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.

Hi all, first post here as a new WH40K player. My wife and I picked up the ultinate starter set and have been playing through it, but just recently encountered a problem that sort of confuses me.

In the starter set, it says that the Ripper Swarm, while attached to a Termagant unit, takes damage first before the Termis. Normally this would be no problem, as I think I understand how the Bodyguard thing works. When a character has bodyguards, you roll ALL attacks against the Bodyguards toughness, and any excess hits after the Bodyguards are dead spills over to the Character yes?

Except Rippers are not Characters, and nowhere does it officially say they are acting as Bodyguards.

So... do I make all attacks against the Rippers toughness, and any excess spills onto the Termies?

I'm not sure what source you're looking at-Rippers cannot, in normal 40k or Combat Patrol, attach to Termagants.

 JNAProductions wrote:
I'm not sure what source you're looking at-Rippers cannot, in normal 40k or Combat Patrol, attach to Termagants.

In the "Ultimate Starter Set" training missions they can. Specifically it says that while attached to a Termagant unit, wounds must be removed from the Ripper Swarm first.

I know in regular play this isn't a thing, it appears to be for the training missions only.

Then it needs to have a rule explaining how it works.

For Kill Teams, the main mixed Toughness unit, there's this:

Each time an attack targets this unit, if it contains models with different Toughness characteristics, until the attacking unit has finished making its attacks, use the Toughness characteristic of the majority of the models in that unit when determining what roll is required for that attack to successfully wound. If two or more Toughness characteristics are tied for majority, use the highest value.

But there's no universal rule on Mixed Toughness without Characters.

It's in the Rules Commentary under "Unit's Toughness Characteristic":

"If a non-Attached unit contains models with different Toughness characteristics ... use the highest..."

Huh. Didn’t know that.

Thank you for enlightening me

Had a friend play the demo game using the starter just a week ago.

Yea,in this instance the rippers are in the Gaunts unit, and you woukd use the majority toughness 3, but you can allocate the wounds to the Rippers.

After the Starter set however, Rippers act as a separate unit in the wider game.