Vader's Might - Pushing units off the board?

By leewasi, in Rules

Last night we played our second game of Legion, a 500pt skirmish game on a 3'x3' map. We had the situation where operative Vader played Vader's Might and we were not sure how to interpret the wording in regards to pushing units off the battlefield and also regarding vehicle facing after the placement.

The situation was this: Vader was in a melee with Sabine Wren and was also within range 1 of an AT-RT. The AT-RT was itself was just barely within range 1 of the board edge, such that if you placed it at range 1 of its current location then part of its base would be off the board.
Now here's where it gets confusing:
Vader Might says "...place that unit on the battlefield with range 1 and height 1 of its current position" so the question is: Does placing the unit with part of its base off the battlefield still count as placing it on the battlefield?


Furthermore, the Defeated section of the RR (page 33) says that "If a unit performs a move that causes any part of its unit leader's base to be outside of the battlefield, including while moving along a movement tool, that unit is defeated."
Vader's Might is not a move, it is a placement, so it does not defeat a unit if it push part of its base off the board. But let's say Vader pushed part of AT-RT's base off the board and then later when the AT-RT activated and moved away from the board edge such that the movement ruler never went outside the board edge, is that unit still defeated? (because part of the base started off the board and therefore any movement along the ruler would mean that part of the base was off the board at some point in its movement?)

Lastly, does Vader determine the facing of the AT-RT after the Vader's Might 'placement'?

To keep things moving we ended up just ruling the AT-RT defeated though it was a 'feels bad' moment for the Rebel player, especially considering future games where with Darkness Descends the infiltrate and scout mean there's a good chance Vader will always be able to push an expensive unit off the board in turn 2.

I understand that Force Push can be used to defeat unit leaders by pushing them off the board, but the wording is very different in that case. So what's the deal with Vader's Might? Can it push units off the board too?

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I understand that Force Push can be used to defeat unit leaders by pushing them off the board, but the wording is very different in that case.

When a player performs a move with an opponent’s unit, that unit cannot leave the battlefield.(Rules References, Page 50)

Hard question on placement from Vaders Might tho. I would think that since you have to place it on the battlefield you are not able to throw something off the board. This might need clarification from FFG i think, maybe squeeze a "fully on the battlefield" in there.

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Lastly, does Vader determine the facing of the AT-RT after the Vader's Might 'placement'?

Yes, you can determine the facing of the units.

On 6/10/2020 at 6:55 PM, leewasi said:

I understand that Force Push can be used to defeat unit leaders by pushing them off the board

*cannot

Regarding your original question: XExEcUtOrX04 is right. There is no clear ruling.

I would say that since it says "on" the battlefield you can't place the unit (partially) outside of the battlefield (it feels like the "leaving the battlefield" rule is intended to apply here even if it is not a move). So you can't "push off" a ground vehicle because they can reverse even when they face the battlefield edge. But on the other hand you could place a unit with compulsory move in such a way that it has to drive off the map.

1 hour ago, XExEcUtOrX04 said:

This might need clarification from FFG i think, maybe squeeze a "fully on the battlefield" in there.

I'm pretty sure it does need clarification. The only sure way to get FFG's attention and a clear answer is to contact them via mail. They won't post an answer in here.

Edited by Staelwulf

Do you really need official clarification here? Even if you rules layer that partially on the Battlefield is still on the battlefield (where I disagree. if you put a unit in a spot where it is removed from the battlefield it is definitely not placing it on the battlefield) I am 100% confident that the answer will be no. With the force push clarification they made their intent clear that they don't want you to cheese units off the board.

31 minutes ago, SailorMeni said:

Do you really need official clarification here? Even if you rules layer that partially on the Battlefield is still on the battlefield (where I disagree. if you put a unit in a spot where it is removed from the battlefield it is definitely not placing it on the battlefield) I am 100% confident that the answer will be no. With the force push clarification they made their intent clear that they don't want you to cheese units off the board.

I 100% agree with that. If they wanted to leave room for placing the unit outside of the battlefield (placing just a part of the base or the entire base outside is the same ruleswise, as in both cases the unit is considered "leaving the battlefield"), the card wouldn't say "place that unit on the battlefield", it would just say to place it within range 1 and height 1, but not specifying "on the battlefield".

"on the battlefield" enough said.

On 6/12/2020 at 1:39 PM, SailorMeni said:

Do you really need official clarification here? Even if you rules layer that partially on the Battlefield is still on the battlefield (where I disagree. if you put a unit in a spot where it is removed from the battlefield it is definitely not placing it on the battlefield) I am 100% confident that the answer will be no. With the force push clarification they made their intent clear that they don't want you to cheese units off the board.

Well, at least not units that don't have speeder :-P.

2 minutes ago, Caimheul1313 said:

Well, at least not units that don't have speeder :-P.

sure, that's legit and a lot of fun!