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". Where Line of Sight is blocked the target counts as obscured, and no shot may be taken at it. Line of Sight is 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. It runs both ways: a model that can see a target can be seen and shot at by it in turn.

Cover comes in two kinds: 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.

A model in a crater, a trench or a pit counts as being in Hard Cover against fire from outside it, wherever within the feature it stands. So does a model placed at the corner or edge of a building, a vehicle or a large rock so that it is partly obscured.

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.

A model shoots one weapon, or throws one grenade, in its own side's Shooting Phase, unless a weapon's own rules say otherwise.

Targets are divided into the following categories:

Range is the distance from the shooter to its target, and a weapon's maximum range is the far end of its Long Range band. Measure once the target is nominated: a target lying beyond maximum range is missed outright, and any other shot counts as Short Range or Long Range as the distance falls.

To choose a target, the attacking player declares which unit is shooting and nominates its target. In general a model fires at the closest target, and every member of a squad fires at the same one; however, some exceptions apply:

• Heroic Characters may be nominated to fire at any valid target; however, they are still bound by 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 target to the rest of its squad.
• If a model within a unit cannot see the target nominated by other models in the unit, or has some other target nearer to it than its squad's is, 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.
• A model in cover may be passed over for one in the open, even where the model in the open is 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.

^† White Dwarf 179, p7 settles this: a weapon that throws a template picks its target like any other, and is not placed where the firer pleases.

Whether a shot lands is decided on a D6. The score needed comes from 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. Whatever the final score, a D6 roll of 1 always misses, so the least a model can ever need is 2.

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

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

A model engaged in Hand-to-Hand Combat does not shoot at all during the Shooting Phase; its pistols are used under the combat rules instead.

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 the models in the combat, every one of them equally likely, whichever side it is on.

Firing On Overwatch

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

A shot taken on Overwatch at a model charging the shooter is always resolved at the weapon's Short Range, whatever the distance.

A unit already on Overwatch may turn where it stands before it shoots, unless the weapon it fires carries the Move or Fire rule^†.

Where the target is leaving the ground as the shot is taken, the range is measured to the spot it left^‡.

^† White Dwarf 192, p32. The bar on turning applies when Overwatch is declared, not when the shot is taken.

^‡ White Dwarf 193, pp81–82, answering whether troops rising into the air may be fired on.

Shots may be worked out one model at a time, or rolled together where several identically armed models fire on a group and every shooter needs the same roll To Hit.

The dice which hit are then gathered up and rolled again for damage, provided the targets share a Toughness, and Armour Saves are taken the same way.

Where the target squad stands partly in Cover, the shots are either split into batches and rolled on their own scores, or the To Hit Modifier is averaged across the whole squad:

Casualties are taken from the models nearest the firer, whatever those models carry. A trooper with a special weapon is no likelier to fall than any other.

Where the nearest models cannot be told apart, a squad drawn up in a line being the usual case, casualties are randomised. Roll a D6 for each casualty inflicted, count that many models along the squad from the right, and remove the model reached. A model already removed is not counted twice while others remain.

A model may move in the Movement Phase and shoot in the same turn. Moving costs it nothing in accuracy.

A model which doubles its move may neither shoot nor throw a grenade that turn, whether by Charging or by Running. Cavalry which charge or gallop are bound by the same restriction.

A weapon carrying the Move or Fire rule may not be fired in a turn in which its bearer moved. Cavalry are restricted exactly as foot troops are.

A Passenger shooting from a vehicle is the exception, since the vehicle moves rather than the model.

A Space Marine that has not moved may fire a bolt weapon twice; see Rapid Fire.

Shoot at a vehicle as at any other model, using true Line of Sight. Most obstacles and low cover do not block line of sight to or from a vehicle.

A vehicle may claim Cover as troops do, but at least a third of it must be obscured to do so. Some vehicles count as a Large Target, and a vehicle counts as a Fast Moving Target or Very Fast Moving Target according to the distance it moved in its own turn. All apply as Basic To Hit Modifiers.

Sustained Fire works against a vehicle exactly as it does against troops.

For each hit, roll a D6 on the hit location table on the back of the vehicle's Datafax. Where a location cannot be hit from the firer's position, re-roll until a location that can be hit is indicated.

Hits From Blast Markers

A weapon using a Blast Marker treats each location on the vehicle as a separate target. Roll to hit, and Scatter on a miss, as normal. The location that completely fills the hole at the centre of the marker is hit automatically; every other location covered or partly covered is hit on a D6 roll of 4+. Roll Armour Penetration separately against each location hit.