Scouts This special rule is automatically lost by an independent character joining a unit that does not have this special rule, and vice versa.
Scouts are used to reconnoitre ahead and are always used in the vanguard of the army. To represent this, any Scouts in the army may be deployed as the start of the battle, even in scenarios where they could not normally be deployed. For example, if you are using a mission variant with the Escalation special rule, then your Scouts would set up at the start of the battle instead of being places in reserve. In addition to this rule, after both sides have deployed (including Infiltrators), any Scouts may make a 'free move'. The move happens before rolling to see who goes first. All of the normal Movement rules apply.
This rule does not apply if the Scouts begin the game embarked on a Transport.
Fearless Fearless troops never have to fall back and are assumed to automatically pass any morale test they are required to take. They can never be pinned. This special rule is gained by any independent character joining a Fearless unit. Also, as long as a Fearless character stays inside a non-Fearless unit, he loses this special rule.
Combat Squads A number of ten-man units in the Dark Angels army have the option of breaking down into two five-man units.
The units that can be split into Combat squads are:
+ Company Veteran Squads
+ Scout Squads
+ Tactical Squads
+ Assault Squads
+ Ravenwing Attack Squadrons
+ Devastator Squads
The decision to split the unit into Combat squads, as well as which models go into each squad, must be made when the unit is deployed. Both Combat squads must be deployed at the same time, but may be deployed in separate locations. If you decide to break the unit down then each Combat squad is treated as a separate unit for all game purposes from that point, and counts as a scoring unit if it still has half or more of its starting models, etc. Units held in reserve cannot be split into combat squads and vice versa.
For victory point purposes, each Combat squad is worth a number of victory points equal to half of the points value of the unit.
