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Actually, Nos, it's more of a "Wow, GW effed that up, too, but only a real douche would actually do it" argument.

I just had a unit end up in a conga line for the first time two days ago (I haven't been playing fantasy very long yet) and now I see what all the fuss is about with this rule.

I'm starting skaven, and I'll be playing it as rank bonuses, because otherwise it's just crazy imho.

Hopefully the FAQ will come out soon and address all of the poorly worded items like this in the army book!

One thing to say - dont play it as *actual* rank bonus available at the time, play it as "rank bonus they would get if this unit was not in combat" - otherwise you end up denying them the extra hits if they have been flanked.

This is almost certainly the reason why GW used "ranks" not "rank bonus", as the intent seems to be to make you take larger numbers of slaves, not just 20.

I had this exact situation come up in a friendly game this past Saturday. A unit of my Slaves exploded after losing combat to my friends Hammerers and he asked me, "So D3 + ranks S3 hits, as in full ranks or just ranks?" I cocked an eyebrow and couldn't answer. I always assumed it was full ranks but the Cornered Rat rules simply mention ranks. We played it as ranks (full or not) but it didn't feel right... especially when the exploding slaves robbed my nearby Doomwheel of its last wound! Given a Slave unit's cheap cost and Vetock's numerous fumblings in the Skaven book I get the feeling he meant full ranks. Since the Cornered Rat S3 hits are automatic it seems silly (and unfair) to grant such an inexpensive unit that kind of killing power post-mortem.

Then again... maybe this is Vetock's way of letting the abused and downtrodden get their revenge on a cruel world...