Spore Mines: How the hell do they actually work!?

[ultirian]

Hello again people of the hive mind, I hope we are all enjoying our current face stomping by anything with a human face.

I played against Grey Knights yesterday:

I spent the old 3CP to spawn two units of spore mines, Assuming that they were good for stopping flying units that supersonic passed, after much discussion with the other player and looking through books and not finding the exact words it turns out her could just zoom over the mines in his movement phase and they would miss eachother even though he would pass 3 inches within the unit? 

also later in the game I had a spore mine in front of a charging unit on the ground and somehow he argued the point that it had just been placed and the unit would move around the spore mine, to be clear the unit had just deep striked in a quater circle around my biovores and I had a spore mine half way between the unit and my biovore.

I am so confused on how the mines work and they feel less then useless in ground denail if all units can just flat out ignore them?

Is there like any guides, specifc rules that clear up the hot mess that is the really bad rule system of Warhammer 40k? 

Thanks for any advice in advance, feels like I wasted 3CP and 150 points on absolute garbage.

[Laeketh]

Spore mines explode if an enemy unit is within 3 inches of it at the end of the charge phase, so if they can charge around the spore mines and still be outside of 3 inches at the end, they don't explode. Also, you can move withing 3 inches during the movement phase, the spore mines don't explode in the movement phase.
Spore mines are generally used as movement blockers for non-flying units, and can extend charge ranges if they are between the enemy unit and your other unit. Remember that units can't move within 1 inch of models they aren't charging (unless they can fly and end more than 1 inch away), so enemy units must take them into account for charge distance.

[ultirian]

Thanks that helps me make sense of things Laeketh many thanks!

[xenith]

Nov 24, 2019 15:05:47 GMT ultirian said:

Hello again people of the hive mind, I hope we are all enjoying our current face stomping by anything with a human face.

I played against Grey Knights yesterday:

I spent the old 3CP to spawn two units of spore mines, Assuming that they were good for stopping flying units that supersonic passed, after much discussion with the other player and looking through books and not finding the exact words it turns out her could just zoom over the mines in his movement phase and they would miss eachother even though he would pass 3 inches within the unit? 

Youre looking for the FLY rules on page 2 of the rulebook, nothing to do with supersonic.

also later in the game I had a spore mine in front of a charging unit on the ground and somehow he argued the point that it had just been placed and the unit would move around the spore mine, to be clear the unit had just deep striked in a quater circle around my biovores and I had a spore mine half way between the unit and my biovore.

He can move around assuming he rolls high enough on the charge dice to do so, without coming within 1" of the mine. If he cant go round the mine, then failed charge. Measure and agree the shortest path before agreeing on what he needs to roll. The rules for moving charging units are found in page 8 of the rule book under "make charge move"

I am so confused on how the mines work and they feel less then useless in ground denail if all units can just flat out ignore them?

Not all units can ignore them. See the FLY rule.

Is there like any guides, specifc rules that clear up the hot mess that is the really bad rule system of Warhammer 40k? 

Answers to your questions are both in the micro rulebook. 8 A5 pages I think? 

Thanks for any advice in advance, feels like I wasted 3CP and 150 points on absolute garbage.

FLY units can move over other units. This has been in the rules in some form or other forever. Jets can only be assaulted by units with fly, however, so if he ends the move anywhere near your mines, they can drift towards and assault it.

[Kitane]

I will add my question as well, it's been bugging me for some time and it's relevant to this topic.

How do you guys play the detonation sequence with multiple mines?

A unit of 3 spore mines moves within 3" of an enemy unit, all three mines are in range. I roll the first detonation and kill a single enemy model. The enemy removes the only model that's within range and the other two spore mines are now out of range.

Do I stop here? Do I have to pay extra attention and try to make sure all mines are within range of multiple models to mitigate this counter-play?

It's especially relevant when creating a larger unit with Spore field stratagem and launching it towards the enemy with Metabolic Overdrive.

[hivefleetkerrigan]

For large units of mines, I'd roll all at once given the speed rolling rules.

For large groups of single mines, I hope around and detonate the furthest mines first to maximize damage.

[Laeketh]

I would assume since they were all within 3 inches at the end of the charge phase, they all blow up at the same time, just like how shooting attacks from the same unit all happen at the same time, and the opposing player removing the only models in a unit that are in LOS of your shooting unit doesn't stop the rest of your shooting from the same unit from doing damage.

[foypen]

Nov 24, 2019 15:05:47 GMT ultirian said:

also later in the game I had a spore mine in front of a charging unit on the ground and somehow he argued the point that it had just been placed and the unit would move around the spore mine, to be clear the unit had just deep striked in a quater circle around my biovores and I had a spore mine half way between the unit and my biovore.

Did the Biovore fire overwatch to get the spore mine in front of the charge? Biovores can't fire overwatch.

If the spore mine was on the field, he would have to deep strike 9" away from the spore mine. He wouldn't be able to declare a charge against the Biovore if it was more than 12" away.

Non-flyers can move around (staying outside of 1" from any spore mines). Multiple mines can make a pretty good wall. However, charge phase still happens, even if they don't have any units to charge, so if they end within 3", the spore mines still blow up.