Rules of Our Game was a weekly post regarding rules. I run across tons of rules questions each week, and I think almost every person in our hobby should keep an eye out for things like these. It helps us when we finally come across such problems or weak spots in the rules of the game. Comments and "Your Wrong!" are very appreciated with this series, as navigating the rules of our game can be quite treacherous.
Some of this gets tricky. So lets clear this up, and get down to the dirty of Cover. Please by all means tell me I am wrong where needed. These rules are found on page 22 of the main rule book.
Question #1
Can a unit shoot out of area terrain from more than 2" away from its edge?
Answer: Yes, using true line of sight. Models may fire through up to 2" of area terrain they are occupying without that terrain conferring a cover save.
Remember here that if you are conveying a cover save to half or more of the unit you are firing at, the entire unit gets a cover save. So if you have 2 guys within 2" of the edge of the terrain, and the 8 are not, the unit you are shooting at gets a cover save as a whole. you do not split the shots up (2 without; cover 8 with)
If this is the case, What if the shooting unit only wants to fire with the 2 models that are within 2" of the area terrain, and not fire with the rest. Does he convey a cover save from the two shooting models?
Question #2
This leads to the more complicated question. What if two units are in the same area terrain, and within 2" of each other. Can the firing unit fire through 2" of terrain without conferring a cover save?
Answer: No. The paragraph where firing through 2" of terrain is mentioned is under the heading.... Firing Out of Area Terrain, so the rule only applies to firing out of area terrain.