Shooting Phase

A model may only select targets within a 90° arc to its front, unless stated otherwise on its datasheet—this is its Firing Arc. If it is unclear what the "front" of a particular model is, the player who owns it may declare a location, but this must then not change for the entire game. If a potential target is right on the edge of a model's Firing Arc, then it can be targeted on a D6 roll of 4+.

Within their Firing Arc, a model must also be able to draw Line of Sight on a target to shoot at it. Line of Sight is always drawn from a "model's eye view". If Line of Sight is blocked, the target is considered to be obscured and cannot be shot at. Line of Sight will be blocked in the following cases:

Vantage Points

When a model is positioned on top of a building, hill, or other Vantage Point, it may be able to draw Line of Sight and shoot at models that would otherwise be obscured.

Cover is divided into two types: Hard Cover and Soft Cover. When Placing Terrain, players should agree on what terrain provides which kind of cover. Cover conveys a negative To Hit Modifier.

Hard Cover

Features are considered Hard Cover if they can provide a level of solid protection for a model. Examples include walls, ditches, trenches, vehicles, rocks, and the corners of buildings.

Soft Cover

Features which partially obscure a model, but do not offer substantial protection are considered Soft Cover. Examples include vegetation—hedges, shrubs, woodland, and so on.

Targets are divided into the following categories:

To choose a target, the attacking player declares which unit is shooting and nominates a target—distance may not be measured before nominating a target for shooting. In general, models must fire at the closest target and all members of a squad must fire at the same target; however, some exceptions apply:

• Heroic Characters may be nominated to fire at any valid target; however, they are still bound the rules for Targeting Other Characters
• If a model within a unit is armed with either a Heavy or Special weapon, it may fire at a different category of target to the rest of their squad.
• If a model within a unit cannot see the target nominated by other models in the unit, it may select a different target.
• A unit may be nominated to fire at targets from one of two groupings: Vehicles and Monstrous Creatures, or Human-sized Creatures and Smaller Creatures. The attacking player may choose which category to target, but must then select the closest eligible target within that group.
• Smaller Creatures can be ignored as a target, unless they are within 6" of the unit being nominated to fire—in which case, they must be selected as the target.
• Models in cover may be ignored in favour of models in the open, even if the models in the open are the closest target.
• Models engaged in Hand-to-Hand Combat and models that are Broken may be ignored.
• Buildings or specific game objectives may always be chosen as targets over any other targets. When a character model is also an objective—as specified in The Assassins or Witch Hunt—the rules for Targeting Characters may be ignored for those characters.

Choosing a Target with Unusual Weaponry

When firing a Blast or Template weapon, all rules for Choosing a Target apply. In addition, the template must be placed so that most models under it are within the target unit. Clipping another unit behind or beside the closest unit is acceptable; however, clipping the target unit to reach another unit is not permitted.

When firing a Sustained Fire weapon, first follow the rules for Choosing a Target, and then the Sustained Fire rules.

Splitting Fire

Because models in the same unit may select different targets based on what they can see, players may position models during the Movement Phase so that their Firing Arcs cover different areas, allowing the unit to split its fire.

To determine if a shot hits its target, roll a D6. The required score is determined by the shooter's Ballistic Skill and any To Hit Modifiers. Subtract the shooter's Ballistic Skill from 7—this can be a negative number—then apply any To Hit Modifiers.

Basic To Hit Modifiers

Various factors confer a bonus or penalty on a model's ability to make a shot. More than one To Hit Modifier can be applied for the same shot. Many weapons have range-based To Hit Modifiers, and there are also Basic To Hit Modifiers:

Large Targets

As you can see, the original rulebook was somewhat vague on this. Instead, it is recommended to define a Large Target as a model which is bigger than a Rhino.

7+ To Hit

It is possible that the combination of the shooter's Ballistic Skill and any To Hit modifiers will require a To Hit score of 7+. This does not always mean the shot is impossible. The shooter must first make a D6 To Hit roll of 6+, followed by a second roll on the following chart:

Firing Into Hand-to-Hand Combat

If a player wishes to shoot at enemy models who are engaged in Hand-to-Hand Combat, then they may do so; however, each hit must be randomly allocated between models from both sides of the combat.

As each side's chance of being hit is proportional to how many models they have in the combat, a fair way of allocating hits using a D6 is as follows:

So if the combat involves 6 enemy models and 3 friendly models, an enemy model is hit on a D6 roll of 1-4, while a friendly model is hit on a roll of 5+. Once the side is determined, all other rules for Choosing a Target still apply.

Firing On Overwatch

If a unit fires while on Overwatch, there is an additional To Hit Modifier: