Various Necron, Chaos, Tau and Grey Knight rules questions

[Rennegade]

Hey, I have a few rules questions I am hoping you can help me with. I sent this one to Frontline gaming as well and would like to see what the majority opinion is on all of these.

1. Mind Shackle Scarabs:
a. When used on a model with an Onager Gauntlet does it cause just one hit or does it cause the D3 hits for the Mind Shackle Scarabs.
b. When a Monstrous Creature is shackled and you opt to make it smash itself, does it halve the D3 hits or does it cause the full D3 hits?
c. When a model with a daemon weapon gets shackled do the bonus D6 attacks get added to the D3 hits and if not do they still have to roll to see if the weapon causes a wound to the bearer on a 1.

2. Does mark of Tzeentch improve the invulnerable save given by the skysheild landing platform?

3. If Immotek is taken in the primary detachment and Coteaz is taken in the secondary, can you re-roll the 4+ seize the initiative?

4. Can a Heldrake vectorstrike a unit on its way off the table?

5. If a unit of broadsides or a riptide or even crisis suits have drones, are the drones allowed to fire interceptor or skyfire shots along with the suit who has the interceptor or skyfire upgrades? The way I read it is that even with a drone controler, the drones do not gain the abilities of the suit.

6. If I have a unit that has 2 Stormteks with Lightening Fields on both Stormteks and I perform a multi-charge, does each unit I come in contact with take 2d6 S8 AP5 hits?

7. Are the orbital bombardment wargear upgrades for Grey Knights considered barrage weapons?

8. Despairteks have a template weapon that is resolved against the LD stat of a unit, is the units leadership value equal to the LD value of the highest model in the unit or is it against the majority LD value of the unit?

9. Can a suit with target lock and interceptor fire on two different units that came on the table from reserve in the same turn?

[Nabterayl]

In the future, I think it would be wiser to make separate posts for these, as each question will tend to spawn its own discussion. At least break them up by army.

1a. One hit. As page 81 of the necron codex says, "These hits are resolved at the victim's Strength and benefit from any abilities and penalties from his Melee weapons." I don't see any reasonable way to say that the onager gauntlet's "you only get one Attack" rule is not a "penalty" of the weapon.

1b. I don't think this is actually possible. Page 81 doesn't say that the necron player gets to take over the shackled model. It only says that the necron player gets to choose which Melee weapon is used, if there is a choice; the FAQ clarifies that the necron player is also allowed to activate any abilities tied to the chosen weapon. However, the ability to double Strength and re-roll armor penetration at the expense of halving Attacks is not an ability tied to any of a monstrous creature's Melee weapons. It's an ability that is owned by the MC itself, not any of its Melee weapons. Hence, I don't think mindshackle scarabs allow the necron player to activate it.

1c. No. As the necron FAQ says, "Q: If mindshackle scarabs are used against a model whose weapon gives them additional Attacks in close combat for any reason, are these attacks added to the number of hits the model causes on their unit (for example a Daemon Weapon)? (p81) A: No."

2. Yes. Page 30 of the CSM codex says, "Models with the Mark of Tzeentch have +1 to their invulnerable save," and page 115 of the BRB says, "Units on top of a shielded Skyshleld Landing Pad have a 4+ invulnerable save against enemy Shooting attacks." Since a shielded Skyshield gives each model atop it an invulnerable save, a model with a Mark of Tzeentch can improve it just as if it always had that save.

3. Yes. Neither ability is contingent upon the character belonging to a particular detachment or being nominated warlord. Coteaz's ability doesn't specify anything like getting a re-roll only if you failed an unmodified seize-the-initiative roll.

4. Yes. Vector Strike is not dependent upon the model being on the table, or indeed alive. The only requirement is that the model making the Vector Strike have moved over the target unit during the Movement phase.

5. No. A drone controller permits an eligible drone to use the bearer's Ballistic Skill. That is not the same thing as gaining the shooting-related special rules of the bearer, or shooting as if it were the bearer.

6. No. Lightning Field does not do anything when the bearer charges.

7. No. Barrage is not listed in any of the weapon's shooting profiles.

8. No text-based correct answer. There is no general rule stating how to determine a "unit's" Characteristic value when the value is not the same throughout the unit, and page 7 only tells us to use the highest Leadership in the unit when taking Leadership tests.

9. No. Neither a Target Lock nor an Early Warning Override permit a single model to attack two different units, and neither does putting the two together.

[chicop76]

On #5 I had the same argument. The point is the drones have the bearers BS and not the abilities.

Example if bearer was blinded and had bs 1, applies to drone snipers. Than the drones bs drop to 1 as well.

If drones somehow had skfire and the bearer snap shot which brings his bs to 1, even though the drones have a better bs they would be one dueto the bearer being one.

I feel it's yes due to wording. Unless it's FAQed most will say no.

[Rennegade]

Thanks. I really hope the Characteristic value question makes it to GW for clarification. That one has been bugging me ever since the Necron codex came out. I am leaning in the direction of unit majority value because its the way toughness is treated and the attack is not causing the unit to take a leadership test.

[Nabterayl]

Thanks. I really hope the Characteristic value question makes it to GW for clarification. That one has been bugging me ever since the Necron codex came out. I am leaning in the direction of unit majority value because its the way toughness is treated and the attack is not causing the unit to take a leadership test.
I lean that way too, but I really don't think the rules cover this one.

[Rennegade]

Thank you Matt Ward for breaking yet ANOTHER codex in a way the rules it was structured for STILL haven't caught up to.

[Magpie]

Question 8

From the Necron Codex
"Wounds from the abyssal staff are made against the targets leadership rather than toughness."

Necron (and similarly in the GK) FAQ

Q: When using an abyssal staff, do you use the target’s Toughness or
Leadership for the purposes of working out if Instant Death applies?
(p84)
A: You use the target’s Leadership.

That very much says to me that the model's leadership is used in all respects in the same way that a model's/unit's toughness would be used.

i.e. Majority Ld