Han Solo and Target Lock

By pkreynolds, in X-Wing Rules Questions

I played in my first tournament today and I was watching a match in which a Han Solo player rolled an attack, used Han's ability to re-roll all of his attack dice, and then used Target Lock to re-roll the misses from the second roll.

My understanding of the core rules is that dice can only ever be re-rolled once per attack, but when I questioned it the player told me that Han's ability doesn't count as a re-roll but rather as a whole new attack. It didn't really sound right to me, but I was only an observer not his opponent, and his opponent seemed to agree, and they seemed like regular tournament players so I didn't really argue the subject any further.

Can anyone clarify this for me? Or point me to an official ruling that says Han's ability doesn't count as a re-roll? I've poked around here and on BGG but everything I've seen seems to agree with the way I thought it should work - i.e. that if Han uses his ability to re-roll all of his attack dice, then they can't be re-rolled again via Target Lock or any other ability.

Edited by pkreynolds

They were doing it wrong. Han's ability is a reroll. It says so on the card.

You were quite right, they were both quite wrong. You can only reroll any die once. Han's ability IS a reroll and is not excluded from the usual rules. It is most definitely NOT another attack.

What should have happened was:

  1. Han rolls attack (scores maybe 1 hit)
  2. Not happy with results, decides to use Target Lock.
  3. Rerolls ALL dice due to Han's ability. Can't choose just the misses, it must be all of them.
  4. End of rolling. Can still use focus if he's got it.
Edited by Parravon

You were quite right, they were both quite wrong. You can only reroll any die once. Han's ability IS a reroll and is not excluded from the usual rules. It is most definitely NOT another attack.

What should have happened was:

  1. Han rolls attack (scores maybe 1 hit)
  2. Not happy with results, decides to use Target Lock.
  3. Rerolls ALL dice due to Han's ability. Can't choose just the misses, it must be all of them.
  4. End of rolling. Can still use focus if he's got it.

That's not quite right. Han's ability and Target Locks are totally separate beasts. You can still use your Target Lock normally with Han (ie. reroll however many dice you want), it's only when you use his ability that you must reroll them all. You just can't use both together because of the "only reroll once" rule.

Edited by DR4CO

From the FAQ, Page 7:

Han Solo

Han Solo’s ability is a ‘Modify Attack Dice’ ability similar to spending a target lock or a focus token–it is not a separate attack.

Edited by Sergovan

Han's ability is a re-roll just like TL. It differs from a TL in that with TL you can pick and choose which dice to re-roll but with Han you MUST re-roll everything that is legal to re-roll. In theory Han could make his attack, spend the TL to reroll some dice, and then use his ability to reroll everything else.

Now one thing that could be confusing things is "Did Han have a Gunner with him?" After one attack misses (no uncancelled [hit] or [crit] results) the Gunner gets to make a completely new attack which Han can effect if desired.

You were quite right, they were both quite wrong. You can only reroll any die once. Han's ability IS a reroll and is not excluded from the usual rules. It is most definitely NOT another attack.

What should have happened was:

  1. Han rolls attack (scores maybe 1 hit)
  2. Not happy with results, decides to use Target Lock.
  3. Rerolls ALL dice due to Han's ability. Can't choose just the misses, it must be all of them.
  4. End of rolling. Can still use focus if he's got it.

That's not quite right. Han's ability and Target Locks are totally separate beasts. You can still use your Target Lock normally with Han (ie. reroll however many dice you want), it's only when you use his ability that you must reroll them all. You just can't use both together because of the "only reroll once" rule.

I've never looked at it like that, but it makes sense now. I've always assumed the reroll restriction was when using a target lock. I haven't used Han yet, so it's never come up in any of my games. Thanks for the enlightenment, DR4CO.