Sure they're invulnerable to attack, but they're also incapable of doing anything to the enemy.

I've found portals tend to be pretty thin on the ground by the time Turn 3 rolls around, so you are taking a risk... as well as the risk of the enemy having a turn to move to objectives or place a lot of formation on overwatch.

I fail to see how it's any more "immensely irritating, and unsatisfying" than the way it's "usually" been played... as portal-hopping and hiding is what Necrons tend to do already!  *laugh*

There's still a 1/3 chance said formation is not going to rally off-board.

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From an Eldar perspective, where a formation fails to activate I think it is generally agreed that it may opt to stay off-table and enter on the following turn. Also, the gate has not been used, so later in the turn another off-table formation may attempt to enter using the gate.

The penalty to the Eldar is the lack of the on-table presence of the formation as discussed above. So it does not protect / contest objectives, and potentially alters the BTS formation for the purposes of evaluating that objective etc.

However to the Necron debate in general, this is almost akin to the 3rd turn drop army debate; the advantages of keeping the army relatively intact off-table are off-set by the terrain advantages given to the enemy - and any on-table forces are potentially at a distinct disadvantage. So I would agree with Mosc and Chroma that allowing Necrons to rebuild off-table is probably more balanced than it appears at first.

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Sir Hemry Newbolt

My personal opinion:

Units off-board can only take an action which moves them on the board. If they fail this action they take a Blastmarker and stay off-board. Nothing else.
The only way for them to remove Blastmarkers would be the Rally roll at the end of the turn.

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Why the limitation?  Maybe you don't *want* to bring them on board during a certain time.

Would that mean an Eldar player would *have* to bring all available formations through all available Wraithgates on Turn 1?  According to the rules, you can't "pass" on a formation, unless they don't have an activation (e.g. Teleporters in reserve), so a "only take an action which moves them on the board" rule would force them out.  What if they move 0cm with a Marshal, are they on the board, can they regroup?

Personally, I've got no problem with "off-board" activations and rallies, for any army.  Honestly, how often is this going to happen that it's going to make for an "immensely irritating, and unsatisfying" game experience?  For the Necrons in particular, I think it's fine, as I can't see it being used that much and it's part of the "horror" of facing Necrons.

I'd love to see some testing done with this, but I can't foresee too much difficulty with it.

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Again, as this affects multiple armies Chroma, Hena and Neal need to chat and make a call on it.

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Epic: Hive Development Thread

Well, currently it only affects Eldar and Necrons, I believe, with Necrons being the only army that can go back *into* a Portal; so the Necron Champion's input is important as well.

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You misunderstood me. You have to activate it to bring the formation on the board or you don't activate it (= you don't need to roll). Treat it so as if the formation is non-existand if you don't want to bring them on the board.

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And Dark Eldar, so mosc should have a say too.

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Epic: Hive Development Thread

Nope. Because Teleporters can't burn activations. That's pretty much the crux of this discussion. You can't choose to activate a Terminator formation without it being on the board. The issue at large, is, can I have a formation activate, and if it fails, have it remain untouchable.

My opinion for simplicities sake is, if you make the roll, deal with it. You're not obligated to activate off-board. For the singular issue of 'into scout ZoC', I'd say rule that they are starting at the portal (rather than starting off board), and must move accordingly (out of ZoC). If they can't, they suffer all the consequences as per normal.

Morgan Vening

It seems pretty clear cut from this quote from Swordwind.  I'm very much against a move of 0cm (The no of times i've wished i could do this and sustain out of a webway portal but alas) or rallying off board - it sets a dangerous precedent.

I've always seen this issue as quite clear cut TBH and have always treated it that you either pass on the activation or make the roll.  If you roll for it and fail then you enter play using the move part of the hold action and suck up the blast marker.  Sh*t happens as it were.

Since Eldar can't re-enter the webway though, it simplifies things immensly.

Which is why I suggested that players with any formations off board, not in transport aircraft, should declare they will use them during a turn at the same time as selecting teleporters.

That way everyone knows what formations are 'in play' for any given turn. Formations not selected do not get an activation so that removes the potential stall effect.

Beyond that I do think this is mostly a problem for the Necrons currently as no other list allows two way travel via portals.

And what are the consequences? This situation isn't covered in the rules. It isn't stated anywhere what happens to an (unbroken) unit which can't move out of an enemy unit's ZoC.

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