Knowledge Bomb: Shoot the Hostage!

By Meeker | March 5th, 2012 | Categories: 40k News & Articles, Meeker

Welcome to the segment here on Spikey Bits, where I go over some rules clarifications and “gotchas” for 5th Edition.

Today’s Knowledge Bomb is from Meeker!

I realize that there may only be less than a year left for this rules set, but there is still tons of time for gaming!

Not to mention there are a few big tournaments left to attend as well. So let’s get to it shall we?

Pop Quiz time guys! It’s your turn at the top of the last game turn. You are currently up 1 kill point. Your stunned Stormraven is out of places to hide and is being targeted by an immobilized Hammerhead. What’s the best way to ensure that your Stormraven lives?

Some would say that you should just move flat out to get a cover save.

While there are some merits to this, it’s even safer to parallel park next to the Hammerhead. It’s important to remember that guns on vehicles can only elevate vertically 45°.

Use this to your advantage. A Stormraven/Valkyrie can practically hover over a Hammerhead (heck or most tanks), eliminating itself as a target (thanks True LOS). Of course I wouldn’t recommend doing such a stunt in friendly games.

Besides only being able to elevate 45°, hull mounted weapons can only fire horizontally in a 45° arc. I know, I know, most of you already knew that, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen players treat this 45° arc as a 90° arc.

This can be rather important when a squadron of Hydras/Leman Russes aren’t lined up properly to use all the heavy bolters.

Angles… how do they work? -MBG