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I was running a unit of handgunners and had an opponent trying to get into close combat. Handgunners get a free round of shooting against an enemy unit that "ends its charge move within 3 inches".

So instead of charging he moves his models up to the three inches away minimum. I'm expecting them to charge, but he holds them in that position. Now when it's time for us to start doing our combats, he starts to pile this unit into CC, saying I can't shoot him because he didn't charge. Why exactly would these units get to pile in if they didn't charge?

First off, emphasis mine,

When you move a model in the movement phase, you may not move within 3" of any enemy models.

Then,

Any unit that has charged or has models within 3" of an enemy unit can attack....

Note that a unit that moves to three inches away is not the same as a model within three inches, you can never move "within 3 inches"

When does piling in occur then? Well, the rules say an "attack" is when you pile in.

An attack is split into two steps: first the unit piles in, and then you make attacks with the models in the unit.

So piling in is defined as step 1 of the attack, thus being part of the attack... you can't pile in if you're not attacking, and you can't attack if you're not within 3", and you can't be within 3" if you don't charge, correct?

I just wanted to check that all my logic is sound, that I'm not missing anything, that you can't try to sneak in without taking my overwatch. Let me know what you think.

I got a general consensus from the guys at my store, but I have some people agreeing with the opponent.

You're opponent's pile-in was illegal. He didn't charge, and none of his models are within 3" - pile-in is not allowed.

He can't have moved within 3", so he can't pile in.

I guess the unit could charge something else that doesn't require the first model to move within 3" of your handgunners, then charge-move the others to just outside 3" of your handgunners. They would be allowed to pile in since the unit had charged and could pile into melee with your handgunners safely. It would be a bit tricky and maybe suboptimal, though.

What the opponent did was legal, provided that at least one model from the charging unit was within 1/2" of any enemy model after the charge was complete.
He can't roll the charge, run everything at the handgunners and say "I rolled enough to get within half an inch, but I'm going to stop 3" away so you don't get to shoot" because that means the charge never happened.

If he *did* charge a different unit to get units to get his unit close to the handgunners, remember pile-in moves must be toward the closest enemy model from any unit, and he must maintain unit coherency.

Ending a charge move within 3" is what triggers the shooting.
The handgunners themselves don't need to be charge, they just have to have an enemy end near.

If another enemy was nearby, in theory he could charge that unit, staying more than 3" out, and then pile in ending within 1" and attack the handgunners.

It would be tough to pull off, and easy for the empire player to position so that the enemy isn't able to do so.

-Matt

^^^ Correct