I'm in the reactive turn. Active player activates a Chimera with her 3 pupniks behind a wall which on the order spend are out of LOF. Active player declares MOVE and the first of the pupniks moves out of cover into LOF of a trooper that can declare an ARO, BS attack for the sake of ease. Does the ARO have to be declared against that specific pupnik or is it declared against any of activated models that end up in LOF by the resolution phase of that order? i.e. If the Chimera declares MOVE + MOVE in the above scenario can the ARO trooper shoot the Chimera assuming it ends up in a position where LOF can be drawn by the end of the movement or does the ARO have to go against the first model that comes into LOF and therefore generates the ARO? I feel that it's the first one and I'm sure it's clearly stated that's the case somewhere but I can't see the wood for the trees it seems.
Your ARO declaration has to be valid at the moment it is declared. You can not declare an ARO and hope it'll get validated. So, in the example granted, you'll only be able to BS Attack the first Pupnik. Hint: Try to use a template weapon if possible, and you might just get lucky with the Nomad player moving more Pupniks into the template position.
- the Chimera and her Ghost Synchro only generate one ARO (CF G:Sync) - once you see a pupnik you declare your ARO (BS Attack). At this point you must declare your attack target (Pupnik n°1) - then the other pupnik and Chima move in front of you. Your ARO is already spent. So no shooting the Chimera here. This is a standard technique, I use it with my bot in Aleph or with my crazy koala in nomad
You can only ARO vs the first Pupnik. If you have the opportunity to ARO you must use it or lose it. All requirements of a declaration must be valid at declaration. So, your trooper gets an opportunity to ARO when the first Pupnik walks into LOF and at that time the only valid BS Attack is against that Pupnik.
Do the others idle during the first short order move? Because you declare your ARO after all activated troopers finished their first short order. If all of them move into LoF during the first short order, it does not matter which one moved first. After the conclusion of the first short skill move you can pick any of them to which you have LoF to shoot at it.
That has not been said, so I just wanted to make sure that the order of their 'appearance' does not matter, but who is visible after the resolution of the first short skill move.
The order in which they move doesn't matter because you don't get the ARO until the entire Movement skill for all of the active troopers has been resolved. So the Move-Move sequence goes like so: Chimera and the 3 Pupniks activated by order Move skill declared and resolved for the Chimera and 3 Pupniks AROs to the Move skill (and/or being activated, but that's usually redundant.) You get one ARO to the group, so you choose which one you're declaring your BS Attack against. Move skill declared and resolved for the Chimer and 3 Pupniks Anyone who didn't have an ARO vs. the first Move skill but do have an ARO as a result of the second Move now gets to declare an ARO. As a point of minor oddity, you do probably still get to treat the trooper's "movement path" as the sum of combination of both Move skills for choosing where your BS Attack ARO shoots them (if you didn't already lock that in by using a template weapon). Just in case you think that second Move skill puts your target in a better range band than it started in. See the FAQ's on the BS Attack page for more details: http://infinitythewiki.com/en/BS_Attack but, for instance: Q: That means that if I declare my first Short Skill while in Cover, my opponents may declare their Attacks when this trooper is in Cover even if my second Short Skill is a movement that takes it out of that Cover? A: No. The opponents will declare the Skills that they are going to use, with all the corresponding details. But the Attacks are made at the best point of the movement for the one who declares the Attack.
Yes, sorry, I should have been clearer in my description of the situation as this was also what I meant to ask and display with the graphic and failed to do so horribly besides just one pupnik moving on the first short skill and the rest in the second (which is what's shown) This resolves what I also meant to ask perfectly. The reason it came up was from a situation in a game a few years back (for some reason popped into my head yesterday whilst listening to a podcast for some reason) when I was very new to Infinity where the Nomad player moved all of them but explained to me that as the pupnik was the first thing I could ARO against I had to choose it as a target as it was the first available opportunity to declare an ARO before he completed the first move order with the rest of the warband. This is, as explained above, incorrect. My understanding is now: Scenario 1 in OP where only one model moves into LOF on the first move and the others move but remain out of LOF, only the initial model can be the target of an ARO. Scenario 2, if they all move into LOF on the first short skill, pick whichever one you want that is within your LOF. Both of these are due to the fact that ARO declarations come AFTER the COMPLETION of the first short order (in this case, move).
Minor point: You got "order" and "skill" mixed up a little bit in your post. Otherwise, yep, that's pretty much how it is. That Nomad player was wrong.
I find it helps to remember these sorts of details by strictly following the declaration/resolution process for every single Order, regardless of whether or not it 'matters', such as when a trooper declares Move+Move with a path that is entirely outside enemy LoF/ZoC the whole way. Nevertheless, Declare your first Short Skill, prompt opponent for ARO declarations, Declare your second Short Skill, prompt opponent for ARO declarations, Resolve Order. It can seem silly sometimes, but I find it speeds up play in the long run and keeps everything clean. It also, in my opinion, maintains engagement in the game.
