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I'm putting together a 2000 point army for a tournament my friend and I are hosting with our other friends and I'm putting Commander Farsight in as my HQ choice. I got a little confused with the rules of a bonding knife however. It says that every model in his army gains a bonding knife, that's easy enough to understand. But the rules of knife are that I may always regroup even if at below half strength. So does that mean that in melee, when I would normally have to take a leadership test because my opponent caused more unsaved wounds than I did, I would just say "No" instead?

tl;dr - Does the bonding knife keep me from ever having to fall back out of melee?

No.

It just lets you roll to regroup when (for example) a unit that starts with 6 models is down to 2 and running away - because you normally can't regroup at less than half strength, but the bonding knife allows you to.

Yeah, the Bonding Knife gives that unit fo yours that got mauled last turn a chance to regroup that it might not otherwise have.

This actually fits the fluff well too. The Tau find the enemy is superior in an area, they back up and then start shooting him again.

Not that you are taking an Ethereal if you have Farsight (restricted FOC) but if you have an Ethereal and he dies, the Bonding Knife can give you an opportunity to recover any of those units that are under half strength.

"Regrouping" is when you break from combat / shooting due to a panic or break test, it is NOT the test itself


Usually you cannot regroup for a number of reasons, including being below half strength. The knife lets you regroup even if below half strength

I also wanted to add, you need to reread Farsights rule. Not every model in a Farsight army gains a bonding knife. Only models with access to the armory. Fire Warriors will not gain a bonding knife, only the Shas'ui (if you upgrade one). If you're Shas'ui dies, that squad no longer gains the benefits of a bonding knife.

And it seems your question was already answered.