[VeronaKid]

Here's an interesting little nugget I thought about (too late) last night reading the BRB: the rules entry covering war machines specifically states "the crew are only there as a representation of the wounds the war machine has remaining and the number of attacks it makes in close combat.

My question is this: in the High Elves army book (and, I presume, the Dark Elves book, as well) Repeater Bolt Throwers have 2 crew listed in the army list when you pay the points for the war machine. The machine, though, has 3 wounds on its profile. So, does it take 3 wounds to kill it, or only 2? Does it make 2 attacks in close combat, or 3?

 

[Vaz]

2 wounds. If there are no crew, noone can fire the weapon, can they?

 

[Sethis]

The way we're playing it right now is that crew are basically unnecessary "counters" for the number of wounds remaining.

If your example, we would play a Bolt Thrower as having 3 wounds (as its rulebook profile states) and have 3 attacks in combat. You'd have to scrounge another model from somewhere to proxy as the third crewman. Otherwise it seems rather unfair that some models have up to 4 crew while others have as little as 2 - and this is not reflected in their points costs. You would assume that a Machine that's twice as hard to kill as another would cost a little more.

 

[Arli]

Here is an interesting thought. I kill the 2 crewmen. Can my chameleon skinks (2 or 3) take control of the bolt thrower (shooting using their BS-no poison, of course)?

Just a thought, I would think it would not be legal. Interesting, but not legal.

 

[VeronaKid]

The way we're playing it right now is that crew are basically unnecessary "counters" for the number of wounds remaining.

If your example, we would play a Bolt Thrower as having 3 wounds (as its rulebook profile states) and have 3 attacks in combat. You'd have to scrounge another model from somewhere to proxy as the third crewman.

This is exactly what I was thinking; I'll just use an extra archer or something to represent the third "wound" and "attack" counter for the machine. It hasn't been addressed in the FAQ yet, though, so I would totally imagine settings where people would have an issue with that. Something along the lines of "No- the army list in the HE book states two crew, not three- you only get two." I guess until they add it to the FAQ, though, I'll have to settle for a bunch of "The Most Important Rule" rolls. . . :hang1:

Thanks for the input.

 

[Vaz]

Here is an interesting thought. I kill the 2 crewmen. Can my chameleon skinks (2 or 3) take control of the bolt thrower (shooting using their BS-no poison, of course)?

Just a thought, I would think it would not be legal. Interesting, but not legal.

What? Of an enemies weapon? No.

It's not a case of the rules don't say you can't, it's a case of the rules don't say you can.

As to wounds, it specifically states under shooting at War Machines that the crew take the hits on the War Machines toughness, using their own armour save.

 

[maddermax]

You can house rule it to 3 wounds and 3 crew if your group agrees to it, but the actual rule is clear - Elvin Bolt Throwers now have only two wounds, not three, and do not gain an extra crew. They lost a wound in the conversion to 8th. Check out the top of P108, "split profile", for the answer. It specifically says that the wounds on the profile is there only "out of a sense of completeness", and is actually meaningless now.

Hope that helps clear it up

 

[Putch.]

So wait, my orc war machines can upgrade to a bully? So what does that do to the profile?!

 

[maddermax]

So wait, my orc war machines can upgrade to a bully? So what does that do to the profile?!

Extra wound essentially. Ignore the actual Wound stat on your warmachines, only the number of crew count.

 

[Putch.]

So for 5 points I add a wound to my warmachine. Awesome!

 

[Tim/Steve]

Yeah, its well worth adding all the extra crew you can to warmachines, the rules may have changed but its not any more difficult to kill the crew (and get a D3 or D6 wound weapon hitting the war machine and you can take out all the crew in 1 hit).

 

[VeronaKid]

Check out the top of P108, "split profile", for the answer. It specifically says that the wounds on the profile is there only "out of a sense of completeness", and is actually meaningless now.

Hope that helps clear it up

Max-

Thanks! I had seen this, but had read the context box at the bottom of that page first, which is where the discussion on crew only being wound markers is. That's what caused my confusion. So, definitely- two wounds to kill a RBT it is, using the toughness of the machine and the armor save (that is to say, none) of the crew. Perfect.k:

 

[Tim/Steve]

Ah dont be so hasty to laugh at armour saves on RBT crew... DE RBT crew have light armour, and there is nothing more annoying then causing the 2nd wound on their crew only for them to make a 6+ save (as happened to me earlier this week).