FAQ

This page presents commentary from game designers to clarify and expand on rare and more complex rules.

Contents
Line of Sight
Characteristics
Moving
Shooting Attacks and Fighting in
Combat
Special Rules and Critical Hit
Rules
General Principles
Missions
Spec Ops Narrative Play
Killzones

LINE OF SIGHT
 When establishing Cover lines and determining the point at which they cross terrain features or bases, what are the specific points that you
Q: should measure from, in particular for determining Cover and Obscured?
Cover and Obscured require the operative to be at a certain distance from ‘a point’. This means it is any point at which a Cover line
crosses a terrain feature – it does not need to be the closest point.

A:

In this example, Operative A is not more than from the closest point at which the Cover line crosses , however it is more than
from a point at which it crosses , therefore it is Obscured.
 When establishing Cover lines for Obscuring, parts of an Obscuring terrain feature within of the active operative are not treated as
Q: Obscuring. Does that mean if the active operative is within of a terrain feature that is Obscuring, the whole terrain feature is not treated
as Obscuring?
No. Only the specific parts of the terrain feature within of them are not treated as Obscuring (see example in above).

A:

In this example, all parts of the terrain feature within of Operative B are not treated as Obscuring . However, there are parts of the
terrain feature more than from it that are Obscuring . Therefore Operative A is obscured.

CHARACTERISTICS
Q: How are modifiers to the Movement characteristic applied?

The modifier is applied to the total, rather than to each increment. For example, if an operative has a Movement characteristic of 3
A: and was added to it, the modified characteristic would be 3 1 , not 3 3 .
Q: Do modifiers to the Movement characteristic affect how far an operative can move when it performs a Dash action?

No, unless a rule specifically mentions the Dash action. For example, if was subtracted from an operative’s Movement characteristic,
A: it would still move up to when performing a Dash action. However, if a rule states ‘each time an enemy operative performs a Dash
action’, then it would be affected.

Q: If an operative’s Action Point Limit is modified during its activation, will the action points it generated for that activation be affected?

No, unless otherwise specified. Action points are generated after determining an operative’s order for its activation, so modifiers after
that point won’t affect how many action points it has for its activation. Modifiers to an operative’s APL when it is activated (e.g. if the
A: KOMMANDO NOB uses its Get it Dun! ability on itself) could affect the action points generated, as this happens before it generates
action points.

MOVING
Q: If an operative moves onto a Vantage Point, must its base be wholly on it, or can part of its base be over the edge?

A: So long as the operative can be placed without falling, its base can be over the edge.

Q: When climbing and dropping, does an operative get any free horizontal movement?

No. All horizontal movement must be measured as well. Being within simply qualifies it to begin a climb or drop, but you must still
A: measure the horizontal distance as normal. Therefore if an operative does not have enough movement to be placed on that terrain
feature without falling, or enough to fully move its base off that terrain feature, it cannot complete that climb or drop.

Can the FLY keyword allow a friendly operative to perform an action in which it moves that would ordinarily be prohibited while within
Q: Engagement Range of an enemy operative, e.g. a Normal Move action?
No. The rules for FLY apply when the operative would be physically moved, however being within Engagement Range of an enemy
A: operative prevents the operative from performing a Normal Move action in the first place. Therefore it must perform a Fall Back action
to move.

Q: How does an operative move across stairs or an angled slope?

A: Unless specified otherwise, the operative can move across them freely (they do not need to climb them).

SHOOTING ATTACKS AND FIGHTING IN COMBAT

 When fighting in combat, some abilities (e.g. Storm Shield in Kill Team Compendium) cause a parry to discard two of your opponent’s
Q: successful hits. How does this interact with normal and critical hits?
If the operative parries with a normal hit, they select up to two normal hits from their opponent to be discarded. If the operative parries
A: with a critical hit, they select up to either two critical hits, two normal hits, or one critical and one normal hit from their opponent to be
discarded.

Q: How does an operative not equipped with a melee weapon interact with fighting in combat?

A: Do not select a melee weapon or roll attack dice for it. It cannot provide combat support.

If an operative is incapacitated and is affected by a rule that states it isn’t removed from the killzone yet (e.g. In Death, Atonement Tactical
Ploy, VETERAN GUARDSMAN , and Only in Death Does Duty End Tactical Ploy, SPACE MARINE & GREY KNIGHT ), what happens when
Q: it fights in combat? Specifically in the Resolve Successful Hits step, it states you resolve your successful hits until one operative in that
combat is incapacitated. Does that mean the VETERAN GUARDSMAN can’t resolve successful hits, as it is already incapacitated?

A: Yes. As such, being incapacitated (but temporarily remaining in the killzone) will not allow the operative to resolve hits in combat.

If a shooting attack is made against an operative in Cover with a 6+ Save characteristic, if the Defender would retain a defence dice as a
Q: result of Cover, would it still be a successful normal save, or would it be a successful critical save as they couldn’t otherwise roll a normal
save?

A: It would still be a successful normal save.

Q: If there are no valid targets for a shooting attack made from a Manifest Psychic Power action, what happens?

The action isn’t resolved and the action points are refunded. The operative must then perform a different action, or if it knows more than
A: one psychic power, it can perform that action again to select a different psychic power.

Q: Can an operative parry, even if the opponent has no successful hits to discard?

A: Yes.

If a weapon has more than one profile, one of which has the Blast X special rule, can an operative perform the Overwatch action with a
Q: profile that doesn’t have the Blast X special rule?

A: Yes.

If a rule inflicts additional damage (e.g. Hammerhand psychic power, GREY KNIGHT ), then my opponent uses a rule to ignore the damage
Q: inflicted from an attack dice (e.g. Just a Scratch Tactical Ploy, KOMMANDO ), is the additional damage ignored?

A: No. Only the damage from the attack dice is ignored, the additional damage is still inflicted.
SPECIAL RULES AND CRITICAL HIT RULES
When fighting in combat or making a shooting attack, if an operative has multiple special rules and critical hit rules that would take effect
Q: at the same time, in what order are they resolved?
The operative’s controlling player can choose the order for rules that would take effect at the same time. Note that this is an exception to
the usual method of resolving simultaneous rules, in which the player with the initiative determines the order. Also note that if one rule
A: stated ‘in the Roll Attack Dice step’ and another stated ‘at the end of the Roll Attack Dice step’, they do not take place at the same time
(the latter must be resolved last).

If an operative has a rule that allows it to repeat a specific combat or shooting attack (e.g. as a result of the Veteran of the Long War
Q: Tactical Ploy, TRAITOR SPACE MARINE ), can it do so if a weapon with the Limited special rule was selected for that combat or shooting
attack?

A: Yes. In this instance, you could use the weapon again, even if it has the Limited special rule.

If an operative has a rule that allows it to repeat a specific combat or shooting attack (e.g. as a result of the Veteran of the Long War
Q: Tactical Ploy, TRAITOR SPACE MARINE ), must I select the same target?

A: Yes, assuming it’s still a valid target. If it isn’t, you can’t repeat that combat or shooting attack.

When making a shooting attack with a weapon that has the Blast X special rule, if the original target moves before the subsequent
Q: shooting attacks are made (e.g. as a result of the Medic! ability, VETERAN GUARDSMAN ), do you determine the subsequent attacks
from its original or new location?

A: Its original location. Make a note of the valid targets (if any) before the operative moves.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES
How do you resolve contrasting rules? For example, the Contagion Strategic Ploy (DEATH GUARD and CHAOS DAEMON ) means enemy
Q: operatives are treated as being injured, but the Emperor’s Chosen ability (TALONS OF THE EMPEROR ) means the operative cannot be
injured.
In such circumstances, ‘cannot’ takes precedence; the Emperor’s Chosen ability would prevent the operative from being injured as a
result of the Contagion Strategic Ploy. There may be some rules where specific wording overrides this though. For example, a rule might
A: say ‘the operative is treated as being injured, regardless of any rules that say it cannot be injured’. In this instance, the Emperor’s Chosen
ability would not prevent the operative from being injured.

Q: Does Overwatch count as an activation?

A: No.
 If an operative would be injured from more than one rule, are the effects applied more than once? For example, an operative has fewer than
Q: half of its wounds remaining and is within of an ANATHEMA PSYKANA operative with the Creeping Dread Strategic Ploy (
TALONS OF THE EMPEROR ).

A: No. In such instances, the Creeping Dread Strategic Ploy would have no additional effect on that operative.

MISSIONS
Q: When setting up additional barricades (e.g. the Fortify option in the Scouting step), can they be set up on a terrain feature?

A: No, unless that terrain feature has the Insignificant trait.

The Consecrate Ground action (Mission 1.2 Consecration, Critical Operations mission pack, Kill Team Core Book) modifies an operative’s
Q: Action Point Limit characteristic (APL) until the start of the next Turning Point. As this modifier doesn’t generate any additional action
points for the operative’s activation (as explained in the Characteristics commentary above), what is the effect of this?
It means the operative is better at controlling objective markers and tokens until the start of the next Turning Point (which is determined
A: by APL). Note that ‘until the start of the next Turning Point’ is an exception to the usual APL modifier time frame, which is usually until
the end of the operative’s current or next activation (whichever comes first).

Q: The Rob and Ransack Tac Op card differs from that presented in the Core Book. Which one is correct?

A: The one printed in the Core Book. Use the card to generate the Tac Op, but use the rules presented in the Core Book.

SPEC OPS NARRATIVE PLAY

When I add an operative to my dataslate for a Spec Ops campaign, and that operative has options for what it must be equipped with, do I
Q: have to select one of the options?

A: Yes. Note this means that operative is then equipped with that option for the duration of your Spec Ops campaign.
KILLZONES
For Scrap Pile terrain features in Killzone: Octarius, can an operative perform a Dash action in the same activation in which it performs a
Q: Charge Over action, even though a Charge Over action is treated as a Charge action?

A: Yes. That is an exception for that terrain feature.

For terrain features with Hatches in Killzone: Chalnath, what parts on the terrain feature are a Hatch, and therefore what parts can an
Q: operative move through?
The area specified in the diagram below:

A: