A question about the Relic...

[LutherMax]

Can you seize the Relic when locked in close combat?

 

The specific scenario in question: my opponent wins a close combat and moves into base contact with the Relic via his consolidation move at the end of the assault phase. On my turn I charge that unit and they are locked in combat during his next turn.

 

The BRB says on seizing the Relic that you must move into base contact with the Relic during the Movement phase. He was in base contact with it during his subsequent movement phase but was locked in combat. This was the last turn of the game. Can he claim the Relic?

[Mr. Shine]

Strictly speaking the relic can only be picked up by actually moving into base contact with it during the movement phase, meaning strictly that even if a model is in base contact having consolidated in a prior assault phase they must still move into base contact during the movement phase, i.e. actually move.

 

If I'm reading your post correctly it seems your opponent won a close combat in their assault phase and consolidated into base contact with the relic at the end of their assault phase, so effectively you're asking if a model can claim the relic by a) being simply in base contact with the relic during the movement phase and if so, b ) they can do so during an enemy movement phase.

 

It certainly feels like the sort of thing that should not be allowed to be done in an enemy movement phase if as in this example you had consolidated into base contact, though strict RAW suggests it could be in any movement phase. That said, if we're applying strict RAW to allow that, I think we must apply strict RAW to enforce an actual move into base contact needing to occur in that movement phase, rather than simply being in base contact without moving into it during the phase.

[LutherMax]

The strict RAW is that you must move into contact during the movement phase, which never happened. He was in contact with it during, and at the end of his own movement phase (because of the prior consolidation move) but was locked in combat at that time - and therefore was unable to 'move'.

 

My opinion is that the Relic cannot be claimed in this way.

 

If he had won the second combat in my turn and thus been free to move in his own movement phase I think he could have claimed it if he was still in contact at the end of that phase, even if he didn't actually 'move' - but I think being locked in combat during his movement phase prevents him from claiming it.

[Mr. Shine]

There's nothing preventing a model that is locked in combat from picking up the relic just because they're locked in combat so I think if you're allowing a model to pick up a relic simply for already being in base contact then you must allow it even if they are locked in combat, though I also think simply already being in base contact is not sufficient as per RAW.