wound allocations and multiwound models

dusktiger Tue Jun 21, 2011 8:08 pm

so i was reading up an article on bolter and chainsword about wound allocation and how you're supposed to allocate wounds when there's batches of identically fitted models in a squad, and models with wargear slightly different from one another, and models with multiple wounds, and they pointed out some stuff i didn't realize and thought i'd share incase anyone else didnt realize it either.

Five marines: serg w/ Power Fist, two marines with plasma guns, two marines with boltguns.

Opponent successfully delivers six normal wounds and two AP2 (he also has plasma) wounds to my unit. Uh oh.

I have to allocate evenly, so:
One normal wound to serg.
One normal wound to each plasma gun guy.
One AP2 wound to each boltgun marine.

Now everybody has at least one wound, 3 of which are the normal wounds, so I can double up on wounds. I put two of them on the boltgun marines and the last one on the plasma guns...I really want to save that PF if I can.

The boltgun marines can't save the AP2 wounds and there are two of them...so I lose both of those models as casualties; no need to roll those two normal saves as they're already dying...but the good news is, those wounds dont carry over to the other models.

The plasma marines have three normal saves to take so I roll...and fail all three of those saves. Three wounds suffered to that group, but only two single-wound models are lost. I lose them both, the third unsaved wound not carrying over to the remaining model.

Now I have one normal save to take for the PF...and well, I roll a one. Typical. He's gone too.

See what I did there? (Other than lose my entire squad.)

a good example on how wounds are allocated. next are a pair of examples showing how it starts getting complicated when you have units of multi-wound models(nobs/gk paladins/tyranid warriors) all modeled with different wargear.

Example 1: I have 2 ork nobs both with the exact same wargear (shoota/choppa). Turn one, a single bolter is fired at them and they fail their save. So one of them is now down to 1 wound while the other still has 2. Next turn that same bolter fires a shot and the nob fails his save so the nob that was already down 1 wound gets removed as a casualty his buddy still has 2 woulds though.

Example 2: Now the two nobs have different wargear(I gave one of them a boss pole). Turn one a single bolter is fired at them and they fail their save. So one of them is now down to 1 wound while the other still has 2. Next turn that same bolter fires a shot and manages to wound, but because they have different wargear I get to roll that save on the nob that still had 2 wounds. He fails and now my nob unit still has both nobs except each has 1 wound. Then next turn they charge into combat and oh boy is that marine annoyed about wound allocation.

when i read that i realized that if you have a unit of multi-wound models, and they have to take wounds, you cant just bump 1 wound off each model to keep the overall number of models alive; you have to keep putting the wounds on the same single model until he's dead, then start stacking the remaining wounds on another model until its dead, and so on. once that realization kicked it, i was annoyed because it meant that a couple games i played against a nid player with warriors wasnt allocating failed armor saves like your supposed to.

System Commander Tue Jun 21, 2011 8:41 pm

I can't remember, can you outfit warriors differently or do you buy upgrades for the whole squad? Ive never faced any wound allocation warriors, so not 100% sure. If you can, then you can definitely assign the wounds around, you can take the wound on any model you want if if has different wargear. If they are all outfitted the same, then yes, definitely.. you have to stack them and remove the models one at a time.

In the first example, if he really wanted to make sure something lived, he could of actually put two plasma wounds on the Searg., and three on each group of two like marines. But, he did the most logical thing to try and save the fist.

How were you distributing wounds before the article?

dusktiger Tue Jun 21, 2011 8:47 pm

well before the article i pretty much just removed models for the nonsavable wounds and then did my normal saves, which was stupid on my part, i cudve saved more guys.

and for warriors, no, you buy an upgrade for the squad, not for single models, so they're always the same no matter what. i think all their units are like that; you pay for options for the brood as a whole rather than single models

System Commander Tue Jun 21, 2011 8:49 pm

Ahh yeah,. gotcha. Then for sure, that player was doing it wrong.

Roland Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:05 am

This is something I've seen (or heard) about occasionally. Let's say a 5 man Nobz (all unique) mob gets hit by a LasCannon, 2 Plasmagun and 13 bolter shots(!). They just got hit 16 times. You can allocate all you want, but each has to get hit 3 times, and one 4 times. You can pile all the Las and Plas on one of them, and he's gone. and everyone just takes bolters...

This gets fun when you have a squad like Paladins.

5 Paladins (all unique, one with a stave, one w/ a sword) get hit by a Las, 2 Plas and 2 bolters. They HAVE to spread the loves, and the Stave can only take ONE save. You can't say "I'll put the Las on the guy w/ the stave..... save. I put both plas on the guy with the stave.... save. "

Also, it's worth noting, according to the BRB, You allocate the wound you recieve from a squad at once. So if you 2 tact squads shoot at your Paladins, you resolve them as above, one at a time. Assault is supposed to work the same way.

judchic Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:26 am

dusktiger wrote:well before the article i pretty much just removed models for the nonsavable wounds and then did my normal saves, which was stupid on my part, i cudve saved more guys.

and for warriors, no, you buy an upgrade for the squad, not for single models, so they're always the same no matter what. i think all their units are like that; you pay for options for the brood as a whole rather than single models

One can take a barbed strangler or venom cannon though.

Timbo Wed Jun 22, 2011 1:07 am

@Roland Remember you're allocating wounds, not hits.

Roland Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:30 am

@Timbo: Sorry, I'm using GW's proof readers, for my examples when I said "hit" I meant "wound". I guess that's where "RAW vs. RAI" breaks down.

I'll be the first to admit the numbers are extreme, but the statement stands. If your 5 man Nobz squad takes 5 wounds, you can allocate 1 wound max, not one wound of each type etc.

One guys cannot take all 5 just b/c they are all uniquely equipped, you just get to choose who takes what wounds.

System Commander Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:01 pm

No, for sure.. the rules are very clear on this. You have to assign a wound to every model in the squad before you can assign a second wound. That's very clear.. anyone doing otherwise isn't getting a rule confused, they are making one up themself.

But, yes, if you have a 5 man squad that takes 8 bolter wounds and 2 plasma.. then one guy that's equipped differently can eat both of those plasma shots.

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