assaulting enemy that is in area terrain

Yesterday I was playing against space wolves, a unit of his marines were in area terrain and a few of the front marines were right on the edge of it. My wyches charged that unit and made the charge but didn't enter the area terrain, his unit moved forward for the CC as normal. He said I lost my initiative due to assaulting his unit that was in area terrain. My wyches didn't enter the terrain at all, was he correct?

Wyches don't lose their initiative, as they have plasma grenades

Oh as standard equipment? even if they have haywire grenades too? Ok lets say it was a unit of 10 warriors is what my opponent said right?

No warriors do not get plasma grenades but you should not be assaulting with them anyway they will get murdered lol, The wyches get plasma grenades as standard equipment, they count as assault grenades so you would not lose you initiative. The haywires are extra though that you pay 2 points per model for.

Page 62 of the rule book

Oh I see thanks, Ok just looking at the mechanics of that assault was what he said right considering the wyches didn't even set foot into the terrain??

Your opponent was wrong.

Page 22 of the rulebook:
"if at least one model in the charging unit moved through difficult terrain as part of its charge move, all of the unit's models must attack at Initiative step 1"

As you didn't enter the terrain, you would fight at your normal initiative.

Keep in mind as well you have to move as many models into base contact with an un-based ( or unengaged I think is the verbology used) model in the enemy unit. So if you didn't have plasma grenades and just one of your chargers had to cross the terrain to get into base contact, then you have to roll for charging through terrain and fight at init 1.

This is something that you can see before rolling; i.e. 10 wyches charging, 6 space wolves 6 inches away out of cover, 4 more in the cover, and you have to move unengaged to unengaged if you can. No holding back in a charge!

This could be open to interpretation, but the rule is as many models into base contact as possible, meaning through the cover.

All this is moot though, Wyches have Plasma grenades-counts as-Assault grenades.

Remember you will have to roll 3 dice and take away the highest even if only one of your models goes into the terrain.

It really depends how far away the target unit is. Obviously your maximum charge is 12", so therefore if the models sticking out of the terrain are the only ones you could potentially make contact with then you don't need to roll for assaulting through difficult terrain and your non assault grenade toting Kabalite Warriors will fight at their normal Initiative. If,conversely, there is the potential to make base contact with models within the terrain then you must attempt to reach them and roll difficult terrain (3d6 and drop highest) in which case they fight at Initiative step 1. The exception to this is if the target unit was already locked in combat from a previous turn, in which case no penalty to initiative is incurred. Bit of a long-winded explanation I know, hopefully this clears up your query, however.

Timatron wrote:

The exception to this is if the target unit was already locked in combat from a previous turn, in which case no penalty to initiative is incurred. Bit of a long-winded explanation I know, hopefully this clears up your query, however.

And for if they've gone to ground right?

Remember though that after moving the initial charger you can move remaining models in any order you wish. By moving your models in the right way you can effectively block off access to enemy models in terrain and force your remaining models to either engage enemy models who are already in base contact or even just to get within 2" of a friendly model in base contact. This avoids any need to roll for difficult terrain but can be quite tricky to pull off.

Yeah, Count, you are correct. That would take some serious jiggery-pokery!

And yeah Mug, you too are correct.

Timatron wrote:

And yeah Mug, you too are correct.

Thanks.