Leadership

Q. Escorts are always fielded in squadrons, so should Leadership be rolled seperately for every ship in the squadron or is a single roll made to determine leadership for the entire squadron?

A. In the case of escort squadrons just one roll is made for the squadron’s leadership.

Q when do you make the decision to place ships in squadrons - when the fleet is chosen, the leaderships rolled for, the table set up or what?

A. Escorts must be placed in squadrons when they are chosen from the fleet list. Capital ships are placed in squadrons after leadership has been rolled for individual ships but before they are deployed on the tabletop.

Q. Does a ship stop moving if it rams something?

A. No, the ship continues to move whether it hits or not. This avoids the whole ‘battleship being brought to a halt by an escort thing’ and, for the velocities and momentums invlolved, prevents anything too outrageous happening - most rams are going to be pretty much ‘glancing’ hits which do a few points of damage.

Q. Can lances split their strength between multiple targets?

A. Yes, although remember the target priority rules mean a Leadership test will need to be passed in order to target anything other than the closest enemy ship or squadron.

Q. Do the target priority rules apply to nova cannon shots?

A. Yes, although targets which are within the 30cm minimum range can be ignored (if in doubt get your opponent to check this for you while you look the other way).

Q. Can you use a command reroll if you roll a double for reloading Ordnance?

A Yes, even if the double rolled would normally be a success against the ship’s Leadership.

Q. Exactly what special orders cause a ships ordnance armament to be at half effect?

A. Just the Brace for Impact special order. All ahead full, Come to new heading and Burn retros do not halve ordnance (However note that being crippled does halve ordnance armament too).

Q When are ordnance attacks resolved within the ordnance phase?

A. Once a player has moved all of his ordnance conduct any attacks for markers which make base contact with enemy ships. Note that it is often convenient to interrupt the movement of torpedoes in order to calculate their effects so you know the resulting salvo size that carries through to potentially attack other ships. Once the phasing player completes his ordnance moves and attacks the other player then makes their ordnance moves and attacks.

Q. When do hit and run attacks from boarding torpdoes or assault boats take effect?

A. Hit and run attacks from boarding torpedoes and assault boats are conducted in the Ordnance phase but do not take effect until the End Phase.

Q What happens when a wave of attack craft is hit by long range fire, does it simply lose a singe marker or is the whole wave removed?

A. The entire wave is removed.

Q. If enemy ordnance moves into my fighter markers can I choose not to intercept that ordnance in favour of waiting for a juicier target later on? For that matter could ordnance choose not to attack a ship which moved into contact with it during the movement phase?

A. No in both cases. I imagine ordnance to have exceedingly short range detection systems which mean they are normally guided towards their target by other ships, inspired navigation, gut feeling and so on. This, along with their limited fuel and ammunition, means that they will seize on ‘targets of opportunity’ as soon as they are available. If this seems inefficient read up on some World War 2 carrier battles and you’ll soon see what I mean!

Q. If enemy fighters are on a ships base can I move attack craft ‘round the back’ of the ship to make an attack without touching the fighters and getting intercepted?

A. No, if a fighter marker is on a ships base it is considered to be in close support of that vessel and will intercept an incoming ordnance marker as soon as it contacts the ships base. Note that the intercept is made before defensive fire from the turrets is resolved.

Q. Do holofields give a saving throw against Nova cannon hits? If so do you just make one saving throw against all D6 hits, or a saving throw against each hit individually?

A. Make one saving throw against the D6 hits, either the Nova cannon gunners were fooled by the Eldar holofield and dropped the round in the wrong place, or they weren’t.

Q. Do Eldar receive a holofield save against exploding ships, solar flares and other ‘natural’ damage?

A. Nope, a good rule of thumb to use with holofield saving throws is that they will work against attacks which must be targeted at the Eldar ship (including boarding, hit and run attacks, ramming for example) but not against ‘natural events’ like ships exploding.

Q Can Eldar ships attempt to ram?

A. No, they cannot use all ahead full orders and would find such an inelegant tactics horribly primitive in any case.

Q. Does an Eldar ship on Lock On orders get to reroll to hit with Pulsars on just the first shot, or every shot (presuming the one before scored a hit)?

A. It may reroll to hit with each shot, but remember that if you miss, reroll for the first shot and then miss again no further shots are fired

Q. In the Exterminatus scenario (Scenario 9) is the Exterminator ship a free extra vessel or modified from one of the ships in the attackers fleet?

A. It is modified from one (or more) of the ships in the attackers fleet.