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Hey all. Getting in my first fights since 5th, and I'm having a hard time understanding a few things:

1) do friendly units (infantry/vehicles) without fly block los to you and or your enemies? It appears they do, but I watched a battle report where they did not. So I was curious.
Answered: If you can see it you can shoot it. Models in a unit do not block LOS.

2) Can you always measure ranges before declaring anything? That used to be a biiiig no no and I don't see anything in the rules anymore...
Answered: Yes. Measure away

3) Sgt. Telion's Voice of Experience: can it be cast on himself? It appears that it can, but I wanted to clarify.
"In each of your shooting phases you can add 1 to all hit rolls made for a single friendly ultramarines scout unit within 3 inches of Telion"
He has the scout keyword.
Answered, yes

Thank you guys. If I come up with anything else, I'll be sure to post them here.

#1 - The game is now True Line of Sight. The only models that don't block Line of Sight are those in your own unit, but otherwise they all do. That doesn't matter much though, because if you can see just a smidgen of a model, you can shoot them, and unless they're both IN the cover and 50% obscured by it (Infantry only need to be IN, not 50% obscured), they don't even receive the bonus for cover. So don't fret too much about your own models getting in the way. Generally speaking, only really huge honking tanks will stop line of sight, and then are easily moved around.

#2 - Yes, you may freely measure anything in the game. It used to be a big no-no, but it got in the way of too many things, and somewhat unfairly penalized newbies. However, ranged still matter a ton, and oftentimes players won't pre-measure stuff, so still be mindful. Lots of character bonuses and penalties are based around being inside a certain range, and if you're not careful get either too close or too far.

From the Stepping Into a New Edition article:

Q: How do I determine if a model is visible to another model?

A: The models are visible to each other if you can draw a straight, uninterrupted line between any part of one model to any part of the other.

From page 176 of the main rulebook, under the heading 'Tools of War':

You can measure distances whenever you wish.

(1) Any model* (regardless of whether it can FLY or not) will obscure or block LoS. Only models from the same unit as the model firing are ignored (page 179, or the "2. Choose Targets" part of "Shooting Phase"). However, you'll only need to be able to see a tiny part of the target, from any part of the shooting model.

(2) You can always measure at any time (sidebar of page 176, or the left-hand-side of the "Core Rules" page). There are no guess-range weapons anymore. Can be taken to the extreme but not really anything I've seen anyone have a problem with.

They got rid of Guess Weapons and other things which became broken when you already knew what the distances were, so they changed the rule and everyone is happy

Thank you everyone for the quick replies and the page numbers. This is my thitd read through, and I admit I didn't really read the side bars that closely.

Happy gaming!

 papaseven wrote:
Thank you everyone for the quick replies and the page numbers. This is my thitd read through, and I admit I didn't really read the side bars that closely.

Happy gaming!

The sidebars in many ways contain some of the most important information. I would highly suggest reading them all very carefully!

Added #3

 papaseven wrote:
Added #3

Guess where that's answered? Yep, in a sidebar of the rulebook (aura abilities).

 papaseven wrote:
Hey all. Getting in my first fights since 5th, and I'm having a hard time understanding a few things:


3) Sgt. Telion's Voice of Experience: can it be cast on himself? It appears that it can, but I wanted to clarify.
"In each of your shooting phases you can add 1 to all hit rolls made for a single friendly ultramarines scout unit within 3 inches of Telion"
He has the scout keyword.
Not Answered

yes you can if he has the scout and ultramarine keyword. It is the same as an aura ability only that it affects only one unit, he himself is always within 3 inches of himself. Rules for aura abilities are p 179.

Models are alway within range of themselves. So according to your information. Sgt. Telion benefits from Voice of Experience

Thanks guys. I know some of this is basic, it's just hard playing catch up. The rules have changed a lot since I started in 3rd. It seems like stuff tends to go away come back and get taken away again (skipping 6th and 7th didn't help!).

Skipping 6th and 7th should actually help.

8th is an all-new ruleset. 3rd-7th was add-ons and minor changes.

Read 8th like you are starting an entirely new game system.

 Kommissar Kel wrote:
Skipping 6th and 7th should actually help.

8th is an all-new ruleset. 3rd-7th was add-ons and minor changes.

Read 8th like you are starting an entirely new game system.

That's good advice no matter how much an edition changes the game. There were enough differences between 6th and 7th that people who didn't read the book were unaware of until it took several pages here to pound it in to their heads.