I noted that "self-planetfall" is included in the new army compendium, and I feel it ought to be heavily modified (or preferably removed) as it is essentially broken as a rule.

Planetfall is used to place formations on the table. to achieve this, a separate formation (Spacecraft) activates and the formations that have been deployed may subsequently activate normally; thus each formation only activates once during any given turn.

However "Self planetfall" permits the designated formation to activate twice, once to land, and a second time to do something on the table. It is this double activation that breaks the rule, quite apart from providing the capacity for numerous formations with this capacity to be deployed in this fashion throughout the game.

• Is "self-planetfall" absolutely necessary?
  Personally I remain to be convinced. For most cases if not all, allowing the relevant armies to buy a spacecraft will provide the desired effect.
• If the ability to make several such drops in a game is deemed 'vital', can we provide an alternative? EG.
  
  Quote:
  Overflight
  This works in exactly the same way as planetfall. Before the game, Landing zones are plotted by the player, and the turn that particular formations will use these landing Zones is declared. During the specified turn, The designated transport may activate to fly across the battlefield at high altitude, dropping formations it is carrying with "planetfall" ability. The planetfall rules are then followed to deploy the units within each formation near the designated landing Zone.
  

  Note
  
  1. The formations must start the game contained within the transport.
  2. The designated transport must use "overflight" as its first activation. Once the troops have been deployed, the transport may activate normally in the following turn.

I've played with self planetfall ten or more times with the Dark Eldar. The results were gray. I won a little less than half the games and I still don't know if it was a huge boon to the army or not.

IMO it is one of those things that can be appropriately priced.

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um
the wording to me reads that the unit that self planetfalls "The formation’s action proceeds as normal in all respects from that point." which means they activate immediately upon dropping. no 2 activations, no double rolls to activate, just the drop and activation.
atleast, thats how i played it with the harakoni

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Well that is not really how it works, there is no mechanism that would allow the formation to be deployed on the table and then immediately do something, and it would be unfair to one or the other player if it did exist.

For self-planetfall, off-table formations cannot use any of the normal activations because they just do not apply; they have to use the "self-planetfall" activation. However RAW, the planetfalling process is only used to position the formation on the table; once this is completed the activation ends. If the player has six such formations, this process would allow 12 activations and the army would easily out-activate the opposition.

The alternative (as implied above) is for the player to declare an action, and then try to carry it out once the formation has landed and been 'scattered' by the planetfalling process. But the random scattering could easily render the declared action impossible, or a different action more desirable.

And please note I am not concerned with the cost of the ability, but rather the mechanics. I contend that Self-Planetfall should be removed altogether becasue it is broken as a rule; if necessary the Dark Eldar (and others) can just use Spaceships and Planetfall, and cost their formations accordingly. The alternative proposal is merely a variant on the single spacehip activation that permits multiple drops while adhering to the entire planetfall mechanism.

no, the alternative interpretation would be that the only thing they can do is self planetfall that turn. they get their free 5cm movement to attempt to regain coherency, and then thats it.

absolutely nothing in the wording of the rules says or implies in any way that they get a second activation on the turn they arrive. certainy nothing to contradict the 'models only activate once' thing
either, they activate, planetfall, and perform an action
or they activate, planetfall, and dont.
there is no provision whatsoever for activate, planetfall, activate again, perform an action.

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From 4.4 planetfall, 7th para

While this explains about the Spacecraft for 'normal' planetfall, the fact that self-planetfall has no spacecraft would not prohibit the second move RAW.

I do understand your interpretation and it is certainly an alternative, though it is overly restrictive on the player and goes against the spirit of the rules. No other mechanic merely places the formations on the table; whether it arrives by teleport, flying on, portal etc, the formation gets the chance of doing something at some point during the turn. And I cannot imagine that others use this interpretation.

If they did, then surely this is actually another reason to scrap it altogether in favour of either the original rule (using a spacecraft) or some better mechanic.

(PS, I do not understand your reference to the 'free 5cm movement' unless you are referring to disembarking).

I really don't see any complication with Self-Planetfall.

It seems very clear what the intent of Self-Planetfall is.
It is a completely seperate rule from Planetfall and the 2 should not be looked at together.

One roll to activate (identifying the action the formation will take at this point).
Place the Self-Planetfalling formation on the table as plotted at the beginning of the game (determining scatter and deploying transported units if desired).
Immediately carry on with the activation as previously identified.

It all seems pretty straight forward to me.

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thanks onyx

this is my interpretation of the correct way to play this, as intended, in a little more detail;

you declare your intent to activate a formation using self planetfall.
you declare an action you intend to perform once they arrive.
you roll to activate the formation. if they succeed, move on, if not, they go back into reserve
they planetfall, you reveal where they where going to land, and scatter as normal
then they perform the activation as intended
then your activation is over.

have you actually read the wording in the compendium? it seems pretty clear to me

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I agree that Self-Planetfall is fairly clear and doesn't allow two activations, but I also agree that it's not needed as a rule, given how few units actually use it (is it just the one?)

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well its used in atleast two lists i can think of off the top of my head (dark eldar and harakoni) and several units and it is a good rule. honestly, i think that a number of other units currently with teleport to represent ambushes should possibly have it instead (lictors, for instance)

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This is the correct interpretation. Just like a normal "onboard" formation, you declare an action and then roll to activate, proceeding with that action immediately upon arrival... the single Action Roll governs the success of both the landing and subsequent action.

It's also used for the Manta in the Tau list.
Mantas are the perfect use of Self-Planetfall as they are spacecraft in their own right (all be it short range).

I see a use for the rule and I don't see an issue with it.

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Units in the compendium use it so it stays.

I'm pretty sure it was removed from the Manta quite a while ago.

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It's on the drop roks in the gargant bigmob list. Works well, too.

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