Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Rule of the Day - Chars. on Flying Beasts in Units

Rule of the Day 04/06/2011

This is not directly a written rule but rather a change from 7th edition, though I think it is an important one.

pg. 70 - Fly
Pg. 83 - Monstrous Cavalry
Pg. 85 - Monstrous Beasts
pg. 97 - Characters

The above pages contain all of the rules needed to understand this change.

In 7th edition, there was a rule that characters could never join units while mounted on a flying creature.

There are lots of rules now dictating what units a character can & can't join, but being on a flying monstrous beast is no longer one of them.
Can't Join Monsters
Can't join Flying Units
Can't Join Chariot Units
Can't join Swarms
Can't Join War Machines
Can't Join units when riding a monster or if he is a monster

Who benefit from this? Elves that can ride great eagles and Dark Pegasi. Humans can ride pegasi so could also benefit. Lizards that can ride terradons.

I think that covers it. Full Credit where credit is due here - I didn't realize this change until I read a battle report on TheWarhammerForum by Ben Curry from the Bad Dice Podcast where he used this tactic.

He put the unkillable DE Lord on a Dark Peg in a unit of Spears, also with the crown of command. This guy was able to charge out and basically lock down any unit with Stubborn 10 (likely re-rollable) or kill mages / war machines, etc... Lots of utility here. He doesn't get a Look out Sir, but you actually would prefer enemies shoot him instead of the unit (given his un-killablyness).

This is probably the single best of this unit as the magic items available make the elf hard (if not impossible) to kill. But don't let that stop you from trying it!

Just another tool to consider when building your list.

Cheers!
Domus

9 comments:

Unknown said...

This screws the Brets as they need the General on a Royal Peg to field the RAF and they must take a BSB but they can't join units!

Domus said...

Matt - The General can't join pegasus units but there isn't anything stopping you from putting him into a Lance, or a peasant infantry unit.

Unknown said...

Yeah but I want to field all fliers! I guess you could put him as the fourth guy in the front rank of Lance. Not sure I'm sold on the Lance formation anymore for anything but Grail Knights (because of their 2 attacks). I.E. in a 5x2 you get 10 Lance hits and 5 horse hits but with a 3x3 Lance formation you get 7 Lance hits and 7 horse hits (assuming no champ). But I digress

Anonymous said...

Discs of Tzeentch profit from this, too, and the rider even gets a LoS! for his troubles in mounted barbs and knights ... :)

Domus said...

Nice!

Also - Alex Gonzalez just told me skink chiefs on terradons could join terradon unit via their special rule. A rule that I had totally forgotten.

Milo said...

Do they have to move at their ground movement speed when they join foot troops?

Domus said...

Milo - A unit always moves at the same rate as the slowest model, so when the unit moves, charges flees or pursues, always use the lowest movement characteristic and rules of the slowest troop type. pg 99

The flying rules have some interesting language about units that are all flyers can choose to use ground move or fly move to charge.

My guess is ground move when moving with the unit and Fly or Ground when charging out. But that's just a guess.

Cheers,
Domus

Hashut's Blessing said...

"Can't Join units when riding a monster or if he is a monster"

This is the problem with your suggestion. A Flying Monstrous Beast is still a monster, surely? Ergo, they wouldn't be able to join a unit, unless it was a single wound, flying mount?

Or is it that it specifically states Monster, rather than Monstrous Beast/Cavalry/Infantry? In which case, that's an odd oversight, lol.

Domus said...

Hashut - A monstrous beast is not a monster (pg 85).

The character rules specify monster (pg 97).

Not sure if its an oversight or intentional but I like it!