[Epic] Many apologies and (still) a lot of questions

From: Carl Billen <billlenc_at_...>
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 08:52:59 +0100

Hello everyone,

I recently mailed my first entry to the mailing list (Thursday 2nd of
October), but as soon as I mailed it, our firm had tremendous technical
trouble with our mail provider. Our firm wasn't able to receive mail for a
week, and we weren't sure if we could mail anything. I suppose mail mail
got through, but it could be that because of me the mailing list got
polluted with errors. If this was the case, many apologies for the trouble
I've caused. Also sorry to Colen McAlister, because I tried to contact you
because I thought I did something wrong (I didn't know that it was our
provider's fault), and it could be that I polluted your mail too.

However, starting of today, I can receive mail again (I found this morning
a lot of mails from Tyler Provick from the list), so I can read all the
interesting stuff from the list.

And now comes the stupid bit :
Last Thursday I sent a mail called 'A lot of questions' with (of course) a
lot of questions. As I don't know if it ever appeared on the list or not,
I will suppose that it appeared, and that many kind souls have answered
these questions. However, as I wasn't able to read any mail, I couldn't
read any answers to my questions :-(. If any questions have already been
answered, could anyone please resend the answers ? It may be via the list
itself or my mail address below.

If the questions never appeared on the list, please ignore the previous
paragraph. If they did appear on the list, note that three questions have
been added...

My Original mail went as follows :

I bought Epic 40K a couple of months ago, and I have a lot of questions
regarding the rules.

1) The Assault Spawn of the Tyranids have the Transport(2) ability, which
allows them to transport 2 units of infantry. Is a unit of infantry [a] a
unit is the 'Infantry' section of the 'Tyranid Units Summary' on page 101
of the Armies Book, or [b] a unit which is a stand of 5 figures. This is
important because Hive Tyrants, Lictors, Carnifexes, Zoanthropes and
Biovores are all a single unit on a stand, but they are bigger than the
average unit. However, Biovores are rather small compared the Hive Tyrants
and Carnifexes, I would like to know if the fall into the 'Big Fella'
category as described in the Battles Book (p.104). Furthermore, as
Carnifexes are basically Dreadnoughts, could Dreadnoughts be transported.
Also, what's the use of the 'Big Fella' (suggested house-) rule that only
Transports with capacity 6 can transport these big critters ? (Only the
Space Marines have such a big transport).

2) Blast Marker trouble : I have a detachment with a Land Raider, a Rhino,
a Whirlwind and 2 blast markers. The Rhino and Whirlwind are 10cm behind
theLand Raider, and the Land Raider is the only unit that can fire at the
enemy. When the Land Raider fires at the enemy, does it fire [a] nothing,
as the 2 BM cancel out the 2 anti tank guns, [b] 1 AT-shot, because I split
the fire of my detachment by using the Whirlwind to fire at my (friendly)
Land Raider (or at itself !), creating a 1FP attack that is canceled out by
1 BM, and the second AT-shot is canceled by the second BM, or [c] 2
AT-shots, when my Rhino and Whirlwind are close enough to fit both under
the barrage template in order to create a 2FP attack, which cancels out the
2 BM ? The point is, can a detachment fire at itself in order to lose BMs
? Can the FP of units which cannot fire at the enemy be used to cancel out
the BM-penalty ?

3) Blast Marker trouble, part 2 : A Titan Close combat weapon hase a FP of
4 and a Range of 30cm. [a] Does 1BM cancel out the Close Combat Weapon's
fire (as it is a Super Heavy Weapon) or [b] do you need 4 BM to render the
weapon ineffective ?

4) BM trouble, part 3 : Is the Energy Pulse weapon of the Dominatrix cancel
with [a] 1BM (as it is a single SHW) or [b] 3BM, as each BM cancels out a
single AT-shot.

5) BM trouble, part 4 : Does the Eldar Pulsar cancel D6 BMs, or just 1BM.

6) I think questions 3-5 can be summarised as : If a SHW has a certain FP,
is its canceled out immediately with 1BM, or are as many BMs needed as the
weapon has FP ? But what if the (Titan's) SHW is damaged ? Can it then be
used to cancel the BM penalty ? (I am firing my damaged Heavy Barrage
weapon at that group of infantry, in order to created some FPs...)

7) Flavor question : Rule Book, p.46 (Flyers) : 'After completing each
mission a detachment of flyers must miss its next turn rearming and
refuelling.' Harridans and Gargoyles are biological entites, NOT machines.
 I find it out of character that they have to fly away again (especially
the gargoyles, as they remind me more of Jump-Pack troops than flyers...)

8) Flavor question 2 : When I was painting my SM scouts, I used different
skin tones to create some variation. When I showed the figures to my
friends, they started laughing because there was a negro scout. "We have
never seen that in Warhammer !", they shouted. Which reminds me, have
there ever been negroes (or other human races), been shown in the WH40K
universe ? The Rough Riders of Attila seem to be a bit Oriental, but other
races ? By the way, my Space Marine negro Sergeant looks really cool...
The same goes for women : before the Sisters of Battle and the Necromunda
Escher ladies, women were not to be found. (If you call Daemonettes or
Tzeentch Sorcerers female...)

9) NEW QUESTION : When firing with Land Raiders (and other SHW), do you
have first have to say what you are targeting, or can you just fire 1 AT
shot, roll its result, and then decide where to fire your second shot
according to the result ? (I guess this is something for a house rule)

10) NEW QUESTION : If a unit with a SHW fires when assaulting, you must
roll a D6 to get a lock-on. When my Whirlind is assaulting, do I have to
roll for the lock-on and NOT halve the FP of the barrage template, or do I
automatically fire, but at half FP ?

11) NEW QUESTION : Can an Eldar Heavy Grav Tank Detachment be mixed, e.g. 2
Scorpions and 1 Cobra, or do they have to be of the same kind ?

I think I'll stop asking now, because these questions could already
generate a lot of mail...


I am a really slow painter, because I use at least 4 colours per figure (I
can't help it...), my armies/detachments are rather small. I only painted
400 pts of Space Marines, and now I'm going to paint their opponents ('Nids
or Eldar, I don't know yet), so it will take a while before I will play the
'big' battles of a 1000 pts or more. My opponent (from the shop where I
buy my stuff) already has a 2000+ monocolour army, but I want to make my
troops pretty...

Many greetings,


Carl Billen
billenc_at_...
Received on Thu Oct 09 1997 - 07:52:59 UTC