Hi all! Quick question on skimmers in combat. First, here are the basic rules:

Per the rulebook:
Skimmers may always choose to use their firefight value
in an assault, even if there are enemy units in base contact
with the skimmer. If they do this then the enemy must use
their firefight value also. This represents the skimmer
lifting off the ground out of reach of enemy ground units.

Now there is an FAQ on page 26 of Compendium that states:
Q: If a Skimmer uses its ability to force units in base-to-base contact with it to use
their FF ability are the units considered to be no longer in base-to-base contact?
A: No. The ability does not change the status of the units. So even if the Skimmer uses
its FF value in the assault the Skimmer and any units that were in base-to-base with it
are still considered to be in base-to-base.

Here is the situation: SM Termies assault a unit of Eldar Falcons with troops embarked on the Falcons.
Now, we read the above rules as:
1) Any Termies that touch the Falcons still only use their FF rating (and also loose their additional CC MW attack)
2) If one Termie touches a falcon, the Falcon cant move but the troop inside could disembark in the Counter charge subphase
3) If 2 Termies touch a falcon, the falcon cannot move AND the troop is stuck inside

Our biggest confusion comes from the Question thats been added to page 26 about "being in contact". I wanted to make sure we were not cheating our Termies out of an extra attack.

Thanks!
Curtis

You played it right. In my view, the FAQ is there to reinforce the fact that skimmers choosing opponent to FF still counts as being in base-to-base contact. This affects counter-charges, ZOC, disembarkment etc as normal.

It is unfortunate that this particular Q&A uses a double negation; the answer being "no" to "not" count as being in base-to-base.

/Fredmans

Agreed; the Falcon can be visualised as being just above head height so out of reach of the Terminator's power fists etc and forcing the Termie to use FF rather than CC. For all other purposes the Falcon is considered to be on the ground and in B-B with the Terminator.

As a side note, a skimmer transport may not disembark troops while 'popped up', it has to be on the ground for troops inside it to disembark. So, if the Falcons had been left popped up on OW and not fired at the Termies as they charged (which is very unlikely), then the troops inside would not be able to disembark.

Thanks for the quick replies!