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.

I've been looking at the Tank Shock rules and am having trouble with part of them. You declare a Tank Shock, move your tank, then any models underneath the tank must move out of the way. Then it says that any models that cannot manage to move outside of 1" from the tank and remain in unit coherency are removed from play as casualties. How can I make this happen? Even with using multiple tanks, I can't noodle out how to set things up so that it's possible to kill part of a unit by tank shocking them. Thanks!

Okay, it works like this:

Assume that the vehicle is at one end of a corridor.
The walls are either terrain or enemy models.

Now, when you TS the enemy unit further down the corridor (we'll assume they're at a dead end), they will get squished to death.

It's usually something like that. Or maybe only some of the unit can fit in a space out of the tank's way, while the rest get crushed.

gun emplacements.

T7 model which cannot move is squished.

great way to take these things out without wasting shooting.
-Mark

Mark_Autarch wrote:
gun emplacements.

T7 model which cannot move is squished.

great way to take these things out without wasting shooting.
-Mark

I never thought of that! This is fantastic, will have to remember this.

It is nigh on impossible to actually pull off.

But it can work for herding things into place.

Not particularly useful imo.

I have really only used Tank Shock to get units out of/away from cover, not trying to run them over to kill them.

Mark_Autarch wrote:
gun emplacements.

T7 model which cannot move is squished.

great way to take these things out without wasting shooting.
-Mark

Interesting. I'm starting a new thread about this.

 Selym wrote:
Okay, it works like this:

Assume that the vehicle is at one end of a corridor.
The walls are either terrain or enemy models.

Now, when you TS the enemy unit further down the corridor (we'll assume they're at a dead end), they will get squished to death.

It's usually something like that. Or maybe only some of the unit can fit in a space out of the tank's way, while the rest get crushed.

Ok, that makes sense. Now, if I tank shock over the entire unit, they'd all get to move the shortest distance away from the tank, correct? So I'd have to tank shock over only part of the unit, so that they're forced to move out of coherency, which causes them to get removed.

Thanks, I appreciate all the answers

Trebloc wrote:

 Selym wrote:
Okay, it works like this:

Assume that the vehicle is at one end of a corridor.
The walls are either terrain or enemy models.

Now, when you TS the enemy unit further down the corridor (we'll assume they're at a dead end), they will get squished to death.

It's usually something like that. Or maybe only some of the unit can fit in a space out of the tank's way, while the rest get crushed.

Ok, that makes sense. Now, if I tank shock over the entire unit, they'd all get to move the shortest distance away from the tank, correct? So I'd have to tank shock over only part of the unit, so that they're forced to move out of coherency, which causes them to get removed.

Thanks, I appreciate all the answers

Well almost.

The only real way to kill models with a tank shock, as the rules are written, is to have the target surrounded and land a skimmer tank on top of them, they would be destroyed as they have nowhere to go.

I'll jump in here after Clively has started the thread and had it answered on Tank Shocking Emplacements. Per the BRB they are classified as Difficult Terrain not a Unit, you can't Tank Shock them as they are terrain, Feel free to join in the fun!
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/563181.page

 DeathReaper wrote:


The only real way to kill models with a tank shock, as the rules are written, is to have the target surrounded and land a skimmer tank on top of them, they would be destroyed as they have nowhere to go.

I though skimmers had to drop down and hug the ground to tank shock (aka follow regular tank rules) Edit:(i appear to be wrong nvm)

Skimmers can't tank shock unless they also have the tank classification. Per the skimmer rules if they land/end their move on top of friendly or Enemy units they must be moved the minimum distance so that no models are beneath it.

so surrounding a unit with say, wave serpents (or any other unit for that matter), then landing a skimmer on them is a valid way to kill them?

I'm thinking of a really nasty means of disposing of deep stroking temrinators or even the ridiculous farsight bomb by running my gaurdians and swooping hawks into a circle, then landing my nearly-immune-to-penetrating-hits wave serpent land on them... And Ill have extra wave serpents to help surround them too...

Jet packs. Letting them jump over things iirc.
works on termies if they don't out right powerfist rear? Armor

Well it's pretty impossible to do with one tank, but roll 3 of them up the table and if you can't squish at least some models with tank shock you're doing it wrong. Simply move two tanks around the sides of target unit, then move the third one in. The only avenue of retreat is straight back, hopefully off the table edge. Just take some tanks down and play around with it. Mind you it's very situational and you shouldn't be moving your tanks with the intention of performing mass tank shock, you should be moving tanks around to get into cover and have LOS. It's one of those things that yes, you have the option, but it's really a question of tactical value. Is it worth it to tank shock? What will I gain by doing so, and what will I lose? Keep in mind that in order to tank shock you must move at least 10 inches and this usually means moving flat out... However this isn't to say that tank shock isn't sometimes a great idea. Drive one tank straight into a pile of Tau (they like to pile up so they can all fire overwatch for each other). Friendly units must remain 1 inch away from each other. What do you think will happen to a unit that is surrounded by friendlies when it is tank shocked. Can't move at least an inch away from the tank, can't get within an inch of friendly units. Squished.

Also remember that tanks are quite vulnerable to CC. Do you really want to leave your tanks so close to the enemy like that? Unless it's a Land Raider you're basically asking your opponent to fire at the weakest part of your armour next turn as well...

darkcloak wrote:
Well it's pretty impossible to do with one tank, but roll 3 of them up the table and if you can't squish at least some models with tank shock you're doing it wrong. Simply move two tanks around the sides of target unit, then move the third one in. The only avenue of retreat is straight back, hopefully off the table edge. Just take some tanks down and play around with it. Mind you it's very situational and you shouldn't be moving your tanks with the intention of performing mass tank shock, you should be moving tanks around to get into cover and have LOS. It's one of those things that yes, you have the option, but it's really a question of tactical value. Is it worth it to tank shock? What will I gain by doing so, and what will I lose? Keep in mind that in order to tank shock you must move at least 10 inches and this usually means moving flat out... However this isn't to say that tank shock isn't sometimes a great idea. Drive one tank straight into a pile of Tau (they like to pile up so they can all fire overwatch for each other). Friendly units must remain 1 inch away from each other. What do you think will happen to a unit that is surrounded by friendlies when it is tank shocked. Can't move at least an inch away from the tank, can't get within an inch of friendly units. Squished.

Also remember that tanks are quite vulnerable to CC. Do you really want to leave your tanks so close to the enemy like that? Unless it's a Land Raider you're basically asking your opponent to fire at the weakest part of your armour next turn as well...

Well, at one point, it was possible to take out a titan with a rhino via tank shock.
I think it's stayed there just in case somebody discovers a similarly awesome use for it.

And anyways. It can be good for running low Ld models off the board

Don't forget that the closest path to safety might be behind the tank.

rigeld2 wrote:
Don't forget that the closest path to safety might be behind the tank.

How so?

 Selym wrote:

rigeld2 wrote:
Don't forget that the closest path to safety might be behind the tank.

How so?

Assume the unit you're targeting is at the bottom of a U shaped terrain that perfectly fits your Rhino.
They pass their Leadership test.
They now need to move more than 1" away while staying in coherency. They move behind your tank and end in coherency.

rigeld2 wrote:

 Selym wrote:

rigeld2 wrote:
Don't forget that the closest path to safety might be behind the tank.

How so?

Assume the unit you're targeting is at the bottom of a U shaped terrain that perfectly fits your Rhino.
They pass their Leadership test.
They now need to move more than 1" away while staying in coherency. They move behind your tank and end in coherency.

I'm sure they're not allowed to move through any gap that would place them within 1" of an enemy model, so if it was a tight fit, that shouldn't be possible (assuming the terrain is impassable).

But, either way, it's a tactical call to be made by the tank's controller.

 Selym wrote:

rigeld2 wrote:

 Selym wrote:

rigeld2 wrote:
Don't forget that the closest path to safety might be behind the tank.

How so?

Assume the unit you're targeting is at the bottom of a U shaped terrain that perfectly fits your Rhino.
They pass their Leadership test.
They now need to move more than 1" away while staying in coherency. They move behind your tank and end in coherency.

I'm sure they're not allowed to move through any gap that would place them within 1" of an enemy model, so if it was a tight fit, that shouldn't be possible (assuming the terrain is impassable).

But, either way, it's a tactical call to be made by the tank's controller.

The tank isn't actually there yet ("would end up underneath the vehicle when it reaches its final position") so can be ignored for this movement.

actually... I dont see a way to do this either... you can't completely surround them and then hit them because the rules for tank shock force you to stop as soon as you touch a friendly model... It could be debated that a skimmer could fly over the model I guess... but other than that, I cant think of a single way this would ever come up (again, considering that they can just move under and past and through and behind the tank that is actually making the attack...)
-Mark

Mark_Autarch wrote:
actually... I dont see a way to do this either... you can't completely surround them and then hit them because the rules for tank shock force you to stop as soon as you touch a friendly model... It could be debated that a skimmer could fly over the model I guess... but other than that, I cant think of a single way this would ever come up (again, considering that they can just move under and past and through and behind the tank that is actually making the attack...)
-Mark

That is why it has to be a skimmer Tank, they can move over friendly and enemy models...

Tank shock + Deff Rolla = dead models

you just need an Ork army WAAAAAGH!

Wait, I'm not arguing, just need help... if I had half my unit on one side of the tank and half on the other, haven't I broke unit coherency? Wouldn't any model that moved due to the tank being on it but its movement caused the unit to be in two separate coherent groups get itself removed from play?

What am I not seeing/reading that the rest of you are?

 Lobukia wrote:
Wait, I'm not arguing, just need help... if I had half my unit on one side of the tank and half on the other, haven't I broke unit coherency? Wouldn't any model that moved due to the tank being on it but its movement caused the unit to be in two separate coherent groups get itself removed from play?

What am I not seeing/reading that the rest of you are?

After reading it a few times, thats how I thought things would work too. If you can surround the enemy, then tank shock in enough to split the squad, then the squad that is forced to move ends up out of coherency and would end up removed. I don't understand the need for it to be a hover tank, because there isn't a need to move over friendlies.

The most important thing to remember is they are not allowed to move models that are not under the tanks final position. This lets you strategically choose with models they must move and which models must stay put depending on your final positioning. So in the U shaped example, stopping short, leaving at least on model in front of the tank uncovered, means that all the other models underneath don't have room to be moved to the front (must be moved one inch away from your models) and can't be placed in the back while maintaining coherency so they are destroyed (Squish!)

Spread out conga lines are easy to tank shock but the more common unit formation is the 'blob' which takes several tanks and/or nearby pieces of impassible terrain. You either want to box them in as detailed in the U shaped example or if that's not possible, use the fist tank shock to spread them out, second tank shock to separate at least one model forcing them out of coherency(killing a few models in the process) and any additional tank shocks on the unit now out of coherency will squish anything they stop on.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Lobukia wrote:
Wait, I'm not arguing, just need help... if I had half my unit on one side of the tank and half on the other, haven't I broke unit coherency? Wouldn't any model that moved due to the tank being on it but its movement caused the unit to be in two separate coherent groups get itself removed from play?

What am I not seeing/reading that the rest of you are?

The rules for coherency don't allow 'partial coherency'. The unit is in coherency or it is not which means you maintain coherency for the whole unit or you do not maintain it at all.
Edit: Oh, one more important point on this. if the unit is already out of coherency, it is impossible to maintain coherency.