First, they contain the sentence “Your models do not suffer damage from these terrain features if you placed them.”
That could easily be interpreted that you become immune to Spike Traps placed by the opponent if you have placed one yourself. The cleaner way to write it to avoid that would have been to do it like this: “Your models do not suffer damage from this terrain features if you placed it.”
Second, they deal damage when something is “entering or ending its activation”. That means you take the pow 10 damage once when you enter the area and then you take it once again if you end the activation within the area. I don’t think that’s the intended way for them to work.
There are a couple of other things that do damage like this too but with the wording “enters or ends ts activation” (Sorscha3, Brisbane2 etc) that could use a little clarification from how it’s supposed to work.
It’s an interesting situation, as it is following the WMH traditional rules structure. If you are deeply familiar with it, you read and interpret it just the one way. But, if you aren’t, it could go both ways, so additional cleaning or clarification would be nice.
Or, havimg a “Warmachine nomenclature” section in the rulebook.
Fair point! I’ve pinned a post to the top of New to Warmachine? Start Here! with links to all the guides in the category to make them a bit easier to find.
No it doesnt. If I tell you you can have $1 today or $1 tomorrow it doesnt mean you get $2. You take a point of damage if you enter or end your activation within 1" so if you enter and exit that 1" you take a point. If you enter and dont leave 1" you take a point. Its one or the other. A or b. Im not entirely sure how this is unclear.
Interesting. So your take is that if you enter a Spike Trap area and stay there over several turns you take only damage once and is practically immune to it after the first time you take damage?
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Okay, spike trap says “an enemy model without flight entering, or ending its activation…” so you take a point if you enter its area. So if you entered and left you still entered. OR if you end your activation. So you enter the area and then end your activation there.
The activation rules say you activate yoir models on your turn. So you activiate to enter the area and end your activation. You take a point. During your opponennts turn you never activate a model so you dont have an activation to end and therefor wouldnt take a point.
In earlier editions, these were ruled to cause the damage/effect only once each turn, even if you entered and ended your activation within the area. I don’t remember if it was something that was written in the actual rules, or if it was an Infernal ruling only.
Anyway, it became something you just “knew” how it worked because that’s how it was supposed to work.
It’s been something that has been ruled/clarified in the last 3 editions (not sure about MkI). Considering the regularity with which it gets asked, a more permanent solution in the form of different wording might be in order. Isn’t that why we have a living rules document, after all?
Yeah. And they have bothered to clarify that entering/enters can only be triggered once per turn in the rulebook, could have either added a few sentences about “ending/ends” or add a once per turn clause.
