{"id":2003,"date":"2014-06-02T13:53:50","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T17:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=2003"},"modified":"2017-09-05T09:29:36","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T13:29:36","slug":"40k-7th-shooting-the-bane-of-vulkan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/06\/40k-7th-shooting-the-bane-of-vulkan\/","title":{"rendered":"40k: 7th Shooting—The Bane of Vulkan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"40k-7th-cover\"<\/a>As most\u00a0have no doubt heard already even if they haven’t yet gotten their own rulebook or given it a play, shooting in 7th edition 40k has been updated. The changes aren’t earth shattering, especially\u00a0in casual play, but they are worth taking note. For example, Focus Fire is gone, so you can no longer specifically target just models outside of cover and pile more wounds onto them. Although that was useful and a good tactic, I don’t see its removal as a terrible loss. I doubt most players, particularly outside competitive play, had ever even used it much.<\/p>\n

What I want to discuss briefly is the change to the order in which weapons fire. It also is neither a huge change nor one I consider negative, but it does have consequences on how you shoot, and depending on how you look at it either reduces the effectiveness or changes the tactics for some weapons loadouts.<\/p>\n

If you spot any needed\u00a0corrections to my understanding or have thoughts on the handful of open questions, please share them in the comments below!<\/p>\n

Sixth Edition<\/h2>\n

Previously, all weapons fired simultaneously. All rolls to hit and wound for pistols, flamers, boltguns, etc., were conceptually all\u00a0done\u00a0at the same time. This could lead to some funny effects that weren’t game breaking, particularly as they generally only came up infrequently, but definitely weird if you even noticed it.<\/p>\n

For example, suppose I have a couple\u00a0Ultramarine Tacticals with a meltagun staring down some Chaos Marines and their buddy Abaddon, as in the figure below. All of the Ultramarines are within 12″ of one\u00a0Chaos Marine. Another\u00a0traitor and Abaddon are not. Clearly, the two boltgunners can double tap for 2 shots on the first guy, and the meltagunner is also in range to shoot. Somewhat weirdly though not obviously so, by the 6th edition’s “Out of Range” rules (pg 16), I could apply all of those boltgun shots to all the enemy models even though I\u00a0got\u00a02 extra\u00a0shots for the one guy alone being in half range (12″). Really weirdly if you stop to think about it, by those rules I could also use the boltgun shots to take out the two Chaos Marines and then apply the meltagun shot to Abaddon, much better for me, even though he is completely out of range for that weapon.<\/p>\n

\"Abaddon<\/a>

Abaddon takes an impossible melta shot to the face.<\/p><\/div>\n

Similarly, suppose I have two Tacticals with boltguns and one with a flamer facing off against\u00a0Hormagaunts\u00a0coming\u00a0out of some ruins as below.\u00a0I’d like to apply the flamer wounds to the guys in the back to negate their cover save.\u00a0By those same “Out of Range” rules in 6th edition, I could do that even though the template doesn’t\u00a0reach them. Everything shoots at once, and say everything hits and wounds (quite conceivable). I allocate\u00a0the bolter wounds first\u00a0and\u00a0the front three Hormies are dead, maybe one guy in the back makes his cover save on the remaining bolter shot. I then apply the flamer wounds and the back guys are denied cover and die.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A gout of flame magically leaps into the nearest ruin.<\/p><\/div>\n

Seventh Edition<\/h2>\n

Relatively minor as they were in the overall\u00a0scheme\u00a0of\u00a040k weirdness, seventh edition eliminates those\u00a0oddities. Now,\u00a0you\u00a0activate a unit to shoot with and nominate a particular weapon class, e.g., boltgun or flamer, further defined below. All\u00a0of the weapons of that class\u00a0in the unit may fire, and all of the hits,\u00a0wounds, and casualty removal for those shots is resolved simultaneously before nominating and resolving another weapon class. Players can still elect to not\u00a0shoot with particular models for any given weapon class, but cannot go back to that weapon class\u00a0to shoot with them later in the order. Models still of course cannot fire\u00a0more than one weapon in a shooting phase\u00a0unless they’re specifically permitted to do so, e.g., vehicles, Techmarines with a Servo-Harness, some characters.<\/p>\n

Most importantly: It’s implied by the new ordered shooting, but the revised\u00a0“Out of Range” rules (page 35) then make very clear that enemy models cannot be removed if they’re not in range of the models and weapon class\u00a0currently firing. In the above examples, that means I need to nominate the meltagun and flamer before the boltguns or risk\u00a0wasting the special weapons. Firing the boltguns first might remove potential casualties within the special weapons’ lesser\u00a0range, while the boltguns could have shot models\u00a0in the rear\u00a0even with those in\u00a0front removed.<\/p>\n

\"Apply<\/a>

Apply with care!<\/p><\/div>\n

Notably, weapon class\u00a0is\u00a0determined by the combination of name, ammo, and mode.\u00a0So, bolt pistols and boltguns are different weapons even though they both fire\u00a0bolter shells with the same damage stats.\u00a0Ammunition is also clear; Sternguard firing their Dragonfire bolts (24″ range, ignores cover) shoot at a different order step than Sternguard firing Vengeance rounds (18″ range, AP3, Gets Hot).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I don’t believe a\u00a0formal definition of weapon mode is\u00a0given in the rules.\u00a0Perhaps not totally obviously, it all but certainly means\u00a0differentiating between rapid fire weapons double tapping at half range versus shooting single shots at full\u00a0range.\u00a0Salvo weapons\u00a0firing stationary versus moving are a more intuitive\u00a0example of different modes. Importantly, the rules explicitly state that\u00a0the maximum range for a weapon is applied regardless of the mode used. In the topmost\u00a0example above, if the boltguns fire first, rapid fire due to an enemy being in 12″, and produce four\u00a0wounds, all four would be applied even if\u00a0that single model within half range to double tap is removed. The rules justify this as the shots\u00a0flying on and getting lucky. Sounds reasonable to me, and makes sense in terms of\u00a0a small practical convenience\u00a0and\u00a0not diminishing those weapons.<\/p>\n

Similarly to\u00a0not defining weapon modes, I don’t believe the rules explicitly\u00a0state\u00a0whether mastercrafted and twin-linked\u00a0weapons\u00a0fire at different times from the\u00a0regular weapon. Given the focus on ordering weapons by “different names,” they\u00a0all but certainly do when purchased\u00a0as entries with those adjectives in the army list. More tricky is whether or not they\u00a0count as different names when purchased the same but upgraded through some other mechanism. For example, is a Salamanders Sergeant’s boltgun that has been mastercrafted via their chapter traits different from the other boltguns in his squad?\u00a0I would have to assume so given that you would have to roll different dice for those weapons anyway.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the rules do make clear that combi-weapons fire at the same time as whichever component you are choosing to fire, e.g., boltgun or meltagun.<\/p>\n

Flame Away!<\/h2>\n

Given those rules, there are a few new tactical considerations, the most obvious ones\u00a0revolving around range, templates, and blasts.<\/p>\n

For example,\u00a0units with different classes of flamers now\u00a0need to be maneuvered\u00a0with more care and in different fashion than before. The figure below shows one of my\u00a0favorite setups and tactics: Vulkan and some Tactical\u00a0buddies\u00a0leap out of a Drop Pod to double flame a blob of baddies in a column. Unfortunately for me,\u00a0either Vulkan or the flamer now has to resolve shooting\u00a0first. In the\u00a0arrangement below, that’s going to completely remove all the enemies in template range, wasting the other flamer. Previously the Salamanders here would almost certainly\u00a0eliminate the entire\u00a0blob (16 Hormagaunts versus 14 definite flamer kills\u00a0and 9\u00a0remaining bolt shots: 2\/9 hits+wounds needed to eliminate). Now they’ll severely cripple but almost certainly\u00a0not\u00a0completely remove the Tyranids\u00a0(16 Hormagaunts versus\u00a07 definite flamer kills and 9 remaining bolt shots: 9\/9\u00a0hits+wounds needed to eliminate).<\/p>\n

\"Fire<\/a>

Fire does not mix with fire!<\/p><\/div>\n

At first I was thinking this made mixed-flamer teams inefficient, and it does in some precise configurations like this one. But really I’ll just have to think more about how I deploy and\u00a0move\u00a0them. For example, looking at that blob, I need to put higher priority than before on landing and moving to the right, top, or bottom of it, so that both flamers will have at least some targets even after casualty removal.\u00a0This consideration applies for some other units as well.\u00a0Presumably\u00a0Vulkan’s Gauntlet is not a heavy flamer in terms of having different names for shooting ordering, even though his entry says “The Gauntlet … is a heavy flamer.” So I have this same issue even if he comes down with heavy flamer toting Sternguard. Somewhat more difficult to accommodate given the practicalities of Drop Pods,\u00a0movement, and terrain\u00a0would be a Sternguard squad\u00a0wielding\u00a0a mix of heavy flamers and combi-flamers. In my experience\u00a0the heavies\u00a0would\u00a0frequently render the combi-flamers useless. Another unit with the same new\u00a0challenge\u00a0is a Blood Angels Dreadnought equipped with a heavy flamer and twin linked\u00a0heavy flamer.<\/p>\n

Tactics<\/h2>\n

Generalizing from that, these changes to shooting aren’t huge but do require additional care. Right now I’m working on developing my rules of thumb for ordering shots in common situations. At the top level it’s pretty clear that\u00a0should\u00a0generally follow increasing range with exceptions\u00a0to maximize\u00a0templates, blasts, and rapid fire\/single shot flexibility, something like:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. ~9″ Templates<\/li>\n
  2. 8″ Grenades<\/li>\n
  3. 12″ Pistols<\/li>\n
  4. 12″ Rapid Fire<\/li>\n
  5. 24″<\/li>\n
  6. 36″<\/li>\n
  7. 48″<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For my Marines the details of those rules of thumb, largely for Tacticals, so\u00a0far are:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Heavy flamers<\/li>\n
    2. Flamers<\/li>\n
    3. Combi-flamers (save for last of flamers in case they’d\u00a0be useless to pop)<\/li>\n
    4. Frag grenade (after the flamers as the former are generally more likely to wound, particularly for Salamanders) or krak grenade (not actually sure if it doesn’t make sense to put this first, before flamers, given the limited range)<\/li>\n
    5. Meltaguns<\/li>\n
    6. Plasma pistols\u00a0(after meltaguns\u00a0to avoid gets hot if not needed)<\/li>\n
    7. Bolt pistols (after meltaguns and plasma pistols if potentially assaulting\u00a0to delay decisions (see below); otherwise, before plasma pistols)<\/li>\n
    8. Frag missiles\u00a0(fired here\u00a0to maximize models under the blast, moved\u00a0after rapid firing\u00a0if there’s a bunch of\u00a0enemies\u00a0outside 12″ range, and again to\u00a0after single-shots\u00a0if there are clusters beyond\u00a024″ range)<\/li>\n
    9. Plasma cannons (fired here\u00a0to maximize models under the blast, moved after rapid firing\u00a0if there’s a bunch of enemies\u00a0outside 12″ range, and again to\u00a0after single-shots\u00a0if there are clusters beyond\u00a024″ range)<\/li>\n
    10. Rapid-firing boltguns<\/li>\n
    11. Rapid-firing plasmaguns\u00a0(after boltguns to avoid gets hot if not needed)<\/li>\n
    12. Storm bolters (moved\u00a0before bolt pistols if potentially assaulting)<\/li>\n
    13. Multi-meltas<\/li>\n
    14. Single-shot boltguns<\/li>\n
    15. Single-shot plasmaguns (after boltguns to avoid gets hot if not needed)<\/li>\n
    16. Heavy bolters<\/li>\n
    17. Krak missiles<\/li>\n
    18. Lascannons<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \"weapons\"<\/a>

      I don’t care who shoots first, just shoot, shoot!<\/p><\/div>\n

      Obviously actual circumstances would dictate changes to the ordering, e.g., moving meltaguns up or down depending on where the\u00a0toughest armor is in the opposing unit. Some orderings also don’t matter, like multi-meltas versus single-shot boltguns or krak missiles versus lascannons. But that’s the kind of general priorities\u00a0I’m trying to get into my head.<\/p>\n

      One interesting note is that the order isn’t declared in advance. That’s helpful if you’re looking at potentially assaulting a unit. Again thinking mostly about Marines, if\u00a0you have some flamers, a special pistol on your sergeant, meltaguns, and\/or use a grenade, you could shoot at a unit a bit before making a decision about whether or not to use bolt pistols with the bulk of your squad so you can assault, or use rapid firing boltguns to try and finish it off in shooting instead if it’s been severely diminished. Similarly, the ordered shooting\u00a0allows you to have a bit more\u00a0information before you have to decide whether or not to shoot with every model or weapon in cases where that might risk putting the target out of realistic assault range.<\/p>\n

      Conclusion<\/h2>\n

      Other than probably needing some\u00a0tweaks to army construction and potentially but not necessarily a few of the psychic powers, I’m pretty optimistic about seventh edition. I don’t think there are many new things that will slow down the game more\u00a0once people are used to them,\u00a0including this new shooting algorithm as well as the psychic phase. Several of the changes, like the vehicles updates, have actually brought more balance to the game,\u00a0while others like\u00a0this revised shooting have fixed some oddities. My early thoughts are it\u00a0should be a really good era of 40k once tournaments figure out what they need to tweak.<\/p>\n

      \"Bring<\/a>

      Bring it.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      As most\u00a0have no doubt heard already even if they haven’t yet gotten their own rulebook or given it a play, shooting in 7th edition 40k has been updated. The changes aren’t earth shattering, especially\u00a0in casual play, but they are worth taking note. For example, Focus Fire is gone, so you can no longer specifically target … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[272,274,10,36],"class_list":["post-2003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rules-and-tactics","tag-40k","tag-miniatures","tag-rules","tag-tactics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2003"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2081,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions\/2081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}