Warmachine & Crew on 'Damned' terrain

[bottle]

If a warmachine and crew are on damned terrain and you choose to take the D3 mortal wounds to get the +1 to hit, would you need to take the mortal wounds against the warmachine or the crew?

(context: I am dreaming up an 'Empire Alpha Strike' - Empire cannon on Damned Terrain + 'hold the line' from a Freeguild General would result in your cannons being 2 shots at 2s followed by 2s, -2 rend, D6 damage each at 40" range. Obviously wouldn't work if the mortal wounds had to be taken on the crew.)

[BaldoBeardo]

Warmachine, as that's the profile with the ranged attack.

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[Tom W]

I might be mistaken, but doesn't the 'Hold the Line' rule only buff state regiments? 

[bottle]

1 hour ago, Tom W said:

I might be mistaken, but doesn't the 'Hold the Line' rule only buff state regiments? 

No, it buffs any unit with the "Free Peoples" Keyword, so Freeguild, Empire and Brets :-) I use it all the time with my Empire Cannon as it's usually not moving. 

[Tom W]

Sorry yes, you're right. That's a change from the older compendium warscroll Empire General. Wow..that's quite a lot more powerful than before!

However...just a question..the cannon itself doesn't have the keyword 'free peoples', only the crew. Wouldn't that mean that the crew get the buff from the general, rather than the cannon? (Apologies if I'm deviating off topic here)

[bottle]

I hadn't considered it but you could well be right. I was under the impression that as it's worded "if it's crew are within 1" of the cannon in the shooting phase, they can fire the war machine". That the +1 to hit would affect the shot as it's the crew making the attack (with the cannon).

that's why I also thought the damned terrain might have to be taken against the crew to get the buff...

i think Warmachines & Crews still cause lots of grey areas in the rules.

[RossMHoward]

Canons + General with a Hurricanum parked by would give you the same buff as well as keeping you alive a little longer. Plus a juicy bit of mortal woundability

I've played a list like that and have found that you'll almost always go second at the start of the game, but if you win the double turn you won't have much left to fight by the end of it

[Jimbo]

With regards to the original question, when attacking a war machine the attacker chooses who to attack so if you are sacrificing your own unit on damned terrain, you are the attacker so you choose who takes the wounds.