Rule clarification, Necrons, Exile Ray

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**Metal_days**

The rule reads:' If a shot from a weapon with the exile ray type hits, randomly select a model in the target unit. That model must immediatly pass a Strenght test or be removed as a casualty with no saves of any kind allowed. Models with no Strenght value automatically pass.'

How do I randomly choose a unit ? In another words - I can't just point to the HQ if he is a part of a unit, can I .

**pretre**

That wouldn't be random.

Choose a unit.

How many models are in it?

Roll a die to determine which model you choose.

Example:
12 models in the unit. Split them in half and 1d6 to choose a group. Then roll 1d6 and choose a model counting from the left.

11models in the unit. Split them in half and 1d6 to choose a group. Then roll 1d6 and choose a model counting from the left.

etc, so on.

edited for math fail.

**Zathras**

If there is 6 or less members of the squad, assign a number to each and roll a d6. If you get a number that's not assigned to a fig, roll again till you do. If you have more than 6 in the squad divide the squad in half and roll a d6...even numbers gets the first half, odd numbers get the second. Continue doing this till one group is 6 members or less.

**Anpu-adom**

pretre wrote:That wouldn't be random.

Choose a unit.

How many models are in it?

Roll a die to determine which model you choose.

Example:
12 models in the unit. Roll 2d6 to choose a model counting from the left.

11 models in the unit. Roll 2d6 to choose a model counting from the left, ignore 12's.

etc, so on.

Um... that wouldn't be exactly random either... being that 6, 7, and 8 will come up more than 1/2 of the time.

**Zathras**

pretre wrote:
Example:
12 models in the unit. Roll 2d6 to choose a model counting from the left.

Actually that wouldn't work because one model would be left out. You can't roll a 1 on 2d6. What you'd do in this case is make 2 groups of 6 and roll a d6...even numbers gets one group, odd numbers gets the other. Then roll a d6 and count from the left

pretre wrote:11 models in the unit. Roll 2d6 to choose a model counting from the left, ignore 12's.

You wouldn't have to ignore the 12 because you can only roll 11 numbers (2-12) on 2d6.

**pretre**

Yeah, yeah. I fail.

Edited for accuracy. At least mine was randomly bad.

**Anpu-adom**

pretre wrote:Yeah, yeah. I fail.

Edited for accuracy. At least mine was randomly bad.

No problem... we all have our bad days. Some of us (like me) more often than others.

**Hlaine Larkin mk2**

say there is a squad of 10 models use a D10 etc.

For numbers like 13,14 etc use a D20 and re-roll results which don't correspond to a valid model

**pretre**

Woah woah woah. We may be geeks, but we don't carry around non-D6s.

**Kevin949**

I...I do...

**pretre**

Kevin949 wrote:I...I do...

Wedgie time!

**Ghaz**

How you do it doesn't matter. You don't even necessarily need to use dice. As long as each model in the unit has the same chance to be affected then you're fine.

**Happyjew**

I forget who said, but I still think the best method (albeit the most expensive), is fly to England, and beat Ward over the head screaming "Why would you make a rule like this?" until he tells you which model is randomly selected. Or something like that.

**pretre**

/facepalm

Because asking someone to randomly determine something is far too much to ask, obviously.

**Lordhat**

pretre wrote:Woah woah woah. We may be geeks, but we don't carry around non-D6s.

I do. You're not geek enough to join the club.

**Happyjew**

Lordhat, your D12 cries itself to sleep.

**Lordhat**

Happyjew wrote:Lordhat, your D12 cries itself to sleep.

No it doesn't, it has at least 20 friends, plus a host of d4's d8's, d10's, and d20's. Not to mention a legion of d6's to sleep around with.

**Nemesor Dave**

You can't just roll 2D6 because some numbers have a higher probability than others. For instance there are only 1 facing combination that will roll a 2, 1 + 1. To roll a 7 there are many more combinations that will choose model number 7. 3 + 4, 2 + 5, 6 + 1, 4 + 3, etc. Your results are weighted.

Divide the models evenly into groups of 6 or less. Roll for each group to select 1 model from each group. Roll again for the 'winners' of that roll's final group to end up with 1 model.

If you are starting with an odd number of models in a unit of more than 6, call the fire department.

**-666-**

Who would have thought this would encourage some to buy non d6 dice?

**Randall Turner**

Nemesor Dave wrote:If you are starting with an odd number of models in a unit of more than 6, call the fire department.

LOL at people with no 20 sided dice.

J/k, do a candidate system if you need it to be exact and only have d6. Take all the models. Roll to see if they're a "candidate", assign some reasonable probability (say, 1 or 2 for 11, 1 if you're "feeling lucky"

, then select from the new pool. Every model has equal chance to promote to candidate. So 11 models -> 3-4 models -> roll normally.

Or grab one of your old Avalon Hill games, write 1-11 on the back of some Prep Fire counters, throw 'em in a cup and draw one. If this comes up a lot, break down and go buy some d20.

Or what the hell, grab the drunkest guy in the room and tell him, "pick one"! (hmm, that won't work, "oooh, shiny!" factor.)

**Lokas**

If you're feeling cheeky, you can grab a random bystander and point to the unit in question and tell them to pick a model, refusing to explain until they pick a model. It usually yields results that are comical if nothing else.

**nosferatu1001**

That would be "haphazard" selection, not random as required by the rules

(yes, im an auditor, so I know the difference between the two....)

**Kharrak**

Having a unit of 20 ork boyz fall prey to "random selection" is tricky.

20-sided dice may be the answer, though.

**copper.talos**

Both players should just assign numbers to the models and ask a guy nearby to choose a number from 1 to X.

**DevianID**

You can randomly generate any number with a single d6 with multiple rolls.

If you have a 7 man squad, roll a d2 on your d6. If you score a 1, roll the d6 again for models 1-6. If you score a 2 on the d2, roll the d6 for models 7-12, rerolling any result that does not have a model associated with it.

If you have up to 18 models, roll a d3 followed by a d6.

If you have up to 36 models, roll a d6 followed by a d6.

For example, to randomize an ork squad of 30 with a nob, 3 big shootas, and 26 regular boys, roll a d5 (ignore the 6 on the d6, rerolling until you get a non-6 result) and then roll a d6. In the case of that ork unit, I would have the first ork be the nob, and ork 2,3, and 4 be the big shootas. Thus, if you roll a 4 on your d5, you get a random ork no matter what you roll on the d6. However, if you roll a 1 on the d5, now you need to roll the d6 to see if the nob or big shootas get hit.

As a secondary note, does the exile ray work on dreadnaughts? They have a strenght score, but are not infantry.

**Kitzz**

DevianID, that doesn't work either, imho, depending on how many special weapons there are in the squad. If you place all the differently equipped models in one group, it can make the roll less random or more random.

For example, if I have a 13-man templar squad with 7 initiaties and 6 neophytes, and I group all the neophytes on one side of the d2 and all the initiaties on the other, I have one extra initiate left over. Meaning that I have a 2/3 chance of selecting an initiate using your method and a 1/3 chance of selecting an neophyte, even though initiates make up almost half the squad.

Oh, and the ray does indeed work on dreadnaughts.

**Happyjew**

Also, Devian if you have 7 models you have a 1 in 12 chance of getting model 1-6, however you would have a 1 in 2 chance of getting model 7. The best way is the simplest, right the models down on pieces of paper and draw from a hat. If you have a single die that matches the number of models in the unit (i.e. a D10 for a 10 man squad) or a multiple thereof (i.e. a D10 for a 5-man squad) you can just roll.

**Kitzz**

Or you could roll a d6 for each model in the squad and only select them on a roll of a 6. Then do it again over and over with all the winners until you have an overall winner. Of course, if you don't have a winner, you'd have to re-roll, but this is the fastest way to do it on a d6 imho.

**DevianID**

Kitz and happy Jew, both your comments are incorrect. With 7 models and a 1 in 12 chance, if you ignore 5 of the 12 results you get 1 in 7. Also, stacking all specials in one stack doesn't change the 1 in 7 chance.

**Happyjew**

DevianID wrote:You can randomly generate any number with a single d6 with multiple rolls.If you have a 7 man squad, roll a d2 on your d6. If you score a 1, roll the d6 again for models 1-6. If you score a 2 on the d2, roll the d6 for models 7-12, rerolling any result that does not have a model associated with it.

So I roll a D2 and get a 2 (models 7-12). I then roll a D6. If I get a 2+ I keep rolling until I get a 1 (as in a 7-man squad there is no model 8-12). This means that in a 7-man squad, Model #7 has a 50% chance of being the random model.