I have had the DW book for nearly a week now, but squad mode combat I just don't get!

If a Squad member triggers an ability does every squad member perform it at the same time, or when it's their turn? (if they want to)

I just don't get it! Could of Squad of 5 in 1 turn end up performing 5 squad actions in a single round?

Help me make sense of it!

Thanks

Squad Mode Abilities are broken down a few ways - Codex/Chapter, Attack/Defense/, Sustained/Not Sustained.

Codex Abilities are available to everyone (assuming they are available based on the Oath your team took at the start of the mission). Chapter Abilities can only be used by members of that Chapter, and they only benefit other Chapter members. There are some ways around this, such as the Tactical Marine's ability Tactical Expertise.

Attack Patterns basically help you kill things. Defensive Stances basically keep you alive.

Sustained abilities are very nice. To activate any Squad Mode Ability, you have to pay its cost in Cohesion. With Sustained powers, you only have to pay this once per mission. You can use it for a fight, drop out of Squad Mode or switch to a different power, and later come back and start using the Sustained ability for free. Abilities that aren't Sustained have to be paid for again in each new combat if you want to use them (some of them don't even last that long; the abilities description and the errata will tell you if the ability only lasts a certain time before it has to be activated again and its cost paid once more).

Okay, so let's look at an example.Space Marines A, B, and C are all on a team and currently in Solo Mode. They are all close together, so Support Range isn't a problem. Suddenly a group of Tyranid Warriors starts to charge the group from a building down the street. Combat starts and A goes first. He decides he wants to switch to Squad Mode. He can take a Full Action and automatically slip into Squad Mode. Or, he can try to do so as a Free Action so that he can still act this turn. To do this, he needs to pass a Cohesion Challenge - roll a d10 and compare the number rolled to the group's current Cohesion. If the number rolled is equal to or less than the current Cohesion, the test is passed and A gets to go into Squad Mode immediately. Once that happens, the other Space Marines have a choice. B and C are in Support Range of a teammate trying to enter Squad Mode, so they can either immediately join him (no test needed) or stay in Solo Mode. If they both stay in Solo Mode, A reverts to Solo Mode because he can't be in Squad Mode by himself.

Assume B and C join A, so now everyone is in Squad Mode. It's still A's turn since he passed his test and only had to use a Free Action. He really wants to put these Tyranids down before they can hurt him, so he pays 3 Cohesion and activates the Codex Attack Pattern "Bolter Assault." This is a Free Action and is not Sustained. According to the power, A and those in Support Range (both B and C) can immediately Charge and make a Standard Attack with a bolter, bolt pistol, or storm bolter (or throw a grenade). A, B, and C all Charge forward to close the distance and each fires a shot from his bolter. It's still A's turn, since everything he's done has been Free Actions so far, so he can use his turn to attack or take other actions (Charge his enemies, use a psychic power, etc.)

Now it's B's turn. Assuming the group is lucky and has a lot of Cohesion to play with, he decides to use a different power. He pays 3 more Cohesion and activates The Codex Attack Pattern "Furious Charge." This is a Free Action that lets him Charge the Tyranids and make a melee Standard Attack. He charges one of the Tyranids, makes his melee attack, and can still act (since Furious Charge is a Free Action) so he attacks again and finishes his opponent.

Now it's C's turn. He is still within Support Range of B, so he uses a Free Action to change from "Bolter Assault" to "Furious Charge." Furious Charge is not Sustained but its cost only has to be paid once per combat; hence, C's activation is free (no Cohesion cost). C makes his own charge, melee Standard Attack, and then takes his turn.

And it continues. A can either join Furious Assault on his next turn, continue using Bolter Assault, or use some other ability entirely. He can even slip into Solo Mode for free (and as a Free Action) if he wants to use one of those abilities. As long as members meet the requirements for Squad Mode (within Support Range, current Cohesion above 0, etc.) they can stay in Squad Mode and pull off some very powerful stunts.

Bah, a few minor corrections (that'll teach me to post when I'm tired).

In the example above, the key is that you can only benefit from one Squad Mode Ability each turn. So, the example would still be fine if A used "Squad Advance," for example. Since Bolter Assault lets the other team members move and attack, they can't use any Squad Mode Abilities on their turns. If A activated Squad Advance, B and C could join it on their turns or use entirely different Abilities. So, yes, you could have 5 different Space Marines each use an ability. The first might activate an ability and the others join in on their turns, or they might use different ones.

From what I've garnered from the clarifications:

Passive always on abilities are triggered once (pay the cost once). As long as the team remains in squad mode it stays on. If Squad mode goes away the ability gets turned off. Once something happens to shake a group of marines out of squad mode they have to come out of it and sort of reset afterwards.

When an active ability is used the team pays for it once either during combat encounter. Once paid any team member may use that ability at any point during the combat encounter. He may only use the ability the number of times the ability allows, but he is not required to use it immediately upon activation.

Thanks Brand that certainly clears things up for me.

Seems when done right squad mode and their abilities are very powerful.

Remeber though, most of the active squad mode abilities can be used once per combat encounter. Nearly all of them may only be used for a single turn only as well. Once you use your bolter assault or furious charge action you may not do so again until the next time those abilities can be used again (the next combat encounter).

Eh?

Active squad mode abilities can generally be used as much as you like. Where are you getting the once per encounter thing from? Likewise the single turn thing? Granted; bolter and furious assault (as per errata) and a couple of others perhaps are single turn on effects, but Sustained abilities aren't. I might have missed something though, and if so, what rule have I missed?

Additionally, bolter and furious assault are not something that you pay for and use once per encounter. You pay for them and use them in the course of a single turn. I could be wrong here too, but I'm not aware of any mechanic that prohibits use to once per encounter. If you want to blow 9 Cohesion doing a bolter assault once a turn for three turns in a row, then I believe that you can.

Siranui said:

This is how I read it. Bolter Assault, by the errata, has a duration of 1 turn rather than a full combat. There's nothing I've seen so far that says you can't activate it on multiple turns. That's how I've been running it, anyway. The only real restriction is the benefiting from 1 ability per turn rule.

Of course, given how much trouble these abilities caused in the beginning, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little rule somewhere that I missed.

MC, glad I could help even with the mistakes I made in that post. Check the official errata for the duration of abilities; that'll help you know whether you only pay the Cohesion cost once per mission (Sustained abilities), once per combat (non-Sustained abilities), or more often (abilities like Bolter Assault, Furious Charge, etc.).

Ok, sue me. I "mis-remembered" (I could run for President) their descriptions.

So yes, If they do not say "Once per combat encounter" you may trigger them more than once in a combat encounter, paying its cohesion cost each time you trigger it. But, Each PC may only use an active ability once per trigger. You can not trigger bolter assault one time and one PC uses the ability 5 times in an encounter.

(We've all said the same thing, I just said it with the wrong words...)