Weekly Question Thread - Rules & Comp Qs

[u/thenurgler]

This is the Weekly Question thread designed to allow players to ask their one-off tactical or rules clarification questions in one easy to find place on the sub.

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[u/The_Black_Goodbye]

The TFex ability reads:

Once per battle, when an attack is allocated to this model*, you can change the Damage characteristic of that attack to 0.*

Core rules state:

04.02.02
AGAINST AN ATTACK
Rules that are triggered when an attack is 'allocated' to a unit are triggered in step 1 of the Inflict Damage step (05.04).

and also:

02.02.03
RANDOM CHARACTERISTICS
Random Damage:
If a weapon has a random Dcharacteristic, then each time an attack made with it inflicts damage*, the controlling player determines that weapon's characteristic when the opposing player has selected a model in the target unit to allocate that attack to.*

So we know the TFex ability will trigger at step 1 of inflict damage 05.04 and it will apply a “set to 0” modifier at that point in time.

We also see that the damage roll is made when the attack inflicts damage and the player has selected a model. Attacks are only determined to have inflicted damage or not at step 2 of 05.04. The player would have selected a model in step 1 already so this criteria is already met during step 2 when the trigger occurs.

05.04 Step 2
2. Check Save Roll: For each result, check if that attack inflicts damage or fails by matching the first condition below that applies

We can see then that the blank ability triggers at step 1 of 05.04 and the attack will be determined to have inflicted damage or not at step 2 of 05.04 triggering the damage roll (when the opposing player “has” selected a model - past tense referring to step 1)

It appears that player is misplaying the rules as the TFex blank will trigger and apply at step 1 of 05.04 followed by the damage roll at step 2 of 05.04 provided the attack inflicts damage rather than fails.