This came up the other night. Different ships and circumstances, but same situation:

Awing moves first and bumps perpendicular into the TIE FIghter

TIE Fighter then moves straight and bumps into Bomber

Question is, are the Awing and the TIE Fighter considered overlapping? Could the Awing shoot the TIE Fighter at range 1?

The A-Wing did overlap the TIE so it lost its Perform Action step. The TIE then did move away so it broke the touching conditions although it did overlap the bomber causing it to lose its Perform Action step and preventing it and the bomber from attacking each other.

It would fall under this out of the FAQ no?

No the above answers are wrong.

First the A wing overlaps the TIE,loses it's action and is now touching the TIE.

The TIE then moves and overlaps the Bomber, loses it's action and is now touching the Bomber.

But it did not break contact with the A wing so they remain touching.

From RRG

If two ships are touching, they remain touching until one of the ships moves (executes a maneuver, decloaks, or performs an action) in a way that results in their bases no longer being in physical contact.

No the above answers are wrong.

First the A wing overlaps the TIE,loses it's action and is now touching the TIE.

The TIE then moves and overlaps the Bomber, loses it's action and is now touching the Bomber.

But it did not break contact with the A wing so they remain touching.

From RRG

If two ships are touching, they remain touching until one of the ships moves (executes a maneuver, decloaks, or performs an action) in a way that results in their bases no longer being in physical contact.

I concur. You have to move out of contact, or you're still touching.

So if the TIE Fighter is touching the A-Wing then it needs to move back until it is as the last place it could be which is its starting point.

If the A-Wing and TIE Fighter are still touching then the TIE Fighter will need to be blocked all the way back to its starting position otherwise it HAS executed a maneuver that broke the touching state.

So if the TIE Fighter is touching the A-Wing then it needs to move back until it is as the last place it could be which is its starting point.

If the A-Wing and TIE Fighter are still touching then the TIE Fighter will need to be blocked all the way back to its starting position otherwise it HAS executed a maneuver that broke the touching state.

No. The TIE Fighter would move forward as shown in the pictures.

A ship can move without moving away. The touching state is broken if one of the ships moves away.

Picking up the ship to move it does not count as breaking contact. Only the final position counts. So if you are touching in your final position, you did not break contact.

Might I add that the odds of the edges of two ships being perfectly parallel to each other are infinitely small? Have fun discussing that.

Might I add that the odds of the edges of two ships being perfectly parallel to each other are infinitely small? Have fun discussing that.

It's not that small as to be non-existant (which is infinitely small) but is certainly uncommon especially in real world games as opposed to perfectly positioning with Vassal.

I really get a kick out of how this is being brought up now when the rule relating to touching ships making the same straight maneuver can attack each other and perform actions has been around for quite some time.

Picking up the ship to move it does not count as breaking contact. Only the final position counts. So if you are touching in your final position, you did not break contact.

Only if you overlap. If I can slide my ship back slong a template and ships are physically in contact but not overlapping then they are not considered "touching."

But the ships are already touching, and they remain touching because the ship does not move away. Remember the TIE never overlapped the A wing but they are touching.

Picking up the ship to move it does not count as breaking contact. Only the final position counts. So if you are touching in your final position, you did not break contact.

Only if you overlap. If I can slide my ship back slong a template and ships are physically in contact but not overlapping then they are not considered "touching."

They were considered to be touching as soon as the A-wing resolved the overlap on the TIE, and the TIE's movement failed to break physical contact, so they are still considered touching. Touching exists from an overlap but applies to both ships, not just the one that overlapped. The rulebook and the FAQ* both say you must no longer be in physical contact in order to be considered no longer touching.

* and it's not the Overlapping In-line Ships entry, because these ships aren't in-line so that doesn't apply, just the basic rules do.

The first thing you do (per the rules) for a maneuver is pick up the ship and move it to the other end of the template. If you overlap on the other end, you move backward along the template until you no longer overlap.

My contention is that picking up the ship occurs first, breaking physical contact and then the overlap with the other Tie happens next. Setting your ship down and moving it backwards results in no overlap with the Awing.

Picking up the ship to move it does not count as breaking contact. Only the final position counts. So if you are touching in your final position, you did not break contact.

So why does picking up the ship not count? Nothing I see in the rules or FAQ say this.

Because picking up the ship never counts, for anything? The rule says your ship needs to move away to break the touching state. There's no checking the ship's position during the part of the maneuver where weird extradimensional giants grab the metaphorical representations of the space ships and pull them outside of the universe only to reinsert them later at a different point.

Put another way: the rules say a ship that leaves the play area has fled the battle and is destroyed, but if I am executing a maneuver near the edge of the mat and after I pick up my ship I hold it over the floor, or set it down on a totally different mat so I can have my hands free to move something, it doesn't matter.

Edit: autocorrect

The RRG clearly states that the result of excusing the maneuver must leave the ships not touching. It does not say touching ends as soon as the bases are out of contact.

Put another way: the rules say a ship that leaves the play area has fled the battle and is destroyed, but if I am executing a maneuver near the edge of the mat and after I pick up my ship I hold it over the floor, or set it down on a totally different mat so I can have my hands free to move something, it doesn't matter.

What?!? But that's how I've won my last 12 games!! My opponents keep moving their ships over the edge of the map, so I tell them the ship has fled the battlefield and is destroyed... They always try and call over a TO, but that's me so...

In all seriousness, USCGrad90... You've misinterpreted the rules. Everyone else is telling you how the game actually works.

Rules Reference:

If two ships are touching, they remain touching until one of the ships moves (executes a maneuver, decloaks, or performs an action) in a way that results in their bases no longer being in physical contact.

FAQ:

Ships that are touching remain touching until either ship moves away (so that the bases are no longer physically adjacent).

No the above answers are wrong.

First the A wing overlaps the TIE,loses it's action and is now touching the TIE.

The TIE then moves and overlaps the Bomber, loses it's action and is now touching the Bomber.

But it did not break contact with the A wing so they remain touching.

From RRG

If two ships are touching, they remain touching until one of the ships moves (executes a maneuver, decloaks, or performs an action) in a way that results in their bases no longer being in physical contact.

Yeah, this sounds correct, and is what we did. We just werent 100% sure, asked a few other people around and they all agreed it should be touching but werent sure as well since the TIE performed its maneuver without overlapping the Awing.