Your marine is in melee with an enemy, the rules say you can only use melee actions. Does that mean you can only use melee actions against that enemy? My question is can i ignore that enemy and use a range attack against another enemy that isnt in melee with me?

If I was GM'ing, I'd allow that, especially if it was with good reason (to save a battle brother for example)... but I'd let your melee opponent get a free attack as if you'd moved out of combat.

Direach said:

This is exactly what I was thinking- allow it, but then give the enemy engaged in hand to hand a free attack. As per RAW though I'm pretty sure you can not do anything but perform melee actions.

And even if the GM does permit you to fire outside of your melee, you still can only use a pistol, NOT a basic or heavy weapon.

Okay then, so Joe the marine shoots the opposite direction of the genestealer, but he can only use a pistol because the stealer behind him is nearby. That makes a lot of sense.

Yes it does, really, although not in the terms you couch it in.

Joe the Marine is being attacked by a four-armed killing machine, intent on ripping him apart. Joe neglects his own safety and tries to shoot a nearby foe. He has no chance of getting a clear shot with his 4-foot long firearm in the frantic melee though as it would easily be knocked aside by the creature. He only has a chance to squeeze of a shot with his pistol.

I probably wouldn't allow it, or require some sort of exceptional cause. Fighting hand-to-hand with someone who is doing their best to kill you tends to focus your attention on them.

Plus: anyone turning their back on a genestealer is just being dumb. Over and above the shame to Marines of going down to blows to the back (I'd give a rep hit for it, in line with some of the fluff), you're not going to get parries/dodges and those two hits are going to you straight to crits. May I draw your attention to the 'power unit critical effects' table on p163, which describes the horrific things that happen to your power armour when you take a critical hit to the rear torso.

@daggerbackstabsmullyan - So that begs the question....what are you doing with a Basic weapon or Heavy weapon or, for that matter, any weapon besides a melee and/or Pistol weapon in a melee? Ok, so you have a Melee Attachment on the Bolter...ok...here's the problem....

You are in melee with an enemy that, if you ignore it, will rip your face off, eat it, then mark your body with it's urine as it moves on to the next person. Well you've done an excellent job in making it think that the rest of your Battle Brothers are such an easy kill and therefore it won't be as nasty when it attacks them and will be easily killed.

That said, a Basic weapon is not meant for such a whirlwind of violence and a slightly intelligent Space Marine would know that either A) he defends himself so that he can live to help his Battle Brothers or B) pray to the Emperor that while he is trying to help his Battle Brothers immediately that the big bad enemy, or even the HUGE group of little guys will be weak enough to not spoil his aim.

If a SM really needs to shoot some other enemy to save the day I would perhaps allow it if the player spends a fate point.
That way it would not be the usual behavior but to save a battlebrother it would be possible.

I'd allow it with a Basic weapon or Pistol, but not with a Heavy weapon. Pretty much anything you could effectively fire one-handed would be OK by me.

I just commented on this mechanic on another thread. I re-read page 247, when it talks about being engaged in melee. It is weirdly written. It says that an attacking character is engaged in melee if his target is adjacent to him. Weird. It doesn't say: anytime enemies are adjacent, they are engaged in melee. I think that's how most of us read it, but it isn't how the rules are written. Apparently, the following can occur:

1. a hormagaunt makes a full-action to move adjacent to a space marine (end of turn)

2. the space marine fires a full auto burst with his bolter against a tyranid warrior 30 meters away (end of round)

3. the hormagaunt attacks the space marine (now he has engaged the space marine in melee: they are both in melee)

4. the space marine can't fire his bolter in melee, since it isn't a pistol. He instead tries to rend it with a chainsword melee attachment to his bolter. (end of round)

What is weird about this order is that at 2., the space marine couldn't have used his bolter against the hormagaunt, since then his target would be adjacent to him, therefore in melee. But by the rules on page 247, the space marine could attack an enemy that is not adjacent to him, and remain outside of melee until attacked by the hormagaunt. This doesn't make common sense. But I'd like to know where that rule is officially fixed...

You're basically right, but a NPC (or PC) can engage an adjacent target in melee as a free action. So to be blunt, a GM has to be pretty stupid to move a hormagaunt horde adjacent to your marine pc and then not engage him in melee.

Concerning being in melee and shooting a gun - if you strictly play by the rules it's not allowed as far as I recall, but you're right, there are situation where it may make sense to ignore such an enemy. I'm reading about genestealers ripping off parts of your body here, and yes, it would be kind of stupid to ignore such a foe, but what about a d10 horde of hormagaunts (the pitiful rest of a previously much larger horde)? Such a small group of troop tier enemies can at best be regarded as a minor nuisance, but perhaps two additional tyranid warriors are just 10 metres away from you and about to engage you in melee as well? This I would regard as a situation where ignoring an enemy would make perfect sense.

Basically, you're in the field of house ruling when you allow such an action. If you're allowing it and what penalties you apply to it is up to you I guess. Personally, I'd at least go with the -20 penalty that applies for shooting INTO melee, perhaps restricting it to pistol weapons as mentioned earlier and/or allowing the enemy an attack of opportunity.

I also wouldn't allow it. Ranged is already considerably better than melee without weaselling around the RAW to mitigate one of its few flaws.

Applying the rule in the manner suggested by the OP would also prevent say an Assault marine from being able to protect his Kill Team by engaging a shooty opponent in melee; which is normally a useful role.

I recall an artwork in 1st ed space hulk of a terminator reloading his assault cannon while sveral genestealers are literally on top of him.

So i'd allow it in a heroic last stand kind of way. Maybe give the marine a single dodge as he leaps to one side firing in mid-air to try and save a fellow brother or to destroy the techno-macguffin that saves the planet before hitting the ground prone and vulnerable and likely to die.

It's heroic and self-sacrificng enough i'd allow it after first cautioning the player as to the likely consequences and asking them if they feel sure the sacrifice is worth it and giving them a chance to change their mind and if they go ahead then we would all hold our breath as they make the roll for their shot and then the many claws descend as they dissapear under the flurrying blows of their foes.

If they didn't survive and the shot paid off it'd be a grand heroic death. One many marines would be proud of and better than many receive.

It might even be dreadnought-worthy if the marine was appropriately experienced and their dying body is sufficiently intact to be salvageable.