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Several of the formations in Rising Leviathan part 1 have a rule of the form "models from this formation that are deployed...using the Infiltrate special rule may be set up within 6" of an enemy model."

Normally, Infiltrate makes you deploy either 12" (unseen) or 18" (seen) away.

With this rule, are they allowed to only deploy when they are going to be within 6" of the enemy? As in, if one of the models of the unit can't be within 6", must the unit be deployed elsewhere?

Does it say the unit must be within 6", or wholly within 6"?

I included the quoted rule in the OP. The ellipsis only substitute the restrictions from different units (eg, in a forest, in a building, etc)

If they are deployed outside of 6", are they deployed within?

If the rule does state 'may be,' instead of 'must be,' does that not give free choice in the matter?

Yes; it gives you the choice of within 6" or outside of 12/18". If you try to use the 6" rule and a model is deployed 7" away, have you complied with the rule? No.

Good point, the choice is between normal infiltration method and the unique six inch permission.

Still a curious line of thought though:
The term infiltrators is a little vague, is it talking about individual models or the unit as a whole?

First reading of that rule with plain language was that you can inflitrate to within 6", rather than the 12". I can see how the writing makes everyone think otherwise. Talk it over with your opponent.

Actually, I have a different line of thought right now but I am still very curious as to what people think about the term 'infiltrator' and if it is model or unit.

I think the answer to being able to deploy a few models outside of X inches will be found whenever we have a good ideal of what the term 'infiltrators' means for the rules in question. This knowledge would then inform us how we go about measuring, and that is the core element of the question put forth by the original post. Personally, I am inclined to lean towards 'unit' myself. The deployment rules are a 'unit level' event and the Infiltrate rule constantly tells us if we are in X or Y distance from the enemy unit. Normally rules involved at the 'model level' will use the word model throughout as the standard format.

That isn't to say I have ruled out infiltrators meaning individual models completely; with how Game Workshop writes rules they could in fact telling us to measure from an individual model to an entire enemy unit.

The rule states right at the beginning what it's referring to... Units. The Unit must be deployed within 6 inches or outside of 12/18 inches.

'The unit' includes all the models that are part of that unit so it works out as entirely within 6 inches or entirely outside of 12/18 inches.

Any model(part of the unit) deploying outside of those parameters invalidates the deployment for it's entire unit.

References
Infiltrate, page 38, BRB
Measuring distances, page 4, BRB
Units, page 3, BRB

There is the rule fragment posted in the opening post that does talk about models, not entire units, which is what led me to ponder these questions as I always assumed infiltration was a unit level thing. It wouldn't normally matter, measuring to either a Model or Unit would produce the same outcome, but this raised a few possible situations where it might not always be the same outcome. Given how Game Workshop has written some rules in the past, this led me to ponder just what the terminology 'infiltrators' actually means and how that would apply to the situation in question. In doing so, I did sort of start trying to apply those pondering thoughts to this situation which I do admit I shouldn't of done.

I am just over thinking this due to hours of non-sleep, the formation rule is clearly more specific and it uses the word models so lets leave it at that:
The models have to be within six inches from any one enemy model, ignoring all the usual 'unit/model' measurements for infiltration.

Which still works out as the same thing; if one model is outside of 6", then the unit is also outside of 6". It is also inside 6", but that's not a problem

Nos,
I would disagree, measurements between two units are done only once and using the two models closest. If this is incorrect, then there would be no point in page 4 instructing us on how to measure between units as we would always be forced to measure between individual models in any case. Therefore any rules which informs us to measure between whole units do not care where the individual models are placed, the measurements are always done from the two closest models. As long as that measurement is less then the X inches then these rules are satisfied, because they do not have permision to measure to the back of the unit at all. Assuming, of course, they simply state to measure between units and do not contain any additional instructions involving the individual models as well.

Which brings us back to this situation:
The rule in question literally states 'models' so each model is measured to separately.

PS:
Even the example given on page 4 states the two units in the picture are 'within 3 inches of each other' when it is clear only one model is.

JinxDragon wrote:
Nos,
I would disagree, measurements between two units are done only once and using the two models closest. If this is incorrect, then there would be no point in page 4 instructing us on how to measure between units as we would always be forced to measure between individual models in any case. Therefore any rules which informs us to measure between whole units do not care where the individual models are placed, the measurements are always done from the two closest models. As long as that measurement is less then the X inches then these rules are satisfied, because they do not have permision to measure to the back of the unit at all. Assuming, of course, they simply state to measure between units and do not contain any additional instructions involving the individual models as well.

Which brings us back to this situation:
The rule in question literally states 'models' so each model is measured to separately.

PS:
Even the example given on page 4 states the two units in the picture are 'within 3 inches of each other' when it is clear only one model is.

It notes the unit is 3 inches away from the truck but also that the whole unit is within 8 inches. Does the formation rule allow 'within 8 inches' or 'within 7 inches'? No it only permits 'within 6 inches'. While it does not say the unit must be wholly deployed within 6 inches it does not have to. It is giving a permission and that permission only exists within 6 inches of the enemy unit. This rule does not give permission to deploy anything outside of that.

Abandon,
Incorrect, the captaion says the Space Marine Unit is within 3 inches of the Ork Unit, not the truck. The closest Space Marine model to the truck is at least 5 inches away from it sot that caption can not be talking about those two units as it would make not sense. It goes on to state that this means the two units are within 3 inches of each other, and using the rules set forth above for measuring between units this is very much accurate.

I do see your point though, it does bring up the model furtherest away and the 'wholly within' wording. This hints that there will be times where a rule will require a unit to be wholly within the distance of the target, so if we come across that terminology within a rule we can make the argument this is what it was talking about. Sadly the rule section informing us how to measure for units does not contain any rules how to measure if a unit is wholly within the distance of each other, though it is pretty straight forward. It literally states measurements between units ALWAYS measure between the two closest models. Therefore, from a Rules as Written view, no permission exists to carry out any measurement to the back of the unit in situations where rules tell you to measure distance between the two units.

Though if I did come across a rule which does state a unit "wholly within X" then I will measure to the back of the unit too, because it is common sense, but if the rule just states that the unit just has to be 'Within X' then standard measurement rules apply.

Still, I again bring it back to the opening posters:
In the matter of this particular formation and rules involved within all this pondering is irrelevant! If they have posted that rule correctly then we are talking about a 'model level' event and not something that is done between individual units. At this point it doesn't matter how two units measure to each other, it doesn't even matter that the general deployment rules for Infiltrators might involve measurements for the whole unit as well, because the more specific rule in question trumps all that. To evoke this rule you will need to measure the distance from each individual model, as that is what the rule tells you to do, and that model has to be within six inches to comply.

JinxDragon wrote:
Abandon,
Incorrect, the captaion says the Space Marine Unit is within 3 inches of the Ork Unit, not the truck. The closest Space Marine model to the truck is at least 5 inches away from it sot that caption can not be talking about those two units as it would make not sense. It goes on to state that this means the two units are within 3 inches of each other, and using the rules set forth above for measuring between units this is very much accurate.

I do see your point though, it does bring up the model furtherest away and the 'wholly within' wording. This hints that there will be times where a rule will require a unit to be wholly within the distance of the target, so if we come across that terminology within a rule we can make the argument this is what it was talking about. Sadly the rule section informing us how to measure for units does not contain any rules how to measure if a unit is wholly within the distance of each other, though it is pretty straight forward. It literally states measurements between units ALWAYS measure between the two closest models. Therefore, from a Rules as Written view, no permission exists to carry out any measurement to the back of the unit in situations where rules tell you to measure distance between the two units.

Though if I did come across a rule which does state a unit "wholly within X" then I will measure to the back of the unit too, because it is common sense, but if the rule just states that the unit just has to be 'Within X' then standard measurement rules apply.

Still, I again bring it back to the opening posters:
In the matter of this particular formation and rules involved within all this pondering is irrelevant! If they have posted that rule correctly then we are talking about a 'model level' event and not something that is done between individual units. At this point it doesn't matter how two units measure to each other, it doesn't even matter that the general deployment rules for Infiltrators might involve measurements for the whole unit as well, because the more specific rule in question trumps all that. To evoke this rule you will need to measure the distance from each individual model, as that is what the rule tells you to do, and that model has to be within six inches to comply.

Yeah had that mixed up.
Edit: NM the rest. Mistaken post.