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Still on my quest for truth, justice and squigburgers, and was wondering about the rule "Kill them All', page 23 of the Black Templars codex.

as written in codex,

Black Templars are so zealous in their persecution of the enemies of the Emperor that they will often try to kill the nearest enemy to them, even when shooting at a more distant enemy might be more tactically sound. If a Black Templar Infantry, Jump Infantry or Bike unit shoots in the shooting phase, it suffers a -1 modifier to its leadership when testing to see if it can target any enemy unit other than the closest. Vehicles are unaffected by this rule and follow the normal rules for target priority in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

Ok, a bit tedious and definitely outdated, but luckily it was updated in the FAQ

as written in FAQ

Q. Does the 'Kill them All!' rule mean I that I have to test not to fire at the closest enemy?
A. Yes, that rule still works perfectly as written, meaning that Black Templar infantry, jump infantry and bikes must test (with a -1 Ld modifier!) in order not to shoot at the closest target.

My Question is what happens when they fail that leadership test? Do they shoot at the closest visible enemy target? Do they not get to shoot? What happens is the part I need help with.

So Dakkaites, What happens?
















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Lokiami wrote:Still on my quest for truth, justice and squigburgers, and was wondering about the rule "Kill them All', page 23 of the Black Templars codex.

as written in codex,

Black Templars are so zealous in their persecution of the enemies of the Emperor that they will often try to kill the nearest enemy to them, even when shooting at a more distant enemy might be more tactically sound. If a Black Templar Infantry, Jump Infantry or Bike unit shoots in the shooting phase, it suffers a -1 modifier to its leadership when testing to see if it can target any enemy unit other than the closest. Vehicles are unaffected by this rule and follow the normal rules for target priority in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

Ok, a bit tedious and definitely outdated, but luckily it was updated in the FAQ

as written in FAQ

Q. Does the 'Kill them All!' rule mean I that I have to test not to fire at the closest enemy?
A. Yes, that rule still works perfectly as written, meaning that Black Templar infantry, jump infantry and bikes must test (with a -1 Ld modifier!) in order not to shoot at the closest target.

My Question is what happens when they fail that leadership test? Do they shoot at the closest visible enemy target? Do they not get to shoot? What happens is the part I need help with.

So Dakkaites, What happens?

There is your answer in bold.

Steelmage99 wrote:

Lokiami wrote:Still on my quest for truth, justice and squigburgers, and was wondering about the rule "Kill them All', page 23 of the Black Templars codex.

as written in codex,

Black Templars are so zealous in their persecution of the enemies of the Emperor that they will often try to kill the nearest enemy to them, even when shooting at a more distant enemy might be more tactically sound. If a Black Templar Infantry, Jump Infantry or Bike unit shoots in the shooting phase, it suffers a -1 modifier to its leadership when testing to see if it can target any enemy unit other than the closest. Vehicles are unaffected by this rule and follow the normal rules for target priority in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

Ok, a bit tedious and definitely outdated, but luckily it was updated in the FAQ

as written in FAQ

Q. Does the 'Kill them All!' rule mean I that I have to test not to fire at the closest enemy?
A. Yes, that rule still works perfectly as written, meaning that Black Templar infantry, jump infantry and bikes must test (with a -1 Ld modifier!) in order not to shoot at the closest target.

My Question is what happens when they fail that leadership test? Do they shoot at the closest visible enemy target? Do they not get to shoot? What happens is the part I need help with.

So Dakkaites, What happens?

There is your answer in bold.

That does not answer what happens if they fail the test. That tells in what condition they must take the test. This is basically the old Target Priority tests, which I don't remember if you were allowed to target another unit if you fail. There is normally another sentence that will say "if this test is failed, they may not shoot" such as if it was out of range, or "if the test is failed, they may target the nearest enemy unit".

Thank you to Lokiami for posting the question for me!

Turn the sentence around.

"In order to not shoot at the closest target, you must take a Leadership test at -1".

PS. As english isn't my primary language, I don't know if turning the sentence around to extract the meaning is allowed.

Well just following the basic rules for shooting, at this point, I'd have to say you would not get to re-target the closest enemy. In other words your shooting for that unit is wasted as you failed your LD test. I view it the same as if you chose to target a unit and then find that the unit was out of range for your weapons. You lose the shots.

I took it the complete opposite. In 4th, with Target Priority, if you wanted to shoot at a further target, you tested. If you passed, you could fire at the further target. If you failed, you shot at the closest, you didn't lose your shooting.

I think this clearly says the same thing. If the templars fail the Ld test at -1, they must shoot at the closest target (rather than shooting the one they want).

Lokiami wrote:If a...unit shoots in the shooting phase, it suffers a -1 modifier to its leadership when testing to see if it can target any enemy unit

Q: Do we test to see if we can target an enemy unit when shooting?

A: No, we don't. Priority tests were dumped in 5e.

This is a pure 4e issue that is no longer relevant in 5th. You can throw it out on its ear because you no longer take target priority tests. So what is the consequence of this special rule? You suffer a -1 leadership modifier to a test that you no longer take.

Except the FAQ say that you still must test.

Long time lurker.

Black Templars are so zealous in their persecution of the enemies of the Emperor that they will often try to kill the nearest enemy to them, even when shooting at a more distant enemy might be more tactically sound. If a Black Templar Infantry, Jump Infantry or Bike unit shoots in the shooting phase, it suffers a -1 modifier to its leadership when testing to see if it can target any enemy unit other than the closest. Vehicles are unaffected by this rule and follow the normal rules for target priority in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook.

Text in italics is not used anymore, since the entire sentence refers to target priority which doesn't exist.

Text in bold makes it clear. You must test first to see if you can target a unit other than the closest. If you pass, you can; if you fail, you can't. It would seem we don't have to make the test, since the words "when testing to see ..." implies you make a target priority test; however the FAQ revises the rule to:

Q. Does the 'Kill them All!' rule mean I that I have to test not to fire at the closest enemy?
A. Yes, that rule still works perfectly as written, meaning that Black Templar infantry, jump infantry and bikes must test (with a -1 Ld modifier!) in order not to shoot at the closest target.

So the test still happens. Luckily for Black Templars this test happens before you actually target a unit. Just announce "I am testing to not fire at the closest unit," roll, and if you succeed: "I am firing at X" (if you fail: "I am firing at the closest unit").

The Black Templars must test to fire as per codex.