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OK, the Dirge Caster basically stosp units within 6" from being able to Overwatch.

Great - roll your Land raider up t within 6" of the target unit and charge merrily in - yay!

But what about charging walkers? At what point does the Dirge Caster activate?

A Defiler with a Dirge Caster is 8" away and begins a charge. the player rolls 9" for hsi charge - excellent. As the Defiler was 8" away (outside the 6" bubble) does the Dirge Caster have any effect?

Does the Dirge Casters effect start at the point you announce the charge, or after the charge distance is moved?

As the overwatch is done before the charge move they would get to do the overwatch. I really don't think the dirge caster is that good, not even on other vehicles, the LR maybe being the only exception. Maybe...

Edit: Had to check the transport rules

Not even in the LR I think is worth it, after unloading your unit the vechiles can't move any further, that means that unless the LR was literaly less than 6" closer to the enemy unit you don't get to use the caster, in most of my games the LR stops after moving 6" disembarks my termies 6" away where they need a 4"-7" charge roll to engage, in this scneario the caster won't work due to the assault unit disembarking already at the limits of the caster range, if you got 5 points to spare... sure why not, but don't think it's pretty useful with the small radius it provides

I suppose it coudl be handy as part of a mini Rhino rush. Drive a Rhino (with Caster) in at full speed with the raider following.

The Raider stops at 6" and the infantry charge out. Meanwhiel the Rhino carries on, going Flate out to finish within 6", thus allowing the units from the land raider to charge in without having to worry abotu Overwatch. Plus next turn the charging unit get some fire support as the rhino mounted sqaud disembark to shoot at any counter charge units comign too close.

Anyway - looks like the Dirge Caster is not the auto-take it appears to be at first glance.

In most cases overwatch isn't all that hot regardless.
I'd be leary of 50 guardsman w/ 5 flamers.

Or any squad size of Flamers of Tz, other than those I'm not too terribly worried

Well my plan was to put a Caster on my Defilers, that way they can avoid any embarassing last minute melta shots he way in.

But it looks like it will only work if they start their charge with 6".

Dirge casters are situational at best. maybe bring one or two on rhinos if you are worried about charging a large squad.

Ork shoota / burna boys
Guard platoon
Necrons w/ Tesla
Noise Marines
Any unit with that divination power that allows overwatch at full BS....
etc

Your opponent now must choose to either shoot the rhino & direct less firepower into the assault unit OR ignore the rhino & potentially lose overwatch.... While the actual mechanics of making the Dirge Caster work are challenging, simply by spending 5 points on a single rhino you are forcing your opponent to make a decision which may be a difficult one. This is always a good thing because there is no answer that is always going to be correct. and forcing your opponent to make bad decisions is how you win at 40K. Of course this doesn't really apply when facing armies like dark eldar or tau who can reasonably stop BOTH a land raider and a rhino with a single turn of shooting (hint for those armies: shoot the land raider first.....)

clever handle wrote:
Dirge casters are situational at best. maybe bring one or two on rhinos if you are worried about charging a large squad.

Ork shoota / burna boys
Guard platoon
Necrons w/ Tesla
Noise Marines
Any unit with that divination power that allows overwatch at full BS....
etc

Your opponent now must choose to either shoot the rhino & direct less firepower into the assault unit OR ignore the rhino & potentially lose overwatch.... While the actual mechanics of making the Dirge Caster work are challenging, simply by spending 5 points on a single rhino you are forcing your opponent to make a decision which may be a difficult one. This is always a good thing because there is no answer that is always going to be correct. and forcing your opponent to make bad decisions is how you win at 40K. Of course this doesn't really apply when facing armies like dark eldar or tau who can reasonably stop BOTH a land raider and a rhino with a single turn of shooting (hint for those armies: shoot the land raider first.....)

This scenario is assuming the rhino make it to the other side, on most of the 6th games I've seen the rhinos get blown on the 1st/2nd turn getting at best to half the table, the only way it would work would be to have at least 4 rhinos and all with the caster

correct. But aside from first blood, if I'm sending an empty rhino across the field next to (or behind!) a land raider full of terminators / berserkers, are you going to shoot the empty rhino or try to disable the land raider? If you choose to shoot the rhino then the berserkers get there unmollested. If you choose to shoot the land raider, well it's harder to stop & if / when it gets there the rhino will prevent overwatch.

Again you're paying 5 points to force your opponent to make a decision. A rhino with no dirge caster is litterally no threat, a rhino with a dirge caster can upset somebody's plans.

clever handle wrote:
correct. But aside from first blood, if I'm sending an empty rhino across the field next to (or behind!) a land raider full of terminators / berserkers, are you going to shoot the empty rhino or try to disable the land raider? If you choose to shoot the rhino then the berserkers get there unmollested. If you choose to shoot the land raider, well it's harder to stop & if / when it gets there the rhino will prevent overwatch.

Again you're paying 5 points to force your opponent to make a decision. A rhino with no dirge caster is litterally no threat, a rhino with a dirge caster can upset somebody's plans.

I agree with this. It makes every Rhino a threat in some way, and gives the Chaos player some options when it comes to launching an assault. It's only 5pts, so you can afford to put it on every vehicle that can have one, and there's a good chance that it will be useful at some stage.

Plus, it helps when facing enemies with lots of Divination.

I wouldn't put a dc on every vehicle. 4 or 5 of them is too many. One or two are ok as they are so situational. 5-10 points sure, but I wouldn't spend 20+....

Back to the op, overmatched in general is poorly worded. At what point are you "in range"? If I have an internist pistol with a 6" range and you charge from 7" away can I shoot? How is los defined for who can shoot / coversaves? Is this checked at the beginning, end or at some point during the charge?

If I begin my charge in cover but cross an open no man's land, do I still benefit from cover?

clever handle wrote:
I wouldn't put a dc on every vehicle. 4 or 5 of them is too many. One or two are ok as they are so situational. 5-10 points sure, but I wouldn't spend 20+....

Back to the op, overmatched in general is poorly worded. At what point are you "in range"? If I have an internist pistol with a 6" range and you charge from 7" away can I shoot? How is los defined for who can shoot / coversaves? Is this checked at the beginning, end or at some point during the charge?

If I begin my charge in cover but cross an open no man's land, do I still benefit from cover?

Overwatch is done prior to moving any models, so if you have a pistol with a 6" range and I'm assaulting from 7" away, it cannot fire.

right but to answer the question Its if the said land raider in 6" away from a model in the charging uni before the charge is declared then they cannot over watch. The walker needs to be 6" away max before declaring a charge for it to work.

clever handle wrote:
I wouldn't put a dc on every vehicle. 4 or 5 of them is too many. One or two are ok as they are so situational. 5-10 points sure, but I wouldn't spend 20+....

Back to the op, overmatched in general is poorly worded. At what point are you "in range"? If I have an internist pistol with a 6" range and you charge from 7" away can I shoot? How is los defined for who can shoot / coversaves? Is this checked at the beginning, end or at some point during the charge?

If I begin my charge in cover but cross an open no man's land, do I still benefit from cover?

Overwatch is resolved before any of the charging models are moved; actually before the charge dice are rolled. This isn't a wording problem; you just need to read it again. The only weapon which doesn't use its normal range/firing process are template weapons (Wall of Death).