Hi All,

Philosophical rules debate regarding the Tarantula. In the old days this unit used to be able to fire in both first and advance fire phases and you got 5 for 100 points. Absolute killer bargain, but luckily they were hard to get so you didn't see too many. Under NetEpic they still get to shoot twice, add Quickdraw, but go up to 150 for 5. Still good value but not so over the top. However, I had always wondered if they should have to shoot the closest enemy unit like robots, rather than anything they like. Given I have a bunch of them now the question has suddenly become worth asking

I played mines without having to shoot at the closest enemy (it was not written in the 5.2 squat codex) and my opponents did not complain. On another side, I've never been lucky to destroy something with them :/

WARNING! Warhead rules molestation: Do not try this at home if you are of an anorak persuasion.

I've tried both. The reason being they can be either Robotic or manned. It says so in the old rules from yee olden days.

If Robotic then, yeah stands to reason that Imperial AI programs must be kind of limited and klunky (which also means the Robots suffer the same limitation, which isn't mentioned anywhere but kind of follows logic to a conclusion). So they target the closest enemy units. This helps to stop people buying these as cheap, less capable AA units too.

If manned then they become fixed weapons mounts UNLESS they give up firing to move on Charge orders (but are unable to charge into close combat because, c'mon for support weapons that's just daft). If they are charged in close combat, like PDF fixed artillery they must make Morale rolls or go on Fall Back suffering a -2 to Caf, failing another morale roll will make them automatically route. This is less of a problem for Space Marine Tarantula support weapons as they have a higher Morale.

Space Marine Tarantula battery - 2+ morale, normal targeting, at 150 points
PDF/IG Tarantula battery - 4+ morale, normal targeting, at 100 points
Robotic Tarantula battery - Negate normal morale rolls, target nearest units only, at 100 points.