FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions... so don't ask again)

What is the Elvensword Arena?

Elvensword Arena is a hole in the Warp, held open by a mighty Elvensword of old from a time so ancient that none can remember it, not even the Great Ones themselves. The sword’s power field was first rediscovered by the Tau and exploited as a safe meeting place to engage potential allies and meet Imperial Guard commanders who wished to join the Greater Good unglimpsed by not even the greatest of the Tyranid Hive Minds and beyond the means of normal Daemons to sense its presence.

The Tau did not realize they had discovered the domain of the new domain of the Great Ones and it was only the Tau's unique lack of a signature in the warp that allowed them to go unnoticed by even these mighty beings for some time. Some say the time warping effects of the power field are what gave the Tau countless centuries to develop their race when only a small fraction of that passed in real space.

Whatever the truth may be, the presence of the Tau guests did not go unnoticed as they had and as the decades passed, the Great Ones took a greater and greater quiet interest in the machinations of those who dared venture into their domain. It became clear to them that these races competed with one another for both control of space and time and given enough of both, one would prevail on the Final War that was foreseen 40,000 years before. In an endeavor to monitor this progress and influence it faster to its logical conclusion, the Great Ones stilled time completely and then chose Ambassadors from every faction to represent their kind, bringing them to the arena.

And so it is that you, the greatest sentient factions in the galaxy, are gathered each year and allowed to compete for the favor of the Great Ones in your endless wars. No one knows for sure how long it has gone on, and it is sensed by some who compete that they have been in this time and place before, but the details are as a dream.

The one thing that is known: sixteen ambassadors enter the arena—one leaves. That one brings with him a token of great hope that his faction will have the backing of the Great Ones when the Final War begins.

Various and sundry

When a re-roll is allowed and does not specify whether it affects successes or failures, can you re-roll a success or a failure?

Answer: Yes, if it hasn’t been re-rolled already you can. However certain re-roll abilities conflict with one another and this is covered in the BRB FAQ clearly.

Note that when rolling for Reserves or choosing sides while Outflanking and you have an ability that lets you re-roll, the player attempting it can use it as normal. The opponent may then at his option use his ability to force a re-roll. This is obviously unusual, but it is fair that the enemy should be able to affect your ultimate outcome if he has an ability to do so normally.

If you turbo boost in the scout phase, then you get the first turn. Move, shoot, and maybe even assault something, do you still get your 3+ cover save during your opponents following shooting phase

Answer: No. The movement counts as it it was done on the preceding Movement phase, per the FAQ, which means at the beginning of your turn, you must do it again to regain the advantage.

Do Dangerous Terrain and Gets Hot! require the specific model to be removed as a casualty or can you remove another identical model?

Answer: the specific model, per the rulebook page 14

If a model has a 4+ armor save and a 5+ rerollable cover save, can the player choose which save to use?

Answer: The one that is most advantageous to the model, given the situation, defenders choice.

Does a Terminator Sergeant (with the same wargear) count as identical to the regular Terminators in his unit for the purpose of wound allocation?

Answer: If everything about him is the same in every game sense, including LD and special abilities etc… then he would not be different in game terms. A different name or separate stat line is a distinction that makes no difference in game terms. So yes he would be identical in that scenario, as would any similar situation where the only game difference is the name.

Can a unit falling directly backwards that is out of coherency use its run move to move back into coherency?

Answer: Yes per the FAQ. Run is not a Fall Back Move, and only requires movement towards the board edge. The proviso is that any models moving to do so must end absolutely no closer to the board edge than when they started.

USR Rules

Does Feel No Pain work when a model is “removed” instead of killed via normal wounding, such as with Crowe’s Heroic Sacrifice or Fabius Biles Rod of Torment and other removal effects?

Answer: No. Feel no Pain is only against unsaved wounds per the BRB. As there is no wounding, just removal, Feel no Pain would be ineffective.

Can models with the Rage ignore enemies that a line cannot be drawn from their eyes to the model?

Answer: Yes. Line of sight is always from the perspective of the firing/moving/assaulting model, though turning your models to face another way will not work!

Must units with Rage when moving towards an enemy move every model in the unit as closes as possible?

Answer: Unfortunately yes. The intent seems clear. They are all quite mad. So when disembarking, give some thought to how you want the formation to be, for purposes of blasts and such, as this makes you susceptible to them after disembarking and moving in a clump! Terrain may force them apart but generally speaking they must rush as hard and fast as they can at the enemy. Nothing is faster than a straight line.

Vehicle Questions

Can you use searchlights if your weapons were destroyed or stunned/shaken or potentially out of range?

Answer: Searchlights must roll for Night Fight Distance separately from the weapons and if successful, then the unit doing the search-lighting and the unit it illuminated are no longer protected by Night Fighting. Searchlights are not weapons, but they DO target enemies in the shooting phase. Since that is essentially the ability you lose when shaken or stunned (the gun is fine, you just got jarred and need to get back in the gunners chairs) it seems intuitive that if you cannot target weapons, targeting in general is probably impaired. So though the text does not specifically say one way or the other and we acknowledge that, our judgement call will be to exclude the use of Searchlights when stunned or shaken.

Can a vehicle drive/walk through a ruin with solid walls.

Answer: yes, though not buildings. They are different.

Can pivoting vehicles provide extra inches of movement?

Unfortunately this has been allowed in almost all tournies and is sold as tactica on the internet. But here is how the book actually reads:

…"for distances involving a vehicle, measure to or from their hull"

…"Turning does not reduce the vehicle’s move. This means that a vehicle may combine forward and reverse movement in the same turn providing it does not exceed its maximum move."

Not reducing the vehicles movement is what most people hinge their argument on. They are not acknowledging that ‘not reducing” is not an invitation to increase it in the very same place in the rules. The rules go to lengths to tell you how to move a vehicle properly so it is not gaining free movement.on page 12 and they tell you that’s why they are taking pains to illustrate it.

I believe the intent here is not to allow the pivot move to increase total movement. Therefore, as long as no part of the model exceeds the movement you declared at the end of its movement phase, you should be within the intent of the rules.

Large Oval Based creatures/Vehicles: how do we adjudicate their entry from reserves etc…?

Answer: Text wall time. They will be destroyed per the FAQ if terrain or other reasons stops them from being able to land safely and completely(wings and all) onto the board and their total movement will determine how many weapons they can fire which unfortunately because of its size will probably be only 1 weapon on the round it comes in.

The base itself determines what, if any terrain it must deal with but otherwise the wings and all are all part of the hull as the main book FAQ states and can be targeted for all purposes. Unlike other vehicles, you can and often must end movement under its hull, friend or foe alike. Page 71 says that you may assault the hull, the base or both. So you must use a straight edge to figure the point to which the enemy must charge if not already under it. Likewise, enemies cannot come within 1” of the oval base except when assaulting but can be within 1” of the rest of it. Contesting and controlling objectives is measured from the oval base. Ramming would be to the skimmer hull. One can also tank shock all the way to the oval base if not ramming.

This is a very awkward model from a rules standpoint and requires some ruling just so people know what to do ahead of time. As there isn’t really an adequate FAQ, this is what we will do for our tournament.

IC Questions

Does an IC get their special move from jet packs or bike as examples, if leaving a squad that has none of those during the movement phase?

Answer: Yes.

Dark Eldar Rules

Do Webway Portal Marker from GW provide cover?

Answer: Yes. Literal Line of sight calls for it to provide LOS blocking cover.

Space Marine(s) Rules

Drop pods? How do we deal with them?

Answer: anywhere from its hull, including the fins, which are part of the hull, but not including the blast doors that come open. They are blown out and effectively have no game effect. Step all over them if you want to.

As the doors are gone, if the model has been glued shut for ease of use/aesthetics, just treat it as providing cover when firing through it, but if will not block LOS completely in that case as it is simply too hard to adjudicate whether it would or wouldn’t have, had the doors been off as they are supposed to be.

Tyranid Rules

Can we have a clearer explanation with a Hive Guard's impaler cannon vs Cover.

Answer: the simple answer is this: if the target is physically in cover, they get a cover save. If they are not physically in cover, they do not. Wargear and such will not work. Only actual cover.

Cleansing Flame vs. Hypnotic Gaze: Cleansing Flame is a melee attack (per the FAQ) that happens before blows are struck. Hypnotic gaze is not a blow AND is done before ANY attacks are done. Hypnotic Gaze would trump attacks of any kind. Ergo, Hypnotic gaze would happen before Cleansing Flame.

Necron Rules

How do sweep attacks work? That is, what does "moves over" mean? Can I move 18" over the top of the enemy squad, move back 1" (in the exact direction that I came) and still get the 3 attacks?

Answer: Yes, you can take your attacks. There is no distance requirement, nor a requirement that you not double back for that matter nor even a directional requirement. Generally you must not end where you started to be considered to have moved however.

Can you take a wound off the overlord to prevent a Catacomb Command Barge from becoming immobilized by moving flat out into dangerous terrain etc…?

Answer: Assuming you have more than one wound, yes. The rule is specific that it can be used for any immobilized or weapon destroyed result. That an immobilized result WOULD destroy the Command Barge does not change the proximate cause, which was immobilization.

If you go first can you deploy Deathmarks and mark an enemy unit even though your opponent hasn't deployed yet?

Answer: No. Hunters from Hyperspace is triggered by the deployment of the Deathmarks.

Does the Storm Lord's lightning go away if he dies or is not on the board?

Answer: The rule says that if you include him in your army, the power goes off. So no. His unlife or death is immaterial.

Sweeping Advance vs Ever Living

Ever-living works even after a sweeping advance.

Royal Court

Royal Court members who are allocated to a unit become part of that force organization and are treated in every way as an upgrade character for the unit from then on. So long as they live, their unit is not considered destroyed even if they are the only one alive in it.. The ydo not revert back to being an HQ slot if that happens.

Grey Knight Rules

Crowes Sword and cleansing flame

Cleansing Flame does not benefit from his swords Rending ability. The sword is pretty clearly the thing doing the Rending.

What order are Necron Mindshackle scarabs vs. The Perfect Warrior ability of Grey Knights resolved?

Answer: The Grey Knight announces which stance he will take and then the Necron Mindshackle Scarabs take effect. Don't forget: Mindshackle scarabs affect a random model so the Brother Captain may or may not regret his caution!

How do you resolve multiple cleansing flames at the same time?

Answer: If multiple Cleansings occur, they occur at the same time. Ergo, if three cleansing flames went off on a ten man squad you would place 3 dice next to each soldier, and then roll for them for each figure. Saves as normal. The power works on individual models and not units.

Cleansing Flame vs. Hypnotic Gaze

Cleansing Flame is a melee attack (per the FAQ) that happens before blows are struck. Hypnotic gaze is not a blow AND is done before ANY attacks are done. Hypnotic Gaze would trump attacks of any kind. Ergo, Hypnotic gaze would happen before Cleansing Flame.

Are GK vehicles counted as psykers? (i.e. for culexus or other effects)

Answer: Yes. As it states in their rules, the vehicle is a Mastery Level 1 psyker that treats a Perils of the Warp attack as a Glancing hit.

If you mindstrike missle a squad of GK’s, do they all take 1 perils test collectively or does each model hit take a test?

The FAQ says that each Psyker underneath the template will be affected by Psi-shock. The special rule for GK says that the unit “counts as a single Psyker”. Therefore when hit with a Mindstrike Missile, as it is a unit, “a single Psyker” is hit. The rules on page 21 specify which model in the unit must take the Psi-shock, but it would be only one of them that takes it.

Vindicare Assassin penetration

It is 3+4D6, Rending. Obviously, when in the arc of the Eldar Energy Fields on Wave Serpents, it stops him from using any but 3+d6.