AoS 3.0 - Wobbly Model and Verticality in the Combat Phase

[Gauche]

I had an interesting situation come up in a game recently that I think we played correctly, it just doesn't feel intended. Let me break this down in a few places:

Wobbly Model

For those who aren't in the know Wobbly Model was a popular, and bad, 40K Rule where if a model could not physically stand on the battlefield terrain you and your opponent could "agree" where it was. This was supposed to be used for things like rocky terrain or other pieces that models can't stand flat on but was used in other ways that were pretty gamey. Now AoS doesn't have this rule but it also doesn't NOT have it. What I mean by this is the rules for Normal Movement and so on in AoS are quite loose, basically you just trace and pivot freely with some caveats for Terrain. Nothing ever mentions that a model's base must rest completely on a Terrain Feature so from that I infer if you can physically place a model onto Terrain, it can go there. There's no provision for if it can't stand on its own two proverbial feet but as long as it doesn't fall it can go there.

Charging

For a Charge to be successful you must move the first model in the Charging unit to within 1/2" of the enemy unit. All Distances are explicitly mentioned as being from base to base, no exceptions. If this can't be done then the Charge fails, full stop. You can of course move up/over/down Terrain as normal but you must pay for that movement, also as normal.

Putting It Together

So, what this added up to in my game was an Ironclad moved onto a Terrain Feature that it's base was larger than but could easily also stand on without issue. This made the Ironclad 100% unchargeable. There was no room on the same "level" of the Terrain Feature that the Ironclad was on so you cannot possibly get with 1/2". You also wouldn't be able to ever Attack it in the Combat Phase unless you had a unit with at least 2" Range for Melee Weapons who can Pile In outside of 3".

Now, this was a very niche interaction and there are numerous ways to solve it without house rules. We could have simply said the Terrain Feature is Garrisonable, then I can't land on it. You can also just avoid Terrain that is multi-level, small, and where you can balance a base/s on it to take up all the real-estate. Still, in a Tournament setting or similar I'd have expected this to work by my reading of the rules even if I wish it didn't. So, am I reading all this correctly? The only thing I see in the FAQ is that models can climb Terrain AND you can remember how far it has climbed, measuring "distances and visibility" to or from that model as if it were there. So that seems like a work around at least but I think it would have been better to just include a vertical range in addition to a horizontal one.

[Liquidsteel]

12 hours ago, Gauche said:

I had an interesting situation come up in a game recently that I think we played correctly, it just doesn't feel intended. Let me break this down in a few places:

Wobbly Model

For those who aren't in the know Wobbly Model was a popular, and bad, 40K Rule where if a model could not physically stand on the battlefield terrain you and your opponent could "agree" where it was. This was supposed to be used for things like rocky terrain or other pieces that models can't stand flat on but was used in other ways that were pretty gamey. Now AoS doesn't have this rule but it also doesn't NOT have it. What I mean by this is the rules for Normal Movement and so on in AoS are quite loose, basically you just trace and pivot freely with some caveats for Terrain. Nothing ever mentions that a model's base must rest completely on a Terrain Feature so from that I infer if you can physically place a model onto Terrain, it can go there. There's no provision for if it can't stand on its own two proverbial feet but as long as it doesn't fall it can go there.

Charging

For a Charge to be successful you must move the first model in the Charging unit to within 1/2" of the enemy unit. All Distances are explicitly mentioned as being from base to base, no exceptions. If this can't be done then the Charge fails, full stop. You can of course move up/over/down Terrain as normal but you must pay for that movement, also as normal.

Putting It Together

So, what this added up to in my game was an Ironclad moved onto a Terrain Feature that it's base was larger than but could easily also stand on without issue. This made the Ironclad 100% unchargeable. There was no room on the same "level" of the Terrain Feature that the Ironclad was on so you cannot possibly get with 1/2". You also wouldn't be able to ever Attack it in the Combat Phase unless you had a unit with at least 2" Range for Melee Weapons who can Pile In outside of 3".

Now, this was a very niche interaction and there are numerous ways to solve it without house rules. We could have simply said the Terrain Feature is Garrisonable, then I can't land on it. You can also just avoid Terrain that is multi-level, small, and where you can balance a base/s on it to take up all the real-estate. Still, in a Tournament setting or similar I'd have expected this to work by my reading of the rules even if I wish it didn't. So, am I reading all this correctly? The only thing I see in the FAQ is that models can climb Terrain AND you can remember how far it has climbed, measuring "distances and visibility" to or from that model as if it were there. So that seems like a work around at least but I think it would have been better to just include a vertical range in addition to a horizontal one.

I think with the core rules and FAQ, you can just charge up the terrain and end up wherever you want. The FAQ was lazy, basically saying you can "house rule" common sense, but as per the rules you just end up where you end up.

So if you move to the bottom of the terrain or even 1 inch up, you can be there, then charge the remaining vertical disance.

This is my understanding, happy to hear from others.