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Since the S4 hits delivered by the Explodes! result on the Vehicle Damage Chart are no longer explicitly treated like shooting attacks, which facing is the rolled against when another vehicle is struck by these hits? Is it:

A. Randomized, since none are specified
B. Rear, like from a Close Combat attack
C. Side, like from a Barrage weapon
D. The facing closest to the exploding vehicle [EDIT] like a shooting attack since that makes the most sense
E. Something I have not thought of

I am sincerely interested in the rules you quote to support your opinion.

I would play D.

The vehicle is exploding, the center of it it like the center of the blast going out.

blaktoof wrote:
The vehicle is exploding, the center of it it like the center of the blast going out.

Based on what rules?

otherwise nearby units suffer a Strength 4 AP- hit for each model within D6" of the vehicle (resolve this once, regardless of how many times the result is inflicted), as flaming debris scatters across the area. The vehicle is then removed from the battlefield.

from the rulebook for explodes for a normal vehicle. It is essentially a blast with the center being the vehicle. In the case of super heavy vehicles there is even a blast marker you use, but of course its an apocalyptic blast.

Thats HIWPI, that and I don't see any rules precedence that would support any of the other options.

There is no instance of randomized hits against vehicle locations, theres no evidence it would be a barrage explosion, and there is no reason to think it would count as an close combat attack and hit the rear armor(which would also mean it would hit the front armor for walkers always..)

blaktoof wrote:

otherwise nearby units suffer a Strength 4 AP- hit for each model within D6" of the vehicle (resolve this once, regardless of how many times the result is inflicted), as flaming debris scatters across the area. The vehicle is then removed from the battlefield.

from the rulebook for explodes for a normal vehicle. It is essentially a blast with the center being the vehicle.

There is no mention of a blast or direction that the hits are resolved in the rule you quoted.

I included the other options because there are rules precedence for a vehicle being hit against certain facings from Shooting, Barrage, Close Combat, Hammer of Wrath, and Ramming. The Crash and Burn! rule says blast marker, but does not say anything about the direction that the hits come from: the model that the blast marker originated from like a shooting attack, or the center of the blast marker like a barrage weapon. The Super-Heavy Vehicle and Flyer Catastrophic Damage rules refer to the Apocalyptic Blast Marker rules, so at least we have a direction that those hits come from, the center of the blast marker.

There's no rule in the rulebook describing what to do in this situation, so we're left with 3 options:

1. Invent our own rule using precedence with other rules.
2. Say that vehicles can't be hurt by 'Explodes!' result.
3. Stop playing because the game blue screened.

If you choose 1, it is my opinion to treat it like the Super-Heavy Vehicles explosion in which you would draw line of sight from the center of the blast... in this case the vehicle is the center of the blast so that's where your direction is drawn from.

If that isn't satisfactory then invent your own rule and discuss it with your opponent.

They really do need to add a line to the Random Allocation section, informing us that Vehicles hit by an attack that falls under such a criteria is resolved against the Side Armor Value.
I say Side Armor as that seems to be a constant throughout Rules which ignore Line of Sight requirements or generate Hits without there being a definite 'shooter' to draw from.