Welcome to Ruleshammer! This week we’re covering some extra questions for Ruleshammer Tyranids and going over a few FAQ changes. Remember the banner below will take you to the Ruleshammer 9th Edition Compedium, for all the questions I’ve answered for the last few months!
New Questions
Can Spore Mines created by Harpies or Biovores move in the turn they are set up?
For Harpies this one is difficult almost every definition that would cause them to be unable to move misses them by a hair. Biovores however are far simpler, their action spawns Spore Mines in the shooting phase, so it’s simply too late in the game for those Spore Mines to move that turn.
The main way that units arriving on the table are prevented from making normal, advance, or fall back moves for the rest of the turn is by being designated as a Reinforcement Unit:
Reinforcement units cannot make a Normal Move, Advance, Fall Back or Remain Stationary in the turn they arrive for any reason, but they can otherwise act normally (shoot, charge, fight etc.). Models in units that arrived as Reinforcements count as having moved a distance in inches equal to their Move (M) characteristic in this Movement phase.
Here’s the issue though: Spore Mine units created via the Harpy or Biovore abilities are not reinforcements units.
Reinforcement unit: Any unit that starts the battle in a location other than on the battlefield, and is not embarked within a TRANSPORT unit that does start the battle on the battlefield, is considered to be a Reinforcement unit. Any Reinforcement units that have not been set up on the battlefield by the end of the battle count as destroyed.
These units didn’t exist at the start of the battle, so they weren’t deployed in a location other than the battlefield – they weren’t deployed at all (this is vaguely similar to summoned daemons, who we’ll discuss below). The next way that the limitations of being a reinforcement apply is via the very Rare Rule I mentioned last week for Replacement and Repositioned units. However I’d argue they don’t fit that rule either!
REPOSITIONED AND REPLACEMENT UNITS
Some rules enable units to teleport or else be repositioned and set back up on the battlefield. Other rules enable units to removed from the battlefield and be replaced by a new, full-strength unit, which is then set up on the battlefield. If a rule causes a unit to be removed from the battlefield and subsequently set back up, the following rules apply to it:
These units are neither repositioned or replacements, so that Rare Rule’s instructions that such units be affected by all rules that would apply to Reinforcement Units doesn’t manage to stick either.
The abilities themselves though – do they give them an exception to the Reinforcement Points rules does that indicate anything? No, not really. Despite its name, Reinforcement Points are not spent on Reinforcement Units, the most prominent use of them is still summoning units for Chaos Daemons, and those units are also not reinforcement units, since they’re not part of your army before the game begins. They even have rules text in the Daemonic Ritual ability that specifically has you treat the units you bring in as reinforcements the turn they arrive:
…This unit is treated as reinforcements for your army and can be placed anywhere on the battlefield that is wholly within 12″ of the character and more than 9″ from any enemy model.
So the Rules As Written, in my opinion – unless I’ve missed something – don’t indicate to me that Spore Mines are unable to move once set up. There’s a lot GW could here to make it clearer if they should or shouldn’t be able to. I tend to come down on the side that they can move, but I really would recommend it be checked with your opponent before hand and I expect event packs to have a ruling on this.
If using Crusher Stampede and Territorial Instincts together, which one wins?
So yeah the hierophant in the room on this one is the Crusher Stampede has been declared officially deprecated by GW. Not with much rationale or pattern I can claim to see though, there are older rules still in play but Crusher did conflict significantly with rules in the Codex so the real first answer to this question is that the winner is the Codex.
Note: I didn’t remember this while writing but these rules would not actually interact in the new book because units affected by Hulking Behemoth can’t gain a Hive Fleet Adaption. I’m leaving the answer below as it does still highlight a gap for similar interactions if they exist.
For the slightly longer answer though, I don’t think these rules had a way to interact as set out by any rules which I know of.
Crusher Stampede – Hulking Behemoths: Models in this unit count as a number of models equal to their remaining Wounds for the purpose of determining the control of objective markers.
Tyranids Codex – Territorial Instincts: MONSTER models with this adaptation that have a Wounds characteristic of 10 or more count as 5 models when determining control of an objective marker.
The unit can’t simultaneously do both of these. The modifying characteristics rules don’t really apply because “how many models I count as” isn’t a characteristic. The closest thing to a resolution might be attackers priority but that specifically apples when making attacks.
ATTACKER’S PRIORITY
While resolving attacks, you’ll occasionally find that two rules cannot both apply — for example, when an attacking model with an ability that enables it to always score a successful hit on a 2+ targets a model that has an ability that states it can only be hit on a 6+. When this happens, the attacking model’s rules take precedence.
but the next bet is to decide that the order in which they are applied is the decider maybe, so we look at the sequencing rules.
SEQUENCING
While playing Warhammer 40,000, you’ll occasionally find that two or more rules are to be resolved at the same time – e.g. ‘at the start of the battle round’ or ‘at the end of the Fight phase’. When this happens during the battle, the player whose turn it is chooses the order. If these things occur before or after the battle, or at the start or end of a battle round, the players roll off and the winner decides in what order the rules are resolved.
However that would cause the number of models the unit is worth to change depending on who’s turn it is, as in the Tyranids players turn they might decide on the rule with the lowest number first, then highest value; followed by their opponent applying them in the other order.
It’s not going to get FAQed though because Crusher has been declared deprecated.
Post-FAQ Changes
The Overrun Stratagem is when?
So the change to this one was pretty straight forward.
Use this Stratagem at the end of the Fight phase. Select one HIVE TENDRIL unit from your army that made a charge move this turn. If there are no enemy models within Engagement Range of that unit, models in that unit can make a Normal Move instead of making a consolidation move.
They just deleted the last 6 words. This probably makes the stratagem slightly more powerful than it was probably expected to be as it’s not instead of the 3″ consolidation now, meaning you can use that bit of movement as well. Though note that your opponent can now interrupt you with the Counter-Attack Stratagem in order to move in and prevent you from using Overrun in a way that wasn’t necessarily possible before when you made the Overrun move in place of Consolidating.
Previous Answer The Overrunn Stratagem has a slight timing issue. Use this Stratagem at the end of the Fight phase. Select one HIVE TENDRIL unit from your army that made a charge move this turn. If there are no enemy models within Engagement Range of that unit, models in that unit can make a Normal Move instead of making a consolidation move. The problem here is timing: Using this stratagem at the end of the fight phase means using it after all the units have already made their consolidation moves. I’m not even really sure what to suggest as it seems the idea of this change is to give the opposing player time to react by giving them an opportunity to pile in and fight before the unit makes its normal move – it’s worth noting that the Stratagem’s previous wording had a player use the Stratagem after destroying an enemy unit. It might need an entire re-write. Pre FAQ Suggestion: This stratagem doesn’t work as written. Like I can’t figure out a wording that isn’t a downgrade or inadvertently better. It really needs an FAQ to be sure about what GW were trying to change. I’d almost suggest using the 8th edition version until this one is clarified.
Seeding Spore Nodes without actually seeding spore nodes.
The change to this one is actually pretty odd. They changes the wording to:
“If this action is successfully completed, place one objective marker anywhere within 1″ of the unit that completed this action.”
While it does make it far less likely that it won’t be possible, STILL DOESN’T MAKE PLACING THE NODE RELEVANT (outside of the requirement that you be 6″ away from another node when you start the action, anyways). The scoring is for the number of times your complete the action, and completing the action is still doesn’t require a node to be placed. The change now is that it’s much less likely to be impossible for you to actually place. This doesn’t really need another FAQ but why this isn’t 4VP per Spore Node placed I will never understand.
It’s a small thing that I don’t think anyone would genuinely put up with in a game, but it’s possible to position a full unit somewhere such as a crate or upper floor so that placing the objective marker that represents the node is impossible. As the action can’t be done if a unit is within 6″ of a spore node that would rules as Written let a player do it several times from the same spot, each time being unable to place the node that would prevent them doing it there again.
Suggestion: Make the scoring of this action be 4VP per node placed on the board.
Previous Answer A few keen-eyed Tyranids players I know have spotted a slight issue with this secondary. Score 4 victory points each time a unit from your army <strong>successfully completes the following action: Seed Spore Node (Action): One Troops unit from your army can start to perform this action at the end of your Movement phase from the second battle round onwards if it is within 6″ of your opponent’s deployment zone and not within 6″ of any Spore Node objective markers. The action is completed at the end of your turn. If this action is successfully completed, place one objective marker anywhere wholly within your opponent’s deployment zone and within 1″ of the unit that completed this action. This objective marker represents a Spore Node, but does not count as an objective marker for any rules purposes other than for this secondary objective. The criteria for completing this action are that the unit is within 6″ of the enemy deployment zone and not within 6″ of any Spore Node markers. However it is possible for a unit to be both within 6″ of the enemy deployment zone but more than 1″ away from the deployment zone, meaning that it won’t be possible to place a spore node within 1″ of the unit doing the action and within the enemy deployment upon completion of the action. This doesn’t cause the action to fail, though as being able to place the Spore Node is not a condition of completing the action. It probably should be. Change the highlighted sentences to: At the end of your turn, attempt to place on Spore Node Marker. This action is completed at the end of your turn if a Spore Node Objective marker has been placed. When placing Spore Node objective markers they must be wholly within the enemy deployment zone and within 1″ of the unit attempting the action, if this is not possible then no marker is placed and the action fails to complete.SPORE NODES
How many times can I use Encircle the Prey?
This errata creates quite a significant reduction in power for the Encircle Prey, changing it from being used at the “end of the turn” to “the end of the movement phase”. This limits it to one use per turn, as the Stratagem is now firmly within a phase. Furthermore, it prevents you from completing end-of-turn effects on your turn before using the Stratagem, such as completing certain actions or scoring Stranglehold.
Previous Answer So this stratagem avoids the usual limit of once per turn by not being used within a phase. Use this Stratagem at the end of your turn. Select one BURROWERS unit or unit that can FLY from your army. Remove that unit from the battlefield. In the Reinforcements step of your next Movement phase, you can set that unit back up anywhere on the battlefield anywhere that is more than 9″ away from any enemy models. If the battle ends and that unit is not on the battlefield, it is destroyed. A unit cannot be selected for this Stratagem if it was set up on the battlefield this turn. which as the end of your turn isn’t in a phase, falls into the exclusion the stratagem rules lay out. …but you cannot use the same Stratagem more than once in the same phase (for the purposes of this rule, Stratagems that have identical names, but that appear in different publications, are still considered to be the same Stratagem). This does not affect Stratagems that are not used during a phase, such as those used ‘before the battle’ or ‘at the end of the battle round. Which is probably pretty strong for an army built around making use of it. I’m honestly not sure if it’s intended to avoid the limit on stratagem use or not but as it’s technically broken or ambiguous I don’t think over suggesting a change to this before an FAQ is necessary.
As ever these updates will soon be integrated into Ruleshammer Tyranids, keeping all the 9th edition Tyranids questions in one handy place!
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