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Hero phase movement to escape retreat without penalty?


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Mentioned in the new 40k thread, but figured this was a huge tangent so brought it here. 

17 hours ago, Threejacks said:

Couple of examples of how the retreat mechanic is manipulated in AoS-

  Battalion ability--choose a unit within x ",that unit can move in your hero phase,this move does not in any way affect the units ability to move/run and charge later in your turn.This one is used multiple times in various armies.So,,retreat then charge again..especially great for Cav or units that get a HoW ability/bonus of some sort.

 

Any specific examples?  I play Iron Jawz but I took the rules in destruction and the battalion to clarify ability charge, not eliminate the restrictions from a withdrawl.  Love to be wrong though.

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   The first one that comes to mind is the Skinks,,that they can retreat from combat even if its not their combat phase.

 

  The Battalion I was thinking of above is in the Bonesplitterz,,the Kunnin Rukk,however that one states the the unit must be at least 3" from an enemy unit.However there are other Battalion abilites,,for example,"March of the Dead" for the Deathrattle(in the Grand Alliance Death book) allows the Wight king and all Leagion of Death units within 9" of him to make a move of up to 4" in the Hero phase but cant run with this move.

 

  I know ive seen other examples amongst all Grand Alliances,,the main thing im getting at here is that as long as a unit can get some sort of free move in any phase,they can use it to retreat unless its specified that they cant,And yes you can even run and retreat.

 Im pretty sure ive seen a warscroll,,possibly a Battalion that allows one unit to retreat and charge in the same turn,,think it was a Mortal Chaos Cavalry Battalion or something.

 

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  • 1 month later...

The Getting Started: Skeleton Horde includes the "Arkhan's Skeleton Guard Warscroll Battalion." 

Ability is March of the Dead: Arkhan's Skeleton Guard are implacable in advance. In your hero phase,  Arkhan the Black and all units from his Skeleton Guard that are within 9" of him can make a move of up to 4" as if it were the movement phase (models cannot run as part of this move). 

As written, yeah, looks like you could use this to retreat. And then move normally (or run) in the movement phase. But Retreating says you can't charge (or shoot) later in the turn, so I don't think you could use this to charge after retreating. 

I think the logic here is just to address how painfully slow skeleton warriors are (4" in movement phase...), and with no ranged weapons in the entire army (we have a handful of 10" weapons on hero types, but without tomb kings, we really have nothing for rank and file shooting or any warmachines at all).

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  • 5 weeks later...

Okay, found one: General's Handbook (1). Death Artefact, "Cloak of Mists and Shadows."

"At a word of command, the wearer of this cloak can transform their body into a cloud of dark mist that swirls swiftly across the battlefield.

"This model can use the cloak once per battle in your hero phase. When it does, remove the model from the battlefield, and then set it up again up to 12" awar from it's original position, and more than 3" away from any enemy models."

As written, this is not movement, despite the model physically changing positions. The model would be free to move or run or charge normally, after doing this.

Limitation-wise, Once-per-game and only on a Death Hero from a Death alliegence army. It also wouldn't work if there were not places within 12" that weren't also within 3" of enemy models (no getting out of horde melee like this). It being hero only means that it doesn't allow me to save entire units, just single model units with the hero keyword. So, I could use this to save a necromancer, but a screaming skull catapult would be ineligible. Also, as an artefact, only one per army. So there are certainly limitations.

Honestly, I think the bigger threat here, is the extra movement. Twofold issues. First, an extra 12" of movement, plus running, means I can be pretty quick with some of my heroes. Arkhan, for example, has 16" of movement when at full health, so 29-34" in one turn with cloak and running. The second threat, is due to this being hero phase movement, as it allows me to move and cast spells with an "adjusted" range. Arkhan's Command ability adds 6" to the range of Death Wizards, so I could potentially cast Arcane Bolt at an effective 36" of range (Cloak 12" then cast from 24"). I could also use this "adjusted" range to move my caster out of range of the unbinding attempts from another wizard.

Though the other big factor with using this to get out of melee is that my faster Death units are on bigger bases (or are, themselves, bigger models). So the bigger the model is, the harder it would be to use this, since finding a space to place the model within 12" and outside of 3" from enemy models would be harder on  a model that is larger. And all the fast Death heroes are big models on big bases.  So I'm thinking that most opponents should be able to deny getting out of melee via this artefact, if they plan their attacks right and know, from the start of the game, who has this artefact. 

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