The question. Jordan, 5 Oct: Gargoyles (reviewers B to S, our 46th of 52 Tyranids on Track A) earn their slot with two tricks the ledger doesn't see. Jailing: they run forward in turn one and string out in the enemy's deployment zone, so the enemy can barely move. The steal: they arrive from reserve, shoot, then move with their own rule onto an objective the enemy holds and take it on OC, denying about 5 VP of the enemy's primary. Can each be a game-wide dial?
Answer so far. The steal can, and it lifts the Gargoyles (46th to 37th at strength 0.5, to 28th at 1), with the five Tyranid lists up slightly (79.3 to 79.9 at 0.5) while placebos fall (79.1). But it is narrow: only 5 datasheets in the 16 armies qualify (Gargoyles, the Space Marines' Eliminators and Land Speeder, the Adeptus Mechanicus' Pteraxii Skystalkers, the Drukhari's Scourges with heavy weapons), at most one or two per army. Across armies it will barely move the exam; it looks like a Tyranid or army-level quirk (T-676) more than a missing ingredient. Jailing barely exists in 11th edition as we read it: coherency keeps a unit within 9" end to end, so it can't string across a zone, and Gargoyles reach the enemy's zone in turn one only on the two closest maps. At any strength tried it moves no Tyranid rank and costs the lists a little. Nothing is adopted; measuring comes after T-673.
The rules as we read them (Wahapedia's 11th-edition core rules and the Gargoyles datasheet, 4 Oct; our words):
- Coherency: every model within 2" of another of its unit and within 9" of every other one. A unit's spread tops out at 9", whatever its size.
- Moving: a Normal or Advance move must end unengaged (more than 2" from enemy models), but may pass through engagement range on the way. So a jail only stops the enemy ending a move near the models.
- Advance: Move plus a D6. Scouts X": before the battle, up to X", ending more than 8" from every enemy unit. Infiltrators: set up more than 8" from the enemy's zone and units.
- Reserves arrive from the second battle round. Deep Strike: set up anywhere more than 8" from every enemy unit, their zone included. After arriving, a unit can make no other kind of move until the next Charge phase "unless a rule says otherwise".
- Winged Swarm (Gargoyles): after shooting in its own Shooting phase, if unengaged, a Normal move of up to 6"; no charge that turn. Our effects file lists 34 such "move after shooting" rules.
- Objectives: in range within 3" (or inside a terrain objective's area). The side with more OC in range controls it, checked at the end of every phase and turn.
- Primaries (design/mission-notes.md): most pay from round 2 at the end of the scorer's Command phase, 4 or 5 VP for a non-home objective. A steal that holds until then takes that line before the enemy can move or shoot to retake it.
The dials (tools/steal.js; Value + w × Q × P ÷ points, as the screen dials; 0 = today to the bit):
jailW: Q = 0.1 × 2,000 × (depth × width ÷ the zone's area, over the six maps at the event field's shares) × 0.5. Depth is turn-one reach (Move + 3.5 + any move after shooting) past the shortest gap between the zones (Scouts and Infiltrators start nearer), counted only from 2" in. Width is the unit's spread (2" a model, at most 9") plus 2" of engagement range each side. The 0.1 is one turn of five, half of a unit's worth in moving; the 0.5 is going first.stealW: Q = 4.5 VP × P(reach) × P(control) × 1 use × 30.8 points a VP (2,000 ÷ 65 VP a game, secondaryVP's rate). To qualify, a unit needs Deep Strike, Meteoric Descent, a tunnel or Aerial Seeding, a move after shooting, OC above 0 and no aircraft. P(reach) = (d − 3) ÷ 5, clamped to 0–1: 0.6 for a 6" move, 0.2 for a D6. P(control) = OC ÷ (OC + 8.26), the holder's OC weighted by OC over all 16 ledgers.
Who qualifies (jail / steal units of the army's pool): Tyranids 13 / 1, Space Marines 21 / 2, Adeptus Mechanicus 7 / 1, Agents 7 / 0, Astra Militarum 19 / 0, Blood Angels 9 / 0, Dark Angels 25 / 1, Death Guard 4 / 0, Drukhari 19 / 1, Emperor's Children 11 / 0, Genestealer Cults 30 / 1, Votann 4 / 0, Orks 9 / 0, Space Wolves 2 / 0, Thousand Sons 9 / 0, World Eaters 13 / 0. Most jail units earn under 2 points of Q (a toe into the zone on Search and Destroy). Those worth 4 or more: Von Ryan's Leapers, Gargoyles, Eliminators, Ratlings, Sly Marbo, Pteraxii Skystalkers, Sicarian Infiltrators, Serberys Raiders, Scourges, Mandrakes, Seekers, Tormentors, Wolf Scouts, Goremongers, Kapricus Defenders, Hernkyn Pioneers, Sekhetar Robots, Purestrain Genestealers. Steal units and their rank in their army, Track A → jail 1 and steal 0.5:
| Unit (army) | Letters | Q | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gargoyles (Tyranids) | B B A S B B B | 68.9 (20) / 58.8 (10) | 46 → 37 of 52 (28 at steal 1) |
| Eliminator Squad (Space Marines; Dark Angels) | B C; B | 22.1 | 27 → 20 of 84; 53 → 38 of 93 |
| Land Speeder (Space Marines; Dark Angels) | S S S; S | 7.4 | 29 → 25; 37 → 33 |
| Pteraxii Skystalkers (Adeptus Mechanicus) | D | 75.8 | 25 → 20 of 34 (the wrong way) |
| Scourges with Heavy Weapons (Drukhari) | B | 31.3 | 27 → 21 of 37 |
Tyranids, Track A, five lists (mean; Auspex / Hivemind / Second / Maelstrom / Astrategas). Track A: 79.3. Jail 1: 79.3, placebo 79.1. Steal 0.5: 79.9 (84.3 / 84.6 / 80.2 / 77.7 / 72.8), placebo 79.1. Both: 79.9, placebo 79.0. At jail 2 and steal 1: jail alone 79.0, steal alone 80.2, both 80.1 (placebo 78.6); Gargoyles 23rd, Leapers 11th → 7th.
Doubts. (1) The strict reading of the ingress rule stops any move after arriving until the Charge phase, Winged Swarm included. We read Winged Swarm as a rule that "says otherwise". If not, the steal waits a turn (arrive, then move, shoot and Winged Swarm next turn) and P(reach) roughly holds. (2) "Or otherwise reach after arrival": a charge out of reserve would add 4 to 45 units per army (--charge). It is left out: the charge model already pays for that charge in Kill, and a charging unit ends engaged with the holder. (3) The 3" to 8" needed is a guess; terrain objectives make it easier. (4) Our shooting at the holder first is left out. (5) The jail's 0.1 tempo and the 2" minimum are guesses, fixed before any run.
Prediction for the measure (after T-673; ledger-steps.md "steal"). stealW: Tyranids +0.3 to +1 at 0.25 to 1, the pooled exam within ±0.3 (four graded units in 14 armies; Pteraxii down-graded, Land Speeder and Scourges up), placebos flat or worse. jailW: nothing on Tyranids, pooled −0.5 to +0.3. If only the Tyranids move, the steal goes to T-676.
How it's done: node tools/steal.js [--jail 1] [--steal 0.5] [--charge] [--json out.json] (about 7 s). It reads the Track A benchmark, the frozen docs/data/unitfx.json and tools/deployments.json (both already in the lock), and the army ledgers. score() and pooled() are exam.js-style scoring with the dials. tests/unit/steal.test.js checks that 0 is today to the bit.