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In exactly what order do newly arriving Reinforcements arrive / get set up?
Judges and TOs are about to suffer severe headaches as a result.

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AETHERIC INTERCEPTION - Use this Strategem in the Reinforcement Step of your opponent's Movement Phase, after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield.
Select one HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit from your army that is either on the battlefield, in a Hyperspace Dimension, or in Strategic Reserves.

If that HYPERSPACE HUNTER nnit is in a Hyperspace Dimension or in Strategic Reserves, set it up anywhere on the battlefield that is within
18" of that enemy unit and more than 9" away from any enemy models.

That HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit can, at the end of the phase, shoot as if it were your Shooting Phase, but until the end of the phase it
xan only target tha ebeny unit that was just set up on the battlefield (and only if that unit is a eligible target for that attack).

=-=-=-=-=

Nothing happens all at the exact same time.
Unit one moves and its full effects are felt. Then, unit two moves and its full effects are felt. And so on.
Unit one fires and its full effects are felt. Then, unit two fires and its full effects are felt. And so on.
Unit one assaults and its full effects are felt. Then, unit two assaults and its full effects are felt. And so on.

But when a SM Drop Pod arrives from Strategic Reserves, how does it sequence? Drop Pod one arrives. Pause. Unit one or Character one disembarks.
Pause. And so on until empty. Pause. Drop Pod two arrives. Pause. Unit one or Character one disembarks. Pause. And so on until empty. Pause. And so on.

It makes sense that in these pauses is when the AETHERIC INTERCEPTION Strategem is played. The Necron Strategem is declared and then
the Hyperspace Hunter unit is declared. The 5 or 10 Deathmarks (or whatever) are deployed in the interrupt of the arrival process
and can (if placed properly) prevent any disembarcation of the transported unit. If it can not legally be placed, it is automstically dead.

1). Can I target the Drop Pod and prevent any arrival of further Drop Pods in that section of the table by my 9" radius?.

2). Do all their arrivals get declared first (irrevocably) before any hit the ground or are they able to decide retroactively
post-Deathmarks NOT to arrive this turn?

3). Can i surround (theoretically) the Drop Pod thus killing the contents by failure to disembark?

4). Is this RAW or RAI?

Nightmare scenario would be if Aetheric Interception were stiil an inherent unit ability instead of a Strategem and Hyperspace Hunters could blanket the table.

I think you are correct, and this is a very powerful ability, but maybe isn't the auto-destroy you're portraying it as.

The rules for Drop Pod Assault state that the drop pod is set up on the battlefield, and the unit in it may immediately disembark. This is important, I think, because it supports your interpretation that Hyperspace Hunters occurs immediately after the drop pod hits and before the squad in it may disembark.

It also means that you can only target the drop pod, not the squad that disembarks from the drop pod.

Regarding destruction of disembarked units: Hyperspace Hunters states that you must deploy outside of 9" from the target- which is the drop pod. Drop Pod Assault states that the units that disembark from it must be at least 9" from the enemy. Ergo, if you set up your Deathmarks on one side of the drop pod 9.1" away, the enemy can disembark the entire squad alongside the drop pod and on the other side, staying just outside 9". You'd need to completely surround the drop pod from 9" away, which doesn't seem possible with just your Deathmarks unless the SM player is gracious enough to drop such that they're fenced in by terrain or by your on-the-board units.

Based on the sequencing, it would look like you could use this to prevent further drop pods from coming in- but I don't think you have to declare all your units that are arriving from reserves at once, so once you deploy the Deathmarks the SM player can choose not to drop anything else in.

I have absolutely no idea what the intended interaction is here so all of the above is RAW.

Why not target just the Character with the IIgnores Look Out Sir rule? Is it not being deployrd from reserves??


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 catbarf wrote:
I think you are correct, and this is a very powerful ability, but maybe isn't the auto-destroy you're portraying it as.

The rules for Drop Pod Assault state that the drop pod is set up on the battlefield, and the unit in it may immediately disembark. This is important, I think, because it supports your interpretation that Hyperspace Hunters occurs immediately after the drop pod hits and before the squad in it may disembark.

It also means that you can only target the drop pod, not the squad that disembarks from the drop pod.

Regarding destruction of disembarked units: Hyperspace Hunters states that you must deploy outside of 9" from the target- which is the drop pod. Drop Pod Assault states that the units that disembark from it must be at least 9" from the enemy. Ergo, if you set up your Deathmarks on one side of the drop pod 9.1" away, the enemy can disembark the entire squad alongside the drop pod and on the other side, staying just outside 9". You'd need to completely surround the drop pod from 9" away, which doesn't seem possible with just your Deathmarks unless the SM player is gracious enough to drop such that they're fenced in by terrain or by your on-the-board units.

Based on the sequencing, it would look like you could use this to prevent further drop pods from coming in- but I don't think you have to declare all your units that are arriving from reserves at once, so once you deploy the Deathmarks the SM player can choose not to drop anything else in.

I have absolutely no idea what the intended interaction is here so all of the above is RAW.

Why not in a picket line around the Drop Pod?

What if the pod arrives T1 ? Can your HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit be set up on the battlefield ? The matched play rule says you cant. The stratagem doesnt give you permission to ignore that rule.

 p5freak wrote:
What if the pod arrives T1 ? Can your HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit be set up on the battlefield ? The matched play rule says you cant. The stratagem doesnt give you permission to ignore that rule.

Nor does it specify we can not.

AETHERIC INTERCEPTION - Use this Strategem in the Reinforcement Step of your opponent's Movement Phase, after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield.
Select one HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit from your army that is either on the battlefield, in a Hyperspace Dimension, or in Strategic Reserves.

If that HYPERSPACE HUNTER nnit is in a Hyperspace Dimension or in Strategic Reserves, set it up anywhere on the battlefield that is within
18" of that enemy unit and more than 9" away from any enemy models.

That HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit can, at the end of the phase, shoot as if it were your Shooting Phase, but until the end of the phase it
xan only target tha ebeny unit that was just set up on the battlefield (and only if that unit is a eligible target for that attack).

You need specific permission from another rule to remove an existing restriction. Thats how the rules work.

TomWilton wrote:
Why not target just the Character with the IIgnores Look Out Sir rule? Is it not being deployrd from reserves??

In previous rulings GW hasn't allowed the targeting of a unit deploying from a drop pod by something that's allowed to shoot something that's just come in from reserve. It looks like they consider the drop pod being deployed as the only viable unit for that, they treat the unit like any other disembarking (albeit a mandatory one).

TomWilton wrote:
Why not in a picket line around the Drop Pod?

I suggest actually setting up a drop pod and a maximum-size unit of Deathmarks on a table, to see why not. Oh, but - when you do, be sure to double-check the rules for coherency in units over 5 models.

The technique is certainly viable, and may well cause your Marine opponent a deployment headache... but you're not going to ever prevent the unit deploying, nor are you going to give TO's any headaches either...

Broken - 1
Useless - 3

Atherial Interception and Drop Pod Assault both want to happened right after the Drop Pod is deployed. Sequencing is therefore invoked. The player's who's turn it is decides which rule is resolved first. The player may therefore choose to disembark from the Drop Pod before their opponent deploys their Hyperspace Hunters.

 alextroy wrote:
Atherial Interception and Drop Pod Assault both want to happened right after the Drop Pod is deployed. Sequencing is therefore invoked. The player's who's turn it is decides which rule is resolved first. The player may therefore choose to disembark from the Drop Pod before their opponent deploys their Hyperspace Hunters.

Great point... in fact, in light of this, I'd even go a step further and say it's not even a conflict?
The drop pod wording is that the unit "must immediately" disembark. That's more immediate than Aetheric Interception's wording of simply "after".

Sequencing is not used here. Aetheric interception is used after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield. Disembarking units are still set up. Drop pod is set up -> unit inside disembarks, is set up -> aetheric interception is played.

The FAQ from 8th which said you couldnt shoot a unit disembarking from a pod is gone.

 p5freak wrote:
Sequencing is not used here. Aetheric interception is used after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield. Disembarking units are still set up. Drop pod is set up -> unit inside disembarks, is set up -> aetheric interception is played.

The FAQ from 8th which said you couldnt shoot a unit disembarking from a pod is gone.

By this logic you can use Aethefic any time a unit disembarks...if this is RAW it's pretty obviously not RAI.

The guys coming out of the pod are disembarking... So either AI works for all disembark or none.

 Type40 wrote:

 p5freak wrote:
Sequencing is not used here. Aetheric interception is used after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield. Disembarking units are still set up. Drop pod is set up -> unit inside disembarks, is set up -> aetheric interception is played.

The FAQ from 8th which said you couldnt shoot a unit disembarking from a pod is gone.

By this logic you can use Aethefic any time a unit disembarks...if this is RAW it's pretty obviously not RAI.

The guys coming out of the pod are disembarking... So either AI works for all disembark or none.

Yes, it works for disembarking as they are "set up". However, you'll find that disembarking during the Reinforcement step is generally pretty hard, outside of Drop Pods.

Remember, "Use this Strategem in the Reinforcement Step of your opponent's Movement Phase, after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield." not "Use this Strategem after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield." So even if it could be used on some dudes jumping out of a Chimera, unless you've somehow magically made them do so during your opponents Reinforcement step, you can't use it.

 BaconCatBug wrote:

 Type40 wrote:

 p5freak wrote:
Sequencing is not used here. Aetheric interception is used after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield. Disembarking units are still set up. Drop pod is set up -> unit inside disembarks, is set up -> aetheric interception is played.

The FAQ from 8th which said you couldnt shoot a unit disembarking from a pod is gone.

By this logic you can use Aethefic any time a unit disembarks...if this is RAW it's pretty obviously not RAI.

The guys coming out of the pod are disembarking... So either AI works for all disembark or none.

Yes, it works for disembarking as they are "set up". However, you'll find that disembarking during the Reinforcement step is generally pretty hard, outside of Drop Pods.

Remember, "Use this Strategem in the Reinforcement Step of your opponent's Movement Phase, after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield." not "Use this Strategem after an enemy unit has been set up on the battlefield." So even if it could be used on some dudes jumping out of a Chimera, unless you've somehow magically made them do so during your opponents Reinforcement step, you can't use it.

true, I stand corrected. Until an faq says otherwise it seems like a legit play.

TomWilton wrote:


That HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit can, at the end of the phase, shoot as if it were your Shooting Phase, but until the end of the phase it
can only target the enemy unit that was just set up on the battlefield (and only if that unit is a eligible target for that attack).

Does this not force the unit to shoot at the marines that disembark? If they disembarked after the drop pod landed, they would be "the unit that just set up", not the drop pod.

 Kcalehc wrote:

TomWilton wrote:


That HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit can, at the end of the phase, shoot as if it were your Shooting Phase, but until the end of the phase it
can only target the enemy unit that was just set up on the battlefield (and only if that unit is a eligible target for that attack).

Does this not force the unit to shoot at the marines that disembark? If they disembarked after the drop pod landed, they would be "the unit that just set up", not the drop pod.

you shoot either after the drop pod lands but before the marines are set up OR after the marines are set up.
The strat interrupts.

 Type40 wrote:

 Kcalehc wrote:

TomWilton wrote:


That HYPERSPACE HUNTER unit can, at the end of the phase, shoot as if it were your Shooting Phase, but until the end of the phase it
can only target the enemy unit that was just set up on the battlefield (and only if that unit is a eligible target for that attack).

Does this not force the unit to shoot at the marines that disembark? If they disembarked after the drop pod landed, they would be "the unit that just set up", not the drop pod.

you shoot either after the drop pod lands but before the marines are set up OR after the marines are set up.
The strat interrupts.

Yes and no. The Hyperspace Hunters unit is placed immediately but the free round of shooting is at the end of the Phase, not immediately. So you can choose the drop pod and potentially block the unit inside from deploying properly but have to shoot at the pod only, or wait for the unit inside to disembark and shoot it only.
You don’t get to deploy after the pod, then shoot the pod and potentially blow it up causing damage to the unit inside before they can deploy though.

It's not Broken, but it is VERY powerful and it's the first edition where I've actually bought Deathmarks because of it.

Aetheric Interception is now 2 separate parts, one of which I feel is being overlooked or needs to be FAQ'd. It definitely has some strategy to using it. I like that the Strat is specifically used in the opponents Reinforcement phase, so no more Deathmarks intercepting Deathmarks (or other similar scenarios).

I'll use the 'Pause' example above to break down the sequence of how I see it. You're welcome to agree/disagree.
- Opponents Reinforcement step
- Drop Pod comes in. *Pause(?)*
** I'm not sure that there is a pause in here. The Drop Pod hasn't completely finished it's rule to 'immediately' deploy. It's not broken up with different timing worded in the rule.
** We Can't shoot until the end of the Reinforcement step. Assume for a moment we could like we used to. How many Necron players would actually shoot the Drop Pod and realistically expect to kill it?
** The only other reason to Drop the Deathmarks before the marines is to restrict where the Marines deploy because of the 9" interaction.
- Marines Deploy. *Pause*
** There is definitely a pause here to Trigger AI. Marines or not, the Drop Pod has now fully finished it's rule.
** I think it should be noted that the Necron player should be required to write down which unit triggered the AI.
** The Stratagem assumes that only one unit comes in and doesn't cover multiple reinforcements.

It's been discussed to death for a few editions now, but the debate about whether or not the Marines are in Reinforcements is best left to another thread. I'm treating them as they are for this example as they 'starting in a location other than the battlefield', while not having a direct rule allowing them to do it.

- IF the Necron player chooses to use AI, then the Necron player deploys his Deathmarks.
** As I said above, this won't trigger 'Auspex Scan' since it's not the Necron players Reinforcement step. I don't have the wording for Auspex Scan, but watched someone try to use it.
** This is a good time to use Deathmarks to limit other Reinforcements location to come in.
- IF the Necron player doesn't use AI to save it for a juicier target, then the Marine player should be free to NOT deploy his remaining reinforcements and prevent the Necron player from going back to use AI.
- Marine Player moves on to next Reinforcements. *Pause* (Repeat)
- AFTER the last Reinforcement has been placed there is another *Pause*

That Hyperspace Hunter unit can, at the end of the phase, shoot as if it were your Shooting phase, but until the end of the phase it can only target the enemy unit that was just set up on the battlefield.

** This is where AI gets fuzzy and stupid. The shooting portion of AI states that you much shoot the 'enemy unit that was just setup on the battlefield'.
** We all know players who would pull this crap, deploy a unit after the Deathmarks and force them to shoot the new unit because RAW you have to shoot the last unit to come in, and not the one that triggered AI.

Two questions here.
- Do the Deathmarks count as having moved? They are armed with Heavy Weapons now, so do they still follow the reinforcements restriction 'as having moved' and suffer the penalty to hit? I believe yes. This is just to keep consistent with ruling that the Marines in a Drop Pod also have the Reinforcement restrictions applied to them. I've seen it played both ways in Batreps/spectating.
- There is NO mention of a range restriction on the shooting portion, only the deployment portion (More on this below). So, even if against a player that is trying to force the Deathmarks to shoot a different unit, he can't stop the other unit from being shot at as long as they are an eligible target. Not exactly ideal for the Necron player, but helpful to keep in mind should a TO rule it the other way.

I don't know if this is being Overlooked or simply accepted. I'm finding it VERY useful and potentially powerful in how it can affect the game. There is one part of AI that I haven't seen discussed.

Select one Hyperspace Hunter unit from your army that is either on the battlefield, in a hyperspace dimension or in Strategic Reserves.

This is why I believe that the Stratagem is powerful. It can now be used by Deathmarks that are already deployed. The upside is that it makes sense why the shooting portion doesn't have a range restriction on it. The downside is that it could make a case for the 'just came in' restriction should they opposing player push that ruling.

I LOVE this because it means that you could deploy your Deathmarks and force your opponent to deploy his reinforcements knowing where he has to deal with them. It also means that if he doesn't deal with them when they do deploy, he'll have to drop is other reinforcements, or deal with their shooting again on the next turn. Deploying them on the battlefield would allow your opponent to shoot them first, but he'll have to keep his reinforcements out for a turn to do it since they'll get to shoot before he has an opportunity to deal with them. Deploying them in/on a building, with the hated Reanimator behind the building beaming the Deathmarks is something to consider.

I'm planning on deploying them this way for a few reasons.
- They won't have the penalty to their shooting if they're already on the board. So we'd get the 2+ to hit with no debate.
- I'm playing <Mephrit>. So we'd not only have a 39" range on Turn 1, but also AP -3 at anything within 19.5". This will most likely be available T1 if opponent goes first rushing to get on objectives.
- Not that it's going to be useful, but 'Talent for Annihilation' and 'Protocol of Vengeful Stars' are potentially scary.

from .... World Team Championship WH40 2022 FAQ document

page 25 -

""13. Aetheric Interception can be used in battle round 1 in the case of enemy Drop Pods arriving or some such.If units disembark from a drop pod, the Necron player can choose to set up his unit then and target the unit that just disembarked from the pod, as long as they meet all the requirements for being targeted.""

In this circumstance / ruleset / championship, the Drop Pod and/or Disembarked Unit can be targeted preventing any arrival of further Drop Pods in that section of the table by placing the Deathmarks (and thus their 9" radius prohibiting any further Drop Pod deployment) in the most inopportune location for the opponent.

or have I blown another gasket?

In this case, yes. But only because it's a houserule.