Vehicle Squadrons and Focus Fire

[Axle_Gear]

So here's a thing that's been nagging me ever since it happened:

I have a squadron of two Leman Russ Demolishers. My opponent (Tau) has a bunch of broadsides fire at them, and manages to score a weapon destroyed result on one of their turrets. Knowing what I did of new wound/hit allocation and vehicles, I decide to send both tanks up, putting the now turret-less LRD up front to soak fire for the one that's still fully operational.

Now, come my opponent's turn, he decides he can focus fire on the LRD in the back, seeing as it's being granted cover by the one in front (that's from the same squadron), scores a penetrating hit while I fail the cover save, causing an explosion result on the LRD in the back.

Is the focused fire on vehicles in a squadron being granted cover by other vehicles in the same squadron shenanigans?

EDIT: After leafing through the BRB, it's lookling like shenanigans, since units can't normally grant cover to parts of itself. However, I want to make sure here, since vehicle squadrons have always been kind of screwy.

[Laughing God]

You never get cover saves from a model in the same unit, vehicle or otherwise

[Mad Cat]

But you could for example use the damaged tank to pop smoke, giving it a cover save so hits allocated to the squadron could be put on that obscured tank if it was the closest.

In your example however if the broadsides (as characters) rolled a 6 to hit they could allocate the hit as they desired.

[XIII]

Laughing God has it correct: You only count intervening models from a different unit, not from models within a unit (BRB-6, p. 1. This includes Vehicle Squadrons, which "are treated like normal units" (BRB-6, p. 77).

Even if they did grant cover (which they do not), he still could not have used Focus Fire to concentrate on the one model in the rear. Focus Fire just lets the attacker choose a maximum Cover Save they want their Hits/Wounds allocated too. The defender still does the allocation, and they use normal allocation (nearest to farthest) but only models with a Cover Save equal to or worse than the given Save value (BRB-6, p. 1. Thus, if the front model had no Save and the rear model at a 5+ Save, and the attacker said he wanted to Focus Fire on 6+ Saves or worse, all hits would be allocated to the front model with none for the rear one.

In summary, you cannot gain Cover from models within your own unit and Focus Fire only means the attacker's Hits/Wounds are allocated to models of a given Cover Save or worse.

[XIII]

In your example however if the broadsides (as characters) rolled a 6 to hit they could allocate the hit as they desired.

A normal Broadside is not a Character, not even a Team Leader. Only a full upgrade to a Shas'vre is a Character. (BRB-6, p. 413)

[Mad Cat]

Yes I got confused between focussed fire and being shot by characters who can allocate hits on a 6. Replace broadsides for paladins with psycannon then in the example.