40k Cover – The Basics
There’s a good chance you are capable of shooting more enemy models dead per turn. There’s a chance you’ve been giving enemies cowering in cover too high a save. Read on…
There’s a chance you can get your basic squads to operate more like Snipers. And there’s a chance you can find ways to shoot enemy models without causing your assault on their squad to fail.
After seeing a debate about Cover Saves in the 3++ chatbox yesterday (it was longer than yesterday now…) last for more than two hours, Matt-Shadowlord thought it worth taking a stab at the rules. Most of the site’s visitors are the more competitive, tournament-orientated 40Kers, so if we’re one year in to the 6th Edition Rules and there is still that level of confusion, it must be worth an article. This is a two part article series, with the first very much a back to basics article, but it should include at least something to help gamers of all levels kill targets more efficiently.
Kirby note: What is discussed below by Matt was quite hotly debated when this was posted on 3++ as well. For the discussion this caused (which I’m sure will be the same here), check the old comments here.
The Basics
At it’s most basic level, cover saves are done on a model by model basis, rather than unit by unit. DETERMINING COVER SAVES If, when you come to allocate a Wound, the target model’s body (as defined on page 8) is at least 25% obscured from the point of view of at least one firer, Wounds allocated to that model receive a cover save. What saves do you get?
- Razor wire 6+
- Intervening Models 5+
- Gaps between Intervening Models 5+
- Forests and area terrain 5+(Vehicles that explode are replaced with Area Terrain (5+ cover) page 74 or a crater 5+ cover)
- Ruins, ruined fortifications and trenches 4+
- Fortifications 3+
- Aegis Wall 4+
What bonuses does Going to Ground give?
- Go to ground behind Aegis 2+
- Go to ground adds 1 to cover save (6+ in the open) Page 18
- Go to ground in area terrain adds 2 to the model’s cover save Page 18
Nothing note-worthy yet, right? Well actually no, we’ve already passed one of the most important pieces of information about cover, one that was misunderstood by several people in the chatbox conversation and one that I very frequently hear a tournaments.
The Myth of 2+ Area Ruins.
Area Terrain is always difficult and always gives 5+ cover regardless of whether models are 25% obscured or not (page 91), with the exception of Vehicles, which are not obscured by Area Terrain and must be 25% obscured from the point of view of the firer. (page 75) The key is that Ruins are not Area Terrain, and Area Terrain is not ruins. They have seperate entries on the Cover chart, but it is extremely common for players to class terrain as ‘Area ruins’ or say ‘This ruin is area’ while setting up, and then get 2+ when going to ground in it. If it’s a ruin and the model goes to ground, it gets a 3+ save (one better than an a ruin’s 4+). If it’s area terrain and the model goes to ground, it gets a 3+ save (two better than area terrain’s 5+). Either way, the best save without stealth, shrouded or other special rules will be a 3+ save. If you’re one of the many players who have been giving opponents 2+ saves, feel free to kill them faster.
What if it’s both Area and a Ruin?
Area terrain should have a base that shows its boundary (page 91), and it is true it is reasonably common to see area terrain on a base with a clear boundary that contains ruins and rubble, and could be considered a ruin. GW acknowledge this in the rules (Page 98) : “Ruins with Bases A ruin might be mounted on a base, decorated with rubble, and other debris. In this case, treat the base as area terrain.” That means a model on that base is in area terrain, and gets a 5+ save. It could GTG and get a bonus of 2 for a 3+ save. If the base contains enough walls and rubble to obscure 25% of the model as in the illustration below, then the player could instead GTG and get a bonus of 1 to the Ruin’s cover save. In either case the result is the same and the model gets a 3+ cover save.
Killer Tip 1: In neither case can the model gain a 2+ save. The model gets a 4+ save from Ruins with a GTG bonus of 1, or an area terrain 5+ save with a GTG bonus of 2. It is still important to define whether this sort of terrain piece is Area or Ruins however, since models from the smallest ratlings to the largest Monstrous Creatures gain cover from having a tippee-toe in Area Terrain, but need to be 25% obscured to gain cover from ruins.
So that’s the basics of cover in 6th with some pretty big changes from 5th which often get overlooked, misremembered or simply not understood. The next part of this series is going to look at one of the most underutilised rules of 6th – Focus Fire.
So how have you been handing out cover in your neck of the woods?
