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.

If I have two skimmers placed near each other, with enough space between the bases for a model to pass; can the model pass through if it physically cannot pass because of the skimmers being in the way?

No. You can never move through another model.

 Mannahnin wrote:
No. You can never move through another model.

I don't feel this is true. Measuring Distances (page 4) is defined as being from one base to another, not taking the model atop it into account. Page 10 also specifies that you can't move within 1" of an enemy model normally, but this specifies enemy - no such ruling for friendly models. In fact, as nonsensical as it seems, I can't find anything to say that you can't move THROUGH friendly models at all.

I'd be happy to be corrected on that last point as some rules (like skimmers themselves, page 83) go on to specify that they can move over friendly and enemy models, implying that the opposite is normally the case. But for moving between models, you go by the base only.

So if there's a base width between friendly skimmers, go for it. If there's base width plus at least an inch either side for enemy skimmers, you're fine too.

The rules for skimmerss make quite clear that the model's hull is used for measurements, not its base (except for certain limited and specific circumstances.

The basic prohibition on moving through/over friendly models and their bases was left out of the core movement rules on page 10 by an incompetent editior. However it's quite clear that the prohibition is still intended to be in effect, as multiple later sections of the rules (such as assault) make quite clear reference to it.

Oh, yes... because it's a vehicle. My bad, you're quite correct in this case.

For non-vehicles (MCs I suppose quite frequently stretch over their base) it's arguable. I completely agree with RAI and believe it was left out, but RAW there's currently nothing stopping it.

 Super Ready wrote:
Oh, yes... because it's a vehicle. My bad, you're quite correct in this case.

For non-vehicles (MCs I suppose quite frequently stretch over their base) it's arguable. I completely agree with RAI and believe it was left out, but RAW there's currently nothing stopping it.

Physics stops a model from moving through a space occupied by another model.

 DeathReaper wrote:

 Super Ready wrote:
Oh, yes... because it's a vehicle. My bad, you're quite correct in this case.

For non-vehicles (MCs I suppose quite frequently stretch over their base) it's arguable. I completely agree with RAI and believe it was left out, but RAW there's currently nothing stopping it.

Physics stops a model from moving through a space occupied by another model.

But interestingly they don't stop you firing through it (if they are in the same unit)! GW physics is weird

Actually, this came up cause my opponent scooted a bike nob through two devilish to assault against a commander on the other side.

davou wrote:
Actually, this came up cause my opponent scooted a bike nob through two devilish to assault against a commander on the other side.

HaHa! Can't blame an Ork for trying...

Snapshot wrote:

 DeathReaper wrote:

 Super Ready wrote:
Oh, yes... because it's a vehicle. My bad, you're quite correct in this case.

For non-vehicles (MCs I suppose quite frequently stretch over their base) it's arguable. I completely agree with RAI and believe it was left out, but RAW there's currently nothing stopping it.

Physics stops a model from moving through a space occupied by another model.

But interestingly they don't stop you firing through it (if they are in the same unit)! GW physics is weird

That is because the rules account for models in the same unit firing through each other...

The rules tell us that a single unit ignores other members of their own squad when firing because "This assumes that the soldiers shift their stances to open firing lanes in order to maximise [Sic] their own squad's firepower." P. 8

Therefore they are not actually firing through their own units models, but firing over or around them.

"Moving skimmers: Skimmers can move over friendly and enemy models, but they cant end their move on top of either"

pg.83 BRB

Page 21 gives an indirect reference to what the missing rule should have been:

"Charging models still cannot move through friendly or enemy models, cannot pass through gaps narrower than their base..."

If we assume the "still" in this case refers to the missing movement rule, we can conclude that the missing movement rule, had it been properly written, would preclude both passing through gaps narrower than the moving model's base, and preclude moving through friendly models at all.

Actually the rule is on Page 30.

"Models falling back from a combat can freely mo\re through all enemy models that were involved in that combat (they have already missed the chance to catch them) This is an exception to the normal rules for moving that state that a model cannot move through a space occupied by another model."

Specifiically this part "This is an exception to the normal rules for moving that state that a model cannot move through a space occupied by another model."

The normal rules state what? "a model cannot move through a space occupied by another model."

Yeah, that's better.

Much better, thanks all.
Physics alone can't be a basis for rules clarification.

 Super Ready wrote:
Physics alone can't be a basis for rules clarification.

It really can, if you can not fit somewhere because another thing is in the way* then you can not go there. The rules in the BRB do not need to define the laws of Physics as the laws of physics are commonly accepted by, well, everyone.

*Unless you have a specific exception like moving through solid walls of a ruin. Etc.

Accepted, yes. Understood, no.
A great example of a terrible argument in 40k is, "Well, it can happen in real life!" You need to look solely to the rules to define what you can and can't do in the game.
In a grimdark future, where there are alternate dimensions, vehicles that run solely because the driver thinks it can, and weapons that kill through the mind, claiming physics supports you isn't a great route to take.
And what with the changes in the understanding of physics in recent decades (specific relativity, etc) and the recent years (quarks, light has slowed down since the Big Bang), who knows how physics works in the distant future.

Except every word is not defined in 40K, so we have to follow the common definitions for such words to make the game work at all.

Just like Physics has to be in place to make the game work at all, otherwise you could say all of your models in any given unit are all on top of each other occupying the same space. This would have severe advantages against a army that does not have any indirect blast weapons as you could hide entire units out of Line of Sight behind a lightpost.

The rules tell us to move our infantry models up to 6 inches in the movement phase.

It does not need to tell us that two models can not occupy the same space, since two models can not physically occupy the same space.

For things that you can not physically move through the rules actually give a specific exception so you can move through a solid object, like moving through solid walls of a ruin, which the rules specifically allow.