This one is pretty common (playing it fast and loose with the language):

Q: A WE aircraft lands and disembarks a formation, what can I shoot at?
A: The disembarking formation, and because they're considered the same formation until after they finish their action you can also choose to shoot the aircraft (as you can specifically target WEs).

What about the above with (Self) Planetfall though? Could you shoot at the WE as well?

What about Tunneler and the free disembark move when the unit surfaces? Can you shoot at the WE? Does it count as the overwatching formations action for the turn (it's the strategy phase at this point, not the action phase).

What about all three situations above if the transporting unit is not a WE?

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Dave

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Squats 2019-10-17

under 4.4 Planetfall of the EA rules it says this:

Any units being transported are allowed to disembark immediately on landing, or stay on board and disembark later. Landing or disembarking counts as movement for the purposes of triggering enemy overwatch fire.

Emphasis mine. With planetfall I don't see why you wouldn't be allowed to trigger OW and choose to shoot at the transport if it is a WE. If it's not a WE shouldn't standard targeting rules apply?

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-Vaaish

The basic 'rule of thumb' is that you can only shoot at air transports or planetfalling units *after* they have disembarked. (This stops the abuse of weapons like Deathstrikes being put on OW to kill the transport and contents before disembarkation can take place.)

As Vaaish says, once on the ground all units can be targeted including the transport, and being a WE means that it can be picked out by appropriate weapons if so desired.

I think the point Dave is emphasising is, "is the transport considered part of the same formation as its contents?". For landing aircraft, the rules state explicitly that they count as a single formation until after they shoot/assault. For the other situations he mentions, the rules make no such statement. For planetfall, the rulebook update in 2008 removed the ability to overwatch upon landing. That section now reads:
"Landing does not count as movement for the purposes of triggering enemy overwatch fire. Disembarking triggers overwatch fire as normal."

My answer: I think you could go either way on it, but my first reaction is to treat them as the same formation in all occasions for overwatch. The reasons:

1. It keeps it the same as aircraft landing

2. Overwatch happens partway through the enemy's action - after a move, not after an action. Dismounting counts as a move. Thus even when a formation marches, I would say that the sequence is move, move move, overwatch, end action. And for marching war engines transporting troops, it would be move, move, move, disembark, overwatch, end action. This "interrupting" mechanic for me justifies it being the very next thing to be resolved after the move (disembark) is completed, and thus before the formations separate. I recognise that when exiting a planetfalling craft, the whole point is to separate the two formations and it is a free move rather than a part of the planetfalling transport's action, but the same principle seems sensible to apply. Just my 2p.

As for tunneller, I can't really say. Seems a reason to not have allowed that disembark for tunnelling (would you allow it for teleport?). But IMO if you are going to allow them to fire their overwatch at all then it would be in the same category of above, and they should lose their action for the rest of that turn.

Non-WE can only transport units from their own formation, so unless I'm missing something, yes you can always shoot at them because they are always part of the same formation (though of course you can't single them out like WE).

(Edited to clarify 2008 update)

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Agreed Kyrt, in an assault the transport and contents are a single formation, otherwise they are two (or more) separate formations after the disembarkation has taken place.

Being a bit pedantic, ground transports can be shot before or after they disembark troops, and in the case of multiple moves they can be shot at the end of any move, not just after the last one.

As for tunnellers, I thought they followed the same basic mechanic as planetfallers so can only be shot at after disembarkation, though I agree that it is not clearly stated . . . . (cue FAQ )

Yeah I was only talking about overwatching after disembarking as that is what the question is about Not meant to be an exhaustive list of the occasions when you can overwatch

For tunnelling, I think he's assuming that it would indeed be the same as planetfall, i.e. because you can disembark you can theoretically overwatch - the problem is a) does that mean you can treat the transports and the contents as a single formation, and b) it happens in the strategy phase, so do they still lose their action? Those were the points I was trying to address, rather than a general "when can I overwatch" question.

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Well, if the transport is Planetfalling (or tunnelling) and the troops disembark, they are two separate formations and have to be shot at separately by OW fire. They are only a 'single' formation during an assault, which I believe can be attempted by Self-planetfall (though personally I dislike this particular addition).