8th Ed. Temple Guard Shield

[prisoner24602]

Hey, so I've been going over the rules a bit recently, and I came across a bit of a puzzle. Why do the Temple Guard have a shield if a halberd has to be used with two hands. If someone knows the answer, please enlighten me.

 

[The Hunted]

It's simple though genius: missile attacks. A shield still provides an extra +1 to armour save vs ranged attacks.

The Hunted

 

[prisoner24602]

Fair enough. I guess that makes a lot of heavy ranged armies sad.

 

[Jimmy2Saints]

Shields actually give +1 armour in close combat aswell.

 

[The Red Devil]

Not for temple guards as they wield halberds.

 

[Jimmy2Saints]

Yes, no matter what they wield they get the +1 armour from shields. Just not the 6+ parry save.

 

[MarchoftheStegs]

No they don't a hand is required to use a shield you don't have one free. Otherwise nurgle warriors would become damn near unkillable.

 

[Jimmy2Saints]

I must be missing something. The rules on shields seems pretty clear on p43 (complemented by rules on hand weapons and shield on p88).

I can not find any rule stating that you need a free hand to carry the shield to get the +1 armour in close combat, nor can i see nothing even remotely saying anything about the +1 armour only counting for shooting. In fact, I can not find anything that would even hint that the +1 armour does not count in close combat.

Can you please point me to rules clarifying this?

 

[Jimmy2Saints]

Ah, I see what I'm missing now. The "requires two hands" rule clarifies this. And its also very explicit in the FAQ:

"Close Combat
Q: Does a model with a shield get the armour save bonus in combat
if it can’t use it? For example it is using a weapon that requires two
hands? (p43)"

My misstake! Now I learned something new!