8th Ed. Flank charge and depleted unit questions

[Battlehamster]

Hello again two more interesting things came up in a game I had the other day.


Situation 1:
I had a depleted unit of Saurii (6 models left in a single line) with a Scar Veteran BSB on the right most of the line. My opponent was facing my right flank with a unit of spearelves and would definitely have achieved the flank charge. Picture below:


S S S S S S scarvet Elves
Elves
Elves

If they charge, they contact my right flank. My contention would be that all of the attacks of the elves would have to be directed toward my scarveteran since that is the only thing he is in base contact with. He contended that he could choose to attack my regular saurus instead as an attack against the unit. Which one of us is right?

We didn't actually resolve this since the battle was over anyway but figured it might be an interesting thing to know for next time.

Situation 2:
I had a unit of Cold One Cav and a mounted Oldblood fighting a unit of DE blackguard and a chariot. Position thus:

EEEEEE Chariot
Old ColdO ColdO

His master character attacked first (highest init of 7 vs 6 of his chariot and blackguard) and hit my remaining 2 cold one cav and killed them both. Now this resulted in his chariot not being in base contact with anything. My contention was that his chariot thus lost his attacks and only 2-3 columns of his elves could attack since they were the only ones in base contact with my oldblood. Which is correct? Would I slide my solo oldblood over in mid combat to maintain maximum contact with both units or remain in place?

Thanks for any insight.

 

[BEEGfrog]

Flanking elves can only attack scar vet. If SV was in challenge with original unit then flanking elves would get no attacks at all.

You have to be in base to base (corner to corner is fine) contact to direct attacks on a model, supporting attackers determine who counts as in base to base contact using the model in the front rank directly in front of them (i.e. the front figure of their file, krox in skrox units can choose which skink counts as their file leader of the two eligible).

Not totally sure on this one without massive tome to hand, it is either:

A) As unit is wiped out in initiative step 7 it ceases to exist and the old blood becomes a different separate unit not in contact with the chariot, it now has no-one to attack and so its remaining attacks are lost.

B) The scarvet slides over to be in contact corner to corner with the chariot as it was still part of the unit as the casualties are being removed, the chariot gets its remaining attacks. This would definately happen if the chariot was attacking the flank of the cold ones.

In either case the black guard only gets to attack with the models it has in base to base contact at the initiative where the black guard makes its attacks.

The interesting thing is that under option A casualties and any CR from the chariot charging WOULD count for combat resolution but the chariot would not count its normal rear attack bonus as it is not in contact at CR calculation.

 

[HoverBoy]

B) The scarvet slides over to be in contact corner to corner with the chariot as it was still part of the unit as the casualties are being removed, the chariot gets its remaining attacks. This would definately happen if the chariot was attacking the flank of the cold ones.

Nothing allows him to slide in the middle of combat, in fact that move would likely take at least one BG out of contact and is thus forbidden even in a reform.

 

[cyanhawk]

In scenario 1 all the flankers would have to attack the scar vet on the end.

In scenario 2 if he wipes out the cavalry before the chariots get to attack them, the chariots are no longer in base contact with anything and their attacks would be lost.

 

[BEEGfrog]

B) The scarvet slides over to be in contact corner to corner with the chariot as it was still part of the unit as the casualties are being removed, the chariot gets its remaining attacks. This would definately happen if the chariot was attacking the flank of the cold ones.

Nothing allows him to slide in the middle of combat, in fact that move would likely take at least one BG out of contact and is thus forbidden even in a reform.

The point I was unsure about was whether the character counted as still being part of the unit at the instant they last non-character unit died. Option B assumed he was still part of unit and would therefore have to maintain contact with both attacking units if possible.

I actually think option A is correct and unit ceases to exist as last model dies so character no longer counts as same unit so has no requirement to stay in contact.