Good Evening / Morning!
I was hoping to get a little clarification on a few points:
1: Exhaustion - If a model is exhausted, can it still perform other actions? For example, if my squad is attacked in melee, and I declare I am not fighting back. It states that now since I have been attacked, my squad is exhausted (Page 18). May I still declare melee on my own turn with this squad?
2: Fighting Back and Actions - I was reading another form post about fighting back, which made me question how it actually worked. It was stated in a response to Saphyron that: “Fighting back is not defined as a reactionary action, but does use up 1 command value. So essentially as long as the squad has not used it's action yet this game round.... you may always fight back.”
Does this mean that a squad can potentially fight back multiple times in a turn? Or does declaring you are fighting back also use up the squads action (or at least make the squad exhausted), like I assumed it did.
Exhaustion:
Each model gets one action per game round. If you have no action available you considered exhausted and can no longer fight back in melee combat, bit can still take defensive enhancements. So you only get one activation worth of fighting in a single game round.
Once exhausted you may only take defensive enhancements for the combat situation and cannot fight back.
Example: your archers shoot at a squad off in the distance. You are exhausted if you are attacked in melee combat and do not get to fight back if another squad charges in. You also would not get to fight back.
Holding Your Action in melee combat
If you are being attacked in melee combat you may hold your action and not fight back when being attacked. This happens when someone is going to charge you in a later activation and you don't want to lose your action fighting the little guys your opponent threw in just to exhaust you. (a valid tactic to come in and flank opponents)
Instead you are saving your action for the next squad while holding using defensive enhancements against the little guys. This is on page 18 under Holding your action in melee combat. Essentially if you hold your action in melee combat you may not later activate them on your own.
What you cannot do is hold your action, and then reactivate a melee combat fighting the same models you choose not to fight back against. If you hold your action its for a new squad coming in which will activate your squad to fight them.
Fighting Back and Actions
You only get a single action per game round for each model. So fighting back does up an activation and your squads activation.
I hope that clears it up.
Crystal! Thank you :)