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Had a short discussion at the LVO with someone about this, but I'm still not 100% sure what the answer is.

In 7th, as I recall, you activated weapons in the melee phase, and there was initiative to worry about. So, if a unit had a mix of melee weapons, and if a model with a certain weapon was activated, but there were no eligible targets, that model couldn't attack.

In 8th, however, I believe that units activate as a whole.

So, for example, lets say 29 boyz + a nob with a big choppa charge a unit of guardsmen, and that all the boyz and the nob were eligible to attack the guardsman unit.

For ease of play, you make the rolls for the ork boyz first, and they kill all but one guardsman, who is more than 1" away from the nob.

Does the nob still get to swing? He was able to swing at the beginning of the fight phase, but once the boyz were done, he wouldn't be able to.

My thought is that because the nob was part of the boyz squad, and was eligible to attack at the start of the fight phase, he technically would swing at the same time as them, regardless of whether or not there is a target within 1" of him by the time the boyz are done.

But someone said that you activate weapons, not units, so once the choppas were done, you chose to swing with big choppas, and there weren't any eligible targets for big choppas by the time they activated.

So, which is it?

Just like with shooting in 8th, where you can't put other guys in the squad out of range by being too deadly, so it is with melee in 8th. If the squad activates, you determine how many attacks are made, and then you resolve those attacks. So, the Nob in this case will get to still make the attacks, despite the Guardsmen being further away when you started rolling.

You only ever determine which models can fight at step 2 when choosing targets.

Once determined, that doesn't change while resolving the unit's attacks and you don't choose targets and determine who may fight for one weapon, then choose targets and determine who may fight for another weapon.

If at the end of the pile in step a model is within 1" of an enemy model, or within 1" of a model from its own unit that is also within 1" of an enemy model, then it may attack the target.

Kap'n Krump wrote:Had a short discussion at the LVO with someone about this, but I'm still not 100% sure what the answer is.

In 7th, as I recall, you activated weapons in the melee phase, and there was initiative to worry about. So, if a unit had a mix of melee weapons, and if a model with a certain weapon was activated, but there were no eligible targets, that model couldn't attack.

In 8th, however, I believe that units activate as a whole.

So, for example, lets say 29 boyz + a nob with a big choppa charge a unit of guardsmen, and that all the boyz and the nob were eligible to attack the guardsman unit.

For ease of play, you make the rolls for the ork boyz first, and they kill all but one guardsman, who is more than 1" away from the nob.

Does the nob still get to swing? He was able to swing at the beginning of the fight phase, but once the boyz were done, he wouldn't be able to.

My thought is that because the nob was part of the boyz squad, and was eligible to attack at the start of the fight phase, he technically would swing at the same time as them, regardless of whether or not there is a target within 1" of him by the time the boyz are done.

But someone said that you activate weapons, not units, so once the choppas were done, you chose to swing with big choppas, and there weren't any eligible targets for big choppas by the time they activated.

So, which is it?

Its in the free rules.

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/40k/warhammer_40000_en.pdf

1) pick your unit to fight with. ALL the models in the unit.
2) pile in
3) Choose targets. THIS is when you are checking range to see who can actually fight.
4) Choose melee weapon. If you have more then one you can divide them up amongst your number of attacks.
5) Resolve the attacks

Yarium wrote:Just like with shooting in 8th, where you can't put other guys in the squad out of range by being too deadly, so it is with melee in 8th. If the squad activates, you determine how many attacks are made, and then you resolve those attacks. So, the Nob in this case will get to still make the attacks, despite the Guardsmen being further away when you started rolling.

Correct. Range is checked once, before any attacks are made in both shooting and fighting. If your in range after the pile in then your in range until all the attacks are done.

Ok, that's what I thought. If you're eligible to fight at the start of the pile in phase, you get to fight, regardless of when you actually roll the dice for a certain weapon.

 Kap'n Krump wrote:
Ok, that's what I thought. If you're eligible to fight at the start of the pile in phase, you get to fight, regardless of when you actually roll the dice for a certain weapon.

It's actually the end of the pile in phase where you check which models can attack, you get your 3" move to... pile in...