To determine if the firing unit hits their target roll a D6 for each shot. Normally troopers will get to fire only one shot each, however they can fire more than one shot with particular weapons as we'll explain in more detail later. For the present just assume that each trooper fires one shot so they each roll one dice to hit.
The dice score needed to hit will depend on how accurate the firers are (as shown by their Ballistic Skill characteristic or BS). The chart below shows the minimum D6 result needed to score a hit.
| BS of Shooter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score to Hit | 6 | 5+ | 4+ | 3+ | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ |
For example, if the shooters are a unit of five Space Marines with a BS of 4, you would roll 5 dice and each roll of a 3 or more would score a hit.
To hit rolls are easy to remember as you just subtract the BS of the shooter from 7. This will give you the number you need to hit. For example, a model with a BS of 2 needs (7-2=5) 5 or more on a D6 to hit.
As you can see, the minimum dice roll needed to hit is always at least 2. There is normally no such thing as an automatic hit, a roll of a 1 always misses. Ballistic Skills of more than 5 are shown for comparative purposes; they are used fully in the Warhammer 40,000 Skirmish series games.
Rolling Dice to Hit
When a unit fires roll all of its To Hit dice together. Sometimes there will be different weapons firing, or firers with different BS in the same unit and you might find it convenient to use different coloured dice for them so that they can be picked out easily. For example you could use green dice for all shots with plasma weapons and red dice for all shots with melta weapons. Alternatively you can simply make separate dice rolls for different weapons or shooters. As long as it is clear which dice rolls are for which shots you can use any convention for this that you like.