[Xantrael]

Okay guys, question for you. I ran a few searches and did not see this come up, so here goes: My friend and I reread the rules like 4 times.. the 7ed rule for killing blow says nothing of roughly man-sized characters that I saw or recall.. The only restriction is that the model has unit strength 2 or fewer. My question is as follows:

A high elf repeater bolt thrower, by the unit strength chart, has unit strength of 2. Does this mean that killing blow can be used against the machine itself in the case of Wood Elf waywatchers shooting at the unit? Does not seem to add up in my book, but I cannot find anything that explicitly speaks to the contrary, unless I have some fundamental misunderstanding here. I am new, so please, go easy on me Thanks

 

[Phoenix]

That is a strange one lol. The US2 or less is uned to cover Cavalry and the likes. Unfortunately i dont have a rulebook on me to check, but im looking forward to hear what Rork has to say on this one.

 

[Esgalisil]

Mmmmmmm bit confusing this one.

I've just had a quick look through both the rule books and in the 6th edition one there is a whole passage on how Killing Blow can only be used against roughly man sized models and is not effective against Dragons, Ogres, Swarms or similar models. It could also be used on mounted models as long as the rider was of roughly man size......however in the new 7th edition rules this entire passage has been removed and replaced with the one stipulation that it can only be used on a model of unit strength 2 or lower.

I must admit that I hadn't noticed the change and have still been playing with the rules as they were before.

I would think that it still has to be used on a living thing after all Killing Blow was always meant to represent that someone/thing was so powerful that no matter how many wound someone had they could still be sliced in half in one blow. Just doesn't seem right a Both Thrower or Catapult etc suffering from Killing Blow. No real reasoning behind this other than it wouldn't fit right with the fluff.

The only other thing I can really think of is that since the 6th edition came out an entire army of Ogre's has been released which was never the case before so maybe GW didn't want an entire army to be able to withstand KB. I'm just guessing here but who know with GW.

Sorry no definite answer but I think unless someone comes up with a total answer or we get an erata, which I guess will be a while, or someone says different at the next tournament I answer I wil be sticking to what I know.

 

[ketter]

The only other thing I can really think of is that since the 6th edition came out an entire army of Ogre's has been released which was never the case before so maybe GW didn't want an entire army to be able to withstand KB.

Uh, all Ogres are unit strength 3. Pretty much the entire army is immune to killing blow.

 

[mpdscott]

Just doesn't seem right a Both Thrower or Catapult etc suffering from Killing Blow. No real reasoning behind this other than it wouldn't fit right with the fluff.

On the other hand, the important thing you have to remember about war machines like catapults and bolt throwers, is that they have a primary component (throwing arm, bow, etc) that works because it is places under extremely high tension. If this primary component is damaged severely enough, it can not only prevent the war machine from working, it can cause the war machine to fail in a catastrophic way.

For example, if the throwing arm of a catapult is damaged when there is a boulder is in the throwing cup - it will shatter sending rather large splinters into everything around it.

Essentially, you need to think of Killing Blow on war machines as damaging the primary component, even if you don't kill the crew, it is no longer usable.

 

[DavidWC09]

Good question. It may come down to a house rule. Myself, I'd say no just because it seems silly to me, though mpdscott makes a good case for it.

 

[Xantrael]

Hey, thanks for the replies. I'm glad it isn't just me that finds this to be a bit of a conundrum. I will either give a call or send an email to GW to see what their ruling is on this. I would tend to lean toward a no, though I really do like the argument for maintaining that KB is applicable, for a few reasons:


The most obvious of which are the 6ed rules and the fluff. Furthermore I would lean toward the judgment that KB will NOT work against a bolt thrower is that the bolt thrower model itself has 3 wounds. But hey, if I come across anything I will be sure to post it here. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Rork]

Waywatchers couldn't inflict a killing blow since a six to wound would have no effect (S3 cannot hurt T7).

More generally I'd say you couldn't killing blow a war machine. It's not man-sized!

 

[buckero0]

killing blow does not work on warmachines or chariots. 1. These are inanimate objects. 2. The warmachine has 3 wounds. 3 the unit strength of 2 refers to the warmachine crew not the actual machine. In combat, you can't allocate attacks on the warmachine itself. With Waywatchers lethal shot all hits against the machine (after randomization) are thrown out because str 3 can't hurt T7 anyway.

 

[DavidWC09]

I thought you could choose to attack a war machine; it's just that it's kind of pointless to do so.

 

[Phoenix]

Indeed you can, and as its WS0, you automatically hit. So if your Str is high enough you have a pretty good chance of hurting it.

 

[timk1111]

Gday,

Ive been trying to find this in the rules, and all I come with is this.

The warmachine doesn't have a sperate unit strength (the US of the crew is all thats used) and so, as it's impossible to determine whether it even has >US2, so is impossible to killing blow.

I think of like trying to divide a number by 0 on your calculator. the answer is 'error'.

Regards, Tim