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I had my first 9th game yesterday and my opponent and I are a bit fresh to the rules. We have played 40k back in the day (5th) but the rules have changed substantially since then.

Here is the scenario:

I charge a squad of marines with my outriders.
The marines are 3 rows deep after I successfully make the charge.
The outriders kill the front 2 rows worth of models during their charge attack, meaning the last remaining model is out of engagement range.
My opponent claimed that since that model is out of engagement range, the combat is over and nothing happens.
Im of the opinion that after my fight is over, my opponent must then pile in 3 inches towards my outriders and attack if in engagement range. If not in engagement range, it moves to me consolidating towards the nearest enemy. Assuming my consolidate move ends within engagement range of the remaining model, the combat continues into the next phase and we are considered to be locked in combat.

This was pretty critical as my outriders were then exposed and got blasted in the next shooting phase RIP

Another one for thought:

Casting smite while locked in combat seems OP. Can psykers who are locked in combat cast smite into the combat they are locked in? The rules seem to say that this is legit but worth confirming.

A few things to note.

1.
Your opponent was correct.
A unit fights if it is within engagement range of enemy models at the time it is selected, or if it had declared a charge that turn. Given that neither of these conditions was met, his remaining marine did not fight.

However, the fight phase works as follows:
Unit A is selected to fight.
Unit A piles in up to 3"
Unit A makes attacks
Unit A consolidates up to 3"

Unit B is selected to fight
Unit B piles in up to 3"
Unit B makes attacks
Unit B consolidates up to 3"
etc.


So after your outriders made their attacks, they would have been able to consolidate 3" towards the remaining marine before your opponent activated it. If that put them in engagement range, then the marine would have been able to activate and fight.

2.
When Piling-In + Consolidating you may models move up to 3", so long as it puts them any distance closer to the nearest enemy model. However they are not forced moves. You can choose to move 0" with them if you want.

3.
Even if you had consolidated into his remaining marine, your outriders probably would have still been blasted away the next turn. As he could have just fallen back in his movement phase. Depending on positioning you may have been able to surround his marine with your consolidate move to make it harder to fall back. But he could still have used the Desperate Breakout stratagem to escape.

4.
Yes, psykers can cast powers while in combat. They cannot do so if they fall back. But it's fine if they stay in combat.

From the BRB page 21
"...selecting an eligible unit from their army and fighting with it (see below) An eligible unit is one that is within Engagement Range of an enemy unit and/or made a charge move in the same turn."

If his models were not within "Engagement Range" then they were not eligible.

(ooops, too slow as usual)
The game has changed a lot since 5th.

Your opponent does not have to pile in. He can choose to or not. Also, there may have been an issue with his unit not being eligible to be chosen to fight in the fight phase. To be chosen to fight, a unit must be in engagement range of an enemy model (1") and/or charged that turn. From your description, his remaining marine was not, and so yes, the combat ended there.

When you wiped his front ranks out, that is when you should have consolidated (or not, you are not required to). If you didn't, he cannot choose his marine to fight because he is out of engagement range, and therefore, your outriders are NOT engaged and can be shot on his turn. This is part of the game.

You also need to read the movement rules, particularly the fall back option. He could have also, if in engagement range, just fallen the marine back during movement and shot you as well.

...gah, also long since beaten to it!! Curses.


This depends on one thing. When you charged and made your attacks, did you then Consolidate yourself?
If you didn't, that could have put the last model back in Engagement Range and would then have made it eligible to fight.

If you did, and the model was still out of Engagement Range, then I'm afraid your opponent was right.
Page 229 tells us that units only Pile In once they're chosen to Fight, and to be chosen, they must be eligible. Page 228 describes an eligible unit as "one that is within Engagement Range of an enemy unit and/or made a charge move in the same turn".
If there are no models left in Engagement Range, they aren't eligible and therefore have no permission to Pile In.

It's probably a moot point, regardless. It sounds like you wouldn't have been able to surround that one remaining model, meaning it could quite easily make a Fall Back move in your opponent's next turn, leaving the outriders open to being shot to pieces anyway.

One last note on this, note that both Pile In and Consolidate moves are described as "can move up to 3 inches", as long as that move ends nearer to the closest enemy. The "can" part makes this move optional - the model will be considered to have Piled In or Consolidated, but needn't have actually moved - and even if you do, you can opt to move it 0.1 of an inch closer if you want. This makes it quite possible to engineer combats so that you have a certain number of models in Engagement Range, or indeed none.


Moving onto Smite - you've read this correctly, psykers can indeed cast Smite into the combat they're locked in (and because Smite affects the closest enemy unit, they are in fact pretty much forced to cast it there!).
It helps to realise that psychic powers are not shooting attacks, unless specifically stated.
And yes, it is powerful, but psykers are powerful and they pay the points cost for that privilege.

Thanks all, much appreciated! I see my blunder was that I did not consolidate when I should have but it is a moot point as he could have chosen to fall back in the following turn so RIP outriders either way.

I guess it is pretty key to have a back up plan when charging into a stack of units due to their ability to simply fall back and expose the attacking unit to shooting. Thinking back to 5th, you could make a sweeping advance if a unit fell back from combat and wipe the whole squad. I feel like there is a lot more risk in melee combat in this edition.