Welcome to Ruleshammer! This week we’re covering some more questions submitted by you, the readers, and our patrons on the Goonhammer Discord. Remember the banner below will take you to the Ruleshammer 9th Edition Compedium, for all the questions I’ve answered for the last few months!
Table of Contents
Q&A
Orks – Kustom Jobs – what do they cost?
This is a frequent question following the latest GW Points Update – many players noticed that Ork Kustom Jobs – and their associated costs – are missing from the new document. However their counterparts are present for other factions – Tau have their Protoypes, Marines have their Chapter Command, etc.
I’ve pretty vocal about disliking the “unlisted things are free” system as it leads to ambiguity like this. If the points document had all the free things in with a cost of 0, something that they could have done with this latest update at zero cost as it’s a PDF, then the omission of the Kustom Jobs would be clearly an error.
However as the system they are using is that unlisted things are free, it could be either an intended buff to Orks to let them have their Kustom Jobs for free or it could be an oversight. The Warhammer 40k App does still lists costs for them, however the App also lists Celestine as 0 points and doesn’t work out Tau Crisis weapons correctly, to name just two errors. So its rating as a trusted source is pretty low. With that in mind:
Pre-Update Suggestion: Kustom Jobs aren’t listed so they are free.
Update: Less than a day after writing this, the App updated again and now lists them as free. I’ve left what I said as is though, because there are still discrepancies that cause significant distrust in the App as a source.
Orks – Bomb Squigs and Open-Topped
Can a unit with a Bomb Squig use the Squig while embarked? The FAQ for Shooting when Embarked has this point that I think relates to the Bomb Squig issue.
7) Any abilities (including Detachment abilities) that models in an embarked unit have, or that their weapons have, continue to apply when they make ranged attacks.
As Bomb Squigs are not abilities that any of the models or their weapons have, but rather an ability that the unit has, this rule doesn’t allow for their use in my opinion.
Pre-Update Suggestion: Bomb Squigs must keep their arms and legs inside the ride until they have exited the vehicle.
Tyranids – Lictor Chamelonic Skins vs Ignoring Cover Effects
Lictors are sneaky; that’s their thing. 9th edition presents this sneakiness with this ability:
Chameleonic Skin:
– Each time an attack is made against this model, subtract 1 from that attack’s hit roll.
– While this model is receiving the benefits of cover, it cannot be selected as the target of a ranged attack if the attacker is more than 12″ away.
– This model has a 5+ invulnerable save.
That second bullet point here can cause some issues – specifically, what happens if the enemy can ignore the benefits of cover? There’s a few different ways that units can lose cover so lets look at some.
If the lictor was targeted by the Aeldari Conceal/Reveal Power, for instance:
CONCEAL/REVEAL
…
Reveal (Malediction): Select one enemy unit within 18″ of this PSYKER. Until the start of your next Psychic phase, each time an ASURYANI model from your army makes an attack, that enemy unit does not receive the benefits of cover against that attack.
I think the Lictor might actually still be un-targetable, as the effect of this power doesn’t kick in until an ASURYANI models “makes an attack” and making attacks is after the select targets step of shooting.
If a Tau unit tried to shoot at the Lictor with a Smart Missile System while the Lictor is benefitting from cover:
This weapon can target units that are not visible to the bearer. Each time an attack is made with this weapon, the target does not receive the benefits of Light Cover against that attack.
This weapon only applies an affect to a targeted unit, and they can’t target the Lictor because it has cover and benefits from the Chameleonic Skin rule. This is a bit odd but I think that in order to get around the Lictor’s ability you need to remove the cover with a rule or ability like a stratagem, psychic power, or an aura, as almost all weapon abilities are worded this way. Even the Tyranids’ own Exocrine can’t avoid this.
Symbiotic Targeting: In your Movement phase, if this model Remains Stationary or moves a total distance of less than half its Move characteristic, until the end of the turn, each time this model makes a ranged attack, the target does not receive the benefits of cover against that attack.
Custodes – Auric Mortalis Change and Vehicle Squadrons
I was asked about this before Nephilim and surprisingly they have actually made a small change to this Secondary that fixes a likely very infrequent issue it had. What if the largest unit by cost is a vehicle squadron? The old wording said:
If you select this objective, then before the battle, you must select one unit from your opponent’s army that has the PRIMARCH or SUPREME COMMANDER keyword to be marked for death. If no such unit exists, select one unit from your opponent’s army with the highest points value to be marked for death.
and the new wording says
If you select this objective, then during the Resolve Pre-Battle abilities step of the mission, you must select one unit from your opponent’s army that has the PRIMARCH or SUPREME COMMANDER keyword to be marked for death. If no such unit exists, select one unit from your opponent’s army with the highest points value to be marked for death.
with this wording a squadron of something like Leman Russes will have already divided into multiple units, as that happens when they are deployed. It’s a subtle change that will effect 0.01% of games, but a welcome one none the less.
Tau – Can the Devilfish Advance with Combat Debarkation? Can the troops advance then they get out?
The short answer on Advancing Devilfish is “no.” But I still wanted to elaborate on this one as there’s a subtle element that some players might overlook about advancing disembarked Tau units.
First of all, the Devilfish can’t Advance with the Combat Debarkation Stratagem because the effect is contingent on doing a Normal Move.
Until the end of the phase, each time one of those models makes a Normal Move, after it has moved, any units embarked within that transport can disembark. Any units that do so cannot charge this turn.
and there’s an FAQ clarifying that even if you make such a transport count as stationary these abilities do not work.
RULES THAT COUNT AS REMAINING STATIONARY
Some rules allow a unit to count as having Remained Stationary, or count as if it had not moved, even if that unit has moved during its Movement phase. The following rules apply to these type of rules:
…
7. Even if a TRANSPORT model is subject to such a rule, embarked models still cannot disembark from that TRANSPORT during the Movement phase if that TRANSPORT has already moved, unless that TRANSPORT (or the models embarked within it) have a rule that explicitly allows them to disembark after the TRANSPORT has moved (but if a unit does so, it cannot then charge during the same turn).
So, they can’t advance then count as stationary to allow for disembarking because of the rare rule. And the Stratagem only provides for disembarking after a Normal move.
What did I want to cover though? Units that disembark from a transport can act normally, and this includes advancing. It would be easy to think that Tau infantry could do this with no downsides due the effects of Mont’ka:
Each time this unit makes a Normal Move or Advances in your Movement phase, until the end of your Shooting phase, it counts as having Remained Stationary.
However models that disembark can not count as stationary. So if you do advance with these models they would be subject to the usual limitations of advancing, such as -1 to hit when shooting Assault weapons.
8) If a unit has disembarked from a TRANSPORT model, rules which allow that unit to be treated as though it has Remained Stationary have no effect.
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