Vehicle Explodes!

[ArcticFox]

In a recent game against my son, my Black Templars successfully made one of his Wave Serpents explode, with the surviving passengers standing in the difficult terrain wreckage.

 

Because I had a Crusader Squad within assault range of where the tank was, he positioned his troops within the debris field in such a way as to be outside my assault range. I felt that was an exploit-ish thing to do, so we agreed to roll off to see if they'd be where I could reach them and try to figure out the specifics of the rules later.

 

Is there a concrete rule on this?

[Ming]

Basically yes.

 

In an explosion the transported units are in a crater, taking S4 hits. Models need to be placed an inch away from surrounding units. The footprint of the crater is the outline of the vehicle, basically. (Don't forget that explosions cause damage to surrounding units, friend or foe to D6 inches at S3). Typically, the footprint/crater is big enough to hold the tranported unit. Wrecked is similar but you have to disembark or emergency disembark. More rules in the assaulting vehicles rules in the BRB.

[Mordekiem]

Your son is correct. He can put his models anywhere in the crater left by the vehicle. So he made a good tactical judgement by keeping his guys back to avoid the charge. He can then shoot/assault/runaway on his turn as appropriate for the unit.

[ArcticFox]

Ok gotcha. Thanks.

[JamesI]

As long as they are in the crater created by the vehicle, they are legally placed.