pfoh wrote:that makes sense, but just to play devils advocate, if someone pushes the point, its not really spelled out.
Sure it is. The rule doesn't state "from its starting size" so that factor simply isn't included in the equation.
The rule presents a time-frame: a single phase. If a unit loses 25% of its models from the start of that phase to the end of that phase then it must take a morale check.
For example, a grocery store sells thousands of pounds of fruit every year. If I say: "during a single day, if the grocery store sells 25% of its fruit then the store manager wins a prize."
What does that mean? It means if the grocery store sells 25% of its fruit that it has on that one day the manager wins a prize. How much fruit the store had at the beginning of the year makes no difference because the question posed doesn't ask for that fact.