Hey folks,

My apologies if this has been covered recently, I searched the forums and couldn't find a thread about it.

Basically, as I understand it, hordes do not have hit locations. Makes perfect sense. However, this seems to indicate that hordes do not benefit from cover at all. Is this true? It's a bit of a problem because I had a Horde of Fire Warriors get spanked in a single round while they were shooting from a bunker. It seems like cover should have some effect, since it does so much for the PCs benefit. The thing is though, if Hordes don't have hit locations, then how do I determine if cover blocks a hit or not?

Thanks

AkumaKorgar said:

I believe RAW you're supposed to treat it like a single creature. Pick some locations who are on average covered.

I should add that I don't use this mechanic. Instead I house rule that the size modifier of a horde depends on visiblity of the horde. A Tau Fire Warrior horde in a bunker might even have a +0 or negative size modifier, depending on the size of the slit, etc. The good thing about this it is fast (you can assign effective size modifier based on gut feeling) and has some relevance (as in a from +30 to +0 causes effectively a by 3 degrees of success unless the PC rolls well which then represents all shots passing through the slit in this case). Adjust numbers as you see fit.

Alex

ak-73 said:

I'm not sure what you mean by picking locations which are covered on average. How do I do that since Hordes never use Hit locations?

Also, what does the acronym RAW stand for?

Thanks

AkumaKorgar said:

RAW stands Read-As-Written. Going by the book, so-to-speak.

Well, I suppose the book isn't very clear on this issue either.

I suggest you either give an X% chance that an attack has passed through cover (and if so add the according AP to the hordes armour) or you use the size method I mentioned above.

Alternatively there is Rules Questions link for questions just like these at the very bottom of the page. If you send the question to FFG today, you should have an answer in a couple of days.

Alex.

since hordes are abstracted as a concept, i just treat them as being in cover since you don't really use locations on a horde. besides, all you need to do is a single point of damage to reduce the magnitude so the cover doesn't really affect much unless they're standing behind some serious fortifications.

"Cover" for a horde can also be a way of taking into account the horde spreading out so concentrated fire is less likely to take a huge chunk out of them. It is kind of an abstract concept, but that's the nature of dealing with hordes. Magnitude is not a 1 for 1 balance with actual numbers, so cover could mean a combination of controlled movement, leap frogging from cover to cover, or spreading out, or some being hidden by other structures, or by the mass of hordes in front of them.

Keep hordes fast and loose and don't get too wrapped up in specifics about them, they're only there to die. You don't need to give them all names.

E

Sanguinary Priest said:

Actually I like that idea. If a Horde is defending, and they have cover, just assume they're behind that cover. It won't make things that much harder for the PCs on average but it should (if my calculations are correct) extend the Horde's life a little bit to make assaulting a position a bit more of a challenge.

Awesome, thanks to everyone who responded.

though we have yet to run into a shooty horde in our game i suppose a hoard in cover would just be given addition ap, just make them a tougher nut to crack, on the other hand you have fire warriors in a hardened bunker, not some manic heretics behind an overturned auto carriage, were i gm i might make it so that either a ballistics test that was difficult, say BS -20 to hit, or some kind of opposed bs test, maybe roll the players bs against the hordes agility or intelligence , representing their superior position on the battle field and better tactical view. or have them roll as if the horde did have hit locations and just say that leg and arm hits automatically fail do to hitting 2 feet of reinforced ferrocrete bunker

just my 2 cents,

-C.C.