One Inch Between Squads

[Antigen]

Hello,

 

It was my impression that different units needed to maintain at least 1" away from each other but recently it has come up during a gaming session and examining the 6th edition rulebook I am unable to find anywhere in the book that says models from different, friendly, units must be at least 1" away from one another. This creates a problem, as by moving within 1" of a separate squad during the charge phase can lead to you charging multiple squads and making the charge disorganized.

 

Without this 1" rule could I not easily abuse this, by for instance having 2, or even three separate squads interlock with one another, base to base (done in times if the enemy has no blast weapons), thereby making any charge against this blob of troops disorganized? To illustrate careful placing of smallest base units, base to base at the front line of the blob, like so (A,B,C,A,B,C,A....) would still maintain 2" consistency between units.

 

Is there somewhere in the rulebook that says units must remain 1" away from each other? Currently I can only find it stating that it must remain 1" away from enemies unless charging.

 

Thank you,

Antigen

[Seahawk]

There has never existed a rule that forces friendly units to stay 1" from each other in 40k.

 

You're probably thinking of WHFB 8th edition, where they first introduced the 1" from friendlies rule.

[Antigen]

Oh, my mistake. Does this mean I can essentially checkerboard my men if I feel they will be assaulted the following turn? Making charges against them disorganized as it would essentially force them within base to base or within 1" of two units.

[Calnus]

As long as you maintain coherency, shouldn't be a problem. I just wouldn't try it if the other guy has flamers, or blasts of any kind, because you still have to survive shooting before assault.

[Jacinda]

You can checkerboard you troops, sure. Just remember that you can not move a model through a space smaller than its base. You also have to move one unit at a time. The net result is you could easily deploy two units that can not move.

 

To fix that, you can alternate the front rank between each unit and then line up additional ranks with each model behind one of its own squad.

 

And as someone who plays an army with lots of templates and very little assault let me just say, "please do." :devil:

[Rik Lightstar]

Yeah I use a Vulkan list with Sternguard and Speeders with dual-HeavyFlamers, nothing could make me happier.

 

Rik

[ShinyRhino]

Oh, my mistake. Does this mean I can essentially checkerboard my men if I feel they will be assaulted the following turn? Making charges against them disorganized as it would essentially force them within base to base or within 1" of two units.

 

While you can checkerboard, nothing in the rules requires the enemy to assault that second unit, making it a Disorganized Assault. Your opponent just declares the unit he's charging, you resolve Overwatch (he automatically gets a 5+ cover save due to your shooting through your checkerboarded friendly unit), and he moves to base with only the models he can reach from your unit. His only restriction is that he can't end in B2B with the other unit of yours, but he's free to be within 1" of those models during the Assault move and subsequent Fight subphase.

 

This is honestly a terrible tactic to attempt, as the checkerboarding only grants a 5+ cover save and locks your units down more than it hinders your opponent.

[Raeven]

You can checkerboard you troops, sure. Just remember that you can not move a model through a space smaller than its base. You also have to move one unit at a time. The net result is you could easily deploy two units that can not move.

 

To fix that, you can alternate the front rank between each unit and then line up additional ranks with each model behind one of its own squad.

 

And as someone who plays an army with lots of templates and very little assault let me just say, "please do." ;)

 

 

I thought there was something allowing friendly units to move through each other...but I cannot find the reference if it exists.

[maturin]

The friendly unit exception allows them to ignore the 1" between models rule, but as has been previously pointed out there still needs to be actual space between bases to fit a model trying to move between them.

[Interrogator-Chaplain Ezra]

Of note is ICs. IIRC, they must remain out of coherency with units unless they've joined one of them. Not that it matters, I can't think of any reason to run an IC on his/her/its own.