Reading 6th Edition - Vehicle basics

Nick speaking,

I am starting to get an idea about what this new edition is all about now, I have to admit, when I originally heard that the new assault range was going to be up to 12", albeit random, I had a feeling the new book was going to be all about the assault, but it is pretty obvious from what I have read so far, 6th Edition is all about Shooting, Shooting seems to be King! So let's have a look at how good our vehicles are going to be at shooting, and how they are going to survive any incoming shots...

First are the usual set of standard vehicle rules that all 40k vehicles have in common. Vehicle Characteristics are the same as they were before, but now we have 'Hull Points' as well. Hull Points (HP) for all the vehicles are listed in the Appendix II on page 410. I won't list them all, but the ones of note to my armies are, Landraider 4HP, Rhino/Razorback 3HP, Drop Pod 3HP, Landspeeder 2HP, Monolith, Ghost Ark and Doomsday Ark 4HP, all other Necron vehicles have 3HP. All Eldar vehicles have 3HP except Vypers and Warwalker which are 2HP. An Ork battlewagon has 4HP, a Killakan and Wartrukk have 2HP, all other Ork vehicles have 3HP. A Chaos Damon Soul Grinder has 4HP and Tau vehicles have 3HP except for the Piranha, which is 2HP.

There are the usual types of vehicles we already know and a few additional ones, including Chariots, Flyers, and Hover. As usual these types can be combined so you can use both sets of rules. There are no changes to measuring, pivoting and terrain tests. The line of sight and shooting arc rules now come with pretty coloured pictures, but look to be the same as they were before, and the old 'Roads' rule has now disappeared...

The first real differences, are Shooting with vehicles. Stationary Vehicles can shoot everything as it was before, but when moving at Combat Speed (6"), you are now able to shoot a single weapon at your normal ballistic skill, and all other weapons as 'Snap shots'. If you move as Cruising Speed (12"), you can fire all your guns, but as 'Snap shots'. Obviously, guns that cannot fire Snap shots are unable to shoot. Ordnance weapons can be shot even if you move, and if you do move and shoot an Ordnance weapon, you are able to shoot any other guns as 'Snap shots' also.

Moving Flat Out:
A vehicle can elect to move 'Flat Out' instead of firing in the shooting phase. This move is up to 6" and triggers Dangerous Terrain tests as normal. You cannot tank shock the same turn you plan to move flat out.

Shooting at Vehicles:
The facing armour picture is now in colour, but there is no change to shooting vehicles except blast weapons no longer use half strength if the hole is not under the vehicle, if it touches the hull it hits at full strength!

Resolving Glancing hits:
For every Glancing hit scored you reduce the vehicles Hull Points by one, when it has no HP left, it becomes a 'Wreck'. Wrecked Vehicles become a piece of terrain conferring a 5+ cover save, counting as difficult and dangerous terrain.

Resolving Penetrating hits:
For every Penetrating hit scored you reduce the vehicles Hull Points by one. You then roll on the Vehicle damage table to see what other damage is done for each penetrating hit. All hits will also have to be rolled on the table even if the Vehicles HP are reduced to zero and it is Wrecked, as it still may explode.

1-2  - Crew Shaken
Same as before but weapons that are able to, can still 'Snap shot'

3     - Stunned
Same as before but weapons that are able to, can still 'Snap shot', and Zooming Vehicles can still move 18" without turning.
 
4    - Weapon Destroyed
Same as before, but the weapon that is destroyed is Randomly Chosen!

5    - Immobilised
Same as before but any additional immobilised results reduce Hull Points

6    - Explodes
Same as before

Chart modifiers:
At the bottom of the chart is listed two AP modifiers, AP2 is plus one to the chart and AP1 is plus two to the chart. No are other modifiers are listed here, but don't get too excited, later in book, the Open-topped rules state that there is a plus one penalty to the chart for being open-toppped. There are no longer any modifiers for AP-, which explains what Necron Tesla is all about, let's see, no chart modifiers anymore and any sixes to hit (Overwatch!) grants two addition hits!

Obscured Targets:
The 50% rule has now changed to a 25% rule, making it much easier to get a cover save for your vehicles, of course cover is now only 5+ on most pieces of terrain, but there is still a +1 to cover saves when you cannot see the facing of the vehicle you are shooting at. Models that can see individual facings resolve their shots separately.

Assaulting a Vehicle:
A unit cannot assault a vehicle unless it can damage it, and a vehicle that is being assaulted cannot use 'Overwatch'. All vehicles are treated as being weapon skill one, if they moved the previous turn, otherwise they are weapon skill zero. So auto hits if you didn't move and 3+ to hit for normal WS4 dudes to hit, even if you moved fast. Any vehicle that have a weapon skill in it's profile uses that instead, and all hits against vehicles are resolved against its rear armour as usual.

Vehicle results now have rules for counting towards combat resolution results. Glancing hits count as one wound and Penetrating hits count as two wounds....

Previous Posts:
6th Edition Rule Book Unboxing
Reading 6th Edition - The first few pages
Reading 6th Edition - The movement phase
Reading 6th Edition - The shooting phase
Reading 6th Edition - The assault phase
Reading 6th Edition - Universal Special Rules
Reading 6th Edition - Independent Character
Reading 6th Edition - Unit types
Reading 6th Edition - Weapons 
Reading 6th Edition - Characters & Challenges
Reading 6th Edition - Psykers

Next up, vehicle types...