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Noticed this last night - it says that the SM player secretly notes which pieces of terrain are booby-trapped after terrain is placed but before the game starts.

My question is - is this before or after you decide which deployment area you have?

Obviously if after, then you can just booby trap terrain in you opponents deployment zone and get some instant attacks, if before then you need to be careful not to booby trap terrain you might need to use.

The other thing is that you decide which piece(s) of terrain are booby trapped. Does this mean a single 10 point upgrade could booby trap every piece of terrain on the board?
Or is it limited to 1 upgrade booby-trapping 1 terrain piece per scout bike squad?
Or can you take the squad once and buy the upgrade multiple times in order to booby-trap multiple terrain pieces?


Go-Go-Gadget-GW-Clarity!!!!!

It clearly states in the description. At the beginning of the game, after terrain is placed. Your question is not about the unit, but the sequence of events before the game. Setting up terrain is before choosing a mission.

Its one piece of terrain per unit. This does not mean if you Combat Squad them you get 2, this is also covered in the description.

Yes - but you place terrain, then decide who deploys where, then start the game.

What I'm asking is where exactly in that order do you booby trap terrain - it makes a huge difference.

As to the second point, I'm not talking about combat squadding. The text states that you need to determin which piece(s) of terrain are booby-trapped (and uses that exact terminology with the 's' in brackets).

This implies that more than one piece of terrain can be booby trapped. I am asking under what, again exact circumstances you can do this.

No you don't. You place Terrain, Roll for Mission, Roll for Deployment, then begin the game.

That is in there for the Taking of MULTIPLE Scout Bike Squads. If that was not there, all the cluster mines would have to be placed on the same piece of terrain.

No, I get that you place terrain, roll for mission, roll for deployment, then begin the game. The point I'm making is that the rules do not specify at what point in that procedure do you plant the cluster mines and that is what I am asking.

All it says is that it is done after terrain is placed and before you start the game.

However, as you rightly point out, there are other steps that happen between those two events.

So where exactly do you decide which piece is booby-trapped?

I agree that you follow the rule so you have to write down the location after terrain is placed as no other time frame is specified.

The real question (that isn't answered by the rules) is what happens if a unit is deployed into that terrain. Does the booby trap go off? If so when?

When they move the first time? Or by the RAW does the unit have to move out of the terrain and back "into" it in order to trigger the trap?

This is one of several really, really poorly written rules I've seen in the codex so far.

Calvin, it's one piece of terrain per squad that purchased the cluster mines, it's quite clear about this, I quote "Each Scout Bike squad equipped with cluster mines can booby-trap one piece of area terrain before the game begins." Start of paragraph 2.

Normally when GW say an event happens After X it seems to mean immediately after, so I would assume that you place terrain, you agree on what it all is, etc, you get up to dicing for a mission, and just before that happens you note down the booby trapped terrain.

But I can't really support that with anything other than my own personal view.

OK - thanks for clearing that one up, drunkspleen!

So, are we saying then that you place terrain, then booby trap one piece of it and then decide what your mission and deployment zones are?

Surely this makes cluster mines useless as you might end up booby-trapping your own deployment zone, or a key objective you need to capture?

Yes, its a random item. Fluff wise your scouts set up these ambush points, not fully knowing where the actual battle will occur.

Oh well, thanks for that guys.




P.S.

Well done, GW.

You've given us another piece of wargear that no-one in their right mind will ever use...

Still worth having as might make your opponent think twice about going into the pieces of terrain...
Mick

I wonder if you have to booby trap a piece of terrain, or can I declare that my scout bikers have booby trapped terrain and then note down my chosen terrain as "nowhere"?

I think that would be novel cause every bit of terrain the enemy went through would make them more certain the next one will blow on them.

Chimera_Calvin wrote:
Well done, GW.

You've given us another piece of wargear that no-one in their right mind will ever use...

I think you're drastically over-reacting on this one. You know which terrain piece(s) you've booby trapped when placing objectives so you can avoid placing them in that terrain or alternatively PUT the objective in the terrain to trick your opponent into going into it first.

Or you can booby trap a piece of terrain that may be a prime spot to set up just knowing that if you get that deployment zone you'll have to avoid it.

Finally, just booby trapping *any* piece of terrain can be enough to freak your opponent out about moving into any terrain. That psychological effect is often more powerful than anything else. If you don't think so you've never played with a Lictor in your army. Watching your opponents disrupt their plans to account for a Lictor (even though on its own it really isn't that deadly) will quickly teach you the power of psychological warfare.

Drunkspleen wrote:I wonder if you have to booby trap a piece of terrain, or can I declare that my scout bikers have booby trapped terrain and then note down my chosen terrain as "nowhere"?

I think that would be novel cause every bit of terrain the enemy went through would make them more certain the next one will blow on them.

Looking at the rules, I don't think so. You only declare when you're actually booby trapping a terrain piece. If you don't actually booby trap terrain I don't think you'd be allowed to declare that you did so.

Sorry yak,

I just think its really dumb that not only do the scouts for the most elite blaa, blaa.... not know from which direction their troops will advance, or what they might need to capture when they get there, but also that should you booby trap a piece of terrain which ends up in your deployment zone, you can't deploy in it because the scouts won't disarm the traps for you!

What are they doing?
Standing around in the bike sheds?

I know thats fluff, not RAW but seriously, it all smacks of GW not thinking things through (again).

Why don't you just not pick the deployment zone that you've booby trapped?

Why not just decide the booby trap(s) during "Scout Moves" so that it resolves all the issues? It happens before Turn 1.

Homer

@Salviden - thats fine ONLY if you win the roll to pick deployment zone

@Homer S - that was the question I was asking but the opinion seems to be that RAW states you must booby trap terrain after deployment but before choosing mission or rolling for choice of deployment zone (and hence before the stage in setup you suggest)

@Homer S - that was the question I was asking but the opinion seems to be that RAW states you must booby trap terrain after deployment but before choosing mission or rolling for choice of deployment zone (and hence before the stage in setup you suggest)

Actually, RAW does no such thing. "RAW" didn't state it. Drunkenspleen did.
This does not make it RAW
(No offense intended, DS)

The ONLY requirement laid out is that you do it in that time period. Wait until right before deployment. You WILL be following RAW.

Eric

Each deployment type, pages 92-93, has a paragraph that begins with "Start the game!" I would think anytime before this point you are before the start of the game. It seems like GW has at least put a milestone in each scenario for the point of time called the start.

Homer