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Hey dakka,

I did a search and came up with nothing, so i thought I'd post a question here that has been bouncing around me and some of my local players.

In the BRB on page 47 it says that a jet pack unit may thrust in the assault phase, rather than declaring a charge.

My interpretation of this is that a jet pack 'unit' is defined as a unit entirely composed of models with the 'jet' subclass. Also, I reasoned that since the only type of unit that is afforded this move is the one described above, that units composed of jet pack models mixed with other types may not use their thrust moves (even the models with the jets). Examples of such mixed units would be Broadside battlesuits accompanied by missile drones, and/or Firesight Marksmen accompanied by sniper drones.

So I've got a handy poll listed above to get a tally of how people feel about this interpretation.

Edit -- to those who select "yes" in the poll above -- what is your reasoning for such? The thrust rule references jet pack "units", not jet pack "models".

A related question and possibly another option- Can the Jetpack infantry within a mixed-type unit use their thrust move provided the non-jetpack models do not move (in the assault phase) and the entire unit remained in coherency? My gut feeling is no they can't since units move at the speed of the slowest model and not all models in the (hypothetical) unit have the jetpack rule... Crurious what others think and can come up with for citations...

A unit moves at the rate of the slowest model. Unless you have a large unit strung out in a long line allowing a long move like that, you would move out of coherency which is illegal.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
A unit moves at the rate of the slowest model. Unless you have a large unit strung out in a long line allowing a long move like that, you would move out of coherency which is illegal.

Actually this is an artefact from 5th edition. In 6th models may move at their normal movement rates, but must remain in coherency. A unit declaring a charge must move at the slowest rate of all units, but since most units' charge range is an unmodified 2d6" that's rarely a problem.

The meat of the question isn't 'how fast can a jet pack model move" but rather, "are they allowed to move at all, based on the rules for thrusting?"

I didn't realize the rule/convention about the slowest model had gone away... That might change my vote... I'll have to look through the BRB when I get home.

Beast wrote:
I didn't realize the rule/convention about the slowest model had gone away... That might change my vote... I'll have to look through the BRB when I get home.

If it affects your vote further, the book references these movement speeds in the movement phase - jet pack thrusting is a special move granted during the assault phase and has no connection to the unit's base speed. (See plague flies as jet pack cavalry vs riptides as jet pack monstrous creatures).

 tetrisphreak wrote:
If it affects your vote further, the book references these movement speeds in the movement phase - jet pack thrusting is a special move granted during the assault phase and has no connection to the unit's base speed.

On the other hand, the Thrust Move under Jet Packs (BRB pg 47) says they move as in the movement phase if they don't charge. I'd have to say you can rearrange a mixed unit with Thrust in the assault phase as long as you still stay in coherency.

Movement is now done on a model by model basis but must remain in coherency, so i am not sure if the a thrust move would be legal or not.

MarkyMark wrote:
Movement is now done on a model by model basis but must remain in coherency, so i am not sure if the a thrust move would be legal or not.

So long as the unit remains on coherency it should be perfectly legal. It might just be a bit tricky to keep them all together depending on how far/where you move the jet pack models.

OP its not perfectly clear and I did interrupt it the same as you in another thread. Several people told me there are examples of this style of movement in the tau codex when talking about sniper squads. Honestly I don't think there is anything game breaking about it, and very few units can do it, so i would just allow it if my opponent did it.

Short Answer: Yes you can thrust move.
Pardon me for not citing rules, but I a) do not have the book on hand and b) have cited rules for this previously and don't want to type them out again.
Based on the rules as we have them, without an explicit FAQ, a unit of Jet Pack models joined by a (or multiple) non-jet pack IC can thrust move. Here is the logic of that claim with the rules paraphrased:
Our broad question is about the relationship between ICs and units. That is to say, when an IC joins a unit, how does that effect the unit 'type'? The rulebook discusses in several areas that the IC joins the unit and follows its rules (IC section), but moves at its own pace (Characters section). Note that in the characters section it does NOT reference the movement phase, it simply talks about movement - assaulting is movement, running is movement, etc. So an IC joins a jet pack unit, which remains a jet pack unit. Therefore, they may thrust. However, because of the character rules, he does not suddenly gain the power to thrust move! Please take a look at these rules yourself - IC rules (bottom left corner) and Character rules - and this should hopefully make sense. Let's consider the alternative - that an IC does force the unit to no longer count as a 'jet pack unit'. Notice that the rules for bulky say that jump/jet pack UNITS are bulky. So if I join Gabrial Seth to a unit of Assault Marines, are they no longer bulky? When you put it all together it isn't explicit but the RAW and RAI tell us that you can thrust move away.

RAW I fully agree with your premise, I discovered the same thing recently and agree with the concept that a Jet Pack unit is one where all members have Jet Packs, not just some.

In practice, while I would personally play by that interpretation with my Tau, against a Tau opponent who didn't agree I would allow Jet Pack models to make thrust moves while the rest of their unit remains stationary in a mixed unit.

If indeed Thrust references units instead of models I go with no.

If you have a unit of X's and Z's it's not a unit of X.

from my point of view as long as they remain in coherency it's fine

This tactic is legal. I use gun drones to capture the relic then thrust move out of harm.

Well so far if appears that most respondents feel that jets hovering around their stationary teammates is fine.

I thought sniper drones made specific mention of using this tactic, but I could be wrong.

I voted yes. The unit, as a whole, is allowed to make their Thrust moves. (It says 'Jet Pack units, rather than 'Units composed entirely of Jet Pack infantry,' yes?) Only those actually in possession of a Jet Pack get to make the move, however. The net result is that the Jet troops thrust around their stationary companion.

Even if I'm wrong about the rules above, I still think that's the way the rule was intended to work.