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I was wondering, as drones have to shoot at the closest VISIBLE unit, can it still shoot at a lone character who is the closest visible unit, but not the closest unit due to one hiding in a building? Does this confuse the drone so it doesn’t shoot that round?

If the drones do not say that they over-ride the restriction about character targeting, then they do not do so.

They don’t get to ignore the Character Targetting restrictions, no.

That’s awesome. Going to have to try and set that situation up sometime. Having lots of good targets in range for the drones to shoot at with a character out front, but being able to say “sorry your drones can’t shoot because that rattling unit you can’t see behind a wall is disrupting your drones”.

Devils Advocate.

The drones are ruled by the same restriction as character targetting rules in that they "can only" target the closest visible unit. In the same way characters "can only" be targetted if they are closest.

Since the drones have no option in the unit they choose as target, much in the same way overwatch has no say in who the target, then I see no reason why they cannot target the character as the closest visible unit.

 AndrewC wrote:
Devils Advocate.

The drones are ruled by the same restriction as character targetting rules in that they "can only" target the closest visible unit. In the same way characters "can only" be targetted if they are closest.

Since the drones have no option in the unit they choose as target, much in the same way overwatch has no say in who the target, then I see no reason why they cannot target the character as the closest visible unit.

The drone's restriction does not permit it to bypass the character targetting restriction. They merely have 2 restrictions applied to them. Drone's can have options in who they choose as targets if there are multiple units equidistant from them.

But those options are limited by the use of "can only" which overrides a lot of other restrictions.

Yes, "can only", not "can always and only".
In order to fire, a unit must fulfill all the restrictions and requirements imposed on it. The drones happen to have one more than most units. If they can't fulfill all the restrictions at the same time, then they cannot shoot.
It's never implied that their targeting restriction is applied instead of any normal targeting restriction (they can't ignore restrictions on LoS or range for instance). So there's no reason it should bypass the character one.

 AndrewC wrote:
But those options are limited by the use of "can only" which overrides a lot of other restrictions.

Drones can't fire at the closest visible unit if it's out of their weapons' range, range restrictions are not lifted. Likewise, the character restrictions are not lifted because the shooting instructions for drones do not specify that it overrides the restrictions on shooting characters. The character might be the closest visible unit to the drones, but if there's a unit closer the the drone than the character then the drones still can't shoot. The restriction on a drone's shooting is exactly that, a restriction; it is not permission to ignore any other restrictions. They don't get to do what other units aren't allowed to do when shooting because they have an additional restriction.

You're quite right, range restrictions and LoS isn't removed, however they do have the restriction of only targeting the closest visible unit. That is the only unit they can fire at. Which means that they could be restricted to shooting at a target that they are unlikely to wound (though I'm not sure whether there are any T11 units out there, it is GW we're talking about).

Hypothetical. A lone ratling at 5" and out of sight. A character at 10" standing out in the open and a unit of troops at 15". Who does the drone shoot at?

 AndrewC wrote:
You're quite right, range restrictions and LoS isn't removed, however they do have the restriction of only targeting the closest visible unit. That is the only unit they can fire at. Which means that they could be restricted to shooting at a target that they are unlikely to wound (though I'm not sure whether there are any T11 units out there, it is GW we're talking about).

Hypothetical. A lone ratling at 5" and out of sight. A character at 10" standing out in the open and a unit of troops at 15". Who does the drone shoot at?

Nobody unfortunately, they can't shoot the character as he is not the closest unit, no LOS on rattling and the troops are further away than the character they can see (but not shoot).

It's the same as having an enermy unit tied up in combat and a character stood in the open. You still can't shoot him if he is further away than the unit tied up in combat.

I know its there, but I cant find it. Where are the amended rules for targeting characters? Because the rules I'm currently referring to only limits it to being the closest visible unit for targeting characters (Know no Fear P79)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Found it, its the FAQ not the rulebook. Duh...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
small gods, I would disagree and say that the drone would shoot at the troops in that instance because of the wording, characters of less than 10 wounds are ignored for the purposes of determining the closest unit.

Helps when I look at the full rules.

Gents, as I said devils advocate for the discussion. But following our discussion I would say, and believe, that the drones would be able to shoot at the next closest unit (if one is in range)

 small_gods wrote:

 AndrewC wrote:
You're quite right, range restrictions and LoS isn't removed, however they do have the restriction of only targeting the closest visible unit. That is the only unit they can fire at. Which means that they could be restricted to shooting at a target that they are unlikely to wound (though I'm not sure whether there are any T11 units out there, it is GW we're talking about).

Hypothetical. A lone ratling at 5" and out of sight. A character at 10" standing out in the open and a unit of troops at 15". Who does the drone shoot at?

Nobody unfortunately, they can't shoot the character as he is not the closest unit, no LOS on rattling and the troops are further away than the character they can see (but not shoot).

It's the same as having an enermy unit tied up in combat and a character stood in the open. You still can't shoot him if he is further away than the unit tied up in combat.

+1 for nobody, by the rules.

You need special permission to target a character in the shooting phase, unless he has more than 10 wounds, or is the closest visible enemy unit. Drones dont have that permission.

 AndrewC wrote:

small gods, I would disagree and say that the drone would shoot at the troops in that instance because of the wording, characters of less than 10 wounds are ignored for the purposes of determining the closest unit.

Helps when I look at the full rules.

Gents, as I said devils advocate for the discussion. But following our discussion I would say, and believe, that the drones would be able to shoot at the next closest unit (if one is in range)

The rule you have quoted from the big faq doesn't mean what you say it does because you've taken it out of context. The whole thing reads,

An enemy Character with a Wounds characteristic of less than 10 can only be chosen as a target in the Shooting phase if it is both visible to the
firing model and it is the closest enemy unit to the firing model. Ignore other enemy Characters with a Wounds characteristics of less than 10
when determining if the target is the closest enemy unit to the firing model.

That ruke only comes into effect when there are 2 enemy characters less than 10 wounds as the closest units. Then the rule is allowing you to ignore the closest for the other one. This was done to stop people blocking valuable characters with things like a culexus.

 AndrewC wrote:
You're quite right, range restrictions and LoS isn't removed, however they do have the restriction of only targeting the closest visible unit. That is the only unit they can fire at. Which means that they could be restricted to shooting at a target that they are unlikely to wound (though I'm not sure whether there are any T11 units out there, it is GW we're talking about).

Hypothetical. A lone ratling at 5" and out of sight. A character at 10" standing out in the open and a unit of troops at 15". Who does the drone shoot at?

Nobody. The closest visible unit, the character, can't be shot at because he's not the closest unit; the restriction on shooting characters still applies. He can't shoot the unit of troops at 15" because it's not the closest visible unit.

If you have multiple restrictions on shooting, all restrictions apply. This means that if you are told that if you shoot you must shoot only at unit x (for whatever restriction), and you have another restriction that prevents you from being able to shoot unit x, then you don't get to shoot. The restriction that you can only shoot at unit x is not permission that you always get to shoot at unit x; any other restrictions like it being out of range, out of sight, or being a character with a unit that's closer to the shooting unit will still apply.