Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

During a game against a friend of mine playing his wood elves I moved two units toward his dryads. One unit (a unit of skink skirmishers) moved directly in front of them, the second unit (a unit saurus warriors) moved up beside them. Between the two units is the requisite 1" gap that must be maintained between units (at least this is how I think it is). During my friend's movement phase he declared a charge on the saurus warriors' flank. This sparked a disagreement as the entire reason for putting those skinks in that position was to block his dryad's charge, but he said that his dryads could go around and still charge the flank. Eventually, the result was he charged the front of the saurus warriors instead. Now, having looked the rules over, skirmishers CAN go around other units to charge provided the unit is within LOS. Also, the rule book says that on a charge a unit may come closer to other units than one inch. Soo.. by a strict RAW reading I was wrong even though the dryads on 25mm bases would have had to conga line in between the two units in order to pull the charge off and would have ended the charge movement in base contact with both my skinks and my saurus. Is there something I'm missing or do I owe my friend an apology?

it does depend a bit on the situation however this one thing will clear it up a bit

you don´t have to have a 1¨ gap between your units. there is only a required 1¨ gap between enemy units. there are times when this is obviously nessesary to break

a) if you charge a unit while there is an enemy unit within 1¨ that is ok (so two blocks next to each other).


in regards to your original situation he can charge the saurus but only if you left him line of sight of the saurus. if the skinks were covering the front completely (in like a half circle fashion) then there was no way he could charge them. if you only covered half of the front of the saurus then yes he can charge them.

also you have to charge in the arc your in. so if the dryads are in the front arc of the saurus you can´t run around the skinks and charge the saurus in the flank

if i was the wood elf player though i would have just charged the skinks, had them as an appetizer and then overran into the the saurus for the next turns combat. better yet charged the saurus with a different unit and then fight twice in the same turn (gotta love that)

It's starting to look as if I was mistaken and it was unintentional.. But at least I wasn't overtly cheating. The main issue I took with it is it didn't even look like he could fit the bases of his dryads in between my skinks and saurus warriors and that I had purposely positioned the units to block the flank. Oh well.. time to eat crow..

I believe you actually were correct in this case. If you positioned your units so that the skinks were within 1" (really 2", as the dryads are on 1" bases) of the whole flank of the saurus warriors, and the dryads started the charge in the flank arc of said warriors, then they cannot charge, period.

To be clear, he can draw LoS to any part of the Saurus, but since he is in the flank, he has to end up on the flank of the unit and if he can't fit, then it's a failed charge. Yes he can go around (but he has to have enough movement, if he's 8" away but has to move 5" around you, he's not going to make it), as skirmishers don't have wheeling or turning restrictions, but if you were blocking the flank then he can't declare any charge.

Erm, regardless of how much of it you can/cannot see, you still have to charge the target unit in the arc you start from. Thus, if I am reading your original post correctly, your opponent would never have been able to engage the flank anyways.

He was at an oblique enough angle to get a flanking charge and had line of sight, the issue was if there was space enough for the models in his charging unit without going into the skinks.

Good on you, themandudeperson, for owning up to it. It sounds like a legit charge, just one that looked funny, and that you initially didn't think you had left enough space for.

And of course, you shot yourself in the foot by mistakenly applying the rule about keeping enemy units 1" apart from one another to your friendly units. Friendly units can snuggle right up against one another, which can be a very useful tactic in defending against certain types of charges. Dwarves do it a lot.