Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Found a thread on it but it's 6 months old, so not wanting to necro: Can you shoot under skimmers in 5th edition?

I ask because page 71 confuses me:
"Note that a skimmer must be set down on the table and left in place at the end of its move..."



So... you have to take if off the flying stand and "set [it] down" at the end of each movement phase? That can't be right.


Assuming that is wrong and you don't "set it down" but leave it on the base, is it just TLOS under the vehicle?

All LoS questions can be answered as such:

If the eyes of your model (Edit: or the barrel of a vehicle mounted weapon) can see the body of his model, you can shoot it.

Period.

End of story.

"Set down" does not mean "remove from base."

Later on the same page it explicitly tells you that skimmers cannot "land in battlefield conditions" so that you don't remove the base unless the skimmer is immobilized or wrecked.

willydstyle wrote:All LoS questions can be answered as such:

If the eyes of your model (Edit: or the barrel of a vehicle mounted weapon) can see the body of his model, you can shoot it.

Period.

End of story.

"Set down" does not mean "remove from base."

Later on the same page it explicitly tells you that skimmers cannot "land in battlefield conditions" so that you don't remove the base unless the skimmer is immobilized or wrecked.

QFT.

You have to check physically, there is no other way to tell.

DFK! wrote:So... you have to take if off the flying stand and "set [it] down" at the end of each movement phase? That can't be right.

No. You only remove the flight stand if the skimmer is immobilised or wrecked. 'Set it down' simply means 'put it on the table' as opposed to holding it 6" up in the air so that it has LOS over tall obstacles.

Assuming that is wrong and you don't "set it down" but leave it on the base, is it just TLOS under the vehicle?

If you can draw an unobstructed line from the shooter to the target's body, you have LOS.

insaniak wrote:If you can draw an unobstructed line from the shooter to the target's body, you have LOS.

And even if it is partially obstructed, you get LOS but they get a 4+ Cover Save

A line can't be partially obstructed. It doesn't have any thickness.


You get a cover save if the target is partially obscured.

Ah the joys and woes of eldar and tau tanks..

Thanks all.

I was pretty sure I had it right, but wanted to get some other opinions on the matter.

Also shooting "through" a Valkyrie flyer base provides a cover save from shooting through intervening units correct?

Red_Lives wrote:Also shooting "through" a Valkyrie flyer base provides a cover save from shooting through intervening units correct?

Only if the skimmer is either:

A. Part of a unit of skimmers -

BGB p.22 wrote:...through the gaps between models in an intervening unit...

or

B. The target is partially obscured by the skimmer's hull (likely) -

BGB p.21 wrote:...partially hidden from the firer’s view by other models...

Because, except for where you've agreed to use the modifications in the new FAQ:

BGB p.71 wrote:The skimmer’s base is effectively ignored...

In the same way that firing from one building to another over the top of a rhino 5" below does not provide cover, shooting underneath a lone Valk doesn't either.

Even if the valkyrie is part of a unit of skimmers, you aren't shooting through the unit, you're shooting under it. Just because there are multiple skimmers does not mean that the base for each skimmer is not ignored just as much.

willydstyle wrote:Even if the valkyrie is part of a unit of skimmers, you aren't shooting through the unit, you're shooting under it. Just because there are multiple skimmers does not mean that the base for each skimmer is not ignored just as much.

Good clarification - I should have added "and your LOS is traced between models" to my point A.

Why do you think GW put the sentence about setting skimmers down in the book at all?
Were there some poor fools out there holding there skimmers up throughout the entire game?

DruidODurham wrote:Why do you think GW put the sentence about setting skimmers down in the book at all?
Were there some poor fools out there holding there skimmers up throughout the entire game?

No, but do you think there would be if GW had not said it?

DruidODurham wrote:Why do you think GW put the sentence about setting skimmers down in the book at all?
Were there some poor fools out there holding there skimmers up throughout the entire game?

I doubt there would be anyone physically holding their skimmers up.

But it clarifies that the skimmer can't end its move hovering a foot above the table. It has to be placed on the table at the end of its movement, so its height after moving, despite any (fluff-wise) ability to fly at varying heights, is the model +flight stem's actual height.