If a model with the Prey rule and Ambush rule chooses to Ambush, when does it select the Prey target?
Can it Prey a model or unit that is also Ambushing?
Basically, trying to determine if either the model with Prey or the Prey target need to be on the table and in play when the ability is used.
Eg one would be when the model with Prey, and possibly the target, are either or both not in play.
Another example would be when a Prey target is destroyed and a new one must be selected, can a model not yet deployed be the new Prey?
Prey explains the two conditions under which Prey targets are chosen: “After deployment but before the first player’s turn” and “When the prey is destroyed or removed from play.”
There are no other limitations provided, beyond “choose an enemy model/unit.”
So, after deployment (which seems logical to interpret as Deployment, i.e. "When players place their models on the table at the start of a game, they deploy them to a deployment zone. "), the player with Prey chooses a prey target.
Given the rules quote for Line of Sight & Targeting, models do not have to have LOS to models to choose them. So, it seems logical that yes, the model with Prey can choose a model that has not been deployed. If this said “target”, this would be a very different situation.
I can’t find any rules around game effects or anything of that nature that require models to be in play to have game effects on them. All the situations I looked up either specify when effects can be applied or when they expire. There does not seem to be a blanket rule that would apply.
Note that, based on #1, if at the start of the game you choose another Ambushing model/unit as your prey, and your opponent never deploys the model that has been chosen as prey, you never have another opportunity to choose prey. So…be careful, I guess.
