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My group played our first game of 40k 8E last night (Adeptus Mechanicus vs. Chaos), and a few questions came up.

1) The rules in the Shooting section say "In order to target an enemy unit, a model from that unit must be within the range of the weapon being used (as listed on its profile) and be visible to the shooting model." A bit later in the shooting section, it states "The rules for resolving attacks have been written assuming you will make them one at a time. However, it is possible to speed up your battles by rolling the dice for similar attacks together. In order to make several attacks at once, all of the attacks must have the same Ballistic Skill (if it’s a shooting attack) or the same Weapon Skill (if it’s a close combat attack). They must also have the same Strength, Armour Penetration, and Damage characteristics, and they must be directed at the same unit. If this is the case, make all of the hit rolls at the same time, then all of the wound rolls."

In last night's game, a unit of Skitarii Rangers was shooting at a unit of Chaos Space Marines. We were going model by model to learn the game, and not trying to roll multiples to speed up gameplay. That being the case, after the first few models had fired their weapons, and the CSM unit had taken a couple of wounds, the Chaos player removed the casualty models in such a way that none of the remaining CSM models from that unit were visible to the rest of my Rangers.

Had I rolled all of the attacks at once for the rangers, that wouldn't have been a problem because they could all "see" an enemy model in the unit...But rolling one at a time, they ended up losing sight, and the remaining models were unable to fire.

How do you handle this situation?

2) The same thing happened a bit later in the Fight Phase. The CSM unit had charged the Rangers mentioned above, and after losing a few of them from the charge attack, they got to attack back. When doing so, we started rolling model by model...Starting with a Tech-Priest Dominus that had gotten into the fight via Heroic Intervention. The Dominus got three attacks with his Omnissian Axe, and managed to kill two Chaos Space Marines. The CSM removed the casualties in a way that there were no remaining enemy within 1" of the Rangers, so they could not attack back, is that correct?

What if the first few Skitarii Rangers (rolling model by model) had killed off several CSMs, and the CSM player removed all that were within 1" range (or 1" of a model within 1" of an enemy as the rules state), would that mean the remainder of the Rangers would not get their attacks? If I had rolled all of the similar Skitarii attacks at the same time, this wouldn't matter, would it? You would just total the wounds inflicted and the enemy player would remove them from the unit at once.

Just trying to get a handle on how this works.

3) Finally, another situation came up in last night's game where a vehicle wanted to try and shoot a Character. The rules state "A Character can only be chosen as a target in the Shooting phase if they are the closest visible enemy unit to the model that is shooting." When measuring distance from one part of the vehicle hull. a unit of Chaos Space Marines was the closest visible enemy. When measuring it from another part of the hull, the Character was the closest visible enemy (based on an intervening piece of terrain). In this instance, could I shoot the character?

Thanks in advance.

1) I have no idea.
2) When a model was in close combat in the fight phase, it can pile in. If that isn't enough, you can't attack.
3) you use the shortest distance for both units.

#1 - As far as I can tell, you just check to see if the unit is visible and in range once. At that point, you fire everything, though you resolve the attacks one at a time. In your case, even though none were visible, you still complete your shooting attacks.

#2 - Not correct. When selected to fight, the Tech Priest Dominus was within 1 inch of an enemy model, or within 1 inch of a friendly model that was itself within 1 inch of an enemy model. Though the rolls happened one by one, it still makes all of its attacks, even if this kills models further away than 1 inch.

#3 - Whichever is closer to the vehicle. That's pretty straight-forward. If the character is 6" away from the closest part of the vehicle to it, but the Chaos Space Marines are 4" away from the closest part of the vehicle to them, then the Chaos Space Marines are the closest visible enemy unit.

For the fight phase what should of happened was:

CMS Charge. The Dominus moves his 3" into the combat after the charge but before attacks.

CSM Pile-In 3" to the nearest model and attacks. Ad-Mech removes models. CSM would of activated any other Charging units and then 1 other unit that was already engaged at this point.

Ad-Mech Activation. Dominus attacks. CSM removes models.

If other Fights going on the CSM player would activate a unit here.

Ad-Mech Activation. Rangers Pile-In and attack. CSM removes models.

It is possible that a player removes models in a way that keeps models from a 2nd unit from either being engaged (outside of 1") or not allowing some models to attack while still being engaged, even after pile-in.

 Yarium wrote:
#1 - As far as I can tell, you just check to see if the unit is visible and in range once. At that point, you fire everything, though you resolve the attacks one at a time. In your case, even though none were visible, you still complete your shooting attacks.

#2 - Not correct. When selected to fight, the Tech Priest Dominus was within 1 inch of an enemy model, or within 1 inch of a friendly model that was itself within 1 inch of an enemy model. Though the rolls happened one by one, it still makes all of its attacks, even if this kills models further away than 1 inch.

#3 - Whichever is closer to the vehicle. That's pretty straight-forward. If the character is 6" away from the closest part of the vehicle to it, but the Chaos Space Marines are 4" away from the closest part of the vehicle to them, then the Chaos Space Marines are the closest visible enemy unit.

I agree on #1 and #3.

About #2, I mostly agree, expect you have to be within 1" of an enemy, or within 1" of a model from your own unit (not just any friendly model) that is itself within 1" of an enemy.
But I think the OP's question wasn't about the Dominus, but about the rangers. After the CSM player removed all the models that were within 1" of the rangers, it was indeed impossible to activate the rangers to fight. I think it's indeed a valid tactic to deny attacks to the opponent. However, this only works against units that didn't charge, as any unit that successfully completed a charge gets to be activated, irrespectively of enemy models.