JotWW - How thick is the line?

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.

**Gwar!**

Kaaihn wrote:
Orkeosaurus wrote:Okay, updated picture:

Thats clearly a polar bear with it's eyes closed in the snow.

Polar bears have black noses

**Kaaihn**

Everyone knows that polar bears poke their noses in a snowbank if you point a camera at them!

**Drunkspleen**

horsa wrote:This is one rule where I wonder if the author was smoking something when he wrote it.

The basic fluff is a chasm opens and in fall units touched by this line, if they fail their initiative test. As it stands, it seems fairly simple. The procedure is that a line is drawn along the board and may pass through terrain. Any model touched by the line is attacked. That also seems simple, you simply place a 24 inch line from the Priest in the direction the owning player wishes.

Problem:
Does anyone use hills or buildings with more than a ground floor? If the Rune Priest is at base level then the line will go underneath a unit on a hill, since the line is traced along the board! If the Rune Priest is on a hill, what is the method of tracing a line along the board since he is above it.

My thinking from the fluff part is the rule was meant to generate a plane perpendicular to the board and all terrain along this line would open up, thus effecting all models on the line, even ones on hills or upper floors. However, the rule as written has a simple line, so if one plays to the way it is written, just play with hills or multi-level buildings it seems to me to negate the effect!

This issue is hardly new, it pops up constantly in the rules, and relies on a definition of the board which is never really provided. For example when Deep Striking you "First place one model from the unit anywhere on the table" which similarly suggests it can't be on a terrain feature like a gently sloping hill, even though such a terrain feature is not even difficult terrain generally.

I'm sure there are a number of other examples too. I'm not saying it means the rule isn't poorly written, it still isn't very good. But it's consistent with other rules and you will have to resolve it the same way.

**Iron Priest**

Gwar! wrote:
Kaaihn wrote:
Orkeosaurus wrote:Okay, updated picture:

Thats clearly a polar bear with it's eyes closed in the snow.
Polar bears have black noses

You and your RaW...

**jab4962**

OR, you could ignore Euclidean geometry and geodesically mold a line onto a really, really shallow and wide cone. Therefore, you have a straight line that bends.

**chromedog**

Gwar! wrote:
Thats clearly a polar bear with it's eyes closed in the snow.

Polar bears have black noses

**Ridcully**

Seals aren't afraid of lines, which is probably what the polar bear was going for.

**Cheex**

Darknite wrote:Don't they teach geometry anymore?

It was a brain fart. Welcome to my life.

And yes, while they do teach geometry (well, they did when I was still in school...), those memories remain largely repressed. I was always more of a humanities student...

**skkipper**

since it is a line

if you have a guy on ground @6", guy on hill @ 12", guy on ground @18".

you couldn't hit all three as this would cease to be a line and be a plane.

**Kilkrazy**

The rule is poorly written and doesn't take account of 3D terrain.

In other 40K news from GW, there are some exciting Space Marien codexes in the pipeline.

**Gwar!**

skkipper wrote:
since it is a line

if you have a guy on ground @6", guy on hill @ 12", guy on ground @18".

you couldn't hit all three as this would cease to be a line and be a plane.

A plane implies 2 dimensions. A Line has only 1 dimension, length.

**Kaaihn**

Ridcully wrote:Seals aren't afraid of lines, which is probably what the polar bear was going for.

So a Polar bear drops his car off at the garage for repair, and leaves to get some dinner. When he comes back, the mechanic says "looks like you blew a seal".

The polar bear stammers "No, I was just eating ice cream!"

**Spellbound**

I'd say, just because, that the line goes "over" hills and through trees and stuff.

For buildings, it makes sense to me that it only affects one level of the building - the bottom one.

**Stygian Mole**

I 2nd it (nowhere for chariots and such to run

)

**Orkeosaurus**

Gwar! wrote:
skkipper wrote:
since it is a line

if you have a guy on ground @6", guy on hill @ 12", guy on ground @18".

you couldn't hit all three as this would cease to be a line and be a plane.
A plane implies 2 dimensions. A Line has only 1 dimension, length.

It looks like that's what he's saying.

**Saldiven**

Kaaihn wrote:
Ridcully wrote:Seals aren't afraid of lines, which is probably what the polar bear was going for.

So a Polar bear drops his car off at the garage for repair, and leaves to get some dinner. When he comes back, the mechanic says "looks like you blew a seal".

The polar bear stammers "No, I was just eating ice cream!"

I love that joke.

**Harkainos**

jgemrich wrote:
Harkainos wrote:I think angled and curved are 2 different things.... The line may not be curved.

I would think curved and bent are synonymous

A line defined by Euclidean Geometry is a 'Straight curve' of negligible width and heighth and infinate length. A line segement as a beginning and end.

are we allowed to be using dictionaries again?

Ridcully wrote:Seals aren't afraid of lines, which is probably what the polar bear was going for.

I seriously LOL'd at this... I'm at work... it is now awkward

**Lord-Loss**

Witzkatz wrote:Agreed.

Mathematically speaking, a line with any kind of "thickness" value would no longer be a line. It would become a very, very slender rectangle. Therefore, as Gwar! said, it would probably be appropiate to use a fine piece of string or hair.

On a side note: Where did you get the idea that the line would be as broad as the priest's base? That would easily double the number of models you can get under the line, increasing the power of this power by 100%. Confess, that is what you wanted.

You mean increase the power By 'Over 9000!'

**Hollismason**

It's very poorly written and will be the first thing in the faq.

**Gwar!**

Hollismason wrote:It's very poorly written and will be the first thing in the faq.

Actually it is the 48th in v1.4