Some abilities are used during deployment, or when setting a unit up – either on the battlefield or into Reserves. These are known as Deployment abilities, and some widespread examples of these are presented below.
During the Declare Battle Formations step, if every model in a unit has this ability, you can set it up in Reserves instead of setting it up on the battlefield. If you do, in the Reinforcements step of one of your Movement phases you can set up this unit anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models.
If a unit with the Deep Strike ability arrives from Strategic Reserves, the controlling player can choose for that unit to be set up either using the rules for Strategic Reserves or using the Deep Strike ability.
Unit can be set up in Reserves instead of on the battlefield.
Unit can be set up in your Reinforcements step, more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models.
Some units have ‘Scouts x"’ listed in their abilities. If every model in a unit has this ability, then at the start of the first battle round, before the first turn begins, it can make a Normal move of up to x", with the exception that, while making that move, the distance moved by each model in that unit can be greater than that model’s Move characteristic, as long as it is not greater than x".
DEDICATED TRANSPORT models can make use of any Scouts x" ability listed in their abilities, or a Scouts x" ability that a unit that starts the battle embarked within that DEDICATED TRANSPORT model has (provided only models with this ability are embarked within that DEDICATED TRANSPORT model), regardless of how that embarked unit gained this ability(e.g. listed in their abilities, conferred by an Enhancement or by an attached CHARACTER, etc.).
A unit that moves using this ability must end that move more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models. If both players have units that can do this, the player who is taking the first turn moves their units first.
Example: A unit has the Scouts 6" ability. At the start of the first battle round, the controlling player can make a Normal move with that unit of up to 6".
Scouts x": Unit can make a Normal move of up to x" before the first turn begins.
If embarked in a DEDICATED TRANSPORT, that DEDICATED TRANSPORT can make this move instead.
Must end this move more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models.
During deployment, if every model in a unit has this ability, then when you set it up, it can be set up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" horizontally away from the enemy deployment zone and all enemy models.
Some CHARACTER units have ‘Leader’ listed on their datasheets. Such CHARACTER units are known as Leaders, and the units they can lead – known as their Bodyguard units – are listed on their datasheet.
During the Declare Battle Formations step, for each Leader in your army, if your army also includes one or more of that Leader’s Bodyguard units, you can select one of those Bodyguard units. That Leader will then attach to that Bodyguard unit for the duration of the battle and is said to be leading that unit. Each Bodyguard unit can only have one Leader attached to it.
While a Bodyguard unit contains a Leader, it is known as an Attached unit and, with the exception of rules that are triggered when units are destroyed, it is treated as a single unit for all rules purposes. Each time an attack targets an Attached unit, until the attacking unit has resolved all of its attacks, you must use the Toughness characteristic of the Bodyguard models in that unit, even if a Leader in that unit has a different Toughness characteristic. Each time an attack successfully wounds an Attached unit, that attack cannot be allocated to a CHARACTER model in that unit, even if that CHARACTER model has lost one or more wounds or has already had attacks allocated to it this phase. As soon as the last Bodyguard model in an Attached unit has been destroyed, any attacks made against that unit that have yet to be allocated can then be allocated to CHARACTER models in that unit.
Each time the last model in a Bodyguard unit is destroyed, each CHARACTER unit that is part of that Attached unit becomes a separate unit, with its original Starting Strength. If this happens as the result of an attack, they become separate units after the attacking unit has resolved all of its attacks.
Each time the last model in a CHARACTER unit that is attached to a Bodyguard unit is destroyed and there is not another CHARACTER unit attached, that Attached unit’s Bodyguard unit becomes a separate unit, with its original Starting Strength. If this happens as the result of an attack, they become separate units after the attacking unit has resolved all of its attacks.
Each time a unit that is part of an Attached unit is destroyed, it does not have the keywords of any other units that make up that Attached unit (unless it has those keywords on its own datasheet) for the purposes of any rules that would be triggered when that unit is destroyed.
Attacks cannot be allocated to CHARACTER models in Attached units.
Before the battle, CHARACTER units with the Leader ability can be attached to one of their Bodyguard units to form an Attached unit.
Attached units can only contain one Leader.