7th Edition Novas and Close Combat

[SvenONE]

It was rare in 6th that I ever used a Nova, and as a Dark Angels Librarian, you don't really find yourself in a position to use it (you have no business being that close to something that can kill you!).  But with the new 7th edition psychic phase and trying different powers my friend and I came across a bit of a hiccup.

 

I was running Ezekiel in a Drop pod of vets with full Pyromancy.  I roll it on him for Firery Form but didn't get it tonight, was running Sunburst, Inferno and Flame Breath.  I dropped within enemy Necron territory.  In my opponent's turn I'm charged by Wraiths (full 6), survive enough of their attacks for Ezekiel to attack again, though not looking good.  This is where it got murky.  In the psychic phase, desperate I had Ezekiel attempt to manifest Sunburst.  The thing is that neither of us were sure I could do this, we rolled to see whether it could and I won so I casted it (killed 1 more amazingly).  Again, we were both trying to recall if we've ever even seen a Nova cast before.

 

Nova's themselves didn't change from 6th to 7th, they still automatically hit everything in range.  But with Psychic powers being in the shooting phase of 6th edition, I was under the assumption you couldn't cast it at all if you were locked in combat, as that was a restriction of a unit shooting.  Now that we have the Psychic phase, the restriction might(?) be gone?

 

Under Witchfires it says that if the power is one of the sub-types use the sub-type rules for targeting purposes.  Nova says it automatically hits so you don't directly select a target.  

 

So is it legal to sort of "Psyker Bomb" in close combat? Were you technically able to do this in 6th and I was just lumping it into the fact that actual weapon bearing models couldn't shoot when locked in combat? I generally assumed that Nova's were rubbish if you couldn't cast them in close combat, but this would certainly change my outlook on it (and make them fun too).

 

[Spinsanity]

Well, Novas are still Witchfires, and as such : "Just like when shooting a weapon, a Psyker [...] and cannot be locked in combat if he wishes to manifest a witchfire power." (page 27, under Witchfire, lines 3 to 6)

 

Unfortunately, no Nova bomb while combat-locked.

[SvenONE]

Hmmm, ok then so in my scenario that would make sense.

 

I could see a potential loophole in this where say instead I'm running a biker librarian who may have a nova, rolls up next to a group of terminators in close combat (while being 1" away of course) and casts a Nova in the psychic phase damaging whoever they might be engaged with?

 

Or even more absurdly, in a Razorback/Rhino, move 12" and do the same thing.  Cruising speed says that models embarked fire snap shots, Witchfires can be fired as snapshots but Nova's automatically hit units within the max range, so there would be no penalty? Confusingly in the Snap Shot section of the shooting phase it says shooting attacks that do not use ballistic skill cannot be fired as snap shots, going against what it says about Witchfires (which says it's fired the same as fired a shooting weapon).  Bit of an ouroboros on that one.

 

In the end I think Nova's still stink though.

[Spinsanity]

Or even more absurdly, in a Razorback/Rhino, move 12" and do the same thing.  Cruising speed says that models embarked fire snap shots, Witchfires can be fired as snapshots but Nova's automatically hit units within the max range, so there would be no penalty? Confusingly in the Snap Shot section of the shooting phase it says shooting attacks that do not use ballistic skill cannot be fired as snap shots, going against what it says about Witchfires (which says it's fired the same as fired a shooting weapon).  Bit of an ouroboros on that one.

You can't Snap Shot a Nova, as far as I understand the rules for Snap Shot, though...

 

Page 33, second paragraph :

In addition, any shooting attack that does not use Ballistic Skill cannot be 'fired' as a Snap Shot.

 

 

On the other hand, reading back on Novas, there is one caveat that I forgot to take into consideration previously...

"A nova power automatically targets and hits all enemy nits ... regardless of line of sight, being locked in combat..."

 

So, the "regardless of [...] being locked in combat", should it be applied only to the targets or could it be applied to the caster too?

[SvenONE]

 

Or even more absurdly, in a Razorback/Rhino, move 12" and do the same thing.  Cruising speed says that models embarked fire snap shots, Witchfires can be fired as snapshots but Nova's automatically hit units within the max range, so there would be no penalty? Confusingly in the Snap Shot section of the shooting phase it says shooting attacks that do not use ballistic skill cannot be fired as snap shots, going against what it says about Witchfires (which says it's fired the same as fired a shooting weapon).  Bit of an ouroboros on that one.

You can't Snap Shot a Nova, as far as I understand the rules for Snap Shot, though...

 

Page 33, second paragraph :

In addition, any shooting attack that does not use Ballistic Skill cannot be 'fired' as a Snap Shot.

 

 

On the other hand, reading back on Novas, there is one caveat that I forgot to take into consideration previously...

"A nova power automatically targets and hits all enemy nits ... regardless of line of sight, being locked in combat..."

 

So, the "regardless of [...] being locked in combat", should it be applied only to the targets or could it be applied to the caster too?

 

 

Well given that it's in the same sentence, I believe that's referring to the previously mentioned enemy units that it's hitting.