Not sure if this is where this post should go, but it is the best thread I could find.
So this came up after my last game in which i played Chaos Dwarves against Dark Elves. My opponent ran his Dark Elves 1 rank deep and as wide as they could go. Very good strategy against the CD as their templates were nullified. My question is on the flame thrower, Magma cannon, and the direction of the template. The rules state the narrow end must touch the barrel with the wide end pointing towards an enemy. With the Magma cannon I take this to mean the narrow end must be the closest end to the barrel. The question is where does the wide end have to be? The way I was playing it I put the wide end directly away from the cannon. This meant that because the way my opponent deployed I could never hit very many models. After the game I got to talking with another player who was asking me why I shot that way instead of aiming the wide end farther to one side in order to hit more guys. After reading the rules is makes sense you can do this. So if I have a magma cannon firing and I place the template with the narrow end closest to the cannon does that mean I can aim the template any direction I want as long as certain rules are followed, the narrow end must remain the closes point on the template to the cannon, and the wide end must aim towards an enemy unit. I also understand it that if the template has to be moved it will move directly away from the cannon and not in the direction it is pointing. I just want to make sure I am right on this before I go out and start using this tactic.
Yes, I don’t believe putting the narrow end of the template on the barrel and then turning the template 90 degrees and trying to shoot it straight ahead is legal. Nor will it win you any friends if you were to try.
Pivot warmachine to face directly the target (ie centre of Magma cannon barrel to where you want the centre of the wide end to land). I find it best to advise opponent what you plan to hit before actually rolling the dice.
2. Place template
3. Pray to Hashut that you don’t misfire or overshoot
RAW states that you place the narrow end of the tematr closest to the weapon, no argument there. Then it states the wide end must face an enemy, but dies not say it must be straight away from the cannon, ie you could angle the template slightly to cover more models if they are in a single rank. I watched a couple of battle reports online where they did this and no one seemed to complain. I am not talking about turning the template completely sideways, just maybe to a 45 degree angle to hit more models. I have never really used flame throwers before so I don’t know if most people consider that to be cheesey or just the way the game goes.
As I said, if you can think of a way to restrict the placement of the template so it makes “sense” without writing paragraph after paragraph of rules, complete with diagrams, have at it. It’s also probably worth remembering that the models don’t literally represent the actual appearance of the unit on the battlefield - the war machines are static on their bases, but in reality the crew would be moving them around, angling for better shots, maybe shifting them a few feet here and there or catching the targets while they’re reforming so more guys get hit, etc. The armies aren’t “really” standing around waiting to be shot - it’s all an abstraction.
In other words, thinking it doesn’t make sense for the template to be at an odd angle relative to the cannon’s barrel is a bit like thinking it doesn’t make sense for your soldiers to hit the other guys because their arms are made of plastic and fixed in one position.
That is a good point. It makes sense to me to angle to the templates, so that is the way I will play it until someone makes a better point as to why you shouldn’t.
Ha, I cant really believe what i’m reading… The internet makes bastards of us all.
The magma cannon is an awesome machine. And I think how it should be fired is quite obvious. it moves away from the machine in a straight line, not under a angel to make your beard grow longer. If I would face an opponent who did such a thing on a tournament and the jury would agree I would kindly shake his hand and give him the game…
(I actually only once in 19 years of warhammer ended a game because of my opponent, but seriously, this is really pushing it.)
Every response I wrote would be HIGHLY offensive to players, some of which I understand post to this board, who do use the Chalice that way. So instead I’ll just say I agree 1000% with lukealexandmorton! :hat
Tamurkhan says, “…place the teardrop-shaped template with the narrow end positioned where the shot landed and the wide end placed straight ahead along the the direction of fire.”
There is really nothing to debate here. How is this even a thread? x.x
Tamurkhan says, "...place the teardrop-shaped template with the narrow end positioned where the shot landed and the wide end placed straight ahead along the the direction of fire."
There is really nothing to debate here. How is this even a thread? x.x