Transports

TRANSPORT models ferry other units across the battlefield, keeping passengers safe until they need to strike. This section covers transport capacity, how units embark and disembark, and the different disembark modes, including the dangerous emergency disembark when a TRANSPORT is destroyed.

Transport capacity

Every TRANSPORT model lists a transport capacity on its datasheet, which spells out both the kind of models allowed aboard and the maximum number it can hold. A single TRANSPORT can carry more than one unit at once, provided there is enough remaining capacity for every model involved.

You do not have to start passengers on foot. During the Declare Battle Formations step at the start of the game, you may set units up already embarked inside any friendly TRANSPORT that has enough spare capacity to hold the entire unit.

Embarking

From the first battle round onward, a unit can climb aboard a friendly TRANSPORT immediately after it finishes a Normal, Advance, or Fall Back move, so long as all of the following are true:

• Every model in the unit ends that move within 3" of the TRANSPORT.
• This turn, the unit had not been set up on the battlefield.
• The unit is a type the TRANSPORT is allowed to carry, per that TRANSPORT's datasheet.
• The TRANSPORT still has enough remaining capacity for every model in the unit.

When a unit embarks, the active player lifts it off the table and sets it aside. It is now embarked and counts as not being on the battlefield until it disembarks.

Disembarking

In the active player's Movement phase, each unit embarked within a TRANSPORT may leave it by making a disembark move. Disembarking is a Movement-phase action for the owning player, giving the passengers a chance to deploy and then act.

Disembark moves

A disembark move sets the unit up within a set-up distance measured from the TRANSPORT, and the mode you use determines that distance and what the unit may do afterward. A unit is eligible to disembark only if it is embarked in a TRANSPORT that is on the battlefield, it did not embark in that TRANSPORT this phase, and that TRANSPORT has performed neither an Advance nor a Fall Back move this phase.

Before you move, select a mode:

• Rapid Disembark (3"): You must use this mode if the TRANSPORT has already made a Normal move or an ingress move this phase. If the TRANSPORT made an ingress move this turn, each disembarking model must obey the same placement rules and restrictions the TRANSPORT itself had to follow during that ingress. After the move, the unit is not eligible to declare a charge for the rest of the turn.
• Tactical Disembark (3"): You must use this mode if the TRANSPORT stayed stationary or has not yet been chosen to move this phase, and if you can legally place the unit within the 3" set-up distance. After disembarking, the unit then makes a Normal move or an Advance move of its own.
• Combat Disembark (6"): You must fall back on this mode when neither of the others applies. Make a hazard roll for each model in the unit before setting up, and each model may be placed engaged with one or more enemy units the TRANSPORT is engaged with. The unit is battle-shocked and cannot declare a charge for the rest of the turn.

In every mode, set each model up wholly within the relevant set-up distance of the TRANSPORT.

Emergency disembark

If a TRANSPORT is destroyed while units are still inside it, those passengers bail out under fire. Before the wreck is removed, the active player makes an emergency disembark move with each embarked unit.

An emergency disembark uses a 6" set-up distance. Every model rolls a hazard roll first. Then place the models wholly within 6" of the TRANSPORT, as near to it as they will fit; a model with nowhere legal to stand is destroyed. The unit ends up battle-shocked, and charging is off the table for it until the turn ends.

Frequently asked questions

How does transport capacity work in Warhammer 40,000 11th edition?

Capacity is a count of models with a type restriction attached: a hull rated for ten Infantry can take two five-model squads, but not one model of a type it does not list. Some datasheets count a larger model as more than one, so check the wording as well as the number. Note that a unit must fit in whole; you cannot leave three models on the pavement.

How do units embark on a Transport in 40k?

Move the unit so every model ends within 3" of the vehicle, then lift it off. The vehicle does not have to have stayed still, and the unit can be one that Fell Back out of combat that same phase. What a unit cannot do is arrive from reserve and board in one turn, or board a transport it left earlier in the same phase.

What are the disembark modes in Warhammer 40,000?

Rapid (3", vehicle already moved, no charge), Tactical (3", vehicle not yet moved, passengers then get a full move of their own) and Combat (6", the fallback, with a hazard roll per model and Battle-shock). Which mode applies is decided for you by what the vehicle has done this phase; you never get to pick freely. Tactical is the one that lets passengers move and charge in the same turn, provided the vehicle waits to move until after they are out.

What happens when a Transport is destroyed in 40k?

The passengers get out before the wreck comes off the table, with a hazard roll each and a 6" placement, and land battle-shocked and unable to charge. The active player makes the move even when it is the opponent's vehicle that died, since it happens in their turn. Killing a full transport in your Shooting phase therefore leaves its cargo standing in the open for the rest of your shooting.

Can a unit embark already inside a Transport at the start of a 40k game?

Yes. Declare it at the Declare Battle Formations step, alongside reserves and attached units, and the passengers are counted as embarked rather than deployed. A transport placed in Strategic Reserves takes its passengers with it, and their points count against the reserves cap.