Shooting isn’t simply a matter of pointing your weapon at the target and letting fly. Factors other than your Ballistic Skill affect the chance of hitting, such as range and cover as already discussed. There are other factors too, some of which make it easier to hit and others that make it harder. These are called To Hit modifiers, and they are cumulative.

Factors that make it easier are added to your dice roll. Factors that make it harder are subtracted from your dice roll.

All shooting to hit modifiers are cumulative. So, if you are shooting at long range at a target behind soft cover, your chance of hitting is reduced by –2. This means that with BS 5 you would need to roll a 4 to hit instead of the 2 normally required.

For example: Ten Goblin Archers fire at a unit of Elves. Their targets are 10” away. To make matters worse, the Elves are standing behind a hedge – soft cover! The Goblins are armed with short bows, so their targets are at long range (short range for these weapons is 8” or less). Because their BS is 3, the Goblins need 4s to hit, but since their targets are in cover and at long range, they suffer a penalty of –2. So each archer needs to roll a 6 to hit (6-2=4). The player rolls ten dice and manages to get two 6s – two hits!

A large target is anything which in real life would be massively tall or which is especially bulky. Giants are large targets, for example, while Men, Orcs, Elves, Ogres, Cannons and the vast majority of troops are not. In every case, a creature’s description in the relevant Army book will inform you whether it is a large target or not. Cavalry riders are not considered to be large targets if they are riding horses, wolves, boars or comparable beasts. Dragons, Greater Daemons and certain war machines are large targets.

If the shooter moved during the Movement phase (or during the Magic phase via the effect of a spell) then his chance of hitting is reduced. Even a simple turn or change of formation is enough to reduce his concentration and so counts as movement for this purpose.

If a model is charged and elects to stand & shoot at his attacker then his chance of hitting is reduced. While the enemy thunders towards him, his aim will be distracted and his shot hurried as he abandons his weapon to take up a sword.

If the target lies at over half you maximum range you are less likely to hit. Sometimes you will find some of the shooters are within short range and some are at long range. If this is the case, you must roll two batches of dice, one for each range band.

If the target is a single man-sized model (including characters) on foot then this penalty applies. The penalty also applies when shooting at enemy in a skirmish formation or at any single man-sized model on its own. See the section on Heroes and Wizards for a complete explanation of the rules for shooting at character models, and see the section on Skirmishers for rules regarding skirmishing troops.

If the target is behind soft cover than the chance of hitting it is reduced.

If the target is behind hard cover, the chance of hitting it is drastically reduced.

If to hit modifiers result in a required score of 7 or more when shooting then it is still possible to score a hit, though very unlikely. As it is impossible to roll a 7 on a D6, you will first need to roll a 6 and then, for each shot scoring a 6, you will need to roll a further score as shown on the chart below. So, for example, in order to score an 8, you must roll a 6 followed by a 5 or more, if you require a score of 10 or more then it is impossible to hit the intended target.

Not all hits will wound their target - some might glance off armour or merely graze their target. Some creatures are so tough that arrows do not easily pierce their flesh, or are so resilient that they are able to ignore missiles sticking out of their body. Once you have hit your target, roll again to see if he has been wounded. To do this compare the weapon's Strength with the target's Toughness. The Strength values of common missile weapons are given on the right; the target's Toughness 'T', is included in its profile.

Roll a D6 for each hit scored and consult the Wound chart above. Find the weapon's Strength and look down that row. Then scan along to the column for the target's Toughness. The number is the minimum score on a D6 needed to score a wound. Where the value is 'N' this indicates that the target is too tough for you to hurt. N stands for no effect – or no chance!

The following examples show the strength of various missile weapons. They are included here as examples: the section on Weapons describes all missile and close combat weapons in more detail.

Continuing our earlier example: The Goblin player having scored 2 hits on the flues, consults the table. His ladz' short bows are S3. The flues are T3. He sees that he needs to roll 4s or more to wound an Elf. He rolls a 4 and a 2, wounding one Elf.