Other Core Concepts

A handful of supporting rules recur whenever units make attacks: visibility and line of sight decide what can be targeted, mortal wounds bypass saves entirely, and hazard rolls punish overheating weapons.

Visibility and Line of Sight

Whether one model can see another is settled by line of sight. An observing model has line of sight to another model if you can draw an unbroken line, just 1 mm wide, running from any point on the observing model to any point on the model it is looking at. When checking this, ignore every other model in both the observer's unit and the target's unit — they never block the view. Terrain, however, layers additional visibility rules on top of this basic check.

Models and units come in two degrees of visibility:

• Visible: if any part of a model can be seen, that model is visible; if any one model in a unit is visible, the whole unit is visible.
• Fully visible: if every part of a model that faces the observer can be seen — so the only thing hiding any of it is the model's own body — that model is fully visible. A unit is fully visible only when every model in it is fully visible, and when judging this the observer is allowed to see through the unit's own models.

These distinctions matter because some rules require a target merely to be visible, while others demand that it be fully visible.

Mortal Wounds

Mortal wounds are inflicted directly and cannot be stopped by any save. Whenever a unit takes one or more mortal wounds, its controlling player works through them one at a time until they are all dealt or the unit is destroyed. For each mortal wound:

1. Select Model. Choose a model using the first rule that applies: an already-wounded non-CHARACTER model must be picked; otherwise any non-CHARACTER model; otherwise an already-wounded CHARACTER; otherwise any CHARACTER. This forces damage onto the rank and file before it reaches your leaders, and onto wounded models before fresh ones.
2. Resolve Damage. The chosen model loses 1 wound, and is destroyed if this brings it to 0.

When a pool of attacks deals both ordinary damage and mortal wounds at the same time, resolve all of the normal damage first and only then the mortal wounds.

Hazard Rolls

Certain volatile weapons force a hazard roll on the unit firing them. To make a hazard roll, roll one D6:

• On a 1 or 2, the roll fails and the unit suffers 1 mortal wound.
• If every model in that unit is a MONSTER or VEHICLE model, the failure inflicts 3 mortal wounds instead — durable war machines take a heavier toll when their weapons misfire.
• On a 3 or higher, nothing happens.

If a unit must make more than one hazard roll at once, roll them all simultaneously. Any mortal wounds caused are then resolved using the mortal wounds sequence above.

Frequently asked questions

How does line of sight work in Warhammer 40,000 11th edition?

An observing model has line of sight to another model if you can draw an unbroken line, just 1 mm wide, running from any point on the observer to any point on the model it is looking at. When checking this you ignore every other model in both the observer's unit and the target's unit, though terrain adds its own visibility rules on top.

What is the difference between visible and fully visible in 40k?

A model is visible if any part of it can be seen, and a unit is visible if any one of its models is visible. A model is fully visible only when every part of it facing the observer can be seen, so the only thing hiding it is its own body, and a unit is fully visible only when all of its models are.

Can you save against mortal wounds in Warhammer 40,000?

No. Mortal wounds are inflicted directly and cannot be stopped by any save, including invulnerable saves. They are resolved one at a time, with each mortal wound costing the chosen model 1 wound until they are all dealt or the unit is destroyed.

What happens on a failed hazard roll in 40k?

To make a hazard roll you roll one D6: on a 1 or 2 the roll fails and the unit suffers 1 mortal wound, or 3 mortal wounds instead if every model in that unit is a MONSTER or VEHICLE. On a 3 or higher nothing happens.

Do you resolve mortal wounds or normal damage first in Warhammer 40,000?

When a pool of attacks inflicts both ordinary damage and mortal wounds at the same time, you resolve all of the normal damage first and only then the mortal wounds. Multiple hazard rolls required at once are all rolled simultaneously before their mortal wounds are applied.