Did I miss something?

[HiveFleetEzekial]

Yes.. I use this name on many boards.

[werewolf_nr]

Too lazy to try it, but fitting 19 models under a 3" template is just silly :) Even 9 is stretching it.

 

Depends on if you are exploiting your opponent's laziness. I fought a tyranid player who was too lazy to stand them all up properly and would pile units. Until I thought him the error of his ways with templates hitting far more than they were supposed to.

 

"You can't hit twelve with a small blast template."

"Yes, I can, you had them stacked."

[DevianID]

I love it when someone posts stuff like this... this is very literally, impossible. NOT POSSIBLE

 

However, having tons of empty bases and a laser cut 3" blast marker handy, I checked. The total number of possible hits is 19, though 6 of them are by the very slimmest of margins. So 19 is truly the known max, and that's if they're in base-tobase, concentric rings.

 

Nothing is impossible!

 

Also,

They can't run - they have very specific rules governing their movement, and I would say that is the only way they can move

 

While I dont doubt the intention that they cant run, I also dont doubt the intention that they dont give up kill points or contest objectives; but, as far as I see they only have specific movement rules for the movement phase... movement gained through other means will not be affected by this. Dont believe they can be moved outside of the movement phase? Then what happens if they get lashed--they will in fact move right? Thus running, done in the shooting phase, should still work, but like units that are falling back (and whom also have the option of running despite having to use very specific rules governing their movement for the movement phase) they should move in the same direction determined by the scatter die--though because there are no rules its up to the house rules makers.

 

And, of course, while the intention may be that they cant go to ground, if they are a kill point then they can also go to ground--fair is fair to both sides.

[Legatus]

as far as I see they only have specific movement rules for the movement phase...

No, they have specific movement rules for the assault phase too, namely that they cannot perform any assault moves. That was 4th Edition, where only movement during the movement phase or assault phase was possible for normal units, unless that unit had another special rule (fleet) to enable it to move during the shooting phase as well. In other words, all the possible movement a model might have been able to perform is specifically described in the rules of the spore mines. I translate that into 5th Edition meaning that still, all the specialised movement they are able to make is described in their own rules.

 

Spore Mines had another special rule, called "mindless", which said that they could not capture table quarters, hold mission objectives or count as scoring units. That again was written with 4th Edition in mind, but now in 5th teh whole concept has been changed. If it would be translated into teh new rules, but indeed there would be "interpretation" needed for that, it would mean that they could not deny mission objectives or give killpoints either.

[DevianID]

I translate that into 5th Edition meaning that still, all the specialised movement they are able to make is described in their own rules

 

The problem is you are describing intention... and yes, in my opinion the intention should be that spore mines should not be able to run or contest objectives, but if the question is can they run via RAW, not what we want the rules to be, then yes they can run, just like they offer up kill points and can go to ground. The fact that the codex is out of date changes nothing--many other codexii are also out of date with poor or obsolete rules, and GWs anwswer every time so far has been to just deal with it or house rule it.