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I have no idea what a multi assault is. Anyone care to explain what it is and how it works? I know it is assaulting two units at once with one unit, but I don't know how they work, having never exprienced one in a game before.

Not sure if this is in the right place, if it's in the wrong place feel free to move it.

Thanks in advance.

Pretty much, it is charging multiple units with the same unit. For more information on it though you can find it on page 34 of the rulebook.

You move one model closest to closest as usual. And then during the rest of your models being moved into assault, if (whilst remaining in coherency) you can reach base to base with another enemy model then you have assaulted that.

Page 34 breaks it down. You just have to take it step by step. Arrange some models on the table and try it out.

I would not say people commonly cheat but it worth watching other people. The rule is as much base to base contact as possible before engaging other squads.
For example in the extreme case it is near impossible for 2 squads of models to both charge one model.
Also it is near impossible for a squad of 2 models to charge two squads.

Watch out for the 'nids thing by the way. It is common place to charge a monster and a swarm, they you kill as much of the swarm as possible. Then you get fearless wounds on the monster for free and also fearless wounds on the remains of the swarm. This happens with other armies as well.

MFletch wrote:I would not say people commonly cheat but it worth watching other people. The rule is as much base to base contact as possible before engaging other squads.

This is completely incorrect. You just need to get into base contact with any model if possible. You do not need to 'exhaust all other possibilities to get into base contact before you move into another squad.

A squad of 2 models can easily multi-assault 2 units provided they are close enough to one another. The first model charges one squad, the second comes into base contact with the other while remaining within 2" of the first model.

Multi-assaults are VERY useful for breaking rock units or forcing saves onto high toughness models that are diificult to wound. For example, the other day I put a squad of Fiends into a unit of Termagaunts. Two Seekers then multi-assaulted, one into a Trygon Prime and the other into the Gaunts linking the combats together. After I won by around 12 from killing gaunts (and the Prime could only swing on the 2 Seekers who definitely died) he had to take 12 saves on his Trygon from fearless and it keeled over and died.

Another tactic is to do the same to say, a squad of terminators. You grab a tactical squad or two to go with you into the combat and kill off as many normal marines as possible. Hopefully you win the combat by 5 or 6 and the Terminators run away without you ever having damaged them.

An Imperial Guard Gun/tank line army made the mistake of rapid firing against 2 advancing ork swarms with a big mek + PK. I managed to enagage all 3 of his transports, his 3 squads with them and before the move started broke off my big mek to finish off the Leman russ to his side all in the course of one assualt. It's a very powerful move for swarm players but it runs a risk because you basically combine all combat resolutions to make it sorta side on side... even thought i fought 3 squads with WS and 3 vehicles I combine every wound i did to these squads and pit them against every wound he did. Lets say I did 20 wounds to his 5 every squad must pass a leadership - 15 which means snake eyes! unless they have a commissar or something

The problem is lets say i ran against decent assualters and bit off more than i could chew... While I engaged 3 units of assualt marines their armor mitagated so many wounds that even though I only lost 10 orks to their 5 marines every ork squad now must make 5 fearless saves but keeps fighting making it worse and worse per round... I know this seems a bit off the wall but in laymen's terms its something that isn't without it's risks but it is very powerful if done right. As a previous poster said I try to avoid declaring a multi-assualt on infantry as you do try to get as many into base contact as possible with your inital charge that is why i just attack a tank or monster as I need to just touch 1 ork to the model and dedicate the rest elsewhere.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

calypso2ts wrote:

MFletch wrote: and the Prime could only swing on the 2 Seekers who definitely died) he had to take 12 saves on his Trygon from fearless and it keeled over and died.

Wait, i'm confused even though only 2 were in combat with him you still are able to lose people from the squad like normal. In other words the Trygon prime should have been able to kill more than just the two soliders you outlines but upto the max of the 6 he has for attacks are you saying it just rolled bad or you limited your casualties?

I got a ridicolously large multi-charge in a tourney once. Played a deamon opponent with my BA's

It was DoW, he had first turn and dropped half his units in. He then ran them towards my board egde.

In my turn, my entire army was in range to charge something.

I charged in with:
2x5 Assault Terminators
Mephiston
4x5 Assault Marines
2x Priests

Against:
15 Bloodletters
15 Horrors
Lord of Change
5 Bloodcrushers
Khorne Herald

All the combats were linked into one huge melee.

When the dust settled and both the herald and the LoC had exploded from combat res, 3 horrors were left standing. I lost 5ish assault marines and a couple termies. Game over after turn 1

I had one against an IG player which probably yielded me even more pts for no loss at all, but that was against a bunch of tanks etc, so not as exciting

Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:

calypso2ts wrote: and the Prime could only swing on the 2 Seekers who definitely died) he had to take 12 saves on his Trygon from fearless and it keeled over and died.

Wait, i'm confused even though only 2 were in combat with him you still are able to lose people from the squad like normal. In other words the Trygon prime should have been able to kill more than just the two soliders you outlines but upto the max of the 6 he has for attacks are you saying it just rolled bad or you limited your casualties?

The Prime was already in base contact with 2 Seekers. This meant it could not perform a 'defender's react' move to get into base contact with the fiends. So the Prime had to swing at the Seekers with all of its attacks, all of which pretty much wounded which meant I lost my 2 seekers. Unfortunately for the Tyranid player, these extra wounds do not carry over to a different unit.

If you are careful which models you put into base contact with the enemy, you can often limit how much they can kill. Another example, I assaulted Draigo and Paladins with 2 units of fiends and 1 unit of 2 Daemonettes. The Daemonettes got into base with Draigo and one paladin (blocking off my Fiends from touching them. This meant Draigo and the Paladin had to attack the unit of 2 Daemonettes, which is quite a waste of their abilities, while 12 Fiends went to town on the other Paladins.

MFletch wrote:I would not say people commonly cheat but it worth watching other people. The rule is as much base to base contact as possible before engaging other squads.

The rules are a little hard to work out in your head. I'd recommend having the rulebook on hand the first couple of times you do a multi assault with friends, just to go through all the steps and rules etc. After a couple of times its a piece of cake and an excellent maneuver

calypso2ts wrote:

MFletch wrote:I would not say people commonly cheat but it worth watching other people. The rule is as much base to base contact as possible before engaging other squads.

This is completely incorrect. You just need to get into base contact with any model if possible. You do not need to 'exhaust all other possibilities to get into base contact before you move into another squad.

A squad of 2 models can easily multi-assault 2 units provided they are close enough to one another. The first model charges one squad, the second comes into base contact with the other while remaining within 2" of the first model.

Correct. It's also important to note that after the first model is moved (Which must be the model that's closest to target unit), its the owning player's choice as to which model moves next. Its entirely legal to choose to move a model that cannot make it into base contact with the target unit, as long as the second model can end up within 2" of the first. Similarly, its also entirely legal to choose, as the third model, a model that can neither make it into base contact with the target unit, nor make it to within 2" of the first model moved, so that the model just has to move to within 2" of the second model.

My other pet peave is the number of players who think you have to declare a multi-assault. The only thing you have to declare is the unit that you're initially charging. Multi-assaults just happen.

Thanks chaps, a tactic I'll have to try then.