Some Doomwheel confusion

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**streamdragon**

So... the Doomwheel. I'm a little confused by some of their rulings, so I'll just put it all up here for opinions:

Doomwheel Pg. 66/67
Zzzzap!: In each friendly shooting phase, even when engaged in close combat or when fleeing, the Doomwheel unleashes three bolts of warp lightning. Sometimes this is not desirable and so the Warlock Engineer may choose to take a leadership test in an attempt to stop the Doomwheel from firing. If the test is failed, the machine fires as normal.

Each warp lightning bolt has an 18" range and will strike the nearest unit (friend or foe), regardless of terrain or line of sight. Roll for each bolt separately, measuring from the Doomwheel's base. If the closest unit dies from the first bolt, the second bolt hits the next closest unit in range, and so on. If two targets are equidistant, the owning player may choose which unit is struck. The Zzzzap bolts are Warpstone Weapons.

To work out how powerful the warp lightning is, roll an artillery dice. If you roll a number (2,4,6,8,10) then that is the Strength of all the bolts for this turn. Each unsaved wound is multiplied into d6 wounds. If you roll a misfire result something has gone awry. No more shots are fired this turn and you must roll immediately on the Doomwheel Misfire chart.

Seems nice and clear cut, but questions came up in my last game. First off, does it have to roll to hit? We decided that yes it does (Doomwheel crew is BS3). What's confusing me is an entry in the Skaven Errata/FAQ:

Pg 6.
Q:Must a Doomwheel roll to hit with each "Zzzzap!" bolt? can it stand and shoot? (p66)
A:No to both questions.

So the no stand and shoot is perfectly clear, and I never really thought it could. But the first part of that entry is sort of confusing me. Does he auto-hit? That doesn't seem right for some reason. Does it mean if I fail my Ld test, I only have to fire one bolt? That doesn't seem right either.

Thoughts?

**ShivanAngel**

The shots automatically hit the closes thing within 18 inches (friend or foe). So no you dont have to roll to hit.

If you fail the ld test to restrain the shooting then it fires 3 bolts at the closest target.

**streamdragon**

What's the point of "Roll for each bolt separately, measuring from the Doomwheel's base." in the Zzzzap! rule for then? That's part of what's confusing me. Roll what for each bolt?

**ShivanAngel**

Roll to wound.

**blak43**

Yes it auto hits like any sort of lightning does, warplightning chain lightning, etc...

And the roll for each bolt seperately is for the purpose of the "If the closest unit dies from the first bolt, the second bolt hits the next closest unit in range, and so on." so that you don't roll all your lightning into one enemy skirmish unit to save your own unit that's the next closest, or waste all your bolts into one little unit.

**Father Gabe**

"To work out how powerful the warp lightning is, roll an artillery dice. If you roll a number (2,4,6,8,10) then that is the Strength of all the bolts for this turn. Each unsaved wound is multiplied into d6 wounds. If you roll a misfire result something has gone awry. No more shots are fired this turn and you must roll immediately on the Doomwheel Misfire chart."

I understand all that. What I am not understanding is, does the bolt just affect one target in the unit? Like a block of twenty knights get hit with three bolts at strength 6, each causing a wound. Rolling for multiplyer I cause 3 each. Does that mean the unit takes 9 wounds total or 3? Does the bolt work as a bolt thrower, does it have a template?

I apologize for reigniting this thread and the lack of understanding.

**ShivanAngel**

It hits one model in the unit of knights, your roll 5 wounds, The model takes 5 wounds, it only has one wound so 4 of those are wasted

**HoverBoy**

But if the unit was made of multiwound models then you'd get some use out of it.

**Father Gabe**

Hmmm okay. I had a feeling it was that way but needed some clarification. Guess i will give it a try. Thanks for the assist.

**nosferatu1001**

Multiwounds here work exactly the same way as they always do: you can only do as many wounds as the model has, and it is after saves.

Remember you also work out each hit individually - so if you roll 3 shots and the unit only has two models left, which you kill, the third shot will hit another unit