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Here's some questions that came up in a recent game.

Scenario is Tyranids vs Space Marines.

Turn 4, Tyranids have 3 10 man unit of gaunts in combat with a space marine Captain in Terminator armour. Let's call them unit A, B, and C.

They each have one model in base contact and the rest are surrounding the Termi.

This has been an ongoing combat since turn 3.

So the space marines send a tactical squad now that it's bottom of turn 4. To assault 1 of the units in the combat. However they take a difficult terrain test to assault said unit getting a 4 and barely reach 2 Gaunts in Tyranid unit C.

The gaunts from unit C all get wiped out by the marines and the Terminator Captain also gets killed by the Gaunts in unit A & B in return.

So now units A n B are not in base contact with any enemy models (they were only in contact with the captain) and the tactical squad wiped out unit C which it assaulted and which was previously engaged with the Captain.

So does everyone consolidate or does the tactical squad get to keep all the gaunts from units A and B stuck in combat through "Pile-In" moves even though it had no models in base with it and did not allocate any attacks or anything onto them as they were only engaged with the captain.

I know that because they attacked unit C which was engaged with same captain that units A & B were engaged with, that the whole thing becomes a multiple-combat for determining which side lost and taking no retreat saves and all that.


My second question is pretty straight forward.

Can you shoot THROUGH combat? Is there a rule that prevents shooting through combat in the way it did in 4th edition?

I'd say the first situation would still be a multiple combat, but it's a very odd situation not directly specified by the rulebook. The few times I've seen it come up both players tend to come up with a ruling on the spot.

For the second, you can always shoot at any enemy models that you can see, no matter how many partially obscuring obstructions are in the way. The only time I've destroyed my friend's KFF battlewagon was when a lucky krak missile flew through three ruins and over the heads of a few guardsmen into its side armor.

Yes, you can shoot through a combat. It grants a cover save though.

The captain and units A, B, and C constitute one single combat. When the marines come into hit unit C, they join the massive combat already in progress.

When the marines take out C and then the Captain dies, units A and B are both looking at a -9 check (10 tyranids down to the 1 captain) to see if they run (all units on the losing side of a multiple-unit combat must take the check with the same penalty). This assumes the gaunts are capable of fleeing from combat (i.e. are not fearless or such... I don't know the specifics for those units)

If A or B, but not both, fail then the unit may retreat without pursuit because the other unit keeps the marines locked in. If both A and B fail, the marines pick the unit to chase. Assuming at least one unit does not run, both sides move up to 6 inches to reach base to base contact. If this is not possible then the close combat dissolves. This is unlikely since it means the closest two members of the unit must be further than 12", which is rare even in big CC mash ups.

Or at least this is my understanding of the rules of multi-unit close combat.