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Evening all,

With 40k about to go a new direction I have put my army build to one side (for fear that whatever I get then just becomes useless) so I'm looking to branch into AOS. Problem is - I just don't get it!

I have 2 old armies that would be applicable with a little bit of tweaking - Dwarfs and Khorne Daemons (so my questions relate specifically to these armies)

Hopefully someone would be kind enough to help with my questions please:

Dwarfs:
* How do I deploy the miners? Do I have to roll for them to come into play - or do I just place them anywhere at least 9 inches from an enemy unit whenever I want?

Chaos:
* How does summoning work on an existing unit?
* Can I add models to an existing unit?
* Can I bring the unit above the original size I paid for?
* Do I have to had paid for those models in advance?
* Can I replenish for lost models?
* Can I add models to a unit in combat?

General:
* Model cost: if I bring 25 Bloodletters, do I have to pay for 30?
* I read something on the GW site that ranged models cannot shoot if an enemy model is within 3 inches - yet I see recent battle reports where they can shoot even in combat?
* If I can shoot in combat, can I shoot at the unit I am in combat with in addition to the assault?
* I read on the same thing on the GW site that if a ranged unit is shooting at an enemy unit within 3 inches of a friendly unit, rolls of a 1 to hit cause a mortal wound on your own guys. Again, I don't see this in recent battle reports?
* Can you improve a unit's roll to be an auto-wound or does a roll of 1 always fail / 6 always succeed?

I'm sure I'll have more, but AOS is a bit too alien for me and what I have read on the GW site doesn't match the recent battle reports on Youtube and ultimately I cannot find / understand the answers in the rules. Any assistance would be much appreciated.

So I am fairly new to AoS myself, but I think I know it well enough to help you out. Also I'm working on the assumption you have some knowledge of the Generals Handbook.

Dwarves-

1- How do I deploy the miners?
You can either deploy Miners as normal with the rest of the army. Or use their Underground Advance rule to bring them on from a board edge. If using Underground Advance then you don't need to role for them as you would with 40 reserves, you simply set them up in any of your movement phases. It doesn't look like you even need to do it first thing, you can move other unites then do it.

Chaos-

1- How does summoning work on an existing unit?
You don't use summon spells to summon an existing unit, you summon a new units that aren't in your army list (more on points below). The summon spell on a warscroll shows you how to summon the unit/hero/monster/whatever on that warscroll, and is known to all the wizards it specifies. This doesn't mean that a warscroll with a summon spell HAS to be summoned though, you can pay for that unit in your army list and deploy it at the start of the battle like any other. For instance, you can declare a unit of bloodletters in your army list and deploy it at the start of the game, or a model with the CHAOS and WIZARD keywords can try to summon a new unit of bloodletters in any turn. Or you can do both these things.

2- Can I add models to an existing unit?
There are some spells and abilities that let you add to existing units (the Courtier models in Flesh-Eater Courts are an example of this), but as far as I am aware you cannot use summoning spells to do this unless they otherwise say so. Most only allow you to set up a new unit.

3- Can I bring the unit above the original size I paid for?
In Pitched Battle/Matched Play you cannot increase a unit beyond it's starting size. You can however do this in Narrative or Open Play (unless you and your opponent have made some house rules stating otherwise). (Generals Handbook, page 108, Reinforcement Points).

4- Do I have to had paid for those models in advance?
In Narrative and Open Play, you do not have to have paid for these models unless you and your opponent have made some house rules stating otherwise.
In Matched Play/Pitched Battle, summoning new units will require Reinforcement Points. These are points you set aside for summoning new units later. For example, in a 2000 point game your army list might only have 1600 points of warscrolls, with 400 points left aside to summon new units. Every new unit you summon is paid for with Reinforcement Points, and once you dont have enough to summon anything thats it. However, you dont have to declare before the battle what you are summoning. In the previous example, you can use that 400 points to summon any warscroll you are capable of.
If you are adding models to an existing unit, then this does not use Reinforcement Points. But like I said above you can't go above the starting unit size. (Generals Handbook, page 108, Reinforcement Points)

5- Can I replenish for lost models?
See points 2 and 4.

6- Can I add models to a unit in combat?
Yes, so long as they meet the required deployment. For instance if they need to be a certain distance from enemy models, you can only add them if they can be set up that far away but also in unit coherency (1 inch) with their parent unit.

General-

1- If I bring 25 Bloodletters, do I have to pay for 30?
Yes. In Matched Play, you are paying for the 'chunk' of models indicated by the Minimum Unit Size in the Pitched Battle Profiles (NOT the warscrolls). 5 Bloodletters dont cost 50 points, they cost 100. (Generals Handbook, page 107, Under-Strength Units)

2- I read something on the GW site that ranged models cannot shoot if an enemy model is within 3 inches - yet I see recent battle reports where they can shoot even in combat?
That might be a rule specific to a certain unit. I am not aware of a game-wide rule like this, but I think I saw something similar when browsing warscrolls.

3- If I can shoot in combat, can I shoot at the unit I am in combat with in addition to the assault?
Yes. It's a bit silly in some circumstances.

4- I read on the same thing on the GW site that if a ranged unit is shooting at an enemy unit within 3 inches of a friendly unit, rolls of a 1 to hit cause a mortal wound on your own guys. Again, I don't see this in recent battle reports?
Do you have a link to this article, its starting to sound like either a House Rule the writer uses or a rule specific to certain warscrolls.

5- Can you improve a unit's roll to be an auto-wound or does a roll of 1 always fail / 6 always succeed?
In Open and Narrative play (without House Rules), yes modifiers can alter rolls so that a unit hits or wounds automatically. They can also make it impossible for hits or wounds to be successful.
In Pitched Battle/Matched Play, the 2nd Rule of One says any roll to hit, wound, or save is always a fail. This applies after re-rolls but before modifiers are applied, so it is impossible to automatically pass these rolls. I think its still possible to automatically fail them though if you stack enough negative modifiers. (Generals Handbook, page 106, The Three Rules of One).

Hope this helps!

Thanks Fentlegen - that makes much more sense.

1 last question about the Bloodletters please
*When you have 20 models, you can add 1 to hit rolls. Does that mean either
* I hit on 3+ and inflict a mortal wound of 6's
* I hit on 3+ and inflict a mortal wound on 5+

I am unsure if it means I improve the profile by 1, or specifically the dice result by 1

Sumilidon wrote:
Thanks Fentlegen - that makes much more sense.

1 last question about the Bloodletters please
*When you have 20 models, you can add 1 to hit rolls. Does that mean either
* I hit on 3+ and inflict a mortal wound of 6's
* I hit on 3+ and inflict a mortal wound on 5+

I am unsure if it means I improve the profile by 1, or specifically the dice result by 1

The second one. Some abilities will improve the profile but are worded as such ("the weapon gains a to hit value of 3+"), while abilities like the Bloodletters' +1 to hit is indeed an addition to the dice after it is rolled, so a 5 on the dice becomes a 6, and therefore deals a mortal wound. Do note, however, that re-rolls happen before any modifiers are applied as per the basic 4-page rules.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:

Sumilidon wrote:
Thanks Fentlegen - that makes much more sense.

1 last question about the Bloodletters please
*When you have 20 models, you can add 1 to hit rolls. Does that mean either
* I hit on 3+ and inflict a mortal wound of 6's
* I hit on 3+ and inflict a mortal wound on 5+

I am unsure if it means I improve the profile by 1, or specifically the dice result by 1

The second one. Some abilities will improve the profile but are worded as such ("the weapon gains a to hit value of 3+"), while abilities like the Bloodletters' +1 to hit is indeed an addition to the dice after it is rolled, so a 5 on the dice becomes a 6, and therefore deals a mortal wound. Do note, however, that re-rolls happen before any modifiers are applied as per the basic 4-page rules.

Well, it would be you hit on 2+, since 2+1=3.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:

Sumilidon wrote:
Thanks Fentlegen - that makes much more sense.

1 last question about the Bloodletters please
*When you have 20 models, you can add 1 to hit rolls. Does that mean either
* I hit on 3+ and inflict a mortal wound of 6's
* I hit on 3+ and inflict a mortal wound on 5+

I am unsure if it means I improve the profile by 1, or specifically the dice result by 1

The second one. Some abilities will improve the profile but are worded as such ("the weapon gains a to hit value of 3+"), while abilities like the Bloodletters' +1 to hit is indeed an addition to the dice after it is rolled, so a 5 on the dice becomes a 6, and therefore deals a mortal wound. Do note, however, that re-rolls happen before any modifiers are applied as per the basic 4-page rules.

This is a rather important distinction compared to 40k. In 40k modifiers are applied to the stat line: +1 S, +1 BS, ect. In AoS the majority of modifiers are applied to your dice roll. So using your example with Bloodletters you still need a "4+" to hit and when you roll a 3 you add 1 to the roll making it a 4. (so a 3+ is needed after all the math). Same is applied for Mortal Wounds triggering on 5s and 6s because you rolled a 6 and 7 after the math. Like Lord Kragan said

This goes both ways however. If an opponent can debuff your Bloodletters with a -1 to hit and if you're under 20 models you can never get mortal wounds. The highest you can roll in this case is a 5 to hit.