I am a bit thoughtfull with these riders. If they dont swoop can they hit with their melee weapons? Also if they dont swoop can be hit by melee weapons? Swoop Dive: At the end of your movement phase, you can drclare that this unit will swoop down to attack the foe at close quarters. If you do so, then in the following combat phase you can reroll failed hit and wound rolls for this unit as the enemy reels from sudden assault. Untill your next hero phase, measure range and visibility for models in this unit as though they were on the ground.
If you play base to base measurement - like most people do - they can always attack with their melee weapons and be attacked. If you play AoS rules as written then no. Small models with 1" range might not hit them, and the Terradons can't hit those models either.
Yes but do they need to swoop to hit and get hit? I mean can a model come close to me and hit me with its melee weapon if i dont swoop?
Yes it can if it is tall enough. The nearest part of the Terradon model is the bomb it carries. If you have used the tall pole that part is around 3" from the ground. An Ironjawz Megaboss is more than 2" tall and has a range of 1" with his melee weapons. He can hit the Terradon. And the Terradon can hit him.
We tend to ignore that particular FAQ, and we take measures base to base. If you apply that FAQ, you risk to end with home made flying stands, that takes flyiers out of reach.
Even without homemade ones: the tallest official one (so obviously allowed by the rules) is 3.1" which is enough to make Terradons way better than they normally are. I wish I wouldn't play base2base measurement. It would make a real difference here. The way it is Terradons are a joke for that high point cost IMO. It would force enemies to be prepared for it. Bring ranged weapons or wizards or tall models to bind and attack them. The only real problem I see is armies that don't have that. Bloodbound or Ironjawz for example. But they are Flyers, for Pete's sake. Why should any damn Goblin with a rusty knife be able to hit them?
Here things become curiously uncertain. Why a terradon is flying at 3.1" (safe from meleers) and his dumb companions fly at a lower quote? If I'm on the ground and i cannot touch you, why should you contest the objective I'm sitting upon? I know it doesn't make sense for a goblin to hit a gyrocopter with its rusty knife... but why should a cow with an axe be able to? It's not that the copter isn't able to fly a little higher than the reach of ANY meleer. Flyers should have a special rule, ala "models with flying move cannot be hit by any melee weapon, up until they decide to attack in melee. From that point, they are considered to be flying near ground"
I like that rule! And flyers would not be able to claim objectives unless they land. And of course flyers can attack other flyers in melee anytime.