When shots bounce back...

This rules quandary just popped into my head today:

Let's say you are shooting at a unit of Kastelan Robots (or some other unit that has the ability to reflect shots) with a unit embarked on a venom. The Robot rolls a 6 for one of its saves, which means that the shot gets reflected back in the form of a mortal wound.

Who takes the mortal wound? Does the unit that fired at it take a mortal wound, even though it isn't on the board, and thus, should not be targetable by any effects? Does the venom take the wound, though it technically was not the firing unit? Does the wound just get lost into the ether?

The rule itself is pretty clear that the firing unit is the one that takes the wound. I took a look through the rulebook, designers commentary, stepping into the new edition, rulebook FAQ, and Admech FAQ (I hate rules bloat) and there's nothing that I can see that requires a model to be on the table to be killed, so best I can see, the embarked unit takes the mortal wound.

This is actually a pretty interesting conundrum. On one hand, you've got what TheBaconPope said. On the other, I'm pretty sure that there was something stating that embarked units cannot be targeted for any reason. My best bet rule-wise would be disappearing into the ether, but logically I would say the venom would get hit by a reflected shot.

Sarcron wrote:

This is actually a pretty interesting conundrum. On one hand, you've got what TheBaconPope said. On the other, I'm pretty sure that there was something stating that embarked units cannot be targeted for any reason. My best bet rule-wise would be disappearing into the ether, but logically I would say the venom would get hit by a reflected shot.

They are not really targetted

However, I do not believe that there is any precedent in 8th edition for embarked models sustaining wounds of any kind while still remaining embarked, so that makes this questionable.

Sarcron wrote:

... My best bet rule-wise would be disappearing into the ether, but logically I would say the venom would get hit by a reflected shot.

I would go with this. Either it just disappears or the venom gets the wound.