Skimmers [Movement]

Continuing from our discussion on Dangerous Terrain, we have skimmers. As a Tau player, all of my vehicles are skimmers and I usually field five or more in a standard game (my current army has five); my Imperial Guard army will have a multitude of skimmers as well, in the form of Valkyrie Assault Carriers. This article will discuss some of the weird points with moving skimmers, with a focus on Tau movement upgrades at the end.

The rules for moving skimmers can be found on Page 71 (BRB). The biggest difference from ground-based vehicles is that “skimmers can move over friendly and enemy models [... and] over all terrain,” with a few caveats, such as the model must be placed back on the table at the end of the move (so no ending over any model) and requiring a Dangerous Terrain test. Skimmers also gain another advantage over their tracked counterparts when fast: they may move up to 24″ when traveling Flat Out, although this comes with its own disadvantage.

With these basic in tow, we can now look at a few specific movement instances: tank shock and transport.

Tank Shock/Ramming
Note that only tanks are allowed these specific movement options, so Piranha and the like cannot Tank Shock or Ram. The biggest benefit to tank shocking with a skimmer is that, since it can ignore models and terrain, you may “pick and choose” to some extent which enemy units you will be tank shocking. This can save your tank from a deadly close combat Death or Glory! attack while harming a less protected unit. You may even tank shock a unit in cover, but remember that a dangerous terrain test must still be made (more on this later).

Ramming follows basically the same rules as tank shocking, so enemy vehicles that you do not wish to ram may be ignored. Skimmers gain an added advantage in that they can attempt to dodge an enemy ramming tank (so long as it is not also a skimmer), thereby stopping both vehicles but without inflicting damage to either.

Transport
Skimmers make excellent transports as they use the shortest distance between two points is a straight line approach to ferrying troops. While land-based transports need to move around buildings and impassible terrain, skimmers can simply jump over, getting the transported unit to the DZ that much quicker. They can also unload units into terrain features, granting cover saves to the disembarked troops and potentially to the vehicle itself.

Sensor Spines
With Tau vehicles, this upgrade allows them to enter terrain and ignore the negative effects (dangerous terrain tests) of the movement. This makes Sensor Spine-equipped tanks much better at dislodging enemy units off an objective in a forest; an even better tactic would be to use a loaded Devilfish as you can then claim the objective instead of merely contesting it. Same benefits also apply when ramming an enemy vehicle hiding in cover to try to grant a cover save, especially as no save is allowed against rams.

Dangerous Terrain

Dangerous Terrain will almost invariably be a part of every Warhammer 40k game played, even when no initial terrain is classified as dangerous. Before I continue, please take a look at Page 14:

[...] Roll a D6 for every model that has entered, left or moved through one or more areas of dangerous terrain during its move. On the roll of a 1, the model suffers a wound, with no armour or cover saves allowed [...]

Now, there are a couple of interesting things about this rule right off the bat:
- If a model moves through three pieces of dangerous terrain, it only makes one test
- If a comples unit moves through dangerous terrain, the individual models make the test. One poor roll and a Shas’Ui Team Leader, Sergeant, Captain, etc. may find themselves strewn across the battlefield
- This is open to interpretation, but Invulnerable Saves are not mentioned… RAW would allow something like a Chaplain an Invulnerable Save, but RAI would lean towards no save… Tricky…

Jump Infantry are especially susceptible to Dangerous Terrain

So, dangerous terrain can be pretty, well, dangerous, but how can it find its way onto the table? Well, by declaring its dangerousness before the game starts, wrecking a vehicle mid-game (see Page 62), destroying a building (see Page 79), deep striking into difficult terrain (see Page 95), or being Jump Infantry, a Bike, Artillery gun model, or a vehicle when moving in difficult terrain (see Pages 52-57).

NOTE: An artillery gun model that fails the dangerous terrain test is removed, as clarified in the 40k Rulebook FAQ.

Pretty extensive, right? Jump Infantry are definitely the weirdest, since depending on how they move they can ignore the dangerous terrain rule or create new situations for it. Beginning or ending a move in difficult terrain will force a dangerous terrain test, but not moving through it (since it is assumed the model flies over it) or when not using their jump packs. In that last case, they will make a difficult terrain test and move as infantry. Jump Infantry can also end their move in impassible terrain if it is possible to place the model there, but count it as dangerous terrain. Even when falling back, they must take dangerous terrain tests and are forced to, since they always use their jump packs when falling back.

Due to the weird nature of these rules, knowing when to and when not to roll a die for every model can help save your own units, or force your opponent to endanger his/her own. Want to protect an objective? Place it and a Troops choice in dangerous terrain. Your unit will never have to take a test while an assaulting enemy unit will. Sneaky, right?