Circular impact Template and full cover

you have to be able to draw a clear line from the center of the template to the model you want to hit – unobstructed by cover. A HGL isn't going to hit someone through a wall

 

This requires a bit of a multi-part answer. In the case of a "normal" Circular Impact Template weapon (e.g. a Missile Launcher), the template rules direct you to "Place the center of the Circular Template (Blast Focus) over the center of the main target's base." So the template is centered on the ground level of the target, as you said.

However, you mentioned you were using a Heavy Grenade Launcher on a trooper you had Targeted, so I will assume you were using Speculative Fire. In that case you are not obligated to center the template over the main target's base: "If the user employs a BS Weapon with the Circular Impact Template Trait, [Speculative Fire] allows him to place the center of the Circular Template somewhere other than over the target of the attack. However, the target must be inside the Area of Effect of the Circular Template."

You still have to pick a point on the ground or flat surface of scenery, though: "Place the Template directly on the game table or horizontally over a piece of terrain, and never on a vertical surface or in the air."

The circular template affects a spherical area: "Templates used by Template Weapons and Equipment have a height equal to their radius or half their width (unless otherwise specified, as in the case of Smoke Special Ammunition,). To help determine the three-dimensional Area of Effect of a Template, add a second identical template perpendicular down the middle so the cross-section forms an X."

So, to summarize, the circular template will affect a hemisphere with a radius equal to that of the circular template. The center will be the base of the targeted trooper in the case of direct fire, or a point on the ground in the case of Speculative Fire. In order for the template to affect a particular trooper, it must be inside this radius and there must be Line of Fire from the Blast Focus to the target.

Hope that helps.

 

Note that annoyingly all of the diagrams in the template rules are for teardrop templates, and those work differently (you can angle them up or down the target).

 

This is an open question. Two different interpretations exist:

A. Immediately over the target's base (ie technically 3mm above ground level, but practically considered to be at ground level)
B. At any vertical height within the SIL of the target above the centre of the base.

It's not clear which is correct. Locally we play it as A because this is coherent across all circular templates.

@Arkhos94 can you add this to the list. I know it's been discussed before.

 

Could you explain to me how this is an open question and how it is possible to arrive at interpretation A for the purposes of shooting a circular template weapon (whether it is a Missile Launcher or a Grenade Launcher makes no difference, after all) using the Short Skill BS Attack?

I thought the only outstanding issue with this was whether it was allowed to place the blast focus above and outside the silhouette.

 

I image it's the wording of both of these together:

Some may interpret the second as any elevation above where the base of the trooper is despite it still being inside the silhouette.

 

The latter "never on vertical surface or in the air" aren't part of the template rules, that's from Speculative Fire, and at that point both A and B goes out the window because a unit silhouette is not "game table" or "piece of terrain"

 

So is the circular template a sphere or dome?

 

It's a Sphere, but if it's on the ground it will be half a Sphere (also known as a dome)