Shooting at independent operating Characters
Most people think characters are protected against shooting and magic by staying within 5 inch of friendly similar-sized or greater troops.
(I will call these the “covering troops” in this article)
From round the mill shooting this is correct there are however some situations that ignore these rules.
It is good to know these situations to exploit them or to avoid them.
1 If you are closer to the character then to any other unit you can shoot it, Fast cavalry and skirmisher troops, especially scouts are very good at getting in a shooting position.
2 If LOS is blocked to the “covering troops” while LOS is maintained to your character he is the closest target and can be shot at.
If there are other enemy troops that can be legally targeted, closer by then the character cannot be shot.
3 Cannons can target anything that is in LOS without targeting restrictions.
4 Even if LOS is blocked to the character the bounce of the cannonball can hit the character behind the screening troops.
5 Any template weapon can hit the character even without targeting him, due to scattering.
6 Your “screening troops” are reduced below the 5 model mark.
7 Your “screening troops” are engaged in close combat, they are no longer a target so closest by target is your character.
8 Terror/Fear causing enemy tried to charge the “screening troops” they fled and left your character out in the open.
9 Spell cast is not a magic missile and is not bound by targeting restrictions.
Heavens or Life lore, do I have to say more? Also other lores have damaging spells that are not magic missiles.
10 Hochland Long Rifle: Empire weapon that can shoot anything in sight, even if you are inside a unit. Single wound weapon.
Where can I find this in the rulebooks?
1,2,6,7,8 BRB page Shooting at Independent characters and Proximity to friendly troops
3 BRB page 122 +Chronicles 2004 Errata page 123 “(Cannons)for this.*
4,5 BRB page 100 “Stone Throwers, Cannons & Characters.”
9 BRB page 142 “Fireballs and other magic missiles”
10 Empire Rulebook page 19
* Errata can also be found at this site :
http://uk.games-workshop.com/warhammerworld/warhammer/chronicles/assets/warhammerrulebook.pdfIt's on the 3th page IIRC
<edited for corrections 9-23-04>