The whole issue arises from the fact that this joining of units is dealt with in the "Hero" chapter of the book (and why wouldn't it? since a hero is the only unit that can be attached to another unit). But since the whole chapter is written with HERO at the forefront, I think that is why they focus so much on them, even when it would be clearer to give the hero and the squad the same weight.
Split movement
Loophole Master said:
You're saying that neither the hero not the squad need to be activated in order to separate? I find that very wrong. NOTHING else in the game happens without activating the affected unit.
Imagine you have a hero with no extra health left, attached to a last surviving soldier. They have already been activated this round, but then a Wildfire shows up and opens up sustained fire against them. The pair is SURE to be wiped out, but then what does the hero do? Separates spontaneously form the soldier. Now suddenly the Wildfire needs to chose between one of the targets, leaving the other untouched.
That is a move that should require the activation of one of the parts.
Not saying that at all, just saying the activation takes place after you separate the units. "Hey I am separating the squad and hero. Now that they are separated, the squad is going to shoot and then move". That is the activation. The hero has not activated yet. I never suggested you can just separate units when its not your turn.
Oh, good. Sorry I jumped to that interpretation.