Fights first in ongoing battles.

[Galron]

Just curious, we had a case today where off on the side, an undercosted lictor was fighting my captain for the third round on my turn. Lictor has fights ifrst. On this turn I charged my terminators and some other units into some gun bugs. My opponent said since it was my turn he got to pick what fight was first. Now granted, it was irrelevant to the grand scheme of things since the fight was a side show and as usual, the under pointed tyrannids were devastating my marines so bad it wasnt funny. I argued that the order went charging units go and then ongoing fights. Since his unit wasnt part of the charging units fight, he had to wait until the charging units did their thing and then he goes. He argued that since it was my turn and it was an ongoing fight and he had fights first, he goes first before everything.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

The relevant rules are all set out on page 32 of the Core Rules.

 

Basically, there are 2 categories of when units attack in combat - fights first and regular (in 9th there was also fights last, but that doesn't seem to be a thing anymore).  In each category, the players take turns selecting their units in that category to be activated and fight, starting with the player its turn it isn't.  

 

So, in the turn you charge your terminators, both they and the lictor have fights first - your terminators from charging, the Lictor inherently.  Since it is your turn, your opponent gets to activate his lictor first.  After he goes, you get to activate one of your charging units, and then your opponent another (if he has one), then you, etc.

 

Then, for units that don't have fights first (so, most of the units in the "ongoing fights" and likely most of the charged units), again the non-active player (so, the player whose turn it isn't) activates a unit first, then the active player, then the non-active player, etc.

 

Other than charging units getting fights first, there is no distinction in the rules between "ongoing" and "new" combats - units will fight at whatever speed they are (usually normal, though the Lictor was obviously different as it had inherent fights first) regardless of whether they charged or not.  And note,  some effects or abilities (such as the Heroic Interventaion stratagem) may allow you to charge but not gain the benefit of charging - aka fights first, and the Counter Offensive stratagem allows you to select a unit to fight next in the "fights first" stage of combat even if it doesn't have fights first.

 

As another note, in 10th you don't fight seperate "combats" (particular bunches of units engaged together in combat) one at a time like you did in previous editions - rather, you activate units alternatively regardless of which combat they are in, which can cause the players to bounce back and forth between which combat units are being activated in.

 

So, in short, your opponent was correct.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 07:33 PM by Dr_Ruminahui
Typos

[Xenith]

"In both steps of the Fight Phase, players alternate selecting eligible units from their army, one at a time, starting with the player whose turn is not taking place"

 

So as above, yur friend was correct! Fights first is quite powerful!