Alrighty folks, today I
want to bring up a rules query, now it might not seem like a big deal
but it’s something that came up last weekend and I wanted to touch
on it.
Before we go on I just
want to say that this has been debated a fair bit in other corners of
the internet but I just wanted to sound out my thoughts and see if
anyone has any comments on it.
The topic is to do with
our lovely, and now in triplicate, flying machines, the Vendetta and
Valkyrie, the question is: Can they Outflank?
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| This, I did not paint. |
I’ll start off by
setting the Scene and gathering all the facts, no opinions yet.
The Codex Entry, which
has been amended by the FAQ:
Type: Flyer (Hover,
Transport).
Special Rules: Deep
Strike, Scout, Grav Chute Insertion
Now we need to know
what the BRB says about Scout:
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| The Tome of Wisdom |
SCOUT
This rule also
confers the Outflank special rule.
And what does Outflank
do?
OUTFTANK
The best way to
surprise an enemy is to strike from an unexpected quarter.
During deployment,
players can declare that any unit that contains at least one model
with this special rule is attempting to Outflank the enemy. This
means they are making a wide sweeping move to get behind enemy lines
or come at the foe from an unexpected direction.
When an Outflanking
unit arrives from Reserves, but not Ongoing Reserve, the controlling
player rolls a D6: on a I -2, the unit comes in from the table edge
to the left of their controlling player's own table edge; on a 3-4,
they come on from the right; on a 5-6, the player can choose left or
right. Models move onto the table as described for other Reserves.
So after looking all
that it’s pretty clear, they can, right, now this is what has
shaken things up, a Q&A in the Imperial Guard FAQ:
Q:
What effect, if any, does the Scout special rule have on a Valkyrie
or Vendetta? Will this allow it to enter play in Turn 1 by
redeploying 6"onto the board? (p56)
A: It
has no effect.
So, time for opinions.
The main thing here is to interpret this question. It’s a two part
with one answer.
Now if it was:
Q:What
effect, if any, does the Scout rule have on a Valkyrie or Vendetta?
A: It
has no effect.
We’d be safe to
assume that the scout rule has no effect, but does this stop the
outflank rule being granted completely from the scout rule, let’s
assume it does, this is basically removing the Scout rule from the
Unit entry completely. Now GW have shown, through other FAQs, that if
a rule no longer applies it will be removed from the units entry by
FAQ.
Q:
Will this allow it to enter play in Turn 1 by redeploying 6"onto
the board? (p56)
A: It
has no effect.
If we treat this as the
question, aside from some off wording, we assume that that you can’t
perform these shenanigans, and fair enough.
The problem is it’s a
two part question and has just one answer, with the use of the word
effect in the answer it looks as if they are answering the question
as a whole and not allowing the 6” move for sure, but what about
scout in general?
What it comes down to
is: Scout confers Outflank, does the statement of “it has no
effect” mean that scout has no effect but the USR still confers
outflank or is it in effect saying “remove scout from the unit
type”?
I’d like to think,
because it’s better for me, and with the precedence set for other
rule removals, that this is simply clearing up that scout does
nothing for the Vendettas other than give them outflank, i.e: no 6”
moves on turn one. If they didn't want us to have the rule, why
leave it in at all, why not just remove the Scout entry?
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| How about we roll for it? |
