Bodyguard rule.

[Claws and Effect]

Topic came up in my wife's Tyranids FB group, so I figured I'd ask here.

 

If a Hive Tyrant takes 6 damage from a lascannon with Tyrant Guard within 3", how many dice do you roll to transfer the wounds?

 

Do you roll 6 dice, one for each point of damage?

 

Or

 

Do you roll 1 die, and the Tyrant Guard takes 1 mortal wound regardless of how much damage was dealt?

 

My interpretation of the rules says it should be the first one, but there is a ton of people in her group convinced it is the second.

 

Because it doesn't make sense for a Tyrant Guard to take only 1 mortal wound from a Warlord Titan's Belicosa volcano cannon (which deals a flat 12 damage)

[TheWolfLord]

The wording is confusing being it mentions the Tyrant Guard intercepting the hit.

 

However it triggers when a Hive Tyrant loses a wound which is after the ‘to wound’ roll and saving throw so is actually talking about applied damage.

 

It also says the Hive Tyrant does not lose a wound but instead the Tyrant Guard suffers mortal wound.

 

Because of the trigger wording it’s a test for each wound rather than each wounding hit.

[Kallas]

It is the latter.

 

There are a few different Bodyguard-type rules (Tyrant Guard, T'au Drones, Death Guard Deathshroud Terminators, etc). Compare the following:

 

Silent Protector (Deathshroud Terminators)

"Roll a dice each time a friendly DEATH GUARD CHARACTER is hit by a ranged or melee weapon attack whilst he is within 3" of this unit. On a 2+ one of the Deathshroud intercepts that hit - the character is not hit by that attack but this unit is instead."

 

Saviour Protocols (T'au Empire Drones)

"If a <SEPT> INFANTRY or <SEPT> BATTLESUIT unit within 3" of a friendly <SEPT> DRONES unit is wounded by an enemy attack, roll a D6. On a 2+ you can allocate that wound to the Drones unit instead of the target. If you do, that Drones unit suffers a mortal wound instead of the normal damage."

 

with

Shieldwall (Tyrant Guard)

"Roll a dice each time a friendly <HIVE FLEET> HIVE TYRANT loses a wound whilst they are within 3" of this unit; on a 2+ a model from this unit can intercept that hit - the Hive Tyrant does not lose a wound but this unit suffers a mortal wound."

 

When you roll the dice is important. The Deathshroud 'bodyguards' a successful hit; the Tyrant Guard 'bodyguards' a wound suffered.

 

So in the original example of a 6 damage Lascannon shot, the following sequence would occur:

Lascannon shoots

Lascannon successfully hits (<- Deathshroud would intercept here)

Lascannon successfully wounds (<- T'au Drones intercept here)

Hive Tyrant fails save

Lascannon damage (6) is rolled

Hive Tyrant loses first wound (<- first 2+ Shieldwall Tyrant Guard roll)

Hive Tyrant loses second wound [...]

and so on until all of the damage has been dealt.

 

 

Hope that clarifies things!

[Claws and Effect]

Yeah, it does for me at least.

 

My explanation wasn't the greatest.

 

About half of my wife's Tyranids group is of the opinion that a Tyrant Guard unit can intercept a 6 damage lascannon shot and only suffer a single mortal wound from the whole thing, meaning the additional 5 damage is ignored.

 

I'm 99.99% sure that is incorrect.

[Kallas]

Yeah, it does for me at least.

 

My explanation wasn't the greatest.

 

About half of my wife's Tyranids group is of the opinion that a Tyrant Guard unit can intercept a 6 damage lascannon shot and only suffer a single mortal wound from the whole thing, meaning the additional 5 damage is ignored.

 

I'm 99.99% sure that is incorrect.

Ah yeah, that's tricky. I'm not sure how to explain it more clearly (for you to take to them), but you are correct. Only T'au Drones really get to absorb inordinate amounts of damage.

[wildweasel]

The confusion on this arises from the word “wound” meaning two different things in the rules: depending on context it can mean “does this hit successfully convert into dealing damage and thus forcing a save” or “a model’s health points.”

 

Now when paying attention to context, it’s usually actually pretty clear. The prob is when people see “wound”, gloss over the rest, and assume it’s one and not the other.

 

A good way to look at the difference and evaluate:

 

1. If it’s using “wound” as a verb, or talking about a “successful wound”, it’s refering to the to-wound roll and the “now you have to make a save” usage of “wound” - before it converts into damage.

 

2. If it’s talking about a model losing wounds or similar loss of health points type of language, it’s talking about the reduction of a model’s remaining Wounds via applied damage after a failed save.

 

So for Saviour Protocols, it’s saying “is wounded”, i.e. the opponent has just succeeded in the to-wound roll. This is further reinforced by SP saying you then allocate the wound to the drone, which is something that happens when before saves and thus damage is applied.

 

For Shieldwall (and most such abilities), it’s saying “each time X loses a wound”, which is talking about health points. And timing wise, a model loses wounds from the application of damage, with each lost wound being a separate event.

[WickedApp]

 

About half of my wife's Tyranids group is of the opinion that a Tyrant Guard unit can intercept a 6 damage lascannon shot and only suffer a single mortal wound from the whole thing, meaning the additional 5 damage is ignored.

 

I'm 99.99% sure that is incorrect.

 

I think everyone is missing an important piece of information here.

 

He started off with "my Wife says" this clearly trumps any rules in the GW books.  If you value your life just agree.

[Claws and Effect]

 

 

 

About half of my wife's Tyranids group is of the opinion that a Tyrant Guard unit can intercept a 6 damage lascannon shot and only suffer a single mortal wound from the whole thing, meaning the additional 5 damage is ignored.

 

I'm 99.99% sure that is incorrect.

I think everyone is missing an important piece of information here.

 

He started off with "my Wife says" this clearly trumps any rules in the GW books. If you value your life just agree.

Not exactly ;)

 

It's the FB group she's in.

 

Initially she interpreted the rule the same as me, but her Nids group has her questioning it.

[Kallas]

Maybe link them to here and see if they want to join and present their logic?

[Claws and Effect]

Maybe link them to here and see if they want to join and present their logic?