Before he removes any models as casualties, the owning player can test to see whether his troops survive being hit because their armour stops or deflects the shot. Most troops wear some sort of protective clothing or armour, even if it's only a helmet! If a model is wearing armour it is allowed a further dice roll lo see if the armour stops them being wounded. This is called an Armour Saving throw.

To see if armour successfully stops damage, roll a D6 and compare the result to the model's Save (Sv). If the player gets equal to or greater than the Sv characteristic, the wound is stopped. The following table shows how the minimum D6 score required varies between three sample types of armour:

For example, a Space Marine wearing power armour is hit and wounded. The Space Marine is entitled to a Saving throw of 3, so a D6 is rolled resulting in a score of 5. The damage is therefore saved, and the model is unharmed - the shot bounces harmlessly off his armour.

Some powerful weapons are quite capable of punching through even the thickest types of armour. This is shown by a weapon having an Armour Piercing value, usually referred to as AP. Nearly all weapons have an Armour Piercing value. Some sample AP ratings for different weapons are shown below.

The lower the rating the better, because it indicates the Armour Save the weapon can ignore. A weapon shown as 'AP -' has no Armour Piercing value and always allows the target an Armour Save.

• If the weapon's Armour Piercing value is equal to or lower than the model's Armour Save then it is sufficiently powerful to punch straight through the armour and the target gets no save at all. The armour is ineffective against the shot.
• If the weapon's Armour Piercing value is higher than the armour, then the target can attempt to save as normal.

For example, a heavy bolter has an Armour Piercing rating of 4 so Saves of 4+. 5+ or 6+ are ignored. A bolter with an Armour Piercing rating ot 5 can pierce armour which has a Save of 5+ or 6+. A lascannon with its Armour Piercing value of 2 ignores armour which has a Save of 2+, 3+, 4+, 5+ or 6+.

When a unit takes a number of wounds from an enemy unit shooting at it, you begin by removing all models that do not get a Saving throw and then roll all other Saving throws together, The owning player then removes one model for each failed save. If the unit has models which have different armour types, see the Universal special rules section for the Mixed Armour rules.

For example, a mob of Orks {with an Armour Save of 6+) takes seven wounding hits from lasguns (AP -) and one wounding hit from a plasma gun {AP 2). The Ork player removes one model immediately because the plasma gun easily penetrates the Ork's armour, and then rolls seven Armour Saves for the lasgun wounding hits, removing one Ork for each failed save.

When the air is full of bullets and shrapnel, some good solid cover to lurk behind is always welcome. A position in cover shields troops against flying debris, shots, blasts and shrapnel, enabling them to get their heads down or crawl amongst rocks and (hopefully) avoid harm. Because of this, models in or behind cover get a Cover Saving throw or a Saving throw from their own armour, whichever is better. The great thing about Cover Saving throws is that they are not affected by the Armour Piercing value of the attacking weapon, so troops in cover will normally get a Saving throw regardless of what's firing at them.

Cover is basically anything you can hide in or behind.

When a model is within Area Terrain or the firer's line of sight crosses over cover so that the target model(s) are partially obscured, the model receives the Cover Save shown below, Models can claim cover from Area Terrain up to one size smaller (eg, a monstrous creature (Size 3) gets cover from Standard-sized terrain (Size 2) but not from Small terrain (Size 1)). When checking lor Cover Saves, ignore cover occupied by or in contact with the firers, unless the target unit also occupies that cover.

Some models gain additional benefits from cover and may increase their Save by +1 or +2. However, Cover Saves may never be improved above 2+. A roll of 1 always fails.

Sometimes, a unit will only be partially in cover (ie, some of the models are in or behind cover and some of them are in the open). If there are more models that can be hit in cover than there are outside it, then the unit may make Cover Saves for the entire unit. If this is not the case, then none of the unit may make Cover Saves.

Some creatures or entities are protected by more than mere physical armour. They may be shielded by force fields, enwrapped by mystic energies or have an alien metabolism that can shrug off hits which would put holes in a battle tank. Models like these are called Invulnerable, and always get their Saving throw even if the Armour Piercing value of the weapons hitting them would normally defeat their armour. Even if a hit normally ignores all Armour Saves, an invulnerable model gets to try to make a Saving throw as normal.

Sometimes, a creature will have a normal Armour Save and a separate Invulnerable Armour Save - a good example is a Space Marine Chaplain who is protected by both power armour and a Rosarus generated force field. As if this wasn't enough they might be in cover as well. In these cases, the owning player can choose which save to attempt before rolling the dice, but the model still only gets to make one Saving throw.

Eg, if the Chaplain described above was standing in a fortified building and was wounded by an AP3 weapon his power armour would be of no use, as the shot's AP is equal to or lower than his Armour Save. The force field grants a 4+ Invulnerable Save. However, the fortified building grants a 3+ Cover Save. Neither of these saves is affected by the AP of the weapon so the Chaplain uses the Cover Save to give him the best chance of surviving.

Sometimes a unit will contain models with a mix of different Armour Saves and Invulnerable Saves. This complex situation is explained here