AOE weapon fired into melee, scatter or hit another model?

[Dewbakuk]

Just played a game where my Paladin was in combat with Stryker and a Cyclone. I fired a Sunburst at the cyclone but missed. What happens next? Does the shot scatter as normal or does it hit one of the other two models?

For simplicity and fair play I scattered it but neither of us could tell from the book.

If it does hit another model, does it count as a direct hit? I assume not.

[Valander]

p. 58 (PDF) An area-of-effect attack that misses a target in melee deviates normally instead of following these rules. Spray attack rolls that miss a model in melee do not follow these rules; they simply miss.

If it deviates so that the center is on another model, that does not count as a direct hit, per the regular rules under AoEs.

[Dewbakuk]

I should have searched the PDF shouldn't I, sorry didn't think of that. I found the bit in Prime about sprays but missed the aoe bit.

So we did it right. Cheers.

[Valander]

I should have searched the PDF shouldn't I, sorry didn't think of that. I found the bit in Prime about sprays but missed the aoe bit.

So we did it right. Cheers.

No worries. It should be in the rulebook, too, and I think the page numbers should even be the same at that point.