Me and a friend have been back and forth debating how to properly move models that can fly and I would like to find out what most people think.
For this example, lets look at the baseline situation, I have a Blood Angels Jump-pack captain trapped inside a hive city siege moat, deep down where the sun barely reaches.
in this scenario our Smash captain is able to not only exit the moat into the wasteland outside, he can also climb back within the safety of the hive city base pavement, as illustrated below:
This gives units that can Fly unparalelled mobility within boards that feature extreme vertical features. As per the rulebook they also "move across models and
terrain as if they were not there."
Now nowhere on the book it specifically says that you take measurements horizontally, so I'm assuming you measure this verification – that the model's base (or hull) has not moved further that its Move Characteristic – by measuring diagonally from its original position. That would limit our Captain's movement within a given redius of his original position, as shown below making some of the proposed final positions invalid.
So where do we stand now?
For this example, lets look at the baseline situation, I have a Blood Angels Jump-pack captain trapped inside a hive city siege moat, deep down where the sun barely reaches.
Horizontal Measuring
First I would like to illustrate what I usually see being applied in games, and that I think is incorrect, which is the statement that "movement for units with fly are always executed on the horizontal axis, ignoring any and all vertical movement."in this scenario our Smash captain is able to not only exit the moat into the wasteland outside, he can also climb back within the safety of the hive city base pavement, as illustrated below:
Global Movement Restrictions
However, the rulebook contains extra constraints that I feel are being ignored at large by the playing community and that I haven't really seen touched by any FAQ's that I know of. Namely the following limitation, quoting the BRB Moving under the section 1. Movement Phase of the core rules:
Now nowhere on the book it specifically says that you take measurements horizontally, so I'm assuming you measure this verification – that the model's base (or hull) has not moved further that its Move Characteristic – by measuring diagonally from its original position. That would limit our Captain's movement within a given redius of his original position, as shown below making some of the proposed final positions invalid.
With this in mind, do we measure horizontally and ignore vertical distances for units with fly or do we simply move ignoring terrain and other models but still adhere to the movement restriction mentioned above?
Movement in the Movement phase vs the Charge Phase
It is worth mentioning that movement in the charge phase has never had such restriction. Models moved during charge move, pile-in or consolidate disregard their move characteristic altogether for these movements.
Case study: Pre-FAQ Auto-charges
An interesting case is presented by the famous "auto-charges" of setting up units beyond 9'' but at the top of ruins and then, using the aforementioned "horizontal movement" method, having an auto-charge against models in the floor. This was amended by the latest big FAQ but the fact it even was a reality suggests that I am wrong and that "horizontal measuring"is indeed the proper way of moving units with fly, but that contradicts the moving restriction mentioned above so I am at a paradox.
Look at this part from GW's Big FAQ:
In here is a precedent for a GW official statement where it clearly refers to units ignoring vertical distances.Look at this part from GW's Big FAQ:
So where do we stand now?
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