Thursday 20 December 2012

Rules Questioning - Scoutflanking?


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?
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:
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?
How about we roll for it?
Thoughts and feelings on a postcard (the comments).


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