Shield rule clarification help (RESOLVED)

[alindahl]

I was thinking about unit compositions for different units the other day.  There is nothing in the rules that states that the entire unit must wield the same weapons/armor, all restrictions for such things are given on the warscrolls.  As a result I was trying to see if mixing and matching weapons for some Stormcast units would make for better results and I stumbled a bit when I saw the Liberators (and Prosecutors) special rule for shield.  It is stated as follows:

 

"Sigmarite Shields: You can re-roll save rolls of 1 for this unit if any models from the unit are carrying Sigmarite Shields."

 

The key word is ANY.  It does not say ALL, it says ANY.  So this means that if I have a unit of 10 Liberators, only 1 need to have a shield and the whole unit receives the save re-roll?  If this is true than the rest of the unit should wield paired warhammers because the rule for paired weapons is this:

 

"Paired Weapons: ...You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for models armed with more than one warhammer or warblade."

 

The key here being MODELS.  So I would build my 10 Liberators with 2 Grandhammers, 7 Double Warhammers, and 1 shield.  Keeping the paired weapons in front so they get to re-roll hits, while keeping the single shielded model around just so the WHOLE unit gets to re-roll save rolls of 1.  

 

Taking a quick peek at other models from other factions and this rule is not carried over,  Darkling Coven Bleakswords for example have a shield rule as stated:

 

"Darkshields:  You can re-roll save rolls of 1 for a unit with Darkshields.  You can re-roll failed save rolls of 1 or 2 for this unit in the combat phase instead."

 

Implying the whole unit must have shields.  (although I'm fairly certain they can't be assembled any other way.)  This wording is similar for Wanderer Eternal Guard.  

 

So my question is am I missing anything? Has anyone seen an FAQ that modifies this rule?  Have you found any tourney rules that state that the whole unit must be equipped similarly to receive the bonus?  How would you play this rule out? Do you think this is a mistake or was written purposefully this way? In some ways its not beyond the fluff for this rule to play this way since the Stormcast are crazy coordinated with each other.  It could be conceived that the shield guy is able to defend his brethren to some extent, but I could see major abuse.  A 5, 10, 20, 50 model Liberator unit would all get this benefit if there is even just 1 shield based on the rule wording.  Thoughts??

[Steel Angel]

Ok so doesn't work like that. For one the whole unit has to be armed the same. With the exception of special weapons. What the shield rule does is allow you to have your grandHammer Liberator and yur Shield hammer Liberator have the same ability

 

That way there's no confusion by saying okay I put the wound on the grandhammer then he doesn't get to reroll ones but because of that rule he does

[alindahl]

Where does it say the whole unit has to be armed the same?

[Steel Angel]

Battlescroll it doesn't say " some stormcast. Are aarmed...." it saids " units are armed.."

[alindahl]

Ahhhh.  Okay I missed that language.  Thanks a lot for pointing that out Steel!  This makes things a lot simpler and makes more sense. haha

[Threejacks]

Yeah,reading the unit descriptions can be easy to miss things like this..though for the most part scrolls can only have one type of weapon/shield configuration with just the unit champ having a different set up.However there are exceptions and in most all of those cases its just the weapon layouts that can be different which is much easier to deal with that having some models with shields and others without,thus making wound allowcation all screwey,heh.

[alindahl]

Yeah I was beginning to realize how insane things would get if you could have multiple set-ups in the same unit!  

[KlawKnee]

 

Description for acolytes and tzaangors are the only ones i know with mix weapons

[alindahl]

Oh yeah they do say that don't they... The shield rule is different for these units though it seems:

 

"Arcanite Shield: Roll a dice before allocating a wound or mortal wound to a model that has an arcanite shield.  On a roll of 6 the shield deflects the damage and the wound is ignored."

 

Hmm.  So in this case you definitely want a mix of models and you would want to try and allocate wounds to shielded models first.  Not a bad way to deal with units with a mix of load-outs.  

[Threejacks]

 

Description for acolytes and tzaangors are the only ones i know with mix weapons

I probably should look first but the OnG Black Orcs can have mixed layout as well...that is the Old World army scrolls not the new Orruk ones.