Knowledge Bomb: And They Shall Know No Fear, Does What?!!
MBG here with a new segment called Knowledge Bomb, where I go over some rules clarifications and “gotchas” for 5th Edition.
I realize that there may only be less than a year left for this rules set, but there is still tons of time for gaming!
Not to mention there are a few big tournaments left to attend as well. So let’s get to it shall we?
Today im going to chat a little about the Space Marine Special Rule “and they shall know no fear” (ATSKNF).
This rule pretty much is the icing on the cake as far as setting Space Marines apart from any other race (you know, lol, besides their 3+ save and other awesome stats).
Most players know that because of this rule Marines can in fact rally when under 50% strength, and are not wiped out when caught by a sweeping advance after losing combat (but instead suffer from the “no retreat” rule). They can not however rally if an enemy is within 6″ per normal regrouping rules.
BUT what a lot of players don’t know is the fun doesn’t stop there. Marines become super-motivated when they rally, ignoring the normal restrictions on movement and firing.
According to the rules a Marine with ATSKNF rallys he can essentially consolidate 3″, make his normal 6″ move, AND fire any weapons as if he did not move.
Lets take a look at why, and keep in mind this is just RAW with no hint of WAAC wordsmithing.
On page 51 of the Space Marine codex under the ANSKNF heading: “Space Marines automatically pass all tests to regroup……. Usually troops that regroup cannot move normally and always count as moving whether they do or no, but THESE RESTIRCTIONS do not apply to models subject to this special rule.
Upon further review with several TO’s this morning Marines can only move the 3″ consolidation and be allowed to fire heavy weapons.
Thanks to everyone for pointing this out, and I am sorry that I got one small part of the article wrong.
Now flip to page 46 of the main rule book in the Regrouping Section; second paragraph under the bulleted points:
“If a unit successfully passes its leadership test it stops falling back and regroups (automatic for marines see above). The unit can immediately move up to 3″ (describes consolidation). Once a unit has regrouped, it cannot otherwise move during the movement phase (see above), but otherwise behaves as normal (shooting, launching assaults, etc).”
Wow so regrouping is pretty good for marines, they can basically move up to 9 inches, (3″ of that ignores cover cause it’s a consolidate) and fire heavy weapons as well???
All for the low low price of 18-20-ish points ea depending on flavor.
There is another way this benefits Codex Marines even more, I’ll get into that next time -MBG
