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This came up in a recent game when a arachnarok flank charged some of my clan rats. we thought it would cause disruption (it being a whopping big spider and on a base 15 small bases big) but theres nothing in the rules to support this (that we can find) are we missing something here? I did try a search on thois site but it keeps comng up no matches. thanks in advance

Have to have two ranks to disrupt, so no, can't do it.

It does get a flank or rear combat bonus as appropriate though.

Thats what we played it as. Seems pretty whack tho. A huge yellow spider's attacking them from the side and the tiny little clanrats just shrug and carry on fighting lol (saying that the spidey ate them in the end) (till it got run over by my doomwheel lol)

This is one oversight GW had in writing 8th.


Monsters used to disrupt ranks as they were given a stat called Unit Strength. this basically said how many models they counted as for the purposes of outnumbering(which was a similer mechanic)



because of this, monsters are only good flankers because they will be taking less attacks back then from the front.


Monsters also need to be supported. an infantry block of your own along with a monster will do very well.

GT - its not an oversight, it is an explicit change to 8th ed to stop the monstermash of 7th

I thought that was why they nerfed Fear and made casualities be removed from the back.


this alone Nerfs monsters considerably. before, monsters could easily wipe the front rank of a unit, win, and run down the entire unit.


I think they should now be able to break ranks at least. a Monster in the flank is going to disrupt something.

You also dont lose stubborn when assaulted, as they never have more ranks than you.

It's to try to hammer home the point that 8th is about supporting units adequately, and that the army revolves around Infantry.

Yep, it's a bummer...

One thing I haven't been totally clear on- is it possible to lose the rank bonus, while still remaining steadfast (i.e. not being disrupted)? I thought there was something that did this but it's not coming to me...

Rank bonus has nothing to do with Steadfast, which is based on Ranks - which you never lose.

So you can be disrupted and losing your +1 -> +3 rank BONUS, but you retain your ranks. Meaning while 2 ranks of cavalry cause disruption, unless you have only 2 ranks left youre still steadfast.

its whoever has more ranks thats steadfast(ranks of 1 model are still ranks)


so its possable to have infantry be 3 wide and a whole bunch deep. no rank bonuses, but still steadfast.

That's not true. Your ranks have to be at least 5 wide to count for steadfast. You can't have a unit that's 8 deep and only 3 wide to count for steadfast. P. 54 of the small rulebook tells us this. Thanks

My two coppers...

Yeah, the current disprution rule makes little to no sense.

Ten 200-lb (including gear) guys massing a combined 2000 lbs in one rank do not disrupt. The same ten guys in two ranks do disrupt.

Four ogres weighing 500 lbs apiece in two ranks cannot disrupt, in spite of massing as much as the ten guys mentioned above. Give them a couple friends and now they do disrupt.

5 guys on horses averaging 700 lbs apiece can never disrupt, in spite of almost doubling the mass of the ten guys mentioned above. Get them five more friends and now they can disrupt... if they are in two ranks.

One monster can never, ever disrupt. Even if it weighs a million pounds, its mass is insufficient to throw the target's ranks into disarray.

That's how you disrupt ranks in the real world. You get sufficent mass moving fast enough (i.e. charging) to knock people over and push them aside, thus disrupting their formation. That was the whole point of charging in the first place! Otherwise, you would lock shields and WALK into combat to maintain good formation discipline yourself.


The rules are what they are. Don't look to logic, and don't look to history to make sense of them. They don't.

Grey Templar wrote:its whoever has more ranks thats steadfast(ranks of 1 model are still ranks)


so its possable to have infantry be 3 wide and a whole bunch deep. no rank bonuses, but still steadfast.

Nope, not at all. Ranks of 5 only (3 for MI)