Shooting at Vehicles in Cover, 6th Edition

We have all heard the internet clamoring that Vehicles have been hit by the NERF bat in 6th. This is both true and false for more reasons than I will describe here.  Today I will describe cover and what it means for vehicles in 6th edition as it has changed in many different ways.

First lets look at the cover rules on pages 74 and 75, most importantly the first bullet:
 At least 25% of the facing of the vehicle that is bring targeted (its front, side, or rear) needs to be hidden by intervening terrain or models from the point of view of the firer for the vehicle to be in cover.


 Lets take a few looks at 25%being covered:

 We see that the Aegis can easily hide 25% of a rhino and it provides a 4+ cover save to boot. So a 50 point investment gets your vehicles good cover.

Now lets look at my favorite part of the text I referenced above:
 At least 25% of the facing of the vehicle that is bring targeted (its front, side, or rear) needs to be hidden by intervening terrain or models from the point of view of the firer for the vehicle to be in cover.


Lets explore this now

In this picture, the Interceptor has a clear view of the side armor. In 5th, this would mean that the tank had no cover, however, this is 6th. All we can consider is the facing being shot.

In this second picture the side armor is is blocked out in blue, giving us a visual aid to show us only the front armor which is clearly 25% obscured.

Next we need to take a look at how Armor Facing works in 6th compared to 5th.

Lets start with the 5th Edition Armor Facing Diagram.

5th Edition Vehicle Facing Diagram

In 5th edition we drew lines from 1 corner to next, or as the INAT ruled, we make a cross at the center and have 90 degree facings from the center point. If you notice, parts of the top of the vehicle are included in each facing.

6th Edition Vehicle Facing Diagram

 

 Now, if we look at the 6th edition diagram we notice one big change other than the fact that it is in color. The lines do not intersect in the middle of the vehicle. Page 73, were the diagram is in the book, does clarify the issue of how to determine which facing is were by drawing the lines through the corners. However, in the this diagram, none of the top of the vehicle is included in the facing. The reason for this change, I can only guess, is to prevent flyers from completely dominating other vehicles.

Lets take a look at Flyers shooting vehicles

At first glance it would appear that the Aegis is not enough to give the Razorback cover.

 From the view of the Storm Raven itself, it again looks like no cover is provided, but that is because we still see things in 5th edition.

When we block the top part of the Razorback out, like in the the other picture, we now see that the Aegis does in fact still cover 25%.

So, the cover rules have changed. Vehicles now get cover almost always. Cover may only be 5+ most of the time, but getting it always gives vehicles back some survivability that was lost from losing 4+ cover and gaining Hull Points.

I hope I enlightened some of you on these rules.