Rules Question! Tanks shooting out of area terrain.

Ok, here is a rules question up for grabs! When a tank is in a piece of area terrain, and is shooting through more then 2 inches of it, does the target get a cover save?

The terrain piece in question is 12x12". It is a piece of foamboard (clearly defined edge) that has been covered with modeling sand, and has a small ruin set in the middle. The tank is on the left edge of the terrain, shooting at a squad that is in the open about 18 inches away. The barrel of the gun, in this case a Baal Preds assault cannon, is 4" away from the edge of the terrain piece. How are LoS and Cover Saves determined in this case? Looking down the barrel of the gun, you can see 100% of the target, unobstructed. There is no question about that.

See page 22. Does this apply to tanks? Can any one point out rules for how to resolve this with tanks? The tank will not get a cover save for being in the area terrain, (unless it is shot at from the extreme right where there is a small ruin.) why should it grant one?

If you give answers, please reply with information at least partially supported with page numbers and rules! Jawaballs

Recent lesson on vehicle facing.

In a recent game, I learned a lesson about vehicle facing and cover saves. My opponent was trying to shoot at the Baal Pred with the Cherub on the front with a Lascannon. He was close to 4 feet away, almost in the extreme opposite corner from where the tanks were. We did not measure it, but I believe he was in the vehicles "Side" facing. He could see none of the side facing because it was completely blocked by the black rhino. But, he claimed that the rules supported that he could shoot at the vehicles Front, since he could see all of it, and he was right when we looked at line of sight. He claimed that since he could see 100% of the vehicles front face, he could take a shot with no cover save and quoted a rule, and thumbed through the rule book and read some segment of the cover save rules.

The rules on "Facing" were unclear to me at the time. So after asking him to explain why I got no cover save even though he could only see about 20% of my tank and failing to understand, I relented and accepted it. I prefer to save rules discussions for after the game instead of spending 20 minutes looking up and interpreting a rule during the game.

After reading the rules myself, and digesting what they said, I have come up with this.

A model fireing at a tank must challenge the armor value of the side that he is "Facing". That means, based on a diagram in the book, you figure out which side of the tank is facing the model and that is the one he has to attack. It goes on to say that in rare events a model might not be able to see any of the "Facing" side of the tank at all, yet may still see another side of the tank. In that case he may choose to fire on the the angled "Facing" but the tank will get the benefit of a 3+ cover save.

So, we resolved the matter incorrectly. Insead of my getting no cover save at all, I should have gotten a 3+! The first thing for us to have done would be to determine which "Facing" of the vehicle the attacking model was on. In this case, we would have placed a the end of the tape on the Back Right corner of the tank, and extended it out over the Front Left corner of the tank, and then off into infinity. Which ever side of that line the model was on would be the "Facing" He had to attack.

This is quite valuable because now I know how to determine exactly which side of my tanks my opponents can shoot. It was always a little grey to me. I tend to find my enemies at angles where they can see the side and back of my Baal Preds, and of course, they try to choose the Back! Now using that simple diagram, I can say sorry sucka! You have to shoot the Side, or Front for that matter if they are on that angle... It also helps to clear up cover save issues.

Comments? Input?

JB.

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