Mawloc Question

Ok, so there's been alot of mixed reviews about this bad boy.

According to deepstrike rules, the model must first be placed physically on the board before rolling for deepstrike. Once the model has been placed then all rolls are done for scattering yada yada. If a model lands upon a unit it must roll on the mishap table.

But the mawloc states that if it lands on a unit, do not mishap. Instead place a large blast and get a million and one attacks or whatever.

Seems pretty clear to me that a Mawloc can NOT choose to deepstrike upon a unit simply because it must be placed first, which you can not place a mawloc on my units without some problems :p.

But alot of Tyranid players are giving biased views towards this rule (and many other special rules in the book, such as crushing claws). Some comply, others say "Well why would it be placed in the book?" Well, it is placed in the book in the off-shoot chance you HAPPEN to land upon a unit WHILE deepstriking, not purposely choosing to deep strike onto a unit. The codex also gives no hint towards this in the way it's written, it's actually written in favor of the chance of landing upon a unit via deepstrike scatter.

There's also another huge crushing claw debate, along with hive tyrant reserve roll being able to toggle on and off, if you know what these are about please respond, but other than that I am too tired to type it out :p. Looking for opinions here and not bashing on anyone who thinks this way or that way.

Problem is not everyone uses RAW.

Problem with RAI is that there is no way to accurately, and truly, interpret another person's design of the game either partially or at whole.

Unfortunately when the dust settles you gotta play by RAW, or there'll be serious problems. RAI lends itself too much to biased interpretation. I'd say the mawloc only drops a plate on a unit if he scatters into them. I understand that the codex overrides rulebook, but unless the codex specifically states that the mawloc can choose to deepstrike on top of a unit, then it can't.

I agree with Levi on this one. Until it is FAQ'd that the Mawloc can be placed on top of a unit (Which was obviously the intent of the Mawloc), the Mawloc must Deep Strike just like every other model in the game. It must be first placed on the board and then scattered by the rules. Surely the FAQ will be here by the end of the month.

Matt1785 wrote: Surely the FAQ will be here by the end of the month.

HAHAAH oh to be so innocent, you havent had much experience with GW and how they work have you ?

Unfortunately Sarcasm doesn't carry well over the internet.. although I could have made an effort with one of these things. --->

Dont get your hopes up on a FAQ anytime soon, GW will sit on it and let players come up with their own interpretations of the rules, as they have always done for years and years.
Laugh once in a while, is good for the soul.

SW faq came out reasonably quickly, AND they fixed that stupid Counter-Attack + Furious Charge thing within like 2 days of posting it. So there's at least a glimmer of hope.

Yes, I'm hoping that they will turn it around reasonably quickly like the Space Wolf one.. especially with all the debate out there about the Doom of Malan'tai or whatever it's called. Of course, to wish for a quick FAQ is to wish to win the lottery. But to be honest, with the release of the Codex, they could use an FAQ in their favor on this one.

Gw is most likely going to wait untill more problems concerning the rules arise. I'm pretty confident that the mawloc conjecture is just a road bump on their eyes. By the time the codex can be used in major tournaments, more questions will pop up and some schmoe in a gw cubical will take 5 minutes of his day correcting the codex. Man it's infuriating how simple a FAQ can be and yet gw is so stingy with them.

You can use either RAW or RAI, it just depends on what the players want. I think that RAI is most often inside the spirit of the game where RAW is not and usually invoked only by those who would benefit at the expense of their opponent.

I have to read the entry before I add my 2 cents. In the spoiler it said you place a template and it is placed on the table after the template scatters. I guess they took that part out of the final version.

The way it reads is almost in favor of following deep strike rules (atleast to me). Sure it deals damage.....but does that mean it can just be placed ontop of something to deal it? Do vanguards stop 1" away from enemy models? Or the stormboy boss from orks?

RAI in this scenario is REALLY hard simply because of the way it's worded, the point cost of the thing (only 170), and what it can potentially do to a squad/ army that's clumped together too close.

Mawloc Rules: If a Mawloc Deep Strikes onto a point occupied by another model, do not roll on the mishap table but instead....


DS rules (page 95) say that you "First place one model from the unit anywhere on the table..."

Impassable terrain rules (page 14) say "Models may not be placed in impassable terrain unless (they) have a special rule in their profile granting them an exception..."

And Terrain types (page 13) 3rd bullet point says "...that other models, friends and enemies, also count as impassable terrrain."

That's all fine and dandy, but this whole ordeal kicks off with a placement, which can't be done ontop of MY models. Personally I would be offended if someone literally just dumped some gigantic model ontop of my personal belongings like that. There will definitely be an arguement.

well, thank the dice gods for marker die

Read the rules for Deep Strike, you must place a model on the table.

Read the rules for placing models, they may not be placed in Impassible Terrain.

Your models count as impassible terrain, so you can't place the Mawloc on top of enemy models. Same reason you can't put Drop pods on top of enemy models.

Marker dice wouldn't work simply because the MODEL must be placed. Marker dice work for the wobbly model syndrome (pointed out in the BRB)

It's really weird that the download codex summary said you place a large blast marker down for the deepstrike. It doesn't mention that in the codex entry at all? Could be the studio out thinking themselves, but then again maybe they decided that was too good.

Blast marker is placed if you deepstrike onto a point where a unit is. But doesn't say use a blast template in place of the mawloc for purposes of deepstrike, just says what happens in the case that you deepstrike (scatter) onto a point where a unit is instead of mishap.

And yeah, for it's point cost it's too good....ap 2? seriously?

Too good? You might be the only person I have seen argue that the Mawloc is too good for the points... now that is the ONLY post I've seen saying the Mawloc is too good.

For 170 Pts you get... no shooting, horrible CC potential, and a CHANCE to use your template attack, praying that you scatter onto something.

To be honest, for 30 more points you get an extremely better HS choice. One that actually lives up to it's HS slot.

I'm sure mech lists lol at mawloc

Leviticus wrote:I'm sure mech lists lol at mawloc

Ya pretty much this.

Yeah that thing sucks, I read the entry today and it doesn't sound like you can place it on the enemy units.

It sucks now because you can't place the mawloc where you'd like.

Str 6 on the rear armor, direct hit on the ds, let's assume you did this to a leman russ company and roll average. You potentially immobilize one (killing it) and destroy another out right or take out a weapon or at the very least stop the company from being useful next turn, and if placed right can even receive cover from the russ's to ensure a burrow and just repeat the attack next turn.

And can't say it has no cc potential, it still ignores armor in CC with good str.

Compared to the Trygon it's not much of a killer. And I think Leman Russ companies are rare. Hitting a AV 10 vehicle with Str 6 will only damage 50% of the time, pen 33% and result in a kill 11%. Doesn't sound that great to me. Nasty vs 5+ INV Terminators or Marines.

I guess it sucks that it doesn't work right, then again maybe it is too good if it works right. *Shrug* I think the real shame is just about everything in the codex that had it's points cost jacked through the roof with little or no upgrade.