Living Artillery Node

[drranek]

Hey guys,

A couple questions I was hoping you could help with in relation to the Living Artillery Node formation.

1) In relation to the re-rolling the scatter dice special rule: Does this apply to both the direction roll and distance rolls (I.e. if rerolling you have to reroll both and follow the second result) or just the direction roll? On the same topic, can each subsequent direction roll be rerolled as part of the biovore barrage?

2) How do you typically run your tyranid warrior brood? I'm currently using 2 devourers and a BS (which I think is fairly standard). However the VC would seem to offer some appeal due to its increased accuracy and pinning abilities gained under the formation rule (believe BS has this as standard)

3) As the formation reroll buff only applies within 12" of the warriors, do you typically tie them to the biovores, exocrine or both? Would seem to me the it may be beneficial for the biovores to hang back out of line of sight while the exocrine advances, forcing a choice. Any tips on keeping the warriors out of harms way or maximising surivability? A venomthrope and obscuring the unit behind the exo would seem like a decent option for 3+ cover. On a related note the rule book appears unclear on whether a 25% obscurity is required for intervening units to provide a save (just refers to units being partially obscured).

Thanks in advance!

R

[gigasnail]

1) this is up for some debate. scatter dice is defined in the book as just the directional dice, but the book was written by brits that uses dice/die interchangably, and folks in the states argue that dice is plural, so obviously must mean all the dice. clear as mud.

2) VC or BS are both good, especially TL/pinning b/c of the formation, and with the changes to blasts in 7th hitting everything under the marker in ruins (i.e. not just one level). i use VC myself.

3) venomthrope/malanthrope + ruins/rubble and/or out of LoS behind a bastion all work.

[WestRider]

1) I would also note that in all previous cases where GW worded something like this and then it got FAQed, the FAQ said re-roll all the dice.

[Yautja]

2) I think VC sounds like a nicer option as the BS has pinning by default so you're not enjoying any added benefit from it.

[Freeman]

I always run my warriors at 110pts with a BStrangler and two death spitters. The death spitters consistently do work for me.

[creatureboi]

1) as mentioned above, the re roll thing is not very clear. Looking through the BRB: p11 defines re-roll. It says "pick up the dice you wish to re-roll, and roll IT again" (my emphasis). That implies it is talking about dice singular, AKA a die. It goes on to say "if you re-roll a 2D6 or 3D6 roll, you must re-roll all the dice".

However, p12 defines scatter. It says "roll A scatter dice" (a die) "and 2D6". It is referred to as a "scatter dice" throughout that section. The implication is that when a rule talks about using scatter dice it means just the single die with the arrow symbols.

The above suggests that when a rule tells you to re- roll the scatter dice, what it actually means is "re-roll the scatter DIE".

Contrast this with the twin-linked rule on p174. It states that if a blast weapon has the twin-linked rule then "if the scatter dice does not roll a hit, you can choose to re-roll the dice... You must re-roll both the 2D6 and the scatter dice".

This suggests that in fact the scatter die and the 2D6 are separate. If the living artillery rule intended that you re-roll both the scatter and 2D6 it would simply say "all blast weapons in the formation have the "Twin- linked" special rule" or words to that effect. That if course assumes some level of consistent and logical thinking on the part of GWs rules writing team...

The question about re-rolling the subsequent barrage blasts is interesting. It doesn't seem to be addressed in the rules for multiple barrages on p160. In fact there is no mention of re- rolling scatter anywhere except the twin- linked rule. My instinct would say you can't re- roll the barrage scatters as that just seems too good to be true but there's nothing I can find in the BRB to support either proposition.

2) I'm currently running with 3 warriors. Two bare bones the other with barbed strangler. I'd like to take the deathspitters but the purpose of this unit is purely to stay back and give the formation special rule to the exocrine and biovores so I want to keep it as cheap as possible. Most of the time the non-bio cannon weapons won't be in range anyway so there's not much point spending the extra points on upgrading the basic weapons they come with. I have been thinking about swapping out the strangler for a venom cannon though for pretty much the same reasons you stated.

3) I try to cover both the exocrine and biovores. The range of the warriors effect is 12". That gives them a 24" diameter bubble in which you can place the biovores and exocrine. Because of the range differential I tend to put the warriors as far forward as possible, hiding in whatever terrain is available. A friendly Venomthrope usually keeps them company. I then place the biovores further back, behind whatever terrain the warriors are standing in and out of LOS where possible, and with at least 1 model in the venomthropes protective bubble. The exocrine will then deploy alongside the warriors or further forward if there is room and adequate terrain to do so.

The idea of this deployment is that all the units in the formation will benefit from the Venomthrope for at least the first turn. The warriors stay where they are and give both synapse and re-rolls. The biovores hide out of LOS and chuck re-rolling barrages across the table. The exocrine moves forwards for the first couple of turns to the edge of the warriors' buffing range and hopefully into some handy ruins. He is then in range with his shorter 24" range while still bringing his re-rolls.

[coredump]

Under General Principles, it defines the Term "Scatter Dice" to mean the single die.

[gigasnail]

yeah it's in the start of the brb.

[drranek]

Thanks for the answers all (especially creature for the in depth response! Much appreciated). Until I hear different, I will reroll the scatter die only.

Core/Gigs - do you guys have a view on whether the subsequent barrage rolls can be rerolled for biovores?

[Yautja]

They all benefit from re-roll

[coredump]

I concur...

[brassangel]

I've been playing it as only the Scatter Dice (die) gets re-rolled.

[drranek]

Too easy, thanks all!

[stickybluetoffee]

I've always taken it as reroll the scatter die only, and therefore it also rerolls the directional dice after the first barrage hits.

[tsinner]

I have the I pad version of book, and in the glossary it says re rolls ..you roll scatter and 2d6 For blast weapons