Combat Casting, how does it work?

Rules Discussion
1

Hi everyone!
New here and I was hoping you guys could help me (and a friend) with a rule question.

Question: Can you cast CC-spells (Combat Casting) when the caster himself is in close combat?

My friend has the opinion that CC means you can cast spells INTO close combat, but not while the casters is in melee. He base this on the wording of the rule, since it talks about the target, not the caster.

IMO the caster should be able to cast CC spells when in close combat (as long as he is not Disordered), since the rules states CC is the “exception” to the rule that Ranged Attacks (Spells) can not be cast when in Melee or Engaments.

The funny thing is that it would help my friend if CC would work like I think, since he has a lot of Drain Life. So none of us are bias, on the contrary, but we want to be correct. ^^*

The rules we are looking at are:

(Page 26)
“Melee and Shooting
Units that are Engaged with enemies cannot use, or be
targeted by, ranged attacks, unless specified otherwise.”

(Page 53)
“Spells
Spells are Ranged attacks and thus follow the normal rules
for these (e.g. a model that moves At the Double cannot use
spells in the same Turn), with the exceptions listed below.”

(Page 53)
“Like other ranged attacks, most spells are not allowed to
target units that are in Melee combat or Engaged. Spells that
have ‘CC’ in the Targets section of their profile, meaning
Combat Casting, are exceptions. They may target units in
Melee or who are Engaged.”

So the problems here are: 1) They talk about the target, not the caster. 2)What is the difference between Melee and Engaged? (Since: “They may target units in Melee or who are Engaged.”)

Cheers and thanks ^^

1 Like
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  1. this is probably because there is no exceptions for the caster, if he is engaged, he cannot cast.
  2. I don’t think there is a difference, but don’t know for sure. (Maybe if you start your turn engaged and use the halt order, you are engaged, but not in melee).
3

The way it works is I think as follows:

  1. Combat Casting means you can cast that spell on a unit that is in combat.

  2. Casters can cast unless they are Disordered (e.g. suffered a wound in your last round of combat). So a none-disordered caster could disengage and then cast a spell at the enemy, or run away!.

4 Likes
4

You understand it well, just to correct or precise some wording, so there is no misunderstanding. First of all, the (non-disordered) caster must be able to Disengage. In some situations it may not be possible and then he/she would not be able proceed with casting a spell. Secondly, the spell may be casted on a friendly unit, not only on the enemy. Eg. the very common spells like Heal or Bane Chant can be casted on friendly units that are engaged in combat.

@Kuja, welcome to the forum!

3 Likes
5

Thank you all for the answers!

For me it seems weird though that casters that are not disordered and is in Melee/Engaged can’t cast CC spells. Many units (for example Empire of Dust’s Behemoth and Abyssal´s Chroneas ) can have Drain Life as an upgrade. Why is my question?

If they can’t use that spell while in close combat, why should they bother have it? I would rather use Chroneas in close combat then to use Drain Life, same with the Behemoth.
( Behemoth is an excpetion since you can Drain Life then Surge, but my argument is that some units that can have Drain Life are better in Melee) :stuck_out_tongue:

Cheers! :smiley:

1 Like
6

I guess it gives you options early or late game when you are not in combat or something to do without being pulled into melee.

Casters are not unique in this - think about Dragons with their breath or Demons with fireballs - you can nt distance shoot and cast in the same turn (unless u can surge) either. So choices must be made about the tactical position.

2 Likes
7

In part it is simply a game mechanic - spells are ranged attacks and you can’t use those in combat - it also means you have to choose between casting and fighting, as referenced above re dragons/daemons

8

True, I get the tactical aspects of it. But there is a big difference when it comes to Breath/Fireballs with their range of 12" (and useally a lot of Dices) and a Drain Life with only 6". (And they don’t have CC, so they where never an issue :smiley: )

So the tactical aspect IMO is very limited when it comes to upgrade a monster with Drain Life, since when it´s in a position to reach with it, you probably want to charge instead. In otherwords the points for upgrade with Drain Life is not worth it. :confused:

Merry X-mas btw. ^^

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9

Second line stuff - throw another unit in to combat, drain life. Use the model’s combat punch in the next turn as the finisher.

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