In a friendly game last night, my opponent cornered a unit of skinks in combat. They were totally going to die, so I wanted them out of there. There were a couple of gaps they could run out but I couldn’t get all of the models more than 3” from the enemy unit. My opponent suggested splitting the skink unit as each half could get more than 3” away. Of course I had to choose one of the split halves to die prior to battle shock, but I was able to get them put to run amok elsewhere. Curious if anyone else has tried this tactic or has any thoughts about it.
LOSAT is a thing, and isn't restricted by them being in combat, unless this was your option during the combat phase and you were using "Wary fighter"?
I don't have access to the rules right now, but as far as I know, a move is illegal if you can't keep coherence. You can split it with battleshock or casualities, but I'm not sure you're allowed to just "move it apart"? I'm not sure, though..
Here, from the description of the move phase from the core rules: "Remember that a unit must finish any type of move as a single group, with all models within 1" horizontally, and 6" vertically, of at least one other model from their unit. If this is impossible, then the move cannot be made."
My thought is that its an illegal move. You cant voluntarily move out of coherence, as others have stated.