Ampibious Chimera cover save?

[imperialpower]

On my gaming board I have a large section of river and while having a game this weekend one of my Chimera's finished it's turn in the river and was then shot at, I joked that it should get a cover save from been half submerged since I assume because they half no snorkel that they must float across and obviously the hull would sit low in the water. I may adopt this as a house rule but just wanted to know if anyone knows somthing reguarding this rule since not alot of boards I have played on/seen have 'water' sections, do they float or drive along the bottom I suppose if they are just water tight and fully submerge then they should be out of line of sight entirely.

[DrLove42]

I'd imagine they half submerge, like a landing craft tank.

But then consider, if a stretch of water is deep enough for the vehicle to be submerged and floating, it would be too deep for people to walk across. Maybe they can swim, but they wouldn't be as fast, nor would they be able to shoot. So you'd have to count it as impassable for everything else for it to get a cover save. So explode in the water - everyone inside sides (trapped in a flaming metal box sinking in a river....sounds about right)

As for what it would be...flat 5+ i'd imagine.

[Wolfshade]

They have the Amphibious special rule and no obvious means of aquatic propulsion so one must assume that they must trundle across the see floor.
I would suggest that most rivers are too shallow for a Chimera to be obscured, and if it was deep enough it would have to be impassable terrain to troops.
Playing true line of sight for this one would be difficult as you'd end up with wet models, and then there is a question as to whether or not person shooting at the tank in water has sufficient skill/optics/targeting to adjust for the way water affects light.
If they do then certainly the chimera is in the open, but if the chimera kicks up the river bed does this then obscure the water al la night fighting rules?
It is house rules, if your friends are happy with it run with it. It is nice to see water on board.

[imperialpower]

Since there is a large bridge for tanks and a rail bridge spanning the river I always treated the water as dangerous terrain for any troops who want to try and swim across and obvioulsy impassable for tanks without the ampibious rule and having not read any fluff to tell me how the chimera fords a river I never gave it much thought until this weekend when one finished it's turn in the river and was set upon by a railgun. I would imagine if they do simply roll across the bottom that they would be out of line of sight which would be better for me but if they are half submerged and magic their way along the surface then half the front armour would be covered so shouldnt they get the 4+ cover save?

[DrLove42]

2689

I'd imagine this is how they do it....

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

@DrLove42 - But they'd never get out of the spawn zone, so who cares?? :p

[Psychosplodge]

I'd imagine that it'd be like the soviet bmp? Essentially like the docs pic, but with less cannon

[Renegade]

In one of the IG BL books there is a description of one 'swimming' (for want of a better word) along a river.

where I play, if it is classed as terrain you get a save. IMO, it would have to be over shoulder hight to be dangerous to those that move as infantry.

Walkers are always a tricky one though.

[Chris*ta]

Plenty of amphibious tracked vehicles IRL are sealed enough to float, and use their tracks for locomotion. It's slow, but does work. This is how I've always pictured Chimeras in amphibious operations.

I can't imagine that Chimeras are fully sealed, and move along the bottom -- the design of the top hatch seems to preclude this, as well as the fact that this hasn't proven too effective IRL.

As for the rules, the cover chart on p. 18 says area terrain has a save of 5+.

However, the mysterious terrain table for rivers on p. 103 says that industrial ooze gives a save of 5+. So "normal" rivers presumably don't give a save of 5+ even though they're area terrain.

So, umm, the rules don't have a definitive answer, so ... do what you like, but discuss it with your opponent first?