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Several  questions about Tyranid Meiotic Spores ( "aerial spore sacks" ) from Imperial Armour 4.   I think I know how these should work, but I'd like confirmation from the Dakka Brain Trust in case I've missed anything.

Q1:
A Meiotic Spore Sack detonates when it contacts an enemy model.  The opponent chooses to remove casualties from that unit, which do not include the contacted model.  After detonation, a Spore Mine Cluster falls back to earth on the same location as the Meiotic Spore (ie on or in base contact with the enemy model).  What happens?

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Quotes from IA4:
Destruction: If the Meiotic Spore is destroyed by enemy fire, or by self-destructing, then d6-1 bio-acid Spore Mines are thrown out.  Place a Spore Mine on the same spot as the floating spore, thenplace all the remaining Spore Mines in base contact with the first.  These fall back down to earth and act like a normal Spore Mine Cluster.

Self-Destruct:  Meiotic Spores can be detonated during the Tyranid player's shooting phase, or a soon as it comes into contact with an enemy model.  If an enemy model within 2" of a Spore fires a weapon, then it immediately explodes.
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Quotes from the Tyranid FAQ:
Q: If a Spore Mines Cluster deep strikes and lands on an enemy unit or impassable terrain, is it destroyed or does it detonate?
A: It detonates - resolve the barrage in the exactly (sic) same way as you woulde for a cluster fired in the shooting phase.

Q: If my Biovores fire a Spore Mines Cluster on an enemy model and score a hit, the rules say that I should resolve the explosion at the end of the phase.  How does this work?
A: If the cluster lands on an enemy model it detonates immediately, as it would be awkward to have to hold models on top of each other.  In any other case, the cluster explodes at the end of the relevant phase.
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It seems that RAW, no matter how a Meiotic Spore is destroyed, it kicks out d6-1 Spore Mines as a cluster.  Spore Mines are on 25 mm bases, Meiotic Spores are on 40mm bases.

If the Meiotic Spore deepstriked (deepstuck?) directly onto the model, then the first Spore Mine would be placed directly onto the model.  Even if the Meiotic Spore detonated due to moving into base contact, if a 5 or 6 is rolled for the number of Spore Mines in the cluster, it might be impossible to place them without touching the base of the enemy model.

If that happened, I assume that the Spore Mine cluster would immediately detonate.  While I could see cries of 'broken' if this occured (two big detonations in the same phase), it could be avoided  in most cases by the opponent removing the contacted model as a casualty.  Unless it hit dead center on a tight-packed unit.

Thoughts?  DId I miss something here?



Other questions:

According to the Tyranid Codex, whena Spore Mine Cluster detonates:  "resolve it as a normal barrage with a number of [small blast] templates equal to the number of spore mines in that cluster."

Q2:
I assume that the writers meant to say it was resolved as a 'salvo' as per the barrage rules?  I don't see any other way to read it.

Q3:
Although the Spore Mine rules don't explicitly state that they are Pinning, all barrage weapons are pinning according to the 4th ed. codex. So a Spore Mine Cluster is a pinning weapon, even if it drifts into contact as well as if it lands directly on an enemy unit (either by deepstrike or as a result of a Meiotic Spore detonation)?


According to the Tyranid FAQ, bio-acid Spore Mines always roll 2d6+3 to penetrate vehicle armour, even if the hole of the blast template is not over the vehicle in question  "because they do not use their basic strength and apply a special rule instead". 

Q4:  I assume that this applies to Meiotic Spores as well: they roll 2d6+5 for vehicle penetration no matter what part of the large blast touches the vehicle?


Thanks for any input!

It appears that you have the rules 100% correct.

 

Posted By Strangelooper on 11/12/2006 10:39 AM
Several  questions about Tyranid Meiotic Spores ( "aerial spore sacks" ) from Imperial Armour 4.   I think I know how these should work, but I'd like confirmation from the Dakka Brain Trust in case I've missed anything.

Q1:
A Meiotic Spore Sack detonates when it contacts an enemy model.  The opponent chooses to remove casualties from that unit, which do not include the contacted model.  After detonation, a Spore Mine Cluster falls back to earth on the same location as the Meiotic Spore (ie on or in base contact with the enemy model).  What happens?

FYI, I emailed Warwick these exact questions (along with a bunch of regular spore mine related questions). He forwarded the spore mine related questions to Phil Kelly (who funnily enough gave answers that contradicted the Tyranid FAQ that came out the very next day). He either forgot or chose not to respond to the questions relating direclty to the Meiotic mines (which are pretty much what you've posted here). I think you should send these in to Warwick again. My thought is that he simply forgot to respond to part of the email.

Anyway, as for Q1, you seem to have missed the Forgeworld IA4 FAQ. I can't quote directly from it since the Forgeworld download seems to be offline right now and my local copy is saved on my computer at home.

But I'll paraphrase. The only question regarding Meiotic spores in the FAQ states that the Bio-Acid mines kicked out after a Meiotic spore explodes don't "activate" until the following turn. The point being that the secondary mines aren't supposed to go off immediately after the Meiotic blows up.

The problem with this ruling is that in reality (as you pointed out) if the mines end up sitting on top of an enemy model, or worse are charged during that same turn by enemy models do they not explode? It makes no sense and leads to funky gameplay.

What I've been doing is this: If the resulting Bio-Acid cluster must end up on top of an enemy model (I have no choice) then it immediately goes off). Otherwise, I make every effort to keep the cluster off of enemy models and it doesn't detonate until the following turn unless it happens to already be the enemy's turn and they shoot within 2" of the cluster or charge it (then I ignore the FAQ and have the cluster explode).

I too, see no other way to read this issue.

I agree with your assesment but it might irk some players who aren't used to it. You may want to bring it up with your opponents ahead of time.

I also agree with this. The Meiotic entry says: "Due to their Bio-Acid" or something similar which pretty much makes it clear that they are giant Bio-Acid mines. Due to the general slopiness of the rules, we kind of have to make some assumptions and I think this is a rather safe one.

 

Again, I'd implore you to send these questions to Warwick at:

imperialarmour@games-workshop.co.uk.

 

Thanks Yak and Cuda!

I will email these questions to the forgeworld guy.

Cheers,

I have a follow up question to the bio acid mines not exploding on their own until the next turn. What about using synapse to detonate them? Is that a feasible tactic to get them all to explode at once?

Capt K

Well, the Forgeworld IA4 FAQ says:

7. Q: When a Meiotic spore explodes and sheds its additional Spore mines, do they also explode immediately?
A: They will only explode in the next turn, otherwise once a squad has been attack by an exploding Meiotic spore, it will immediately be attacked again by the following spore mines. A turn should pass before the spore mines become active.



So by the (poorly thought out) RAW the Bio-Acid cluster shouldn't explode by any means on the turn the Meiotic blows.

However, like I said, that makes for a whole lot of strange situations, so I ignore the FAQ in cases where it makes sense.

Yeah that FAQ contradicts what is written in the Tyranid Codex regarding spores...meh...10 beers...

Capt K

Just received an answer from Warwick on the main question.

Not the interpretation I would have liked (2nd explosion on the same turn!) but it *is* consistent with the Q&A. The implication is that the spore mine models act as a 'marker' until the next turn, indicating where the actual mines will eventually come down.

-S

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OK, that's an involved question.

Q1
I refer you to the Q and A for IA4, that states that the spore mines shed by
an exploding meiotic spore will not explode in the same turn as the first
explosion. Assume they are still floating down, or re-grouping. A turn must
pass, so the spore cluster will drift off, then explode. This should solve
the problem.

Try to avoid placing them in contact with enemy, if it must be so, then the
contacted model is still free to move et as normal.

Hope that helps


Warwick Kinrade
Imperial Armour Editor
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