Are melee attacks simultaneous?

[Ian R]

if a unit with several melee weapons, like a monster perhaps, attacks and kills a lot of enemies with one melee weapon so that there are none left in range for the second melee weapon is the second weapon prevented from attacking?  I have seen play where people say that's it, and the second weapon cannot be used.  I have also heard it said that all weapons are used simultaneously so you only need to be in range at the start of the combat.

Which is right, are the weapons used simultaneously, or do we need to take care which order we go in?

 

 

 

[Nico]

You have to allocate all of your attacks before rolling any dice. 

They are effectively simultaneous as the casualties only go away once the unit has attacked with all its weapons. This means your opponent cannot pull models away such that the second weapon is "out of range."

Another implication of this is for the handful of weapons that give you a buff if you kill something with them. I've played "all attacks simultaneous" such that if the weapon in question does a wound, then it counts as part of the kill if another weapon notionally removed the final wound.

[BaldoBeardo]

It doesn't make any difference directly, as until all models in the unit have performed all their attacks you don't apply wounds or remove models. INFLICTING DAMAGE in the ATTACKING section of the rules - so it's simultaneous in rules step.

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[RuneBrush]

Just read through the rules and realised that both you and I are doing it slightly wrong

Models aren't removed until a unit has performed all of it's attacks.  The wounds are added to the damage pool and once all attacks are made then the damage is applied (which is where you may get 'ward' type saves).  I've tended to apply wounds as they occur which is actually wrong.

[Chris Tomlin]

13 hours ago, Nico said:

You have to allocate all of your attacks before rolling any dice. 

They are effectively simultaneous as the casualties only go away once the unit has attacked with all its weapons. This means your opponent cannot pull models away such that the second weapon is "out of range."

This.

I've noticed in a number of friendly games recently people will make some attacks with a monster/character, kill something with a good roll and then say "Ok, well next weapon will now attack that unit". I'll usually let them make the roll and then gently advise them that in future they should allocate before attacking.

In these sort of games it doesn't matter to me personally, but I think it helps to get people out of bad habits before they play in a tournament or whatever, where someone could take issue.

[RuneBrush]

3 minutes ago, Chris Tomlin said:

This.

I've noticed in a number of friendly games recently people will make some attacks with a monster/character, kill something with a good roll and then say "Ok, well next weapon will now attack that unit". I'll usually let them make the roll and then gently advise them that in future they should allocate before attacking.

In these sort of games it doesn't matter to me personally, but I think it helps to get people out of bad habits before they play in a tournament or whatever, where someone could take issue.

Amusingly I've always allocated the attacks and then applied damage too early

[Nico]

Quote

I've noticed in a number of friendly games recently people will make some attacks with a monster/character, kill something with a good roll and then say "Ok, well next weapon will now attack that unit". I'll usually let them make the roll and then gently advise them that in future they should allocate before attacking.

This is very generous of you! This makes a big difference.