"destroyed transports (3rd Edition)" Topic

A twenty year old bone of contention arose again.

A transport full of troops gets destroyed the passengers are hit on a 4+ and take an armour save. No problems so far. A new unit wishes to shoot the now debussed infantry, the problem.

Player one argues that if a unit survives fire from the first firing squad and is not destroyed a second firing unit can continue to fire at the target.

Player two argues that if the second unit could have engaged the original target, then the second unit can, as all shooting is simultaneous, if not then they can't.

To give a silly example a devastator squad with 4 muli-meltas destroy a land raider, the next unit to fire is another devastator with 4 heavy bolters. Which could not engage the land raider but could easily shoot up the survivors.

Thoughts are appreciated, I can find nothing in the rulebook that neither proves or confirms either opinion.

cheers
jon

Depends on your point of view
-theoretically if any units see a legitimate target, they all fire at the same time at the same target; unless there is a closer threat BUT…
-assuming that personal communications are much better in the future, an order could be passed on personal comm links to prioritise fire.

Partial Cover?

Not a 40K player

Where does player two get this "all fire is simultaneous" from?

The rules just say to go through the firing sequence one after another, and it says to pick a target, no limitations mentioned here or in the part on passengers from destroyed vehicles. Even checked the Chapter Approved Q&As… nothing.

The surviving passengers are a valid target to any unit firing on it after the unit that destroyed their transport.

Well, if the player places the survivors in LOS of the second firing unit instead of in cover behind the Land Raider, he probably deserves getting them shot… ;-)

I tend to see things more like Player Two's argument. This clip from "Saving Private Ryan" seems to me a good interpretation of what happens to a wrecked Personnel Carrier.

YouTube link

Since each game turn represents a period of time – probably over a minute – and not a single instant, both units get to fire at the target, and teh target changes form a functioning vehicle to a wreck containing infantry.