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Hi Folks,

I could have sworn I saw something that said the death ray line can be drawn starting from anywhere up to 12" from the base of the doom scythe. Sort of how the helldrake's baleflamer works now. I don't see it in the Necon FAQ though but I could have sworn I read that somewhere. Can anyone support me on this or am I just suffering from wishful thinking?

Page 50 of the Necron codex.

It doesn't say anything about measuring from the base of the model, so you will need to draw the distance from the weapon, but that doesn't matter. Take a notice of sentence three in that paragraph as it tells you how you nominate hits against your desired targets, and friendlies caught in the crossfire and the key word underneath. The only issue you might have is if someone states the initial point has to be on the table top, and not above it. In that case you have a bigger problem of not being able to hit any models as none of them will be 'underneath' as they will be standing on top of it, so clearly not as intended.

It seems to me as if that line is meant to be drawn midair, anywhere within a 12 inch bubble from the weapon itself.

Of course that is just me trying to fit the rule into the situation. We all know the big problem with vehicle weapons in this game, that being that the rules where designed as if we where looking at a two dimensional surface. This is particularly telling with flyers, as the stem distance is never taken into account and we only have one sentence telling us that the vertical arc of all weapons is 45 degrees without details if that is 22.5 each way like horizontal weapon 45 degree arcs. Then there is the fact different flyers switch measuring back and forth from the model (the base) or the weapon itself depending on which FAQ you look at.

It is a complete mess and one has to wonder how it wasn't caught in testing....

JinxDragon wrote:
Page 50 of the Necron codex.

Yep, but I'm looking for that extra couple of inches. If I were shooting out the back I'd gain an extra 6". I guess I'm thinking of the baleflamer faq...

Yes, youre thinking of baleflamer

Even if you shoot out the back you need LOS to remove wounds, as per Out of Sight page 16

Just a follow up question I would like to confirm since I finally went up against these things this weekend.

Necron flier was facing the front armor of my Exorcist. He nominated a point to the left of my tank and proceeded to cross over it. He then claimed it was hitting side armor since the beam went over the side of the vehicle. I said but the direction of fire is from the front, so it should be hitting front armor. He rolled a 6 to penetrate, so it was a moot point, but what is the correct ruling here? I see this as no different than a blast template hitting the side (as long as it is not barrage) armor but still rolling against the front.

DOes the DR have an exemption to the rules stating, clearly, how you determine the arc you are in?

If no, then the shot was front armour. If yes, then side armour. Its the former.

You follow the rules for facing as set forth in the vehicle section as the weapon does not have special rules stating otherwise.

Yeah, that's a front arc hit.

A lot of people mess up the whole arc thing because they see the line as the direction of the actual beam. Instead, the line represents the impact point of the death ray being swept across the ground, but the ray still originates from the Scythe...hence why you always use the actual weapon mounting on the scythe for determining cover and front/side/rear arc.

 Maelstrom808 wrote:
A lot of people mess up the whole arc thing because they see the line as the direction of the actual beam. Instead, the line represents the impact point of the death ray being swept across the ground, but the ray still originates from the Scythe...hence why you always use the actual weapon mounting on the scythe for determining cover and front/side/rear arc.

That was my understanding, but at some point you just give up in order to avoid a long protracted argument over toy soldiers.

Thanks everyone.