Melee Cohesion

[DarthKrikor]

Questions on how cohesion works in melee:

1.) If Darth Vader gets in base contact with a base of an enemy unit, who decides how the unit who is going to be attacked will be placed around Vader?

2.) If it is the enemy units owner, can they purposely place their units around Darth Vader in a way that they cannot fit all their units in base contact? Does the Unit Leader of the unit that Darth Vader is in melee with have to be placed in contact with Darth Vader regardless which mini Darth Vader comes into contact first to initiate melee? 

3.) If the enemy unit Darth Vader was in contact with were Ewok Skirmishers with 8 minis in the unit, seeing it would not be possible to have all 8 minis be in contact with Darth Vader, would they still be part of the melee attack if Vader rolled all 6 hits and Ewoks rolled all blank defense, would 6 minis be removed from the table?

4.) If there are enemy units that did survive the melee attack from Darth Vader and they are not in contact with Darth Vader's base are they still in melee and how would they be reorganized or positioned?

5.) If there are minis that cannot get into contact with Darth Vader's base after he initiates a melee attack, and if it is the owner of the unit that is going to be attacked who decides how they are placed in contact around Darth Vader, do they follow the normal rules of cohesion (speed 1 distance from the leader)? Could they place a unit around the corner of a building following the rules of cohesion to the point it would be out of line of sight with Darth Vader and would that mini still be defeated by the melee attack if Darth Vader throws enough hits to wipe out the whole unit? If that mini that is out of line of sight is the only mini that survived the melee attack how is that mini and Darth Vader reorganized or positioned, are they still engaged?

 

Thank You for all your help with these questions and scenarios

[Seth]

Hi there,

2 hours ago, DarthKrikor said:

1.) If Darth Vader gets in base contact with a base of an enemy unit, who decides how the unit who is going to be attacked will be placed around Vader?

Players will place their own miniatures; the player performing the move into melee (in your example, the one-miniature unit, Darth Vader) will resolve their own miniature placement before the opposing player repositions any of their miniatures.. Refer to the Moving Into Melee process for more detail.

2 hours ago, DarthKrikor said:

2.) If it is the enemy units owner, can they purposely place their units around Darth Vader in a way that they cannot fit all their units in base contact? Does the Unit Leader of the unit that Darth Vader is in melee with have to be placed in contact with Darth Vader regardless which mini Darth Vader comes into contact first to initiate melee? 

Players are not required to "maximize" the number of miniatures in base contact with opposing miniatures. As each miniature is placed, it must be placed into contact with an enemy miniature if able; if it is not able (such as due to the placement of other miniatures in its unit prior), it is placed in cohesion.

The opposing/"defending" unit leader is not obligated to be placed into base contact with Darth Vader in your example, if there is not room to do so when that miniature is repositioned.

2 hours ago, DarthKrikor said:

3.) If the enemy unit Darth Vader was in contact with were Ewok Skirmishers with 8 minis in the unit, seeing it would not be possible to have all 8 minis be in contact with Darth Vader, would they still be part of the melee attack if Vader rolled all 6 hits and Ewoks rolled all blank defense, would 6 minis be removed from the table?

Yes. The entire unit is in melee with Darth Vader. The number of wounds the unit can suffer is not affected by the number of miniatures in base contact with opposing miniatures.

2 hours ago, DarthKrikor said:

4.) If there are enemy units that did survive the melee attack from Darth Vader and they are not in contact with Darth Vader's base are they still in melee and how would they be reorganized or positioned?

This is covered in the Suffering Wounds and Defeating Miniatures section of the Star Wars: Legion Core Rulebook; specifically, in the Removing Miniature in Melee box. Starting with the attacking player, each player must place any friendly miniatures that are no longer in base contact with miniatures in the enemy unit into base contact with the enemy unit. Refer to the Removing Miniatures in Melee rules for more detail.

2 hours ago, DarthKrikor said:

5) If there are minis that cannot get into contact with Darth Vader's base after he initiates a melee attack, and if it is the owner of the unit that is going to be attacked who decides how they are placed in contact around Darth Vader, do they follow the normal rules of cohesion (speed 1 distance from the leader)?

Yes, they are placed using the normal rules for cohesion.

2 hours ago, DarthKrikor said:

Could they place a unit around the corner of a building following the rules of cohesion to the point it would be out of line of sight with Darth Vader and would that mini still be defeated by the melee attack if Darth Vader throws enough hits to wipe out the whole unit?

Yes, they can be placed out of line of sight of the attacking unit. 

However, it is not the intent that units in melee can limit the amount of wounds suffered by placing miniatures in cohesion out of LOS of the attacking unit. When a unit suffers wounds from a ranged attack, if the attacker has LOS to only some of the miniatures in the defending unit, the defending unit cannot suffer wounds greater than the total wound threshold of miniatures that are in LOS.

A change will be made in the next rulebook update to make this clear.

2 hours ago, DarthKrikor said:

If that mini that is out of line of sight is the only mini that survived the melee attack how is that mini and Darth Vader reorganized or positioned, are they still engaged?

The attacking unit (Darth Vader) will be placed back into base contact with an enemy miniature, as given in the Removing Miniatures in Melee process.

Hope this helps,
Seth