Docking Claw questions

[Stevo]

I have some questions about the use of the Docking Claws at the start of a mission.  I’m sure players have run into this situation before but I need help on how to handle it, as I cannot find any relevant rules.

It’s the first turn of Mission 2.  The Ultramarine player has moved his point man on to the board, scanned, and the Alien has placed his Blips.  Three of them are placed against the door of the Imperial Fist Docking Claw.

   

Q1. Is this a legal placement of the Blips?

If it is legal, it is now the Imperial Fists’ turn.  The Docking Claw door is removed but the Marines cannot move out of the Claw because of the Blips.  More questions arise:

Q2. Does LOS extend from the Docking Claw onto the game board and how is this determined as the Docking Claw has no squares?
Q3. Are the Blips revealed?
Q4. If LOS is allowed and the Blips revealed, can the Marines attack the Aliens while still in the Docking Claw?
Q5. As a separate issue, are Marine miniatures allowed to finish their turn still in their Docking Claw, and if so, can they move onto the board in subsequent turns?

This situation is not a one off; it can also happen in Missions 3, 4, 5, 6 and 11.
Cheers, Stevo

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Stevo wrote

It’s the first turn of Mission 2.  The Ultramarine player has moved his point man on to the board, scanned, and the Alien has placed his Blips.  Three of them are placed against the door of the Imperial Fist Docking Claw.

   

Yea I've seen this happen a few times - there's 2 ways of handling it

Method 1 (my preferred method)

The first and perhaps most simple way is to clarify that blips cannot be placed in line of sight of the Marines in the docking claw (even if the hatch is closed). This is probably what the rules intend.

Stevo wrote

are Marine miniatures allowed to finish their turn still in their Docking Claw, and if so, can they move onto the board in subsequent turns?

My group rules as follows on this matter:
No, you must move all your Marines onto the board in your first turn. Also you cannot return to your docking claw until the mission is complete.

It can assumed that either the Blast Doors lock closed and/or the Docking Claws retract to stop aliens boarding the Marine's Assault ships (In fact in the computer game, you can see the docking claw withdrawing from the Spacehulk and if you've left any marines in the docking claw you loose them!)

also please note the following related clarification:
Marines Movement in the first turn should be measured from the 2 squares in front of the Docking Claw's hatch and marines can be moved off the Docking Claw in any order the player wishes

Method 2 (an alternative)

I like to call this the 'Open-Assault Pod' method, Basically the little section of corridor inside the Docking Claw counts as 6 extra squares were your marines start and the door is treated like any other. This means not only can aliens move into the docking claw, but you have to be a little more tactical with deployment as the marines at the back won't get to move as far onto the board as the ones at the front.  

[Stevo]

Hi MortiS,

Thank you for the reply and options.
Method 1 is the simplest and more in line with the rules as they stand, so that's the way to go.
I'm going to use the Tarantula's Arc of Fire rule to determine LOS from the Claw.


^ Blips cannot be placed on the grey squares.


Cheers