The Commander Series Forum

Hi all
I play a mechanoid army using the HOF droid army selection on page 91 and use the permitted shield domes.

My question:
Are they visible and can they be fired at even if the enemy can't see the units that are underneath it and protected?

I argue that my opponent can either eyeball them or see them on his electronic scanners and that it is fair play to shoot the hell out of them.

He is of the opinion that he can't see them, I guess he feels the shield dome is a 'potential' that is only triggered when a target underneath it is shot at.

Thanks in advance

In fact the question gets more complicated.

My army uses these, my opponent wished they didn't.
We'd appreciate some input as it is not always clear on the intent and the interpretation required to use them fairly, as we feel they can be game changers.

1 - We are of the opinion that a shield dome causes some interference in the ether so is 'visible' electronically so can be fired at by any unit that is in range and can 'see' it.
Meaning enemy units target the dome rather than targeting the units under it in order to be able to fire at the dome.
Indeed if the dome is in range they can fire at it even if the enemy is not in LOS.

2- The rules state that if you move through a shield wall you take (per unit) a number of savable hits equal to the current strength of the shield.
We have decided that this will not apply if the wall moves over you; we feel the intent was that it's a defensive structure not a weapon.

3 - The rules state that; Troops that fall back or retreat into a shield war are destroyed.
Is this mere contact or direction dependant i.e. safe if being pushed out, but destroyed if being pushed in? Like being pushed out of woods but being pushed into a wall.

Reason for asking was that my shield dome moved over his units bringing them under it's protection and allowing me to shoot and attack them, without his other units, (those outside) being able to fire at me.
We then realised that this probably meant any units outside the dome could not support either faction, True or False?
It did mean that as if lost combat he would fall back into the shield wall and out of the dome, this would destroy him unless you think otherwise.

This is the point that we realised that my defensive use of the dome, to use it as an armoured smoke screen had actually turned it into a weapon.

So what to do? Your opinions would be appreciated.

On page 56, paragraph four, second sentence "Due to their size, Shield Domes will be hit on 4+." This indicates that shield domes could be targeted. However, all attacks against units under a dome and all attacks made by units under the dome are absorbed by the dome. So it really doesn't matter if you are firing at the dome or something within it. The real question would be how to interpret the part about all attacks made by or against units under the dome being absorbed by the dome. That being 'do the attacks have to roll a 4+ to be absorbed or is it just the total number of attack dice without having to roll 4+ for each die?'

Your other interpretations are something that Pete would have to answer. Unfortunately, he no longer visits the forum. The only thing I would note is that there is no restriction on using opportunity fire that would prevent it from being used against the unit moving the dome or any other unit moving or firing within the dome. The only statement about opportunity fire in that section of the rules applies to units that were protected by the dome.

We play that all 4+ hits on the dome succeed in reducing it's value.
My player tends not to Opportunity fire at the dome, which might be a mistake as he could whittle it down, now do I mention that.............

Yeah I guess I do

I've hopefully answered this to your satisfaction Dranask over on the Pendraken forum ?

My interpretation is that all fighting under the dome is carried out as normal - that includes shooting and assaults. Supporting troops under the dome can support a melee going on under the dome, but supporters supporting an assault who are outside the dome are going to inflict hist on the dome. If that makes sense.

Cheers
Mark

Hi Mark
You have and I will direct questions there in future.

Mark F2