ISSUE: Can an independent character joined to a unit which includes one or more Jokaero Weaponsmiths benefit from Inconceivable Customization? If so, will the IC keep the benefit if it leaves the unit or the Jokaero dies?
HOLDING: Yes, an independent character who is nominated to join a unit of henchmen including a Jokaero before deployment will receive the benefit of Inconceivable Customization when the unit is deployed, and will keep the benefit regardless of whether the character leaves the unit or the Jokaero dies.
ANALYSIS:
Justicar GiantKiller delivers the opinion of the court.
This issue arises from the Grey Knights Jokaero Weaponsmith’s rule Inconceivable Customization. The rule grants one or more random benefits to models in the Jokaero’s unit. But what about Independent Characters (hereinafter “ICs”) joined to the unit? And what happens if the IC leaves the unit or the Jokaero which bestowed the benefit is killed?
As always, we begin by analyzing the language of the applicable rules. We start with the rule for Inconceivable Customization:
“Inconceivable Customisation. When an Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband containing one or more Jokaero is deployed, roll a D6 on the following chart. Each time you roll, add +1 to the result for each Jokaero in the unit beyond the first. All results apply for the duration of the game.
1 – Aesthetic Alteration: While pleasing to the Jokaero, these modifications have no noticeable effect.
2 – Improved Gun Sights: All non-template shooting weapons in the unit have their maximum range increased by 12″.
3 – Reinforced Armour: Models in the unit treat their armour save as being one better than normal.
4 – Penetrating Ammunition: All shooting weapons in the unit are Rending.
5 – Augmentative Energy Fields: All models in the unit have a 5+ invulnerable save.
6+ – The Works: Roll twice more on the table and apply both results. Each upgrade can only be applied once – ignore duplicate results (including duplicate rolls of 6).” Codex: Grey Knights p. 50
Analyzing this language produces several observations worth mentioning.
First, we know when the effect takes place: when the unit is deployed. Deployment is the only event which triggers this effect. If you’re not part of the unit when that happens, you miss out. It also means that the GK player can’t make his deployment decision based on which Inconceivable Customization result the unit obtains. The unit is already deployed by the time the benefit is selected and applied.
Second, each of the possible results apply to all models/weapons “in the unit”. This is significant to our discussion because it doesn’t limit the effect to henchmen models. Per the language of the rule, the entire unit gains the benefit.
Also significant to our analysis is the language “[a]ll results apply for the duration of the game.” Unlike many of GW’s rules, this language is perfectly clear and nearly impossible to misinterpret. When the language is clear, the Plain Language Canon indicates that we apply it as written. The benefits gained from Inconceivable Customization are permanent. There is no requirement that the model remain part of the unit, or even that the Jokaero remain alive. There is simply no language that allows the effect to be turned off. This answers two of the three questions at issue. If a model gains the benefit of Inconceivable Customization, the model will retain that benefit for the rest of the game.
The question then becomes, can an IC joined to the unit gain the benefit of the rule? The requirements seem to be laid out clearly – to gain the benefit from Inconceivable Customization, the model must be:
1. Part of the unit; and
2. In the unit when it is deployed.
The first condition is satisfied simply by joining the unit. The independent character rules tell us:
“Independent characters that have joined a unit are considered part of that unit…” BGB p. 49
But can an independent character join a unit before it is deployed? The rule for independent characters joining and leaving units tells us:
“Alternatively an independent character may begin the game already with a unit, by being deployed in coherency with them” BGB p. 48
This suggests that the “joining” takes place only after the IC and the unit are deployed, if the IC is deployed within 2 inches of a model in the unit it wishes to join.
However, the FAQ makes a significant change to this order of operations:
“Q: If an Independent Character is going to begin a game joined to a unit when should this be done? (p48)
A: You should nominate which Independent Characters are joining units at the start of deployment before you place any units on the board. Note that this should be done before you nominate which units are being held in Reserve, Deep Strike or are Outflanking etc.” BGB FAQ v1.4 p.3 (July 2011).
We note, then, that the IC effectively joins the nominated unit at the start of the deployment phase, before it or the unit are deployed. Thus, in the instant case, if a Grey Knights player nominates an IC to join a henchmen unit that contains a Jokaero, that IC has already joined the unit before it is deployed and is part of that unit by the time it gets deployed. Accordingly, when the unit becomes deployed (whether from reserves or as normal) and the Jokaero’s Inconceivable Customization rule is triggered, the IC is a part of that unit and will gain the benefit just like all of the other models in the unit.
It has been argued that an IC joining a Jokaero’s henchmen unit will not receive the benefit of the Inconceivable Customization rule because he does not gain the Inconceivable Customization special rule due to the following language:
“Unless specified in the rule itself (as in the ‘stubborn’ special rule), the unit’s special rules are not conferred upon the character” BGB p. 48
We find this argument entirely unpersuasive and somewhat of a red herring. No members of the Jokaero’s unit, aside from the Jokaero themselves, ever gain the Inconceivable Customization special rule. They nevertheless gain its benefit because the rule’s effect applies to the entire unit. As this argument has come up before in several other discussions, we will address it here in an attempt to put the issue to rest. A model need not possess a rule to gain a benefit from it. Whether or not a rule affects other models is entirely dependent on the language of the rule. Like many other rules, Inconceivable Customization specifies that its effects apply to the entire unit. There is no requirement whatsoever in the language of the Inconceivable Customization rule that the affected models must also have the Inconceivable Customization rule in order for it to affect them. So it doesn’t matter whether the IC actually gains the rule himself. If he is part of the unit when the effect triggers, he gains the benefit according to the language of the rule.
So an IC which is nominated to join a henchmen warband is part of that unit when it is deployed. As part of that unit, it gains the Inconceivable Customization benefit. The language of the rule indicates that that benefit lasts for the rest of the game. For these reasons, we hold that an independent character who is nominated to join a unit of henchmen which includes a Jokaero before deployment will receive the benefit of Inconceivable Customization when the unit is deployed, and that benefit will persist regardless of whether the character leaves the unit or the Jokaero dies. So holds the court.