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So while play testing that crazy ard boys mission with constant nightfight me and my friend discovered an interesting situation.

The text on searchlights seem to read that when nightfighting is in effect, you MUST use the searchlight and thus are illuminated. Now if you can find some counter argument to this, answer me this. If it is indeed OPTIONAL then when must you declare your using a searchlight? Before or after you aquire the target? This was the original question we were trying to find but I seemed to have stumbled onto something very different.

I will try to post the exact wording of the searchlight but for now, it says " Once the vehicle has spotted a enermy unit, it WILL illuminate it thus making other units able to see it and likewise the model with the searchlight will be illuminated next turn.

Someone made the points "well that wouldnt work because every other tank that shoots at your target will illuminate itself needlessly as it supposed "HAS TO" use its searchlight, but that doest hold water as once the target is illuminated no nightfighting rules apply to it.

If you mean the ones in Codex: Space Marines, that seems valid.

It should be noted though that others may not have to. Daemonhunters, for example, do not have that wording. I only use that example as I was reading that codex when I read this post and had to go find Codex: Space Marines to find an example of the text you mentioned.

I play IG, which that rule is HUGE.

Even in normal dawn of war.

Seems the rules are pretty clear that you do not have a choice. There is no 'declaration' in the searchlight description and the illumination is automatic once a target is acquired.

Kinda silly, really, but there you go.

DoW

In response to people saying it doesn't make sense because then every other tank that fires would illuminate themselves as well, you are wrong. Because the target is illuminated you don't need to roll the check and since you don't roll the sight check you don't pass it and illuminate the target as well and therefore you also do not illuminate yourself. So it goes like this:

(All Tanks assumed to have search light in this example)
First tank rolls sight distance check and fails. Both the target and the tank are not illuminated and the tank doesn't fire this turn.
Second tank rolls its sight check and passes. Tank fires, fails to kill its target completely, and illuminates the target automatically with searchlight.
Third tank fires at the illuminated target of the second tank since it can see it and destroys the target. (Note no check needed therefore searchlight never happens)
Fourth tank rolls sight check on the next target.... and so on.

That way it makes probably sense to try and illuminate the target with either a throw-away vehicle or the toughest stuff you have...I just looked through C:SM to see which vehicles have search lights on them. It's interesting, everything with an AV has them - apart from land speeders. That way, you never run into the danger of them becoming the bright shiny target of the round when you shoot at things...good to know and maybe useful for every kind of landspeeder, be it typhoon or MM/HF.

Strimen wrote:In response to people saying it doesn't make sense because then every other tank that fires would illuminate themselves as well, you are wrong. Because the target is illuminated you don't need to roll the check and since you don't roll the sight check you don't pass it and illuminate the target as well and therefore you also do not illuminate yourself. So it goes like this:

(All Tanks assumed to have search light in this example)
First tank rolls sight distance check and fails. Both the target and the tank are not illuminated and the tank doesn't fire this turn.
Second tank rolls its sight check and passes. Tank fires, fails to kill its target completely, and illuminates the target automatically with searchlight.
Third tank fires at the illuminated target of the second tank since it can see it and destroys the target. (Note no check needed therefore searchlight never happens)
Fourth tank rolls sight check on the next target.... and so on.

Exactly, we see eye to eye on this.

Yep, but remember to check the relevant codex!

Some older ones include "may" in the Searchlight rules.

I have checked most of them, and there are some pretty strange variations in details.

See: Daemonhunters, Black Templars, and Blood Angels. In fact every codex that includes them - the new IG and Space Marine searchlights are the only ones that are consistent with each other, that I see so far.