So my anticipation got the best of me and I mocked up “The Missile” scenario out of the AI handbook using W40k models (accurate base size), index cards, and the card selection from the pre-order e-mail a while back. Had a few questions come up that I wanted to clarify/verify I played correctly…
#1
Sole Survivor in power armor; is in the Survivor faction and is Unique so gains the +2 armor boost token. Survivor was hit for 4 physical damage, failed the armor roll, so damage was reduced to 2 due to the armor boost, armor boost was flipped to the +1 side, and the remaining 2 damage went onto the power armor. Correct?
#2
Dogmeat moves as first action then charges as second action into CC with Enslaved Tech, Dogmeat chooses the +1 black die charge bonus. Next round Dogmeat activates and attacks the Enslaved Tech, uses the bonus black die, blue die comes up Star indicating a gained Action Point. The Enslaved Tech is defeated in that first attack. Dogmeat uses the gained Action Point to Charge into CC with a Super Mutant that was within range and also currently engaged with Sole Survivor, Dogmeat again chooses bonus black die for charge bonus. Dogmeat’s 2nd action for this turn is then to attack the Supermutant using the bonus black die and gaining a bonus green die for outnumbering the opponent.
This is how I played it anyway and it was pretty stellar (SM dropped to 2 health from full and also gained a broken arm). If Dogmeat had rolled another Action Point on that second attack, I assume he’d gain yet another AP to use for either Prepare or Move/Charge? There was a lot going on in this situation and just wanted to verify I didn’t miss anything.
#3
Didn’t come up in my game but I saw a similar question on another forum… If Sole Survivor is within shooting distance from a Deathclaw which is itself engaged in CC with a Supermutant whose model is directly opposite from the Sole Survivor (i.e. Deathclaw is directly in between), and the Survivor shoots into that melee, the Survivor gets +2 skill for shooting into melee. Sole Survivor hits and the Super Mutant was randomly assigned to be the one hit, does the Super Mutant gain +1 Armor due to the intervening Deathclaw?
Hi. Good questions. Sounds like you’ve got an excellent understanding of the rules already.
#1 - Almost correct. You’re correct except the rules say that armor boost icons do not add on to power armor. (Page. 21: Armor Boost icons are additional to other Strong Armor bonuses a model may have, but cannot be applied to other sources of armor for a model, such as Power Armor.) In the case you mention, Sole Survivor gains no benefit from those armor boost tokens whilst wearing the power armor - being hit by an attack would still remove one of the tokens though.
#2 - Yes, you’re right in how you played it. Dogmeat’s Charge using the action point would have been one color shorter than usual as any actions from action points are Quick Actions (which I expect is what you did). One thing you mentioned that’s not quite right is that a model can only use each action point use icon (APUI) once per activation, so if Dogmeat got another AP on the second attack they could not spend it on the Move/Charge APUI as that was already used this activation - but Dogmeat could spend it to Prepare as that APUI has not been used. (The one time a model does not gain Action Points is if they are generated during a Quick Action.)
#3 - The relative positions of models are not important for cover purposes after they’ve been hit - the effects of cover are based on the target that was shot at, as a shot into close combat still targets one of the models in the close combat, not the close combat as a whole. (In what I write next, I assume there is no cover between the shooter and the two models in close combat.) If the target was the Deathclaw, whoever gets damaged does not get an armor increase of 1 because the original shot was not affected by cover. If the target was the Super Mutant, whoever gets damaged does get an armor increase of 1 because the original shot was affected by the cover of the intervening Deathclaw. (Something to remember on this topic is models in close combat which the shooter has no LoS to are not included in the potential models that could be hit randomly - shown in the diagram on page 26.)
Out of interest, what was the forum #3 was on? I’ve not seen that question before and it’s good to know where people are asking questions about the rules.
Huh, I must’ve played #2 wrong then. I thought Action Points could only be spent after the two regular actions were done? Or did I get the explanation wrong?
Played the armor token/power armor situation wrong as well, thanks for bringing (and clearing) that up you two
#1a Good to know that the strong armor from armor boost still degrades even though it was not “used” per se. If I recall right there was also a part in the Power Armor section that allows the player the choice of using Power Armor during damage resolution? IF that is true and this same situation repeated and I chose NOT to use the power armor, then the damage would be reduced to 2 from the power boost and Survivor would take two wounds but the Power Armor itself would not be damaged? That really makes for an interesting option if also fighting against enemies that you have “natural” weak armor against such as radiation… save the power armor for those hits instead.
Regarding Survivor faction armor boost again, I gave that +2 to Dogmeat as well… survivor and unique. Didn’t see a reason NOT to but seemed odd for some reason.
#2a I forgot to reduce the color band by one, it was irrelevant in this particular case but a good reminder regardless. The Prepare, Quick Action, Reaction, Triggers, and the relation to symbols at lower left of the cards really threw me for a loop for a while. Glad to hear this played out correctly (this time). Like I mentioned, this seemed like such a remarkable set of events that I thought I may have overplayed the AP system somehow.
#3a A similar question was posed on DakkaDakka, I modified it a bit so it wasn’t the shooter firing through a friendly model.
Thanks again for the rapid and detailed responses!
A model can spend their action points at any time during their activation, so you could use the first action to shoot, use an AP to Move as a quick action (if the model has the Movement action point use icon) and then use the second action to shoot.
No problem. You’re right that you could choose to take the armor ratings from your unit card instead of the power armor card (as you can choose one or the other) and using those would allow you to use the armor boost tokens. For Sole Survivor who has 3 physical armor on their Unit card and starts with 2 Armor Boost tokens, they would have 3+2 Armor versus the first attack. (No matter what source of armor they chose, one of the Armor Boost tokens gets removed after each hit.)
Note that the card used for the armor ratings is set at the start of the model’s activation (p. 21), so you can not change which card sets the power armor’s armor rating when attacked. (The other abilities of the power armor remain in effect - it’s only the source of armor ratings that is affected by this.)
If I understood the rules correctly, the Knight’s ability is only relevant if I field him without power armour? Doesn’t feel right, so maybe I’m understanding it wrong?
The Knight doesn’t automatically come with power armor as part of their Unit card so it’s more a case of the ability is less useful if they are given power armor. You’re right that with power armor it’s less useful as the extra +1 Strong Armor Bonus token does not stack with the +1 Strong Armor of power armor. (The Hard ability reflects their determination rather than anything physical.)
A model can select where it gets its base armor ratings from at the start of its activation, so a model wearing Power Armor could choose to get its base armor ratings from its Unit card rather than the Power Armor and then it could use the strong armor tokens. For a Knight, it is usually better to use their Power Armor rating but there are situations for models that can make a difference for some models. Once selected, a model can not change the source of its armor rating until the start of its next activation.
Note that even if the model is using the ratings from their Power Armor, they still discard a Strong Armor Bonus token each time they are hit whether it is part of an armor roll or not.
Thanks for the reply As the Knight’s base armor is only 2, I can’t think of any situation where it might be preferable and the token be actually used. Could you give me an example?
It is 2+1 with the armor boost which is better than 2… unless you mean why would you never wear power armor? Probably in games with caps limits and you can’t afford power armor for every unit.
It’s not likely the +1 from Hardy ability will be better for a Knight in Power Armor, but there are situations for some models.
Sole Survivor starts with two +1 tokens so when wearing Power Armor a player may prefer to use their unit card’s armor rating with +2 compared to the Power Armor.
Also, a Knight with degraded Power Armor that gains a Strong Armor Bonus token later in a a game from some source (like a Boost or Food) may prefer to use their own armor rating with the +1 than the Power Armor’s reduced rating.
Thank you again for your response, and sorry if I am being annoying here, but in the last two posts you wrote “usually” and “not likely”. I thought if I just think about it more and go through the rules again I could find a case (honestly, your statement has made me quite curious to find those edge cases), but I can’t find anything. Would you mind sharing one (or the?) instance where it would be useful?
Edit: Oh and I mean specifically for the Knight, as I’m trying to understand how I can get use out of his special ability
No problem. Here’s an example: if a Knight (who has physical armor 2 on their Unit card) had an item that increased their physical armor by 2 (such as the Army Helmet), they would have physical armor 4. If the Knight had an Armor Boost token too then that would give them 4+1 armor (dropping to just 4 after an attack hits them). So, a Knight may prefer to use their own armor rating than use the 3+1 of the (not degraded) power armor.
(A Knight doesn’t automatically come with T-60 power armor so the Armor Boost token is much more useful if not wearing T-60.)
Piggy-backing onto the power armor discussion, something that I seem to be missing is the reason for the distinction that power armor can only be used by single model units. As I understand it there really isn’t a difference between having three unit cards with single models per unit all equipped the same (and therefore able to each have power armor) and having a single unit card with three models all equipped the same but unable to wear power armor. Is the intention that units a player can field are limited by the physical copies of unit cards a player has? That doesn’t seem correct either…
The main reason that cards like Power Armor, Chems and Alcohol are for single-model units only is because their cards show a specific status which may not be the same for every model. For example, a Unit with 3 models and T-60 Power Armor where one model’s T-60 is degraded (so would be turned round 180 degrees) whilst the other two models are not degraded yet could not be shown by a single card. Chems and Alcohol are similar as the card is placed to show the remaining number of columns and this would not work with one card if one model had just taken a chem (so had three columns showing), whilst another model took it two rounds ago (so had just one round left and would only have one column showing) - one card could not show that simultaneously.
The cards used in the Battle Mode force lists (so Units, weapons, equipment in these lists) will be available for download soon, so players can print out duplicates of those cards. So, if you want 3 models in Power Armor then you’ll be able to have the extra cards. For now, if your opponent agrees, you could use one T-60 card for all of them and track whose armor is in what state separately.
By the way, there is almost no difference between three models equipped the same using one Unit card and equipment, compared to three Unit cards each with the same equipment. (I designed the game to be capable of both so it could give individual loadouts for experienced players, but also deliver simplicity and minimize components so it was more accessible for newer players.) However, there is one small difference. If a unit consists of multiple models and is equipped with a limited use item, such as three grenades or one stimpak, any of the models in that unit could use those items - they are not allocated to a specific model (they’re always just where you need them) - which gives more flexibility. If units are single-model units then you don’t have that option, but then they can can have different loadouts and use some items that multiple-model units can’t like power armor and chems too.
This answered some great questions I had. I know there’s a FAQ document out there but I think some of these examples should be added.
If you don’t mind I’d like to piggyback off the questions here to ask my own:
Am I correct in that only heroic models can actually gain and use crits? I haven’t seen all of the perk cards yet so I don’t know what else actually adds the crit symbol to someone, but reading the rules makes it seem like you need that symbol - and not just a weapon that can crit.
You understand it the same way I do; you need that crit symbol in order for that unit to gain crit tokens. That crit symbol can appear on unit cards, ability cards, and the heroic card.
Yes, it is correct. Unless the Crit Icon is on some card attached to the model (which, as far as I know, only the heroic card currently shows), that model can’t use it. Same for the luck icon.
We’ve established a house rule, however, that models gain a crit token whenever they roll that icon on the white die. Very rarely does that allow a normal model to crit, but when it does, it feels epic and well earned.
