Initiative Cards

[Cerridwyn1st]

I hope this isn't an over-simplified question that's been asked (and answered) a dozen times.

 

How exactly do the activation cards work? Does a unit activate ONLY when the card that represents it comes up, or do all units under a single command take their action when ANY significator for that commander comes up?

 

Can a unit hold its activation in order to move with another unit?

 

The book suggests using a specific suit to represent players. In games I've been playing, the commanders don't have more than four cards, but I may have more than four players. It's much less confusing to give people their place number at the table as their significator (person one gets aces, two gets twos, etc.). Is there any conflict in using this method in official play instead of the "suit to a player" as given in the rulebook?

 

Nuts, I meant to make this a new thread. Could one of you moderators please move it?

[Froggy the Great]

And done.

 

So long as each player knows which are their initiative cards, assign them how you like.

 

Whenever a player's initiative card comes up, that player may move any Troop in their army that has not yet gone that turn. In the case that you have more cards than Troops (either a troop has been destroyed or a character's special ability gives you an extra card), just ignore the extra cards after all your troops have moved.

 

If a whole troop is eliminated, or if a character whose special ability gives you an extra card has been killed, remove a card from the deck at the end of the turn.

[Reaperbryan]

In the case of "more than 4 players", lets see an example.

8 players - 3 cards (troops) each

players 1&2 will be hearts, player 1 being Face cards, 2 being Numbers

(Alternately, player one has all the aces, two has the deuces, etc. works very well also)

Follow this example all the way down.

 

It is not necessary for a player to indicate "the king is my Warlord, the queen is the captain and the jack is the sergeant." In fact, it is preferred that the player not, but rather move whichever troop has not gone yet that still provides the greatest advantage.

 

Also note that when the Data Cards come out - You can use those as an initiative deck - When a "Nefsokar" faction card comes up, the player with the Nefsokar knows its their turn. (And I know - Now that I have used the phrase "When the data cards come out" I am going to get lots of messages asking "When?, When?". And I say to you "I will announce the initial release of these cards as soon as the initail release is ready to ship out. It will definitely occur before December 2010.")

[Cerridwyn1st]

OK, so the player chooses whichever unit he or she perceives to give the best advantage and activates THAT one when a significator comes up. Got it.

 

Whether the significator is a NUMBER or a SUIT doesn't matter as much as making sure that play will flow smoothly and there's no confusion.

 

Can a unit HOLD its action and activate in concert with another troup?

 

Example: I've got a Centaur (a solo model) and a group of elves commanded by Selwyn. A card of my suit comes up. I declare that I'm assigning the movement to the Centaur, but he will hold his action until Selwyn's unit activates.

 

My significator comes up again; now I activate Selwyn's unit and the Centaur to initiate a volley attack. Since none of my units has moved, I can use the Marksman ability to increase the AOE of my attack.

 

The group makes its attack on a troup of Reven.

 

Alternately, the Centaur holds his action for Selwyn's archers to activate. Instead of firing with the Elves, the Centaur takes his movement last so he can run up and loot the bodies of the fallen Reven.

[Froggy the Great]

There are no provisions for a troop holding their actions. Feel free to make up house rules for friendly games.

[Cerridwyn1st]

There are no provisions for a troop holding their actions. Feel free to make up house rules for friendly games.

House rules are fine, unless you are doing a tournament. So I guess in official play you CAN'T hold actions, since it is NOT in the official rules?

[ladystorm]

exactly

[Steven Page]

The Tactician Special Ability allows you to skip an action and return the card to the bottom of the deck.....kind of "hold-like"....

[Reaperbryan]

Seeing how a house rule about holding an action would equate to giving all models "tactician", I'd reccomend against it.

[Froggy the Great]

Did Tactician change since Reapercon then? I thought it only gave you an extra card in the initiative deck. It didn't say anything about allowing you to hold an action.

[shakhak]

It wasn't changed at all. I think they are just saying "holding" is similar to tactition. And bryan is just saying if it is similar then it is like giving it to everyone, so he doesn't recommend it. I agree being able to hold off on a troops action doesn't really benefit the game, both sides could hold until the deck is dry.

[Reaperbryan]

If The Tactician gives you an extra card,a nd when your card comes up you choose to pass, then when the extra card comes up you move, that's basically holding your action. So NO, Tactician does not allow you to hold an action, but it Could be used that way. . .

 

By the rules, if you have 3 troops and 3 cards, then you forfiet an action when 1 card comes up, you can't use it later, So there is no "Holding" an action unitl later.

with a Tactician bonus card in the Draw Deck, you could use the unused troop on the later draw, allowing you to hold an action - thus making a house rule to hold actions essentially giving Tactician for free.

 

Astute observation, Shakak. Now, if you could come up with a house rule that did not make any special abilities less useful and still helped you hold an action, that would be better. (Perhaps provide each player with 2 Chits. Each chit can be used to reshuffle 1 card into the deck at any time, but when the 2 chits are used up, no more . . . )

[Froggy the Great]

So if you have an extra card in the deck, you can choose to act on a later card instead of the one just drawn?

[abngi]

This was a fun one I used-

 

SA: Coordinate

 

When an initiative card is drawn for this side, a troop with Coordinate can select another troop. Instead of activating now, the troop using Coordinate will activate when the selected troop activates. Both troops must activate when the next card is drawn for their side; this activation cannot be delayed by use of Tactician or another Coordinate.

 

The beta name for this SA was "On Three..."

[abngi]

If The Tactician gives you an extra card,a nd when your card comes up you choose to pass, then when the extra card comes up you move, that's basically holding your action.  So NO, Tactician does not allow you to hold an action, but it Could be used that way. . .

You know, I hadn't noticed until this thread came up, but the SA Tactician lost the "bury" effect between Beta 1.01 and the OLE version.

 

Should be renamed to Aggressive, if it no longer grants flexibility. Good candidate for Errata, if it wasn't corrected between OLE and the final print.