In the shooting phase you have the opportunity to fire at the enemy with your forces. In a real battle the guns thunder unceasingly and there is an almost constant exchange of fire between foes. To represent this in a Warhammer 40,000 battle we split the firing up so that each player fires during their own turn. This makes shooting simple to work out and keeps the game moving at a good pace.
In the shooting phase each of your units may fire. You can choose any of your units to shoot with but you must complete all the firing by one unit before you move on to the next. Each model in a unit can shoot with one weapon each. The whole unit has to fire all of its weaponry at a single enemy unit of your choice, you may not split fire between two or more target units. The shooting process can be summarised into the following five steps.
Once you have completed this sequence with one of your units select another unit and begin at step 1 again. Once you have completed steps 1 to 5 for each unit in your army you have finished shooting and can move on to the assault phase.
The rules for the shooting phase also includes details on weapons. These appear later on in this section.
- Choose a target. Select an enemy unit for one of your units to fire at.
- Measure range. See if the target is within range of the weaponry of your firing unit.
- Roll to hit. Roll a D6 for each shot fired by the firing unit. The model's BS determines what score they must equal or beat to hit their targets.
- Roll to wound. Roll again any dice that hit to see if the shots wound their targets. The score needed is determined by comparing the Strength of the firing weapons to the Toughness of the target.
- Remove casualties. The target unit's owner removes any casualties but attempts saving throws for models that have been wounded. Models in cover can always attempt a saving throw.
- 1. Choose a Target
Step 1 of shooting: select a single enemy unit for a firing unit to target, provided it can be seen.
- Line of Sight
A unit may only target an enemy it can see; terrain, enemy models, and all vehicles can block the line of sight.
- Woods and Jungles
Special line-of-sight rules for woods and jungle terrain: models can see up to 6 inches into such terrain, but never through it.
- 2. Check Range
Step 2 of shooting: each firing model must measure to the nearest model in the target unit and be within its weapon's maximum range.
- Moving and Shooting
Whether a unit moved affects its shooting; the whole unit counts as having moved even if only some models did.
- 3. Roll to Hit
Step 3 of shooting: roll a D6 for each shot, needing a score based on the firer's Ballistic Skill (7 minus BS) to score a hit.
- 4. Roll to Wound
Step 4 of shooting: compare the weapon's Strength to the target's Toughness on the Damage chart to see if a hit causes a wound.
- 5. Remove Casualties
Step 5 of shooting: the target's owner attempts saving throws, then removes one model as a casualty per unsaved wound, their choice of which model.
- Taking Armour Saves
Before removing a wounded model, its owner may roll a D6 saving throw against a value set by its armour type to negate the wound.
- Units With More Than One Toughness Value
When a unit mixes different Toughness values, hits must be allocated one per model before rolling to wound, before any model can take a second hit.
- Morale Checks – Casualties from Enemy Fire
A unit losing 25% or more of its current strength to shooting in a single shooting phase must take a Leadership test to hold its ground.
- Creatures With More Than 1 Wound
Creatures with more than 1 Wound on their profile lose one Wound per wounding hit and are only removed once all Wounds are lost.
- Instant Death!
A multi-Wound creature is killed outright if wounded by a weapon with Strength double its Toughness or greater.
- Armour Saves and Multiple Wounds
Multi-Wound creatures take armour saves as normal, including against Instant Death hits, losing 1 Wound (or being removed) if the save fails.
- Casualty Removal and Multiple Wounds
In a multi-Wound unit whole models are removed where possible, with leftover Wounds carried over, except instant-kill hits which remove one model each without affecting the carried-over total.
- Armour Piercing
A weapon's Armour Piercing value automatically defeats armour saves of that value or worse, denying the target any normal save.
- Invulnerable Armour Saves
Invulnerable models always get a saving throw regardless of a weapon's Armour Piercing value, representing force fields or alien physiology.
- Cover Saving Throws
Models in or behind cover get a 5+ saving throw (or their armour save if better), unaffected by the firing weapon's Armour Piercing value.
- What Counts as Cover?
Guidance on what terrain counts as cover, with light cover giving a 6+ save and heavily fortified positions giving a 4+ save.
- When Do Models Count as in Cover?
Conventions for judging whether a model is in cover, covering corners, windows and doors, and craters, trenches, or pits.
- Units Partially in Cover
When only some of a unit's models are in cover, casualties must be removed from the models in the open first.