Aside from my surprise that Actions can be performed (typically) by Exhausted units, this is my only area of confusion: At the end of a battle, in what state do my units return to the HQ? Read on, gentle reader.

Consider this simple, simplied Combat example. This one is easy:

I have a 1/1 unit at Planet 1. So do you. I have Initiative.

I exhaust my unit to kill your unit. Your unit dies.

RRG 3.2.8 ["If no ready units remain at the planet, proceed..."] says to move to 3.2.9 Combat Round Ends framework. My unit readies, and 3.2.10 says "If a player controls at least one unit in a battle at the beginning of his combat turn, and there are no enemy units at the planet", I win.

My unit returns to HQ in his Ready state.

Easy.

Now let's monkey it up a bit. Let's add (...rolls a d4) 3 more units to my side. Same scenario. I exhaust my first unit, killing your unit.

Here is the potential disconnect:

LtP p9, bottom right paragraph says, "If it is a player's combat turn, and his opponent has no units at the planet...the battle ends". In this example, my unit that exhausted to attack would return to HQ in his exhausted state, but my other 3 units would return to the HQ in their Ready state.

The RRG has no such clause!

3.2.8 says "If any ready units remain at the planet, repeat [3.2.6 attack loop]. If no ready units remain at the planet, proceed [to next step]".

In this example, combat has not ended simply because there is no target. There ARE ready units at the planet. Must they all exhaust to attack, even if there is nothing to attack?

Why does this make a difference?

Simply: If I attack/exhaust all 4 of my units, and get to 3.2.9 "Combat Round Ends", then all 4 of my units will Ready, and then return to HQ in a ready state. This is potentially much more desirable than having only 3 of my 4 units ready.

This might not be important now (except, maybe, to Orks with their Teleporter), but we don't know what sneakiness lies around the corner. Knowing the exactness of this will prove important down the road.

Do only 3, or ALL FOUR, of my units return to HQ in the Ready state?

Discuss.

The combat ends when a ready unit goes to take a combat turn and they're are no events at the plant. In your example those units would return trash, and there one who attacked would return exhausted. I'll find the reference later, unless someone beats me to it.

The RRG reference is 3.2.10, pg 26:

"His surviving units at that planet are then returned to his headquarters, maintaining the state (ready or exhausted) they were in at the end of the battle."

If you'd like a more exhaustive coverage of how battles end, with examples, the following thread at cardgamedb will help.

http://www.cardgamedb.com/forums/index.php?/topic/17739-battle-when-exactly-does-it-end-errata/

We're encouraging Conquest players to post rule questions there rather than here (both are FFG sites) so as to establish a common repository of rules questions and answers without having to answer the same question at multiple sites. Hopefully you'll find answers there to questions you don't even know you have yet. :-)

Thank you for the link. I thought these forums were a little quiet!

Sounds like my 1 unit would go back exhausted, and the other 3 would return Ready.

Thanks!