Vehicle squads and Melta-type weapons

[Maligoare]

Imagine you have a unit of Devastators with four multi-meltas, which fires at a squadron of two tanks (let's say Leman Russ, shall we? :D). One of the tanks is within 12", the other is not. How does this interact with the Melta rule? Being a squadron, the hits will have to be assigned (but only after penetration!!).

 

The relevant rules are:

 

Melta weapons, P32, BRB

Shooting at Vehicles, P60, BRB

Units of Vehicles - Squadrons, P64, BRB

 

Having looked at these, there seems to be a fundamental missmatch between the Melta rules and those for assigning glancing/penetrating hits to vehicle squadrons. A weapon with the Melta rule will get an extra D6 penetration for being within half range, but in the above situation, one of the tanks is not. How do we decide which meltas get the extra D6? All, half, none? This is where the problem comes, as you only assign hits to the different tanks once the opponent has rolled to penetrate/glance. If we give them all the extra D6, we can end up assigning hits to the farther tank which might not have got through if it were a single tank outside half range of the melta weapon. The opposite problem occurs when we deny any of them the extra D6. For balance, it would seem that half and half would be most sensible, but how can we match this with the rules, when you can not assign hits until after the melta effect has occurred?

 

I hope I have managed to explain the situation clearly, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with! ;)

[Trekari]

Squadrons are considered units, thus it doesn't matter that the rear tank is out of melta range. If the Devastators are within half distance to the closest tank, they all get the 2D6 penetration. Roll all armor penetrations and then assign wounds based on however many pens/glances you rolled.

 

(In essence, despite firing at a vehicle, you are firing at a "unit" just like normal.)

[Cedric]

Since the sqadron as a whole is the target, and the squadron is in 2d6 range, I figure the entire squadron takes 2d6 melta hits.

 

Being out of range and such normally doesn't save infantry for example from being shot up, if a squadmate strolls too close.