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RAW vs. RAI: Shooting Debate Comes to 40k

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Do you know how shooting works in 8th Edition 40k?  Which way is the “right way” to shoot? There is a new RAW vs. RAI debate in 40k right now, what side are you on?

There’s been a storm brewing around the socials last week, about how you actually perform a shooting attack.

Games Workshop has a knack over the last few editions for writing rules and wording them in about the most open-ended way possible. Lately, though they seem to correct any issues a lot faster than in years past, however.

So let’s take a look at what’s splitting people up currently on both the competitive and casual sides of 40k. Is this just a case of rules as intended Vs. rules as written?

Shooting with Units

Read this carefully…

Page 179 BRB or Point 3: Shooting in fold out rules pamphlets.

8th ed shooting

Now Re-read this part…

8th edition shooting 2

Does that mean you have to shoot with ALL of your weapons no matter what if you select that vehicle to shoot? Rules as intended, that doesn’t sound correct AT ALL.  If someone were to pay points for a  hunter-killer missile…you know, those one-shot missiles…and the enemy had all of his vehicles out of line-of-sight or in Deepstrike, then they would technically have to shoot the missile into something useless like a tactical squad. Where are the tactics in that?

Warhammer 40k is a game of strategy and knowing what to hit and when. After multiple competitive events, the question never arose and there were definitely people that didn’t shoot all of their weapons because of the circumstances they were in.

Again, Games Workshop has a bit of a reputation for leaving open-ended rules out for us to butcher. But when you step back and really think about the sentence and the game that is Warhammer 40k. You tend to lean more towards the side of “they mean that I have to declare all the weapons I’m shooting that are in range before I got to the next unit”. This goes back to the rule of “declare all your targets for a unit before any shooting is done”.

RAI Vs. RAW

facepalm

If the rule is true, is it possible a lot of folks have been playing 8th edition “wrong”? When you think of a strategy game, you think that you have options for shooting and not shooting. Why would anyone pay points for anything that has a limited number of shots if they have to always shoot it with the rest of the vehicles weapons?

Some more clarification would be lovely. It’s surprising that 8th edition has been out for over a year now and this issue is just now making the rounds on the socials. What do you think the rule is saying? Let us know in over in the comments on our Facebook Hobby Group.

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About the Author: Wesley Floyd

Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, King of sprues.