Look out sir conundrum

[Krefey]

So, playing a game last night and we found ourselves in a situation where neither of us is sure what the outcome should have been.

I had a unit of terminators whose only visible target was Ahriman, but Ahriman was within 3" of some Scarab Occult terminators, who were closer to my terminators than Ahriman.

 

So the question was whether I couldn't shoot Ahriman due to Look out sir or if I could because he was the only target my unit could pick as a target.

[Vulkan209]

Ok - I think I remember debating you into submission after the game. 

So the rule Kref was looking at is the truncated rule, which does indeed state:
"Cannot shoot at an enemy Character with 9 or less wounds while it is within 3" of a friendly unit (Monster, Vehicle or unit of 3+ models) unless it is the closest target."

However:

The lengthened rules state the following:
"Models cannot target a unit that contains any Character models with a Wounds characteristic of 9 or less with a ranged weapon while that unit is within 3" of any other friendly Vehicle or Monster unit, or while it is within 3" of any other friendly units that have 3 or more models, unless that Character unit is both visible to the firing model and it is the closest enemy unit to the firing model – the maelstrom of battle makes it difficult to pick out such individuals. Ignore other enemy Character models with a Wounds characteristics of 9 or less when determining if the target is the closest enemy unit to the firing model"

Both on Pg. 16 of the little rules doc you can obtain from GeeDub for free. Also, here's a screenshot:

In the longform rules, the word changes from 'target' to 'unit'. So there's a contradiction here. But GW has already predicted this may occur and has covered its bases - in the case the short rules do not adequately explain the rules, the diagram of the rules (point 4) on page 2 states:

"After each chunk of rules there is a red bulletpointed summary of the rules content. In most games, you may find referencing this summary is all you need to resolve your rule, but if not, read the whole of the rules that are printed above it."

Again, a screenshot:

So though the short rule would make it possible, this is over-ridden by the longform rules and it is not possible.

#lawyered