I’ve been confronted with the interpretation of the rules in adventures of the imperium meaning that kindjals ignore shields.
The interpretation hinges on the presence (or lack thereof) of the word “can” in the “as an asset” section of kindjals on page 194 as compared to Blades on the same page.
Aside from any personal interpretations and having scoured all rulebooks and erratas im aware of for anything on this im coming here to ask:
is “kindjals ignore shields” an intended rule by modiphius?
I would point out the Blade also says it can penetrate the shield, the Crysknife says “they are effective weapon against shielded opponents.”
In the Dueling section “Attempting an attack in the same zone as a shield is impossible unless the attack is sufficiently slow-moving (normally from a melee weapon).” They are a defensive asset in the zone they are in.
In the Skirmish rules “Melee attacks against shielded foes increase in Difficulty by +1.” They completely stop ranged attacks.
Any blade can penetrate a shield with the proper technique (represent by the increased difficulty, rather than a complete block on melee attacks).
The whole point of the talent “The Slow Blade” is it reflects the book, that a slow blade penetrates the shield. It allows players to ignore a shield in combat, so with that Talent you can elect to ignore the +1 Difficulty of fighting an opponent with a shield.
The kindjals don’t ignore shields, as you can see in the sparring duel at the beginning of Dune, it isn’t until the right technique is use that the kindjal gets through the shield.