Attacking with 3" melee weapons

[DioRa]

Hey all,

Recently I've been inspired by GoT the Bolton's phalanx wall of death. And been interested to replicate something like that in AoS. Which led me to the Stormcast with two units required for this trick: 

First unit the Liberators. They will be the literal shield protecting the second unit from attacks from the enemy, seeing how most melee weapons tend to be 1" or sometimes 2" long.

The second unit would be the Protectors with their 3" glaives. If these guys were right behind the Liberators then their weapons should be able to reach the enemy past the shield wall of the liberators.

This is the general idea. Though I have some doubts if this can work due to how movement works in AoS.

While the liberators can charge and get into combat, the protectors would need to move up to the enemy, if they want to avoid getting hit back by the enemy. Now the charge phase is after the movement phase, meaning there will need to be gaps among the protectors for the liberators to charge through towards the enemy. And here comes the tricky part:

You may not move within 3" of any enemy models.

Does this mean past the 3" like 2,9" would be within for sure, but is 3" itself within this movement limit? Because if that's the case then the 3" weapons will have little use for this idea, since it won't work.

Among my local group we have come to the consensus that it would not work this tactic, though I'd like a second opinion of the internet on this idea. Also I've made a crude paint picture of the general idea to help you guys visualize my ramblings

 

[BaldoBeardo]

You cannot move *within* 3" of an enemy model unless you charged or someone else charged you, or other pile-in / non-voluntary movement occurred.

In that sense it doesn't matter if it's 3", 2.99999999999999" or whatever the actual physical measurement is between the units - unless the 3" 'personal space' of a unit was legally broken during a charge phase (or subsequent melee movement) you cannot by definition be within 3" and so cannot pile-in or attack.

As the Protectors can't *make* a valid charge due to the Liberators in front of them, it's a formation that can only receive charges - the Protectors have to wait until someone comes to *them*.

[rokapoke]

If you want it to work, you need to align your Protectors directly behind the Liberators and wait for your opponent to charge the group. You may want to have a bigger unit of liberators so that they wrap around the Protectors (so your opponent can't charge within 1" of the Protectors themselves).

[The Jabber Tzeentch]

What you can do is charge the liberators in to combat, careful not to break formation and leaving a small space at the end of the line. Then charge the protectors in but only contacting the enemy unit with one model in the gap you left. Then filter the rest of the protectors behind your liberators as you please. 

Not a perfect solution but still a good way to attack with a defensive formation. 

[Nico]

 

Quote

 

What you can do is charge the liberators in to combat, careful not to break formation and leaving a small space at the end of the line. Then charge the protectors in but only contacting the enemy unit with one model in the gap you left. Then filter the rest of the protectors behind your liberators as you please. 

Not a perfect solution but still a good way to attack with a defensive formation. 

 

It would be nice if they changed this rule, so a charge has to be within the range of your weapon minus half an inch (rather than half an inch).

Edited Monday at 10:20 AM by The Jabber Tzeentch