state that it fires the same as a Bolt Thrower as describe in the Warhammer Rulebook. You skewer a file if firing from the front or rear or you skewer a rank if firing from the flanks.

If you roll a 6 to hit you auto wound the first model only. Subsequent models will still require a to wound roll. If you successfully wound a model, that model will take D3 wounds. No other models. Just that one model so if he only has 1 wound and you roll 3 on the D3, 2 wounds are effectively wasted.

We replied at pretty much the same time. I hope either Stewart or myself managed to answer your questions. I was a bit lost on the first one myself.

 

most of the people on the board from what i can tell all follow that a roll of 6 to hit is an auto wound bolt completely through

according to my local GWS they say the same, but they may say otherwise at different GWS

so whether or not a 6 auto wounds just the first model or the every model in that line is going to have to be a rule your group decides on

 

I think 'most' is a bit of a stretch. It is unclear what the intended use of the poisoned Giant Bow is at the moment. We really do need a rule clarification as peoples opinions are divided. I should of been more clear in my post and state that my interpretation is just that, my interpretation.

In my mind, poison is applied on a to hit roll of 6. There is only one to hit roll taken on the first model when you first a Giant Bow. Therefore only 1 model is poisoned and thus auto wounded. All subsequent models are wounded via a to wound roll. Hence not poisoned and thus not auto wounded.

 

well i don't really think anyone can be right at the moment and so you have to take a decision with your gaming group/club, or organisation at any tournament.

 

which is the point i made at the end of my post

 

And on the other hand, once you have hit the first model all the rest are hit. You have hit them on a 6 as well since that was your original roll, you can say no other number for what they were hit on, so it goes through. Logically, the poison isn't going to all go into the first model and disappear, it is going to remain all the way through. Though logically, I know very few sling type weapons that could actualy go through 3-4 man sized people. Crossbows could go through an armoured horse's neck and kill the rider, but only at close range. Nothing, especially not a bolt that big, is going to cleanly cut right through several men. But whatever.

It is all up to individual interpretation until GW clarrifies. Yes, it is strong, but you also have to remember that it is only 4 models auto wounded, they still get armour saves, it is only if you get a 6 to hit, and it is on the back of a 200+ point model that you want in combat ASAP. It is rarely going to kill a clean 4 models, whether the poison goes through tham all or not.

 

there are no armor saves against the giant bow

 

Further, against ogres, I'm pretty sure that if the bow doesn't kill one of them it stops, as in, if you roll a 1 on the d3 wounds, the ogre isn't killed and thus can't penetrate, a clarification would be nice.

 

The bolt thrower rules state that the bolt continues until it "fails to slay" a model. Just depends on whether you want to use common sense and apply the bolt thrower rule since it penetrates ranks the same way, OR if you want to argue that something totally different happens because it is a "howdah weapon".