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So going to take an Orbital Strike Relay tomorrow and wanted everyones opinion about wether you need LOS to fire it or not. The entry in the GK Codex makes it seem like they intended for it to have the Barrage special rule but it doesnt as far as i can tell. So what does everyone else think?

LOS is absolutely needed, also the OSR will hit on whatever facing the bearer model is on.

Drake118 wrote:So going to take an Orbital Strike Relay tomorrow and wanted everyones opinion about wether you need LOS to fire it or not. The entry in the GK Codex makes it seem like they intended for it to have the Barrage special rule but it doesnt as far as i can tell. So what does everyone else think?

What makes you think that it's supposed to be Barrage? It's not barrage. End of story.

Scott-S6 wrote:

Drake118 wrote:So going to take an Orbital Strike Relay tomorrow and wanted everyones opinion about wether you need LOS to fire it or not. The entry in the GK Codex makes it seem like they intended for it to have the Barrage special rule but it doesnt as far as i can tell. So what does everyone else think?

What makes you think that it's supposed to be Barrage? It's not barrage. End of story.

The odd situation where shots from orbit do not hit the tops of vehicles, and somehow gets a cover save because the guy calling the strike has a small shrubbery between him and the target.

It should function like Barrage, fluff-wise, but rules-wise that relay is just a huge gun

Thank you Komissar Kel. I wasn't saying i thought it was barrage. I was saying that the way they wrote it it seems like it should be. I also said that it doesnt have the barrage special rule, so i oviously knew it wasnt a barrage weapo. Just wanted other peoples views on it. Probably should have put the topic in General.

IMO they should have written with as it is, but having the blast resolved as barrage.

It makes sense that the firer needs to know what he is shooting at. He has to give exact coordinates to the vessel in orbit. However, it should resolve cover/armor facing as though it were barrage.

But unless they errata it, you know how to handle it.

why does everyone always assume orbit only exists from straight up? Has no one ever heard of an azimuth?

Your scenario:
ship
|
O

an equally likely scenario:

O___Ship

sede how it can fire a glancing shot off the bottom of the planet? and that it would wildly be difficult to hit?
wait that sounds like a strike relay.... oh wait

Katfish! wrote:why does everyone always assume orbit only exists from straight up? Has no one ever heard of an azimuth?

Your scenario:
ship
|
O

an equally likely scenario:

O___Ship

sede how it can fire a glancing shot off the bottom of the planet? and that it would wildly be difficult to hit?
wait that sounds like a strike relay.... oh wait

Because in the world of 40k, shooting from roughly geosynchronous orbit is much more common. Also, it's a lot easier to hit your target shooting from straight down. Furthermore, even if you were shooting almost tangential to the planet, a few trees and hills isn't going to obscure your shot.

How about obscuration from the view of the guy that's calling it in?

Xca|iber wrote:

Katfish! wrote:why does everyone always assume orbit only exists from straight up? Has no one ever heard of an azimuth?

Your scenario:
ship
|
O

an equally likely scenario:

O___Ship

sede how it can fire a glancing shot off the bottom of the planet? and that it would wildly be difficult to hit?
wait that sounds like a strike relay.... oh wait

Because in the world of 40k, shooting from roughly geosynchronous orbit is much more common. Also, it's a lot easier to hit your target shooting from straight down. Furthermore, even if you were shooting almost tangential to the planet, a few trees and hills isn't going to obscure your shot.

And even if they were, with the kind of firepower you're calling down, you wouldn't care.

Scott-S6 wrote:How about obscuration from the view of the guy that's calling it in?

Sounds much more plausible.

Well it doesnt matter. Played that game today and in seven turns the OSR killed one rhino. Might not be bad if your facing a horde army, but it scattered so bad it wasnt worth it. Dont really plan on taking it again.

Katfish! wrote:why does everyone always assume orbit only exists from straight up? Has no one ever heard of an azimuth?

Your scenario:
ship
|
O

an equally likely scenario:

O___Ship

sede how it can fire a glancing shot off the bottom of the planet? and that it would wildly be difficult to hit?
wait that sounds like a strike relay.... oh wait

the real issue is just how fast the ship travels through the orbit, it can be firing from all 4 angles depending on where your "spotter" is when he calls the shot down(or rather "over").

Also, the shrub between your Spotter and your target should not be granting a cover save from the shot, it is not like the ship in orbit is always firing directly over the spotters shoulder, and the intervening shrub is only a 5+ cover save, as opposed to the much more common 4+ intervening/occupying saves(also again with an obstruction 4" away from the Spotter and 36" away from the unit, still somehow allows the shot from the sky to be saved via said obstruction).

In short the OSR is much less an "orbital strike relay" and much more a BFG lugged around by the spotter.

A shrub between the spotter and target absolutely should grant a cover save. If he doesn't have a clear view of the target then the shot is going to be less reliable.

I tried this out a couple games ago and it was fairly ineffective vs MEQ. I think it might have killed two models over 6 turns. It always scattering the full distance combined with the cost makes this a fairly bad piece of wargear.