7th Edition Rules: Shooting

Targeting: A unit can target any enemy they see. I think in one older edition, you had to pass a Ld test to target something other than the closest unit? I'm also pretty sure I read you can check distances and ranges prior to selecting a target (since your men are better at estimating the ranges of their guns than you are).

Sequence: You now fully resolve shooting, wounding, saving and removing casualties with each named weapon in a mixed unit before moving on to the next weapon. You pick the order. Example: Resolve all bolster fire, then all plasma gun fire, then all missile launcher fire. The whole unit shoots at the same target.

Rolling to hit and wound us the same.

Allocating Wounds and Removing Casualties: The closest models take wounds first. Models that are out of sight of the firing weapon cannot take wounds. Any model that is out of range of all the shooters cannot be given a wound. There is a special rule called Look Out, Sir that gives you a chance to have a different model in the squad take an allocated wound for a character in that squad (normally on a roll of 4+), prior to rolling the armor saving throw.

Saves: Armor works the same way as it did. If any of the shooters have their line of sight obstructed by cover to a particular target model, the model gets an invulnerable cover save against any wounds from the shooting unit. Cover saves are still invulnerable. If a model has multiple saves, they only use the best one (not multiple saves).

There is new rule called Go to Ground you can use if your unit is being shot at. After allocating hits and  wounds, you can elect to GtG before rolling saves. This gives you a cover save 1 better than your current save (or a 6+ save if you're in the open). Some terrain types like craters and fortifications improve this to 2 points better save than before, but always to a max of 2+. But you stay in GtG mode until the end of the model's next turn. During that time, you cannot move, run, or charge and can only fire Snap Shots. So you'd have to be pretty desperate to use it or just happy to hunker down and hide because you're trying to stay alive on an objective or there are no nearby enemies for you to shoot or charge anyway.

There is another new rule called Snap Shots. This applies when units don't have time to carefully take aim. Snap Shots are taken with BS 1 (hit on a 6). Examples: If you move with a heavy weapon, you can take Snap Shots in the shooting phase (but if you shoot a heavy weapon, you still cannot charge).  They also apply to most weapons/units when shooting at Zooming flyers (unless they are specifically AA). They apply to more of a vehicle's weapons when the vehicle is moving faster. They can apply to vehicles or the occupants of vehicles/buildings when the vehicle takes heavy hits, etc. You cannot fire Ordnance, blast or template weapons this way.

Overwatch is back (but different)! Boo! When you declare a charge, the unit being charged gets to fire a salvo of Snap Shots at the chargers before anything else happens. (Like cowardly shooting units need more help against close combat units!) I'll discuss more in the Assault Phase post, but wanted to mention it under Shooting, too.

Instant Death still applies if a model suffers an unsaved wound from a weapon with strength double their toughness.

Blast weapons don't roll to hit. Place the marker and roll for scatter, but you subtract the firer's BS from the scatter distance so better shooters are still more accurate. The template determines number of hits only; casualties are removed the same way as other shooting (closest models first). If a model is even partially covered by a template, it counts as being hit, no roll of 4+. It has to touch the base or the torso, not just an arm or weapon or tail.

Grenades: Most types allow one model in the unit to make an 8" shooting attack with the grenade instead of shooting his normal weapon, as well as having other effects. Assault/frag grenades are still used when charging into combat (more on that later) and meltabombs are used in melee attacks against vehicles/buildings, for example.

Assault Weapons and Pistols are the only types of guns you can shoot and still charge (must charge the unit you shot). Rapid Fire weapons can move and then either fire once at full range or twice at half range. Heavy Weapons can fire as normal when stationary or move and fire Snap Shots. So they seem to want to allow for moving and less requirement to stand still in order to shoot effectively. A model with two pistols can fire both!