Ginger wrote:
I think this goes slightly against earlier rulings by Neal on DC size back in the mists of time, while it also introduces some potential quirkiness. Consider an Ork formation containing a couple of Battlefortresses that picks up some other formation and transports them as well - what is the size of the Battlefortress? It will increase when carrying units from its own formation, but apparently not when carrying other troops . . . (The same is true for Gorgons, Haridans etc).
As far as I am aware, it was ruled that any troops inside a transport on-table effectively increased the size of the transport for the purposes of breaking by BMs until they disembarked. This allows the transport to do its job of delivering troops to the battlefield.
However Suppression is a different matter and can be argued either way, with aesoteric points about whether troops inside are actually ‘further away’.
Battlefortress', Gunfortress' and Orkisaurus have a rule which only allow them to carry troops from their own formation so cannot pick up troops from other formations.
Neal Hunt actually stated this,
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19601&hilit=transportQuote:
Right now WE transports cannot be both formation transport and WE transports. It's one or the other - dedicated or independent. You have to choose whether it is going to operate under 1.7.5 or 3.1.3. It can never do both, so there is no need to determine which one overrides the other.
Any list that allows both attached and independent WE transports should have the same clarification on it as the Ork list with respect to Gunfortresses and Battlefortresses.
And no, that's not in the rules. It's a design determination that was made long ago because of the confusion and exploits allowed by attached transport carrying around a separate formation. Ork players were using fortresses to combine and split formations, leading to both lots of rule questions and a silly amount of unintended tactical flexibility.
Quote:
2. Is there any reason to have a War Engine as part of a formation and not remain Independant?
Yes. Attached WE transports gain all the advantages of 1.7.5 - move over units to board, embark/dismebark on subsequent moves, etc.. Obviously, it loses the independence of being its own formation and it cannot carry units from other formations, so it's a tradeoff.
WEs attached to a formation should follow 1.7.5 where they are not allowed to transport units from other formations.
Epic UK has made a decision on Independent WEs so as not to count embarked troops (from another formation) as part of the formation size when it is not taking an action .