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it is my understanding that only models under the template can be hit by the template weapon. Is this correct?

Example I put 6 guardsmen under two templates. The unit is made up of 10 guardsmen. I generate 12 wounds from the templates. I score all twelve wounds. Only the six guardsmen under the template can be killed. the extra wounds are lost because the 4 other guardsmen are not under the template.

Alternatively. A template weapon stirkes 5 guardsmen and the sgt of a ten man unit. The wounds are taken from the five and sgt not from the 4 that are not under the template. Unless they use the look out sir rule.

Is this a corrrect interpretation of the rule?

Please forgive me for some of the very newb questions I am posting. Very new to the game and somewhat hesitant to take someones interpretation without verifying things. Have someone telling me that no matter where the template hits the wounds are taken from only the closest models and not from the models under the template itself.

No, that is incorrect. You follow the shooting allocation rules for any wounds generated.

So you can kill models that are not hit by the template and models that are not hit by the template can take the wounds for models that are hit by the template if they just happen to be closer? That makes no sense at all.

But if that is how it works that is how it works. Though I do question that since it says under the template rules that it is those models under the template that are hit. Which the range of the template is the template itself, so anything not under the template is not in range of the template.

The template is only used to determine the number of hits. It has no bearing on which models will die.

It's purely meant to be an abstraction. Imagine the flamer wielder sweeping the flames back and forth, which is why the casualties always come from the front first. He's not just pouring flames in one direction as the flame template might suggest.

SimonBlackfell wrote:
So you can kill models that are not hit by the template and models that are not hit by the template can take the wounds for models that are hit by the template if they just happen to be closer? That makes no sense at all.

Real World Common Sense/Real World Logic/How it works in the real world has no bearing on the 40k Ruleset.

Remember: The rules were not written to be "Modern day real world" logical.

The rules are an abstract system used to simulate a battle in the year 40,000.

What would happen in the modern day real world has nothing to do with the RAW, or the simulation of a battle fought 38,000 years from now. (and maybe not even on a planet with the same physical makeup as our earth, and probably different physics as well).

As such they need to have some compromises to make the game playable.

Does the template create a range for the weapon, or is the range infinite?

The Out of Range rule says:

If none of the firing models are in range of a particular model in the target unit, then Wounds cannot be allocated to it.

If there are no models in the target unit that are in range, all remaining Wounds in the pool are lost.

I'm not saying this is the correct answer, I'm just adding to the discussion. Does a flamer have infinite range or is it the template?

The template

The range is in this case the length of the template. Which is 8", plus the given range if its a Torrent weapon.

So it does work the way that I was postulating if the rest of the unit is outside of the range of the template. But that is not the placement of the template but the 8 inch range of such. Flamers just got a huge boost in my book then. With that statement that they can hit anything within 8 inches of the flamer and the overwatch thing they got a large amount nastier.

Nastier than what? It's how they've worked for the last 15 years.

And the size of the template has no bearing on Overwatch. Wall of Death doesn't use the template.

They actually got worse, as 6th Edition allowed Wound to be allocated to the maximum range of any weapon fried and very few Units have nothing but flamers.

It led to this situation:
Five Models are under the template when it is positioned
Three templates are used, generating fifteen Hits via those five Models
For sake of ease, all Wound and no Saves pass
The five Models are removed as casualties, leaving 10 more Wounds to be allocated

In 7th: Out of Range kicks in, draining those 10 Wounds from the pool
in 6th: Those ten Wounds would then be allocated to the rest of the Unit, up to the range of the other weapon fired...

Jinx is correct, this is the reason they divided shooting into one type of weapon at a time for 7th edition. in 6th edition your "wound range" was equivalent to the longest range of the weapons the unit fired, so flamers could potentially have a 48" wound range.

It's important to note that the template is not exactly 8", that is a rough length attributed to them for descriptive purposes. Even the rulebook describes them as "roughly 8" long". To find out exactly which models can be killed, just "sweep" the template over the unit in question while keeping the thin end attached to the base of the firer to determine who is in wounding range.

Bojazz wrote:
...in 6th edition your "wound range" was equivalent to the longest range of the weapons the unit fired, so flamers could potentially have a 48" wound range..

Although that was the needlessly complicated 'fix' that they erratad in. The allocation rules in the 6th ed rulebook just considered the whole unit in range if at least one model was in range of your weapon. One of the few things they got 'right' in 6th... and so of course, they changed it.