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.

We had a new player start up Orks, and for the better part of a year his Zzapp gun was hitting automatically because in the AoBR mini rulebook next to the weapon profile there is an asterix saying: "the Zzapp gun hits automatically". However, we can't find any mention of this in the codex. No biggie, but it still got us wondering how that line appeared in the rulebook. Left over from an older codex, or?

I'd trust the Codex more. The small rulebook has some laughable typos. For example the whole Dark Eldar weaponry was spaced wrong, so the Dark Lance looked like it was strength 36. According to it the Falcon/Wave Serpent has a front armour of 2.

I have just looked up the Codex: Orks FAQ on the Games Workshop website and it says:

Q. Is the roll for a Zzap Gun’s Strength made before or after the target unit is chosen?

A. The roll is made after choosing a target unit, but before rolling to hit.

So it seems to suggest that you do have to roll to hit....shame!

Oh, must have phrased the first post wrongly. We are absolutely sure that the Zzapp gun doesn't auto hit. There is no mention of it anywhere what so ever in the codex. My question is: how on earth did that line appear in the rulebook?

I mean... Its not a spacing or comma error. Someone actively took a choice and said "lets include a false note regarding the Zzapp gun, them orkzes are gunna love it".

So we where just wondering if anyone who might have played Orks longer knew if it was a leftover from a previous edition or some such...

I had a quick search around and on other sites people seem to think the error is because the Orks codex is 4th edition and the rule book is now the 5th...so it seems that it has been leftover like you said
I have always rolled to hit as usual.

ClaireBear wrote:I had a quick search around and on other sites people seem to think the error is because the Orks codex is 4th edition and the rule book is now the 5th...so it seems that it has been leftover like you said
I have always rolled to hit as usual.

...and why would the Ork 'dex being 4th edition have anything to do with what's written in the 5th ed rulebook?

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

ClaireBear wrote:I had a quick search around and on other sites people seem to think the error is because the Orks codex is 4th edition and the rule book is now the 5th...so it seems that it has been leftover like you said
I have always rolled to hit as usual.

...and why would the Ork 'dex being 4th edition have anything to do with what's written in the 5th ed rulebook?

Sorry, I was just copying what others have suggested whilst I read more about it.

AlmightyWalrus wrote:
...and why would the Ork 'dex being 4th edition have anything to do with what's written in the 5th ed rulebook?

This man has a valid point. A lot of codex are 4th while the rulebook is 5th, and besides. Why only the Zzapp gun then?

Our guess is that perhaps in 3rd edition the Zzapp gun hit automatically, and therefore the 4th edition rulebook had this note. And then they simply copy pasted the 4th edition quick reference into the 5th edition rulebook. We don't own the 4th edition rulebook however, so it's just speculation...

Someone at GW screwed up. News at 11.

Yeah, it hit automatically in the 3rd ed codex.

Gorlack wrote:

AlmightyWalrus wrote:
...and why would the Ork 'dex being 4th edition have anything to do with what's written in the 5th ed rulebook?

This man has a valid point. A lot of codex are 4th while the rulebook is 5th, and besides. Why only the Zzapp gun then?

Our guess is that perhaps in 3rd edition the Zzapp gun hit automatically, and therefore the 4th edition rulebook had this note. And then they simply copy pasted the 4th edition quick reference into the 5th edition rulebook. We don't own the 4th edition rulebook however, so it's just speculation...

This guess is probably accurate, yeah. One of the reasons Zzap guns are rarer these days is because they lost auto-hitting.