Nova Open controversy..... What's your take....

40K Contoversy - Of Njal and Flyers

There's a tempest in a teapot brewing over the weekend.  The NOVA Open saw a controversial ruling that benefiting one of the eventual top placing players.  What's your take?



The general question is:



How do you resolve Njal Stormcaller's Lord of Tempests ability with Flyers in 6th Edition.

This came up with a player planning on unleashing the potent power of the Vengeful Tornado and Chain Lightning effects from Njal on nearby flyers.  You have two basic choices:

1) Let Wreckage Rain From the Heavens! Read the powers in the codex as RAW.  The vehicles are struck as defined in the power. Flyers are automatically struck - no rolling to hit using Snap Fire rules, and no Evades allowed.

2) They're Moving Too Fast! Use the flyer rules from the 6th rulebook p.81 - any Flyers still reuire snap fire rolls to be struck and get Evade rolls if desired.

The judges ruled for option 1, and the player moved forward, finishing with a high ranking.

What's your take?

I hate this post.... Its Bols Trolling for website traffic...


In Tony's game they ruled that codex trumps rulebook. That the power didn't roll to hit so flyers would be hit if in range as well. Also they ruled that he could use evade but only if he was already evading since there was no roll to hit and its during this step that you choose to evade or not as the owner of the flyer... It did mean basically the last turn he was able to kill several flyers, however...I want to point out it didn't matter and I am sure Neil will say the say thing on his podcast.. Tony already had the game at the point this call was made. You can watch the game on Ustream and neither player even cares about the ruling the judge seems to be way more interested than Tony or Neil are during this game.

I agree with with the call personally and don't mind that Bols is throwing the question itself up for debate.. However the way they worded it was trolling for a response and making it seem like this ruling caused a unfair advantage or something...

my 2 cents since I watched this game live while it streamed this weekend.

(Mack; note that this is NOT an indictment on your sharing this, or your bringing it here...I just have to rant).

The article was pure troll-for-traffic.

MVB made a very good point in his initial response...BoLS made NO mention (that I am aware) of NOVA (event coverage, lead up, or what have you), yet dredged up something that the participant(s) this had bearing on had no issue with (both the eventual winner, and the 'victim' of the ruling) days afterward.

Though I understand why you brought the 'article' up, before I get into my take on it...I will say this is the final straw, and after having removed the BoLS bookmark-link from my taskbar a few months ago...I am now removing it from my bookmarks entirely, and not generating them another dime of ad revenue by returning to their site.

I am distressed by this, honestly. Back in the day, I regularly read their site. I loved their campaign books, pre-heresy material (etc).
A model I painted wound up in their 'Badab War' supplement (a friend created the scheme, it was his colours that were chosen for one of the chapters in the book).
I used their Legion Transfer sheet art, and loved checking their site.
They have now devolved into trite trash that makes Dakka-Dakka look like an intellectual go-to zone for fun!

as for the ruling, I think they made the right call at the right time...and I understand the wording and the RAW of it.
I don't necessarily know, or even agree, with the RAI of it...but for a major event such as this, without the question having been handled prior, running it down like this was precisely as needed and appropriate.

Doesn't every site need "traffic"? Without the input of this article, I would have probably never thought of this situation until it was thrown at me. I don't peruse all the blogs and sites you guys do.... and maybe that's my loss, but it's these articles that make me ask the questions that I would think to ask. Remember our last get together, EAP, when we talked about the BoLS article on the Relic mission and bikes.

I'm not defending BoLS or took it personal, but with a new ruleset out, it's articles like this that put those questions and answers out there. As far as the Nova coverage that they didn't put on there site.... who cares. I imagine if I or anyone for that matter, was interested in knowing the happenings of Nova, there are plenty of other sites and such to get the info.

Just my rant.....

and a correct rant at that.
this was neither the time, nor the place, for me to a post my personal distaste 4 their presentation of the question...sorry for attempting to hijack your thread for a personal vendetta.

Never taken that way......

Interestingly enough I was in Memphis at the factory store when an argument errupted in th ebunker about this.
This is how it was ruled by Games Workshop (in which I got to be a part of the discussion):
Since the attacking portion of the power hits automatically it cannot hit Flyers.Plain and simple.
There is nothing in th ecodex that overides the Flyers ability to never be hit by auto hitting attacks.
The base is ignored for flyers and thus never hits dangerous terrain so the other power doesnt work either...
What people do with it out there is their doing and their right to call it as they deem approriate, but in a GW bunker, or throne of skulls... that is how it is ruled.

Not trying to start an argument just more of an fyi...

It's been FAQ'd since then and should be clear as mud to everyone now.