Unit Coherency and Units that Cannot Move

[Swan-of-War]

So here’s a question that came up from yesterday’s tournament.

I had a unit of four Kastelan Robots in a straight line.  Behind them, a Datasmith.  The Datasmith is there to change their Protocols (or buffs).  My Kastelans were programmed with the infamous Protector Protocol, which means they cannot move, but are able to shoot twice in the Shooting phase.

My opponent was able to kill one Kastelan, leaving a gap in my line.  Now, since my Kastelans are unable to move, how do they maintain unit coherency?  The Datasmith can reprogram their protocol to either Aegis or Fighty, which allows them to move, but is he required to?  And what if he’d been killed off as well?

Anyway, being the gentleman nerds we are, we decided its best that the Datasmith reprogram them so they could move back together into coherency.  Do you agree?

[pretre]

I don't know that you are forced to move into coherency until you move:

UNITS
Models move and fight in units, made
up of one or more models. A unit must
be set up and finish any sort of move
as a group, with every model within 2"
horizontally, and 6" vertically, of at least
one other model from their unit: this is
called unit coherency. If anything causes
a unit to become split up during a battle,
it must re-establish its unit coherency the
next time it moves.
 

Amusingly enough, if you manage to kill enough of a unit so that it can't move back into coherency, it can never move again.

Q: What happens if a unit that has become split up
during battle cannot re-establish unit coherency the
next time it moves?
A: In this case the unit cannot move.
Note that the rules concerning unit coherency apply any
time that a unit is moved, including charging, piling-in,
consolidating, etc. Again, if a unit cannot end such a move in
unit coherency, it cannot make the move.

 

I see nothing that forces you to move into coherency if you choose not to move though.
 

[Swan-of-War]

Solid answer, thank you good man

[Yarbicus]

4 hours ago, Swan-of-War said:

Solid answer, thank you good man

I saw you in the event pictures and read that you would best painted. How was the tournament overall?

[Swan-of-War]

Was great!  Heroic runs a good tournament.  I'd say the lists were competitive (but not unbeatable) and many included Forgeworld models.  Tougher than the lists you and I would bring to play Fantasy with so don't hold back. 

First round was against Nell and her Sisters of Battle - she was practicing for an ITC San Francisco tournament that she and her husband are headed to.  Her list was cool and had Celestine and a detachment of Greyfax / Sisters of Silence.  It was Big Guns Never Tire and she swept up the objectives in Turn 4 - think I scored three Victory points for killing some heavies but that's it.

Second round was Damien and his Death Watch on the bottom table.  He brought a solid list as Death Watch go but was discovering that they're really not that competitive in a tournament.  He just couldn't kill enough to keep up - it ended on Turn 3 with all victory points to me.

Last round was against Nate and his Marines.  There were a couple nasty Forgeworld Dreads and a huge Forgeworld Land Raider type tank (Spartan?) and everything else in Razorbacks.  We deployed diagonal for a standard Retrieval mission, most objectives were already in/ close to his deployment zone.  Due to bad rolling and saves on his part,  I whittled him down to a Turn 4 victory, all but one victory point to me.  The Spartan was a huge point sink that didn't do much the whole tourney.

I came in fifth place (!) and won Best Painted (!!!), which was a surprise given the other stunning armies and models there.  Great time - hope you can make the next one! 

[Yarbicus]

From the sound if things, I would probably do even worse than I am used to. I don't even recognize the units you were using!