Cover from Blast Weapons

[Shadow Captain Corveus]

Last Saturday I was playing a game against a Tyranid player. The situation arose where I was firing a Marine Plasma Cannon at a unit of Gaunts. The Gaunts were behind two different pieces of terrain but still in the clear area behind the terrain (none of them were inside the terrain pieces) like so:

 

O = Gaunt, T = Terrain, M = Marine, _ = Clear Terrain

 

O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O

_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_

________________________

TTTTTTTT_______TTTTTTTTT

TTTTTTTT_______TTTTTTTTT

TTTTTTTT_______TTTTTTTTT

TTTTTTTT_______TTTTTTTTT

________________________

________M_M_M__________

_________M_M___________

 

The Plasma Cannon scored a hit bang in the middle of the Gaunts, hitting and wounding 3. My opponent wouldn't have normally got a save in my opinion but he argued that because the Plasma Cannon is a "direct fire" weapon as opposed to a barrage weapon (therefore cover isn't specifically resolved from the centre of the blast) and that more than 50% of his unit were behind the cover of the terrain with respect to the Marine's line of sight, he got a cover save. We argued about the specifics of this situation for a good 5 minutes until, being a good sport, I let him have a cover save so that we could get on with the game.

 

I had always imagined that a you wouldn't get a cover save in this situation due to the mental image I have of a Plasma Cannon being similar to the Fuel Rod Cannon in the Halo games. Thinking about it it actually applies to a large amount of situations such as a Defiler firing between two buildings at 10 Marines etc. I've checked over the rules and I couldn't conclusively prove my claim; therefore, I turn to my good Brothers here for advice and their take on the rules!

 

Thanks in advance :woot:

[thade]

While the way you're envisioning it is the same way I do, your opponent was correct: he does in fact get a cover save for the reasons he said.

 

PCs are direct-fire weapons, so if they have cover via LOS from the firer, they get a cover save, whether the template is on them or not. In the case of barrage fire, cover saves are taken as if the firer is standing in the middle of the template, so LOS from the actual firer's position is irrelevant: no cover save there, unless they are in area terrain/a ruin.

[vonny]

it's a direct fire weapon, so normal cover rules apply. This means (as stated on page 22 of the main rule book, right column, about halfway through the page) "If the majority of firers (in the shooting unit) have a clear shot to the majority of of models in the target unit, the target receives no save. Otherwise, it does."

[Shadow Captain Corveus]

Touche...

 

Maybe I should start visualising a Plasma Cannon more like a Beam Cannon that the Hunters have. :woot:

[Tanhausen]

I had a similar situation when shooting a Vindicator... and solved it the same way, though you can't shake that feeling of "this doesn't feel right!"

[nurglez]

you do get quite a few moments like that in this game, but we play by the rules and the rules explain how to do it.

 

what got me was bloodbowl, you rolled to try and intercept before they rolled to see if they had actually thrown it.....

[Shadow Captain Corveus]

...and solved it the same way, though you can't shake that feeling of "this doesn't feel right!"

 

That's exactly how I felt, that's why I had my doubts...

 

what got me was bloodbowl, you rolled to try and intercept before they rolled to see if they had actually thrown it.....

 

Yeah, and in 40k you roll to see if a shot wounded you before you see if your armour blocks the hit!

[vonny]

I'm just thinking that if you shoot this way, there's a chance your models try to aim for the guys all over at the side of the unit. And thus their shell may actually get stuck in the intervening buildings or so...

 

bit weird that some people may get saved due to cover while others still die from the xplosion, but ... ah well.

[Commander Sasha]

I find it works if you think of it as follows: The cover save acts as a percentage chance of the SHELL being blocked, not the blast FROM the shell.

 

Cover saves are not just about a physical object blocking a bullet, beam or fragment from hitting your stationary, upright, immobile soldier; they represent the increased protection from ducking, hiding, crouching or dodging from the shooter, whose view is compromised. True LoS doesn't allow for the fact that in the OP's diagram, half the 'Nids would have clustered behind one building, half the other, most would crouch or sidle up to it, etc.

 

Until we start playing with 28mm bendy action figures, this rudimentary approximation system will have to do!

 

This is also a good justification for reducing the coversave by 1 if there is a dispute: again, think of it as a percentage likelihood of GETTING a successful shot, rather than fragments flying everywhere AFTER that assumed successful shot.