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This weekend I played my common nemsis, an Ork adversary. Anyone who has faced a prominent Ork list will know that you can expect to see some Nobz, and in this case, I squared off against two squad of Nobz Bikerz! They're a fearsome lot as they all can be equipped differently and all have 2 wounds. Here's where it got sticky...

My BA crashed in on a squad of Bikerz in a huge multi-combat assault including the likes of Sanguinor, Mephiston, the Sanguinary Guard, and the Death Company. Overkill? Yes, but I had the power to crush the Bikerz. Now some of the Bikerz had taken wounds due to shooting/previous combat. When Mephiston brought down his Str 10 dethblade, it potentially could autokill one of these beefy greenskins. I landed 5 Str 10 hits on his squad of 8, which included 2 Bikerz already wounded!

The argument began....

It is my understanding that when assigning wounds, every model in the unit must have at least an equal number of wounds assigned if possible (5-man squad with 8 wounds will have 3 members facing 2 wounds and the other two facing 1). Different equipment allows wounds to be assigned differently or saves taken separatly better yet...? It is also my understanding that even if a wound will cause Instant Death, it must be assigned to a character that has yet to take a wound instead of having an already wounded model just soak up the Instant Death attack.

My opponent argued that since his Nobz all had different equipment, and even though two already had 1 wound, he could assign two of the Wounds to those Models rather to two models that were in perfect health because all of the squad had different equipment loadouts. I argued that every model had to have wounds distrubted to the squad equally, even if they caused ID or had taken the existing wounds in a different phase.

Help me on this one Dakka, you are my only hope!

The ID thing only comes into play when removing models as casualties (page 26, in the Units of [...] section). He can assign the wounds themselves (before saves) however he likes so long as it's legal.

bmosleysbux wrote:

It is my understanding that when assigning wounds, every model in the unit must have at least an equal number of wounds assigned if possible (5-man squad with 8 wounds will have 3 members facing 2 wounds and the other two facing 1). Different equipment allows wounds to be assigned differently or saves taken separatly better yet...? It is also my understanding that even if a wound will cause Instant Death, it must be assigned to a character that has yet to take a wound instead of having an already wounded model just soak up the Instant Death attack.

My opponent argued that since his Nobz all had different equipment, and even though two already had 1 wound, he could assign two of the Wounds to those Models rather to two models that were in perfect health because all of the squad had different equipment loadouts. I argued that every model had to have wounds distrubted to the squad equally, even if they caused ID or had taken the existing wounds in a different phase.

So, you have "Allocation" and then you have actual "Wound Resolution".

During Allocation, you must allocate a wound per model until all models have a wound, and then you begin allocation a second wound. No saves are taken at this point. After allocating all of the wounds, you then begin resolving the wounds. The resolution part is grouped by common wargear. FROM WITHIN THIS GROUP, if there are any instant death wounds, they must take whole models if possible.

It sounds like your opponent played it properly.

Your understanding starts fine, then gets confused.

You must allocate wounding hits equally (calling them this to make it easier, rather than saying "wound" 10 times!) - so if you have 10 nob bikers and 5 wounds caused at I7, then you would have the ork player put 1 wound each on each nobl

NEXT is the step youre missing - you then group wounding hits and models into groups of like models with a pool of wounds.

So, if they are all identical you have 5 woundng hits in a pool on 5 identical models, you the ntake saves (as appropriate) and remove casualties, causing ID as needed.

As they were all unique, you in essence do not group - each model has 1 wounding hit assigned to it. So when you take saves if you fail only that model can be removed as a casualty (as all were causing ID)

Nothing forces you to allocate the wounding hit to an already wounding model, or to a fresh model, however when you get to Remove Casualties any unsaved wounds that cause ID MUST go on a fresh model FROM THE SAME GROUP if possible - however in ths case there were no fresh models, the groups had one model.

So he could of allocated the hits whereever he liked, as long as theyre distrubted equally, regardless of any prexisting injuries?

If they shared any identical load outs, they could roll the saves in a group, but any wounds causing ID must come from a fresh model in the group?

And, if all models were differently equipped, the wounds need be distubted equally, but the ID attacks could come from already wounded models since each one belonged to their own "group"?

Thank you so much for the help everyone..


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And, I have to take this one step further because I know the situation will arrise. In a multi-combat as I described, could my opponent take Sanguinors I7 attacks (we'll say 4 successful) allocate them to say four models, and then face the Sang. Guards I4 attacks (we'll say 4 successful again), and assign the 4 wounds to the same 4 models?

Keep in mind: Different Initiative, different attacking units, and the defender is a unit comprised of all differently equipped multi-wound characters.

Hate Nobz... had to say it.

To the first - yes. You are not required to allocate wounds to already wounded models.

To the second - Yes

Thrd - yes. ID forces you to remove an unwounded model from within the group. If the group is 1, and the model is wounded, then you have no choice but to remove the wounded Nob

Finally - yes, the rules for allocaton of wounding hits makes no requirements on whether the model is fresh or wounded, just that the wounding hits are allocated evenly.
In essence - the only thing your "keep in mind" that the rules for allocating wounds cares about is the first: at each I step you must allocate any wounds evenly.

And, wounds are located at each round/phase/moment of combat occuring at a certain initiative? Meaning all wounds at I6 are allocated/resolved/removed, then all wounds from I5 are allocated/resolved/removed, etc. ?

Sorry, this will be my last inquiry on this one, it's just of my gaming group I tend to know the most regarding the rules. I'm not your typical rules lawyer as I won't let any rule bog the game, but when I have a squad that exist of half of my 2k pt list facing off against my oppoents 600pt death squad, i gotta no Im playing it right!

Yes, as the rules tell you to do. You fully resolve all attacks at each I step before moving onto the next.

Thank you, nos. You have restored full angst towards nob bikers!

Well the only benefit is that you would have only left them with a 5++ save at best on each nob, and each S10 wound would have killed a load. At I4 your power weapon sanguinary gaurd would also go before the nobs, and any you kill before they strike (at I3/I1, depending on load out) dont get to fight.

Mephiston is sadly not the best at killing nobs, as he doesnt get a save and the PKs still wound him on 2s. However his S10 sword does kill the Warboss outright, which is something