@@PaulDarcy I'm glad to see you played it like as well. It's definitely how it is rules as written but a bit weird thematically since the closest one is behind a big container!
I have no idea. It's quite a pain to cut them out of the sprues and glue them together. I would have happily paid extra to have all the models pre-assembled.
You may know this already but the 2023 version of the rules is a bit different from the original 2020 version. I only mention this because some viewers may think you are playing something wrong when in fact you are playing by the revised rules (based on the Turn Sequence card you showed). You can quickly spot the different versions by the logo on the front of the box. GF9 = 2023 while GaleForce nine = 2020.