Storm shields on every model in unit?

[Bulwyf]

Do you need to take a storm shield on every model in a unit to give the unit the benefits or do you only need to equip it once in a unit for the rest of the unit to benefit?

[Mr. Shine]

From Codex Adeptus Astartes Space Marines:

 

"A model with a Storm Shield has a... invulnerable save."

 

Only the model with the shield has the invulnerable save. The rest of the unit does not benefit.

[Arkhanist]

Since you choose who takes the shooting saves in the unit, you can direct them onto the sole guy with a storm shield as many times as you like while he's still alive. However, when he does fail and die, you're back to normal saves on the rest of the unit. Melee attacks are directed by your opponent though (choices based upon position) so you can't usually use storm shield dude to tank for the rest of the unit.

 

Strength in depth, etc means its worth taking a few, they're good value for what they do.

[Bulwyf]

Perhaps I should clarify: we were having a game in my FLGS where another Space Wolf player had his Wulfen running around with only one model in the unit with a storm shield. The opposing player said he couldn't use it for the entire unit since it the shield by rules is supposed to be used for "A" model and not the entire unit. The SW player said since he could decide where wounds were allocated he was putting them all on the guy with the shield.

 

Is this legal? It sounds very cheesy. I know I run SW along with DG and I always have my Wulfen and TWC with storm shields on each model.

[Toasterfree]

see above. you assign wounds from shooting to a model of choice.

[Ciler]

Perhaps I should clarify: we were having a game in my FLGS where another Space Wolf player had his Wulfen running around with only one model in the unit with a storm shield. The opposing player said he couldn't use it for the entire unit since it the shield by rules is supposed to be used for "A" model and not the entire unit. The SW player said since he could decide where wounds were allocated he was putting them all on the guy with the shield.

 

Is this legal? It sounds very cheesy. I know I run SW along with DG and I always have my Wulfen and TWC with storm shields on each model.

This is perfectly legal, here's the bit of the relevant rule (in Shooting phase) :

 

3. Allocate Wound: If an attack

successfully wounds the target,

the player commanding the

target unit allocates the wound to

any model in the unit (the chosen

model does not have to be within

range or visible to the attacking

unit). If a model in the target

unit has already lost any wounds,

the damage must be allocated to

that model.

So your opponent was perfectly within rules when he assigned wounds to the one model with the storm shield.

 

A few points to note however : as long as the model saves damage, this is fine, but once the model has been wounded once he keeps taking damage so, say his models have 2 HP each, he can't assign one wound to one then one wound to another one etc...

 

And as Arkanist said, once the model with the shield has lost all its wounds, the next model does obviously NOT benefit from the shield rule.

[Bulwyf]

To be clear, this wasn't my game. It was a game at my local store. I put SS on all my Wulfen/TWC so I never had to run into this before.

[Ciler]

My mistake.

[Kallas]

Melee attacks are directed by your opponent though (choices based upon position) so you can't usually use storm shield dude to tank for the rest of the unit.

 

This actually isn't true. Melee attacks are directed at units, but wounds are still allocated by the owning player. Specifically, from the Battle Primer PDF, Step 5 of the Fight Phase:

 

"5. Resolve Close Combat Attacks

Close combat attacks can be made one at a time, or in some cases you can roll the dice for a number of attacks together. The attack sequence for making close combat attacks is identical to that used for shooting attacks except you use the model’s Weapon Skill characteristic instead of its Ballistic Skill to make hit rolls."

 

More specifically again, the second sentence, "The attack sequence for making close combat attacks is identical to that used for shooting attacks except you use the model’s Weapon Skill characteristic instead of its Ballistic Skill to make hit rolls." Attacks from your models are directed at whichever units you wish, so you could drop three attacks on Unit A and two on Unit B, but if all hit and subsequently wounded then your opponent still gets to plop the wounds on their Storm Shields, even if those models aren't within 1" of the attacking model.

[Silentz]

This is why the famous 7th edition combo of TH/SS (Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield) is a bad combo in 8th. You're putting your best offensive weapon on the model you're going to be assigning wounds to first!  Better to have Chainsword/Storm Shield marines who die first and Thunder Hammer/Plasma Pistol marines who get killed last.