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Thought I'd pop in for some clarification in a situation that seems to be happening more and more often in my Cities of Death games.

Now skimmers may not enter ruins, but they may fly over them.  The Sensor Spines upgrade may allow them to move into ruins (depending on how you read "ignores terrain").  If a skimmer Tank Shocks into a ruin occupied by several units at different elevations, how is it handled?

My example would be a unit unengaged on the first floor, along with a second unit engaged in close combat on the second floor.  Leaving whether or not it's possible to Tank Shock units in CC out of it, can a Devilfish move the first floor unengaged unit out of the way and park itself underneath the ongoing CC with the second unit (assuming sufficient space to place the model, as models may not occupy the same space)?  What if there's isn't sufficient space to place the model?  Is the Tank Shock aborted?

I suppose that same situation can happen with any Tank Shocking vehicle, as long as it can make its dangerous terrain rolls along the way.  The elevation part of buildings makes it different, as normally you can't pass within 1" of another model, but being higher or lower lets you get around it.  It's just sorta odd when it's a tank doing the moving. 

Wow Bizarre, I have no idea. ?

I am more intrigued by tank shocking a CC? Is that even possible? I won't hijack your thread with it.  Please don't post OT responses to the Tank shock a CC thing, sorry. I'll start a new thread.

It looks like a situation GW has not thought of.

My reading of CoD and Tau Empires was that Sensor Spines allow Tau skimmers to enter wrecked buildings. I put it into my FAQ list I sent to GW back in May -- no answer of course.

I think you would have to choose on which level in the building the skimmer was entering, that way you could choose which unit is getting tank shocked. I don't think the rules cover the situation, but that's how I would resolve it for playability.

The rules for city fight ruins explicitly forbid skimmers from entering or occupiieing city ruins. I believe that in the BGB you will see that Skimmers can normaly enter terain features but take a dagerous terain roll when doing so. They have the option to hover above but that is up to the player. The rules for sensor spines state that "it is counted as moving through the terrain" Since a skimmer can not enter the terain then the sensor spines have no effect.

Unfortunately, there's no rule that skimmers take dangerous terrain rolls when Tank Shocking through terrain. In fact, they "ignore terrain altogether" (BGB, pg61) which makes it rather weird how they Tank Shock at all through trees or whatnot.

Sensor Spines read "...the vehicle does not hover above a terrain feature - instead, it is counted as actually moving through it." Since hovering above really tall buildings tends to attract fire, can a Sensor Spine equipped skimmer be placed above a building, but actually count LOS-wise as being IN the building? And if so, why can't it execute a Tank Shock against ground floor units since it is actually moving through the building? Can a skimmer Tank Shock units on the very top level of a building?

Eh, forget the skimmer part altogether. There's an unengaged squad on the bottom floor and a CC engaged squad on the second floor. I drive my off-roading Basilisk at full speed and stop it smack on top of the unengaged bottom floor squad. The Earthshaker barrel is now firmly planted through the second story close combat. What happens?

Bleah, I'm beginning to think that all vehicles should be banned from moving through buildings except for at ground level. Additionally, maybe the Wreckers stratagem rules should apply, as putting a tank-sized hole through a building sounds like a good reason to have it start coming down. /watches in disbelief as a Hellhound drives up three building levels to the top floor and sprays blazing promethium over a shorter building to hit a squad behind it.