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Here is the situation:  IG Heavy Weapons squad takes a couple casualties fails Ld test and has to fall back.  They roll a 4" , but since CoD building is difficult terrain they half the fall back move to 2".  2" is not enough to go down a floor to continue their fallback. So  if they cannot actually move toward the table edge on their same level what do they do?

1) Stay where they are attempt to rally next phase.

2) Trapped, remove from board like impassable terrain

3) Move down a floor and back 2"

I tend to go with #2 thinking that the guys so disoriented by their casualties hurl themselves off the side of the building.  Anyway, has anyone else run into this?  If not and you play CoD you better get ready to see it.

Only impassible terrain and/or models may create a "Trapped!" situation. Neither of those apply to the situation you describe.

The answer is #1, although they would still move horizontally towards their table edge if they could do so (even though they couldn't move vertically).

If you can move horizontally then #1 is fine. But if you are on a small catwalk (Nowhere to move horizontally) then I think it falls under the last line on the bottom of pg48 though the "doubling back" in this case doesn't apply:
"If a unit cannot perform its full fall back move in any direction, without doubling back, it is destroyed"
Basically Difficult terrain becomes impassable to the broken unit, that turn as they did not roll enough movement to move anywhere.

If you have horizontal movement on a level does a falling back unit have to move down at all? I say that a broken squad should always try to move down as many floors as possible but I dont think that is written anywhere

Just have a skimmer fly over with a belay!

- BT

Posted By BloodyT on 06/12/2006 12:41 PM
Just have a skimmer fly over with a belay!

- BT

Are you still here?

If you can move horizontally then #1 is fine. But if you are on a small catwalk (Nowhere to move horizontally) then I think it falls under the last line on the bottom of pg48 though the "doubling back" in this case doesn't apply:
"If a unit cannot perform its full fall back move in any direction, without doubling back, it is destroyed"
Basically Difficult terrain becomes impassable to the broken unit, that turn as they did not roll enough movement to move anywhere.

That is not the entire rule. A unit is only destroyed if it cannot move it's whole fall back move without doubling back due to impassible terrain or models.

The Trapped! rule on page 48 specifies that, as does the diagram on page 49.

My point is that if you cannot move then terrain is effectively impassable

My point is that if you cannot move then terrain is effectively impassable

Which is false. Impassible terrain is a specific terrain type defined in the game. You cannot suddenly declare that difficult terrain is actually impassible because the unit didn't roll high enough to move vertically that turn. The two do not correspond.

If you and your opponent want to agree to that house rule it is, of course, fine. But difficult terrain is not impassible terrain, no matter what the circumstance.

Yes, impassable terrain is defined in the game, I should have looked it up before. Quoted on pg 16: "impassable terrain prevents all movement through it" which does apply to the stated case. In the small box to the right GW actually give an example of buildings being classified as different types of terrain: Difficult and Impassable. Their example does not cover this specific case but it provides a reasonable resolution to the problem. The edges of every floor above the ground floor should be treated as impassable, therefore if your squad does not roll high enough to change floors and cannot do their full fallback movement within the floor they are on then the squad is removed from play per the trapped rule you mentioned earlier.

I certainly don't see anywhere in the rules where it says if you can't make your fallback move then you just ignore falling back, and if you pass your leadership next movement phase then you dont lose much rother than a little movement.

The only other reasonable option would require a new rule and that would be for a squad in this case to be pinned. Prevents them from shooting back the next turn. Have to actually get new rules for that though.

Yes, impassable terrain is defined in the game, I should have looked it up before. Quoted on pg 16: "impassable terrain prevents all movement through it" which does apply to the stated case.

Incorrect again. At the beginning of the game you either classify a piece of terrain as difficult or impassible. If the terrain is classified as impassible, then the models cannot be in it in the first place.

Look, the Trapped! rule represents a very rare situation where you actually trap models in a complete ring so they can't even make their fallback move in one direction. That ring must be made up of either models or impassible terrain (a specific type of terrain that must be identified at the beginning of the game).

The situation you are describing is *not* the same situation. Not rolling enough distance to move vertically between floors is *not* impassible terrain. I know that you want it to work for some reason, but luckily the rules do not support your position.

Besides, it would be insanely powerful if that was the case. Any unit on an upper floor of a ruin that fails a morale check from shooting and happens to roll less than a 6 on the 2D6 (meaning it is halved down to under 3" of movement) is automatically destroyed?

Please. No one would ever put their models on an upper floor again if that was the case.

you either classify a piece of terrain as difficult or impassible

Did you not look at the grey box on pg 16 where GW gives an example of a single large piece of terrain (a building no less) that is classified in certain areas as difficult and impassable in others. Explain to me how the edge of an upper floor is not impassable, can you move past the edge and stand in midair... no. When you do diificult terrain tests to move up and down you never touch the impassable part you go from difficult terrain on one floor to difficult terrain on another floor

Simple fact is the rules do not cover this situation at all. Your postion is even more poorly supported by the rules than mine. Nowhere in the rules allows for you not to do a fall back move simply because you cannot move. There are examples of not being able to do fall back move and removing said squad from play though. All I have to do is establish the edge of each floor as impassable and mine is absolutely supported by the rules.

As far as overpowering, there have got to be ways to drive enemy squads from buildings. If you go high in a building one of the fates you may suffer is getting trapped. It is just as overpowering for a squad to be stuck in a building, fail morale, fall back not move, and then possibly regroup and start shooting at the attackers again next turn. The advantages of being high in a building are you can see more of the battlefield, you are harder to assault. The disadvantages? More enemy can see you and ....

Why do I care about this, well it is going to come up as more people play CoD and someone has got to come up with a logical solution. I have mine, good luck having this argument with your opponents every other CoD game. I suggest rolling off if you can't come to an agreement with them.

Posted By ptlangley on 06/13/2006 12:03 PM
Explain to me how the edge of an upper floor is not impassable...

Did you and your opponent describe that particular terrain feature as Impassable before the game began? If not, then it is not Impassible as defined in 40k. It may be "impassable" according to real world logic, and it may be impossible to move your units past it, but unless it has been explicitly declared as "Impassable" in the game, this label does not apply to it.

As Yakface stated in his first reply in this thread, there are only two things that force a "Trapped!" situation, terrain that has been declared as Impassable and models.

The rooftop situation causes an interesting delimma, but it most certainly does not cause "Trapped!" unless the sides of the rooftop have been explicitly declared "Impassable".

Simple fact is the rules do not cover this situation at all. Your postion is even more poorly supported by the rules than mine. Nowhere in the rules allows for you not to do a fall back move simply because you cannot move. There are examples of not being able to do fall back move and removing said squad from play though. All I have to do is establish the edge of each floor as impassable and mine is absolutely supported by the rules.

Again, you are completely incorrect. The Trapped! rules on page 48 specifically allow a unit that has it's fall back corridor blocked by an obstacle (like impassable terrain or models) to leave it's corridor to move around the obstruction. So if your falling back unit hits whatever part of the building that has deemed impassable befoe the game by you, it will divert it's path to go around it; even if that means moving away from your board edge for the turn (if that is the shortest way around the obstacle).


If you want to make that your house rule, then by all means do so. Just don't try to claim that what you are saying is supported by the rules, because it simply is not.

"If a unit cannot perform a full Fall Back move in any direction, without doubling back, it is destroyed."

Sounds pretty cut and dry to me

Sounds pretty cut and dry to me

Excuse me! Where does it say that it is cut or that it is dry? I swear. . . .

The example I gave was a theoretical extrapolation based on a situation that arose during a CoD game this past weekned. In the actual game there was more than 2" to move on the floor the unit was on. We were unsure so we rolled off to see if they would go down a floor or just move the 2" back on the floor they were on. I didn't even considered removing the squad from play in that situation. However the floor they were on was bigger than most of the ones in the buildings that we were playing with which brought the theoretical question up.

Next time we will define the edges of each floor as impassable before the game so that we will not run into this situation. If you do not do this you are going ot have to come up with an agreeable house rule.

This situation does make the sacred item stratgem more appealing and may even make a few SM players think about using purity seals or whatever equivalent other armies have.