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And in the tabletop game do they use them (mines or IEDs)

Errr. Well the BA Biker scouts have access to cluster mines I guess. I don't think I've ever seen em used though. Not real sure whether they're any good or would be tailored into any particular strategies.

 Phyrekzhogos wrote:
Errr. Well the BA Biker scouts have access to cluster mines I guess. I don't think I've ever seen em used though. Not real sure whether they're any good or would be tailored into any particular strategies.

theyre pretty rubbish. Used them in an apoc game against orks. 30 orks hit, a grand total of about 3 dead. And it meant i had to avoid the area until they went off so i didnt blow my own guys up. Waste of points frankly.

Fluffwise, some chaos use mines. I think it was the 4th Gaunts Ghosts book they had to clear multiple minefields, one of which was during an active tank battle. Game wise, all i can think of is the marine biker scouts. Dunno if its BA exclusive, but vanillamarines had it in the 5th codex too so maybe it transitioned.

i believe that tyranids have\had spore mines still (I only know outdated rules though, so someone else would have to back me up), which could be used to restrict deployment of your opponent's models.

The only other land mines style device I know of were an ability to make a mine field in apoc but that was years ago and the minefield worked something like
"If a model moves through it it takes a dangerous terrain test and if it gets a 1 it gets hit by X St AP X (I don't remember the ST and AP but it wasn't that great for its purpose) hit)"

The field was planted infront of the fortress my team was defending. It was so small it was worthless and to say it didn't do anything is an understatement.

IG have the cyclopes demolitions vehicle (essentially a remote control car with a bomb strapped to it).

Nids of couse have a variety of spore mines.

Other than those there just isn't a lot of mines in 40K due to how the game is played. You can booby trap fortifications though.

I'm pretty sure IG had a vet squad option (akin to the demolitions option) that had "booby traps." Not sure if they're still around in the most recent book. In Zone Mortalis, they're available as a stratagem, and they're reasonably helpful without being amazing. Which is maybe why we don't see them in full 40k as much; they're more suited to tight quarters where they can block off a certain path rather than putting them on a single small portion of the battlefield.

As for fluff, I'm pretty sure most of the major factions use mines except maybe for eldar and daemons.

Marines: Have cluster mines or whatever they're called.
Imperium in general: has various mechanicus approved mines, I'm sure.
Tyranids: have spore mines
Orks: Used mines in at least one short story I've read. The one about the tank crew.
Tau: Hmm. You know, I'm not sure they do use mines. Maybe it doesn't work well with Kauyon or Montka as leading enemies into a minefield only usually works for the first explosion, and then they stop following you making it harder to draw them into a proper ambush. I'm sure they could use them if they wanted them though.

Eldar: Are usually too mobile for mine fields. When you have 12 battlefields to be on in a single day, taking the time to sap one of them is a bit tedious.
Chaos marines: Have explosives in general. They're chaos. They aren't afraid of using explosives.

In Appocalypse there were strategic assets which involve booby trapped terrain, but in the current game there isn't anything like that really.

Lorewise, everybody uses traps. The Uplifting Primer has instructions on how to rig grenades as booby traps for guardsmen.

Space Marine Scout Bikes can booby trap terrain before the game starts, but if you really want to, you can do something I once did of putting up a 'minefield' piece of terrain. It was a smallish green space I put on the board, had a little sign on it that didn't really say anything, but called it a minefield, so it was dangerous terrain, it was actually pretty fun, but I only tried it out once

Wyldhunt wrote:
I'm pretty sure IG had a vet squad option (akin to the demolitions option) that had "booby traps." Not sure if they're still around in the most recent book.

They do, you can upgrade vets to have camo netting and 'snare mines' But they're just defensive grenades. They aren't awful though, I like them.

 carldooley wrote:
i believe that tyranids have\had spore mines still (I only know outdated rules though, so someone else would have to back me up), which could be used to restrict deployment of your opponent's models.

Tyranid spore are placed on the table like units and can be shot and killed pretty easily, so I really wouldn't think of them as mines or IEDs. Real mines/IED would require secret placement to be effective and I don't know if 40k has had rules for that since 2nd edition. And back then it could be very problematic unless you had a 3rd party.

 FakeBritishPerson wrote:
Space Marine Scout Bikes can booby trap terrain before the game starts, but if you really want to, you can do something I once did of putting up a 'minefield' piece of terrain. It was a smallish green space I put on the board, had a little sign on it that didn't really say anything, but called it a minefield, so it was dangerous terrain, it was actually pretty fun, but I only tried it out once

Wyldhunt wrote:
I'm pretty sure IG had a vet squad option (akin to the demolitions option) that had "booby traps." Not sure if they're still around in the most recent book.

They do, you can upgrade vets to have camo netting and 'snare mines' But they're just defensive grenades. They aren't awful though, I like them.

They make your opponents charges count as an disordered charge. They are essentially worthless. I'm not complaining though because 10pts for 10 camo cloaks is probably the best upgrade in the guard book.

I seem to remember Whirlwind tanks having the ability to launch small minefields. Castellan missiles, I think. This was back in 3rd.

The worst part about all this is that you can buy minesweeper tanks for Armored Battlegroup that have rules for clearing minefields.

To be fair there are a number of missions in Imperial Armour books with rules for mines and mine fields.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
The worst part about all this is that you can buy minesweeper tanks for Armored Battlegroup that have rules for clearing minefields.

One of those fluffy things that has a corner case use.

If dangerous terrain was more dangerous and minefields got used a lot then it might have use.

Maybe if Minefields were areas of dangerous terrain that failed the check on a 1-4(with skimmers and jetbikes ignoring it) and DT still ignored armor saves then it might see use.

At least its potentially useful, unlike the Digital Weapons the old Brotherhood Champion could purchase. They literally did nothing as he already got rerolls from his sword.

The Tau Failsafe Detonator turns one model into essentially a suicide bomber.

The IG demolition charge is essentially a thrown mine.

You can rig your fortifications with booby traps for those who enter.

Grots used to have a rule that removed minefields.... And most of the grots...


Also the mysterious objective bombs...

Old sly Marbo, and demo teams were/are suicide bombers, or essentially IED markers/placers.

If you play scenarios then minefields, IED's, boobytraps are somewhat commonly used by most races.

Imperial Guard Veterans with Forward Sentries get Snare Mines, which are an interesting twist. They're rapidly deployed to impede enemy charges.

Catachans used to have a lot of boobytraps that they could use. There were four different kinds of traps, you would purchase 1-3 as a Heavy Support choice and you would secretly mark on a map/grid of the table a particular 12"x12" square that was booby trapped. If your opponent rolled doubles for difficult terrain then they set off the trap. They were:

- S3 Ap6 small blast
- S3 Ap5 flame template
- S4 Ap6 large blast
- S7 Ap2

There also used to be rules for minefields that you could deploy in defense in certain missions, I think it just counted as dangerous terrain or something like that.

IEDs aren't really appropriate to 40k, which is more about WWI-WW2 style battles. That is, conventional company-level operations. IEDs are more appropriate to asymmetric warfare, which isn't what 40k is all about.

If 40k were anything like my experience in Afghanistan, it would be incredibly boring. You'd play for 40 turns, and there would be no actual enemy models on the table most of the time. You would have to capture objectives all over the board that would move 6d6" in a random direction every turn, and take a dangerous terrain test for every model that moves (on account of IEDs).

You'd get a bonus victory point every time you tell someone about the game afterwards and they ask you "so, did you kill anyone?"

The Imperium fights asymmetrical fights all the time, but such tactics don't work as it relies on the foe not having the political will to fight you. But the Imperium doesn't care if you are using IEDs or hitting them while hiding among the civilians. They're just going to blow you up, drown you in bodies, and win.

Asymmetrical warfare doesn't work against an opponent who doesn't care about casualties and also has accepted the horrors of war. The Imperium often wins battles because its enemies run out of bullets.

Just make your own dataslate for mine tokens and do it as a scenario with your buddies

We've done that before, actually. Make 50 square tokens about 1" x 1", 10 of them go KABOOM! (6" radius, all models save on a 6, to get out of the way, no other saves) , and 40 do nothing. mix them up (face down) and then take turns placing them without knowing which are mines and which are not.

If you want to give one player control, just make it 5 / 50, and have 1 player place them as IED =)

Sure, in the fluff there's asymmetric warfare. It's just not represented in the game because...well, does it sound like fun to you? The game represents conventional roughly company-sized formations.

My suggestion if you want to include minefields etc would be:

Minefield - designate a piece of terrain or some area of the table to be either an anti-tank or anti-personnel minefield. All infantry models treat AP minefields as dangerous terrain. Units that suffer casualties must take a pinning test. Vehicles treat AT minefields as dangerous terrain, except that on a roll of '1' they suffer a penetrating hit with AP2.

IEDs: Enemy units treat all roads as dangerous terrain.

Booby traps: The first unit to enter a booby-trapped building or ruin must pass an initiative test or suffer a hit with: S4 AP- blast, pinning.

usmcmidn wrote:
And in the tabletop game do they use them (mines or IEDs)

Orks have Bomb squigs...

There have very definitely been things like Minefields in 40k, but mostly usually just portrayed as Dangerous Terrain. Space Marines I think have something with Scout Bikers?

That said, stuff like mines and IED's don't play a huge role in 40k battles as GW writes them.

Imperial Guard are the go-to here for IED satchel charge equivalents:

- Platoon with 2 Special Weapons Squads (each Demolition Charge weapons upgrades).

- Veterans with Demolitions option (includes 1 Demolition Charge).

Traditionally, IG players have been allowed to model Demoiltions Charge as suicide bombers.

Ork Gretchen used to have a rule where they could clear a mine field by running into it, if that counts

 Sledgehammer wrote:

 FakeBritishPerson wrote:
Space Marine Scout Bikes can booby trap terrain before the game starts, but if you really want to, you can do something I once did of putting up a 'minefield' piece of terrain. It was a smallish green space I put on the board, had a little sign on it that didn't really say anything, but called it a minefield, so it was dangerous terrain, it was actually pretty fun, but I only tried it out once

Wyldhunt wrote:
I'm pretty sure IG had a vet squad option (akin to the demolitions option) that had "booby traps." Not sure if they're still around in the most recent book.

They do, you can upgrade vets to have camo netting and 'snare mines' But they're just defensive grenades. They aren't awful though, I like them.

They make your opponents charges count as an disordered charge. They are essentially worthless. I'm not complaining though because 10pts for 10 camo cloaks is probably the best upgrade in the guard book.

Right, I should have specified what they do exactly. They really aren't amazing, kind of nice I guess, but I take them for the camo cloaks, because yay for camo.

Bomb squigs are pretty much IEDs with legs that seek you out. LOL. You can get three for each unit of Tankbusta boys you take.

My orks really hated the old Whirlwind Castillian mines. Three whirlwinds could make the mob pretty much afraid to walk anywhere by turn 3.