Ok, so I have been trying out the core set and me and my friends were wandering about some timing issues.

1. Franz's Decree, Empire: "Action: Target unit cannot be declared as an attacker or defender until the end of the turn".

If opponent has uber-strong unit in battlefield zone, and it's his turn, should I play Franz's Decree before he declares his attackers? If he declares his attackers, if I play Franz's Decree afterwards, would it work? Or is it too late? (I'd assume it is too late).

Likewise, if I'm attacking him, should I play Franz's Decree before he declares his defenders? Or can it work after he declares them too? (I'd assume before than after).

2. PIlgrimage, Empire: "Action: Return one target unit to its owner's hand."

If someone is declaring any attacker, but before he is assigning damage, can I use this card to return the attacker back to his hand, thus avoiding the damage to be assigned?

Would it still work though after he assigns damage and it would cancel that damage, or would it be too late?

3. The counterstrike ability, Empire: "This unit immediately deals x amount of damage when defending."

Reiksguard Knights in core set has Counterstrike 2. Say opponent has a unit that has 4 attack and only 1 toughness/life. If he assigns his unit to attack and I have the knight there and I assign the Reiksguard Knights as a defender, it triggers the counterstrike. Does this mean that my counterstrike knights assign 2 points of damage to that attacker, thus the assigned 4 points attacking damage will be cancelled because I killed the opponent's unit before he had the chance to assign damage?

It does say "When Defending" so I assume it's after damage is already assigned...? So does counterstrike trigger before of after the attacker assigns damage?

4. Lobber Crew, Orks: "Action: Sacrifice this unit to force an opponent to sacrifice a unit he controls, if able."

So I can sacrifice this unit any time I want, even when opponent assigns his attackers (any time in the instructions it says "Actions can be taken by any player").

Say he only has 1 unit, and it's an attacker in his battlefield. At what point is the latest action I can perform to sacrifice one of my units in order to have the opponent sacrifice his attacker to avoid damage assigned to me? Would it be right before he gets to the "assign damage" step? If I use the sacrifice ability of lobber crew to destroy opponent attacker after the opponent assigns damage with his unit, will that damage still be cancelled, or is it too late?

5. Favour of Mork, Orks: "Action: One target unit loses 1attack and another unit gains 1 attack unitl the end of turn.

If someone declares attackers, before the assign damage step, if I play this card it's obviously going to work. But what if I play it after someone assigns damage- will it still work?

Thanks for the clarification.

I see you have got timing issues during your battlefield phase. Basically you have got chance to react with any action or card or effect in your opponent’s battlefield phase 6 times. The updated turn sequence diagram in the FAQ's 15th page shows quite well.

The main thing what I was hardly to understand that an effect after its activation is independent from his origin so doesn't make any sense anymore to target the origin card of the effect. After when an effect triggered you should target the effect itself if you would like to cancel it.

1. You can "catch" the unit anytime till end of the battlefield phase as it is declared till is declared but its effects won't canceled after when they made or triggered. Effectivly better the catch the unit straight away after its declaration.

2. Same. Better sooner or later.

3. Counterstrike's damages dealt immediatly after when deffender is declared they "start" the combat just after counterstrike damages applied. That is how we understand this ability.

4. Same than 1st. You can use 6 times when you have got a chance to use but do not forget effects after triggered are independent from the origin.

5. Same than 1st. You have to target the opponents cards before its controler triggers their effects. After, you can only target the effect itself.

I hope that helps .

1. You need to use the effect before the Declare Attackers / Declare Defenders step, respectively. If the unit has already been declared, it will be useless.

2. If you don't want the unit to deal damage, you need to return it to the hand (and thereby remove it from combat) before the Assign Damage step. If it has already contributed to combat damage, the amount of combat damage won't be reduced if it is removed from combat.

3. Counterstrike damage is dealt before the actual combat. In your example, the attacking unit is destroyed and doesn't get to deal combat damage itself.

4. Correct. If you want to prevent the damage, you need to take out the unit before the Assign Damage step. Once damage has been assigned, it stays assigned, even if all the units/legends that contributed to it are removed from combat.

5. You can play it after the Assign Damage step, and the powers will change for the rest of the turn, but the amounts of combat damage each side deals have already been determined and won't change. So usually this will be pointless.