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Say that you have an IG basilisk (the basic basilisk, or any similar vehicle with an un-rotatable turret) in the center of the board (don't ask why it is there, just run with me on this one). It is facing north. I have a squad in the south-western corner of the board. Is it allowed to shoot at my squad with its main cannon? Since the main cannon can't rotate. My friend tried arguing today that it could, and wouldn't drop the issue, so I had to end up giving in, even though it makes absolutely no sense.

Thanks in advance

If the gun is not "turret" mounted, it has by default a 45 degree los (left / right and up / down)

However the basilisk could have pivoted in the movement phase in order to spot you, without counting as having moved.

The codex just says "Earthshaker cannon". I don't have it on me atm, but I don't recall there being any references to how it is mounted.

And assuming that it didn't/doesn't pivot in the movement phase.

Reference the vehicle. Its clearly hull mounted and not a turret. So he gets a 45 from it eh?

As opposed to say a manticore missile tank gun which is on a turret and so has a 360.

P.S. Tell your friend that basilisks are only allowed to be hidden in the corner like little girls =)

Yeah, it's funny how they define weapon mountings, but then say to just use however they are modeled. :(

If it is firing indirectly does it even need to face the correct direction?

Lorne wrote:If it is firing indirectly does it even need to face the correct direction?

No, as it does not need Line of Sight at all.

Facing or no facing it doesn't really matter for a Basilisk. It's a Barrage gun so all it needs to do it declare it's firing indirectly and it can shoot anywhere outside 3' it just loses it's minus BS on scattering.

The big thing is, if he is in the middle of the board it seems rather unlikely that your at least 3 feet away from the gun unless it was at deployment or something.

BlueDagger wrote:Facing or no facing it doesn't really matter for a Basilisk. It's a Barrage gun so all it needs to do it declare it's firing indirectly and it can shoot anywhere outside 3' it just loses it's minus BS on scattering.

The big thing is, if he is in the middle of the board it seems rather unlikely that your at least 3 feet away from the gun unless it was at deployment or something.

Just to nitpick, if it has LoS, it can fire it as Barrage AND benefit from both Barrage and Ballistic Skill.

I would say that the tank itself would need to have your troops in its 45 degree arc, as per the hull mounting rules, but in a friendly game, I would certainly allow an ad-hoc rotation at the beginning of the shooting phase since he didn't realize the rules were what they were.

MekanobSamael wrote:I would say that the tank itself would need to have your troops in its 45 degree arc, as per the hull mounting rules, but in a friendly game, I would certainly allow an ad-hoc rotation at the beginning of the shooting phase since he didn't realize the rules were what they were.

Sorry, not exactly sure why this is on here three times.

Actually thems not the rules, Barrage doesn't require LoS and nothing states that it must be facing the arc in order to fire.

So it seems to be:
Indirectly - 360° firing arc w/36' minimum range
Directly - 45° firing arc

Thanks for the clarification.

And the reason it was in the middle in this case was because we were playing a planet strike game, and he had the basilisk in the middle of his base in the middle of the board.

Unless you were on an extremely large board, there is almost no way a Basilisk can fire indirect if it's in the center of the board.

Bavis wrote:So it seems to be:
Indirectly - 360° firing arc w/36' minimum range
Directly - 45° firing arc

Thanks for the clarification.

And the reason it was in the middle in this case was because we were playing a planet strike game, and he had the basilisk in the middle of his base in the middle of the board.

In that case he needs to rotate it in the movement phase at it's intended target and think really hard about what order his units will fire.

Basilisks really want to be in a corner.

I see some white in the corners, just like the OP was describing.

As for the swiveling, while RAW he must do it in the movement phase, before he decides to shoot it at you, many people play RaI where it says that you shouldn't worry about which direction you are facing in the movement, they simply swivel in the shooting phase as if it had been done in the movement phase. There ARE minor differences, but RaI makes games run smoother and easier while RaW requires more strategy and preplanning in this case

ihatehumans wrote: There ARE minor differences, but RaI makes games run smoother and easier while RaW requires more strategy and preplanning in this case

And who would want strategy and ahead planning in a strategy tabletop game

Let's just stick with a bassie is a bad choice as defender on planetstrike.

MasterSlowPoke wrote:Unless you were on an extremely large board, there is almost no way a Basilisk can fire indirect if it's in the center of the board.

I'm pretty sure he was using that as an easy example that everyone could relate to and picture easily. I'm guessing the Tank must have been facing forward in a corner down the board and wanted to shoot at a unit flanking it or some such.

So it seems to be:
Indirectly - 360° firing arc w/36' minimum range
Directly - 45° firing arc

Thanks for the clarification.

And the reason it was in the middle in this case was because we were playing a planet strike game, and he had the basilisk in the middle of his base in the middle of the board.

This is a great thread, but just for clarification Ordnance Barrage weapons can fire 2 ways.

Directly:
*(treated as Ordnance Weapon)
*May ignore minimum range of weapon
*45° firing arc

Ordnance Barrage:
*must follow minimum range rules for weapon
*may subtract BS from scatter roll if has LOS to model being fired upon
*Non-vehicle unit(s) that are hit must immediately take a leadership test at a -1 modifier if it suffers an unsaved wound
*Cover saves come from center of blast, not direction of Ordnance Weapon

Eitherway:
*May roll 2D6 and choose highest die for armour penetration
*May not fire any other weapon