Happy New Year!

Just a short question...

Until today, I had the impression that combats (via attack orders) are always resolved from adjacent areas; you don't enter the target area with your attacking units but attack them across the border. Only when the target area is cleared, you get the opportunity to advance into the target area with some of your remaining attackers. The rulebook and attack order cards are quite clear about this.

Today, my opponent asked me about a tiny little sentence on page 21 of the rulebook in the Movement sentence and now I'm confused. The sentence states: "A unit may only move into and through friendly or neutral areas (An attack order is required to enter enemy or contested areas)". This is the only place in the rulebook where entering an enemy occupied space appears to be allowed but all other rules in the rulebook contradict this sentence.

Could anyone explain to me how I could possibly _enter_ an enemy occupied or contested area with an attack order instead of attacking it from an adjacent space?

Thank you!

You are correct in your first paragraph.

You can only enter an area which is contested or occupide by enemy forces with an attack type order, but first you must clear the area out of the oppsoing forces.

 Yes, I know, but that doesn't explain the mysterious little sentence in the rulebook "(An attack order is required to enter enemy or contested areas)" .

I heavily suspect that this sentence is a leftover from the Warp... 

It still makes sense. At the start of the turn the area is held by the enemy, therefore to move into it you need to initiate an Attack order. Until the combat is resolved (and presumably you won) then it remains an enemy territory. You can only then move into it after you've cleared out the opponent's models.

Attack -> win -> move into the now-vacant area.