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OK, so there are a few things I need to double check with what you can do in the fight phase. Forgive my crude diagrams but I think they will suffice for what I need to explain.

Example 1:

A1<1">B1

A2<1">B2

At the above, there is team A and team B. It is team A's turn, and none of the units have charged this turn. both units are A1 and unit B1 are within 1" of each other, and unit A2 and unit B2 are also within one inch, but lets asume there is a large gap between the two sets of units. Team A fights with unit 1 against Team B's unit 1. It is now team B's turn to fight, does team B have to fight with unit 1, or can it chose to fight with any unit? - in this case unit 2.

Example 2:

A1<1">B1<-----3"------>B2

In the above example, it is player A's turn to fight, he fights against player B's unit 1 (or B1) and kills the entire unit, player A then consolidates 3" towards B2, so they are now within 1", can player B now fight with B2?

Example 3: (and again, forgive the crude diagram!)



It is player A's turn, player A fights against player B's unit. Play A kills several models, but player B choses to remove the models are per the diagram, there is now a large gap between both units (lets call it 6" for ease.

My questions:
Can player B still fight with their remaining models?
Can player A consolidate towards unit B?
At the start of the next turn (so player B's turn) as his unit is no longer within 1", can he move and shoot that unit as normal?

1.
When you choose a unit to fight with, it can allocate it's attacks against any enemy units in range. It can even split it's attacks between multiple enemy units, but it needs to declare how it will split them before you roll any dice.

2.
Yes, player B can activate unit B2 and fight back. It doesn't matter where units were at the start of the fight phase, if they end up within 1" and it is still the fight phase then they can activate.

3.
i) If player B's unit did not charge, he will not be able to activate them. If they did charge he can activate them, pile in, fight if he is now in range, and consolidate (regardless of whether he actually fought).
ii) Yes. If you consolidate (it's optional) you must move such that you end the move closer to the nearest enemy unit. Assuming no other units that would be unit B.
iii) Yes, the unit is no longer engaged in combat and so can act as normal on its turn.

 Stux wrote:

3.
i) If player B's unit did not charge, he will not be able to activate them. If they did charge he can activate them, pile in, fight if he is now in range, and consolidate (regardless of whether he actually fought).
ii) Yes. If you consolidate (it's optional) you must move such that you end the move closer to the nearest enemy model. Assuming no other units that would be unit B.
iii) Yes, the unit is no longer engaged in combat and so can act as normal on its turn.

Fixed ii) for you, that's a big difference to enemy unit.
Have nothing to add otherwise

 Hanskrampf wrote:

 Stux wrote:

3.
i) If player B's unit did not charge, he will not be able to activate them. If they did charge he can activate them, pile in, fight if he is now in range, and consolidate (regardless of whether he actually fought).
ii) Yes. If you consolidate (it's optional) you must move such that you end the move closer to the nearest enemy model. Assuming no other units that would be unit B.
iii) Yes, the unit is no longer engaged in combat and so can act as normal on its turn.

Fixed ii) for you, that's a big difference to enemy unit.
Have nothing to add otherwise

Correct, thank you!

It's also worked out on a model-by-model basis for the unit that is piling in. That is to say the unit could be pulled in two different directions if different models are closer to different enemy models. Though of course you always have the option to remain stationary.

In answer to the first part, there is no restriction on consolidating into another unit (that I can find) and, if that unit is in combat, hasn't fought yet, and didn't charge, then there's no restrictions on them selecting the unit which just arrived as a target.

In the second instance, unit B would not be eligible to be selected to fight;

BRB:
"Any unit that charged or has models within 1" of an enemy unit can be chosen to fight in the fight phase".

As such, if you can remove models to the point of being over 4" from the enemy, then their consolidation won't bring you back into combat and therefore you cannot attack. you can, however, behave normally next round, and won't have to consolidate yourself, as this is the last step of fighting, which you are not eligible to do.

it's actually a good way to disengage without having to fall-back, but it's entirely dependant on dying and removing the right models. I believe you can also do this with the morale casualties. I think it's a valid tactic for grots, as they have low saves, low morale and a high number of bodies, so could pull it off. it would strand a unit to be shot to bits, without sacrificing the effectiveness of the grots in the following turn.

Thanks all, makes sense with all but question 1. I think I have made the question confusing, my bad. What I meant in scenario 1, is that can the opponent choose which unit he can fight with, even if it's out of sequence from the attacker.

So keeping the example the same, if player A attacked with unit 1, against B1, and didn't wipe out the unit. Can player B now chose to fight with unit B2 next?

And if so, that would mean, in this example, player B, could wipe out A2 with B2, now that it's A's turn, he cannot fight, because A1 already fought, and now A2 are dead.

And then further to the, player B could still fight with B1?

BUDFORCE wrote:
Thanks all, makes sense with all but question 1. I think I have made the question confusing, my bad. What I meant in scenario 1, is that can the opponent choose which unit he can fight with, even if it's out of sequence from the attacker.

So keeping the example the same, if player A attacked with unit 1, against B1, and didn't wipe out the unit. Can player B now chose to fight with unit B2 next?

And if so, that would mean, in this example, player B, could wipe out A2 with B2, now that it's A's turn, he cannot fight, because A1 already fought, and now A2 are dead.

And then further to the, player B could still fight with B1?

Yes to everything.

 Hanskrampf wrote:

BUDFORCE wrote:
Thanks all, makes sense with all but question 1. I think I have made the question confusing, my bad. What I meant in scenario 1, is that can the opponent choose which unit he can fight with, even if it's out of sequence from the attacker.

So keeping the example the same, if player A attacked with unit 1, against B1, and didn't wipe out the unit. Can player B now chose to fight with unit B2 next?

And if so, that would mean, in this example, player B, could wipe out A2 with B2, now that it's A's turn, he cannot fight, because A1 already fought, and now A2 are dead.

And then further to the, player B could still fight with B1?

Yes to everything.

Damn... You really have to think about what you're doing in close combat. I think particularly if you have a heavy CC army like Tyranids, because you could end up screwing yourself over by taking on too much at once, even if your opponent isn't as good in CC.

Yup, that's exactly how it works. Ordering your fights appropriately is very important.

In practice though, a lot of the time the active players units will all have charged that turn, or at least many of them. Which means they'll all be attacking first anyway!

Depends on the armies involved and how they operate though. How durable they are in melee and such.

Yea I'm thinking of situations where you have fought, and killed the unit, then weighing up whether to consolidate into another, or just stay put.

If you stay put your hanging in the wind waiting to get shot, but...if you consolidate, you could end up getting owned right there and then by your opponent's fight, and then next turn he can still shoot at you!

No wonder people say that they prefer shooting armies, a lot more to think about when using a heavy CC orientated army.

BUDFORCE wrote:
Yea I'm thinking of situations where you have fought, and killed the unit, then weighing up whether to consolidate into another, or just stay put.

If you stay put your hanging in the wind waiting to get shot, but...if you consolidate, you could end up getting owned right there and then by your opponent's fight, and then next turn he can still shoot at you!

No wonder people say that they prefer shooting armies, a lot more to think about when using a heavy CC orientated army.

Absolutely. Still, a melee focused unit should murder a shooting focused unit, so in those situations consolidating is likely to be the right move. It gets around Overwatch too!

The Charge and Fight phases are quite complicated though, experienced players sometimes still make mistakes.