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View Full Version : Bolt Throwers - How Do They Work?



ElectricPaladin
10-30-2013, 03:03 PM
I find them pretty confusing, but here is my current interpretation of the text. Please let me know if I am on track:

1) Bolt either misses (in which case the rest is irrelevant) or hits the front rank.
2) The bolt does dWhatever wounds to the unit.
3) Assuming the bolt kills at least one dude, it penetrates to the next rank, automatically hitting the next guy in line. Roll to wound that guy at -1 Strength.
4) Repeat Step 3 until you either run out of ranks, run out of Strength, or fail to kill a guy.

The important note is that the bolt does not continue to deal dWhatever wounds each time it hits a rank. It deals dWhatever wounds the first time, but a single wound to each subsequent rank.

Now, the next question: when do you remove the casualties? Because if you remove the initial dWhatever casualties, it could cost you a rank, which could potentially save the life of one of the survivors... or do you keep the casualties in the unit until the bolt is finished, which could potentially cost the unit dudes by killing the same guy twice?

I don't judge. Either way of doing it is equally "gamey." The question is, which one is right?

Chronowraith
10-30-2013, 05:22 PM
I continues to do dX (typically d3 unless stated in the unit entry) wounds each hit. Not just on the first rank.

This is confirmed by the last sentence on page 111 of the basic rulebook under "Resolving Bolt Thrower Hits".

Keep in mind that Multiple Wounds only matters if a model has more than one wound. So if you fire a bolt thrower at a unit of High Elves there is no need to roll for multiple wounds as the bolt hits a single model and, provided it wounds and they fail their armor save, it will inflict at least 1 wound. Multiple Wounds comes into effect versus Ogres, Monstrous Cavalry, other Monstrous Infantry, etc. where each MODEL hit has more than a single wound.

As far as resolving wounds, when the bolt strikes the unit, make a note of the number of ranks... that's the number of ranks it "might" penetrate if you roll successfully (unless it's enough to reduce the strength to 0 before you hit that. So If I have a unit of clanrats that is 5 ranks deep and you fire a S6 bolt thrower at me... you will kill a maximum of 5 models. If I have a unit that is 8 ranks deep and you fire the same S6 bolt thrower at me, you can still only kill at most 5 models (because the 6th rank reduces the S to zero).

Does that make sense or do I need to clarify anything... better examples, etc. If you give me an example of what you and your opponent ran up against in a game I could easily break it down for you.

ElectricPaladin
10-30-2013, 05:32 PM
Ok, I see...

So, it's still d3 wounds to the individual model that it hits, not d3 wounds to the unit.

So, the maximum number of wounds it can do is the number of ranks (or files, if it's a flank shot) in the unit.

But given that it's got a high starting strength and deals d3 wounds to each model it hits, it's quite likely to make it all the way through the unit!

Chronowraith
10-30-2013, 06:13 PM
So, the maximum number of wounds it can do is the number of ranks (or files, if it's a flank shot) in the unit.

Sort of.

Against 1W models your statement is true. Although I'd frame it as, "the maximum number of MODELS it can wound is equal to the number of ranks (or files if hit from the flank)"

Against multiple wound models it could do a maximum of X * R wounds where X is the number of wounds per model and R is the number of ranks. Not that this is only true if the bolt thrower could potentially kill a single model.