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Quick question, title says it all.


Say within combat,
There are 5 units being assaulted, and 15 wounds are scored against them.
Within the 5 units, 4 are identical and 1 is different (sergeant or equivalent).
Out of the 15 wounds 12 are normal wounds and 3 are power weapons.

Can the one sergeant soak up all 3 power weapon wounds? Or do they have to be spread out evenly.





Slightly different scenario.
5 man unit being assaulted, 15 wounds scored.
All 5 guys are identical. 3 wounds are power weapons.
Can one guy soak up all 3 power weapon wounds? Or do you take the unsaved wounds first, then allocate the remaining 12 normal saves?





Thanks everyone!

First off, a unit is composed of models. So in a Space Marine tactical squad, the 5 marines comprise a unit but each marine is a model.

Ok so I'm going to assume you mean models in place of units. The rules state that allocating hits requires you to grant each model a wound before you can allocate more than 1 and no other requirement.

So yes, you can allocate all 3 power weapon wounds to him as long as the other members all have at least 2 wounds each allocated to them.

Destroyer wrote:So yes, you can allocate all 3 power weapon wounds to him as long as the other members all have at least 2 wounds each allocated to them.

It's a classic damage control tactic.

As above where we assume you meant models for unit.

So a 5 man unit takes 15 wounds.

First off, wound allocation only cares how *many* wounds you have, it does NOT care what *type* of wound each is.

So you allocate wounds equally, so 3 to each model.

The next step is that you group together all "like" models into one group, gathering all allocated wounds at the same time. So in your first example you have two groups - one Sarge, one "bolter guys"

You then take saves, and remove models, from *within* each group. So if you put all 3 power weapon wounds on Sarge, Sarge dies - but unsaved wounds cannot spread outside the group, so ONLY sarge dies. So you are correct in your first scenario. If you look at wound allocation, whcih is the same in shooting as in close combat, you will see an example where they stack an AP2 wound onto one model to mitigate damage to the unit.

For your final example, hopefully you can see this is NOT what happens - you have made the common mistake of NOT grouping wounds and mdoels into groups of like models. You have 1 wounds group, meaning the 3 power weapon wounds WILL kill 3 models.

Example 1:

You put one PW wound on the sarge and then one normal on each guy.
You put a second PW wound on the sarge and then one normal on each guy.
You put a third PW wound on the sarge and then one normal on each guy.

Then you take all the sarge's wounds and try to save if possible (not in this case). Then you take all the identical guys' saves and roll them all together, taking away one guy for each fail regardless of who it was allocated to.

In fact, you only needed eight normal wounds to be able to put all three PW wounds on the sarge.

Example 2.

You distribute the wounds as before but this time they're all identical. So, you pool all of the wounds and try and save. Three PW wounds fail so three guys die. Then you remove another guy for each failed armour save.


You distribute wounds to individuals in the same way regardless of them being identical or not. The crucial point is that all the models that are identical then have their wounds pooled together.

Example1 - two guys that are different. Two wounds on each. One fails both, one passes both. Only the guy that got the fails dies.
Example2 - two guys the same get two wounds each. You roll them together and there are two fails. You take both guys away.

The above posters all have it correct; but i am going to pick on Scott's post because it is the most in depth, and had 1 thing slightly amiss.

In your second example, you do not even bother allocating the wounds to the models; that is only a step for complex units. For simple units you just pick up the dice for armor saves and start rolling as soon as your opponent scored wounds. Removing casualties is the last step(unless morale/pinning tests are required) so just remember if you have any unsaveable wounds, as they would also be removed.

This is true - for a unit where every model is identical there is no need to allocate. I expressed it that way because the OP had specifically asked about grouping PW wounds on one model where they were identical.

DakkaDakka wrote:

Che-Vito wrote:Unless you're fighting Bloodletters... [hint: all Power Weapons for the win!]

Good thing i get a trun of shooting on them then

If you have a unit of 5 scouts for example 1 ML and 4 Snipers and they take 5 wounds with saves and you allocate each guy takes a wound. Do you have to take the ML save separately or can you do all at once since they have the same base statistics and only differ because of wargear? Hence keeping your ML guy alive til the last possible wound.

No, you may not. You HAVE to split the wounds allocated into separate, identically armed models. DIfferent wargear is being differently armed.

No, usually dosn't work that way unless you are real lucky.

You usually will have 3 snipers, a sergeant with a sniper, and a scout with a ML.

If the 5 models take 5 wounds then one save must allocated to the ML. That save is taken seperatly.

Thanks for the clear up.