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Transport vehicles

Many formations include transport vehicles that can be used to carry other units from the same formation. The number and types of unit a transport vehicle unit can carry is stated on its datasheet.

Embarking and disembarking units

• Transport vehicles may only embark and carry units from their own formation.
• Transport vehicles can embark units as part of the transport vehicle’s move. Measure to move the transport vehicle into base contact with the unit you want to embark, and then continue your measure for the rest of the move as normal.
  • You may not move the units you want to transport to the transport vehicles during the same move in which they are to embark.
  • You may not embark and disembark units as part of the same move. But, where you are making multiple moves with a formation as part of a March or Double action then you can pick up units in one move and drop them off as part of a subsequent move.
• You may disembark transported units at the end of any move after the move in which they were picked up. This happens after any overwatch shots but before the moving formation shoots or assaults.Seems to contradict what it says elsewhere — disembarking is normally a valid trigger for overwatch, so why does it say here that the disembarking happens after any overwatch shots?
• Place disembarking units within 5cm of their transport vehicle. If the formation has Engage orders then you may place your units inside the zone of control of target enemy units, or in base contact if they are close enough. Otherwise, you may not place your units within any the zone of control of any enemy unit, as usual.
• You may disembark (or embark) units as part of a counter-charge move, unless the transport vehicle carrying them is already in base contact with two enemy units — in which case they must stay on board as they are trapped inside!

Disembarking units and being fair about base sizes

Players can gain an unfair advantage when their units have wide bases. An easy way to counter this is to agree that both players must always place disembarking units wholly within 5cm of transport vehicles.

Transporting embarked units

• If a transport vehicle is destroyed, any embarked units sustain a hit. You may attempt their normal armour save or make a 6+ cover save, whichever is better (unless the transport was destroyed by a weapon with the Macro-Weapon ability).
• Include embarked units in the total number of units in the formation for all rules purposes (such as when working out the number of units involved in an assault or whether the formation becomes Broken by Blast markers).
• You may not shoot with embarked units unless the transport vehicle’s datasheet specifically says otherwise.
• You do not have to disembark units — you can keep them in their transport vehicles if you prefer.

FAQ

Q. Does an embarked unit lose its zone of control?

A. Yes.

Q. Where a formation has multiple transport units, do we consider embarked units to be in specific transport units?

A. You can play it either way, just bring it up in the five minute warm up.Consider adding house rule to the effect that the controlling player may always decide which units are embarked in which transport in the moment when it matters, accepting that they will chose in their favour. This is easiest and seems most in line with the simple approach that Epic usually encourages.

Q. Can a transport unit embark a unit that is in terrain that is dangerous to the transport unit?

A. Yes, but if the unit to embark is completely within the dangerous terrain then you must take a Dangerous Terrain test for the transport.

Q. Can a transport unit embark a unit that is in terrain that is impassable to the transport unit?

A. Yes, but only if the unit to embark is not completely within the impassable terrain (that is, if the transport can make base contact with the unit without entering the impassable terrain).

Q. When disembarking, do we place units completely within 5cm of the transport unit or just so that there is no more than 5cm between disembarked units and their transport unit?

A. You can play it either way, just bring it up in the five minute warm up.

Q. How do we disembark embarked units that have a Speed value of 0cm or Immobile?

A. As normal.

Q. Where do we place embarked units when their transport is destroyed?

A. Place them where the unit transporting them was, if they survive.

Q. What happens to embarked units when their transport is destroyed by dangerous terrain, the result of an assault, or an additional hit from a Blast marker on a Broken formation?

A. Make the normal armour save or a 6+ cover save for the embarked units and remove any casualties as normal. But in these situations, do not add Blast markers for these casualties.

Q. What happens to embarked units when their transport is destroyed by ending its withdrawal within 15cm of the enemy?

A. If the embarked units are Broken and not Fearless then they are destroyed. Otherwise, make their normal armour save or a 6+ cover save and remove casualties as normal.Add Blast markers for such casualties, or not?

Q. If a transport is destroyed by a hit with a special ability does that carry over to the embarked units?

A. Yes, the saves of embarked units are affected by the type of hit that destroys their transport. For example, an Ignore Cover hit would prevent the embarked units from making a 6+ cover save.