I'm not trying to may any real-world sense of the rules at all. I'm just following them.So you're saying that it's actaully more harmful to the passengers to be in a vehicle that is wrecked, because it'll cause instant death; than it is to be in a vehicle that explodes?
When a vehicle explodes, it affects models outside and adjacent to it. [although I can't find the rules for that in the 5th ed. book.]
that said, remember that you have to follow ALL of the rules whenever possible. So:
This is correct.So if the vehicle is wrecked or destroyed, the passengers are ejected, forced to disembark, from the vehicle.
If they are withing 1" of enemy models or in dangerous terrain, then they are destroyed.
Now, go back to the rule I quoted earlier that says passengers MAY NOT disembark from a vehicle that moved flat out (or is going to, etc). You have to apply that rule, as well.
Paraphrasing, because I don't have the book at work.
*IF* the vehicle is destroyed, they are not required to *disembark*. So, they don't follow the disembarcation rules. Essentially, they're placed in the crater where the vehicle used to be.
*IF* the vehicle is wrecked, they have to *dismebark* or *emergency disembark,* (both are "disembark" moves) depending on the situation.
Go back to the previous rule, however, and we see that they're not allowed to disembark, since the vehicle moved flat out.
Then, we come back to this rule which states that, if they cannot *disembark* (which we've established that they aren't allowed to), they're destroyed.
Does that necessarily make a lot of sense? No. Not a lot. Some, though.
Is that how GW intended the rule? I don't know.
Until/unless they FAQ it, though, that's the way they progress.
Moved flat out = can't disembark.
Wrecked after moving flat out = dead passengers.
Destroyed after moving flat out = POSSIBLY dead passengers.
Look at it like this...
(wrecked)
"Gah! Were hit."
"The vehicle's faling to pieces around us! Get out!"
"We can't get out, Captain!"
--Bodies are crushed in the ensuing (small) explosions & crumbling mass of metal taht used to be a transport--
(destroyed)
"Gah! We're Hit"
--The vehicle explodes in a huge fireball, hurtling bodies away from the wreckage--
The ensuing explosion has a chance to kill everyone hurtling from it.
Eric