Hello!

I just picked up this game a few days ago and my son is expressing great interest and we have had three games already. However, that brought up a good few questions:

1. Do battles in planets only end in one side obliterating the other? Page 11 of the Learn to Play book says only Warlords may retreat, but what if I want to save a unit from being killed?

2. Do the armies deployed on other planets return to HQ during the Headquarters phase? Or only the army on the first planet?

3. A few "planets" into the game, we would only have a few armies on different planets and would have a few armies on our HQ (after winning a few planets). Are these armies (at HQ) capable of being deployed to other planets or do they just tag along with the Commander to whatever planet that unit is committed to?

4. Are we able to trigger the Battle ability of planets we've won (planets on the victory display) ?

5. When discarding cards to negate damage, is there a limit to the number of cards to discard?

6. Can we deploy attachments to units outside of Phase 1: Deploy?

I think that's all the questions for now, but I'm sure more will come up as we play more games. Thanks in advance for any help!

1. If a full combat round ends with no victor, both sides may choose to retreat surviving units before the next combat round begins.

2. Onlt the Army on the first planet, and the Warlord if s/he's elsewhere.

3. They just tag along. Important to remember they arrive Exhausted too, but will refresh if they survive to the next HQ phase (or end of a combat round).

4. No, you may only trigger the Battle ability of a planet when you win the battle AT THAT PLANET. So you may trigger planet 1's ability before it goes to the victory display, but never again.

5. For shielding, it's one card per source of damage.

6. Only if a card effect allows you to.

1. Battles do not end until all units on one side or another are gone from the planet - either by being destroyed or by retreated. While a Warlord can retreat from a battle at any time (in place of it's combat turn/attack), other units can only retreat between combat rounds. So, in practical terms, when all units at a planet are exhausted from making attacks (the end of the combat round), you stand everything up and start making attacks all over again, right? Well, when you stand everything up, each player has the option of retreating any or all of their units back to the HQ (where the arrive exhausted, iirc) before any new attacks take place in the next combat round. It that way, you can save some units from a combat you are likely to lose.

2. Units stay at a planet until either they are destroyed, they retreat during a battle, or the planet itself is captured. Only the Warlord automatically returns to the HQ each round.

3. When a warlord is committed to a planet in the Command Phase, it takes all the units in the HQ with it (they exhaust when this happens). Check the rule book on committing warlords during the Command Phase for complete details.

5. For shielding, the rule is one shield card per unit being damaged, regardless of the source of the damage. (Commissar's answer might accidentally be read as, if an effect damages 2 units at the same time, only 1 shield card total may be discarded, instead of 1 shield card for each separate unit being damaged.)

Thanks for the replies guys!

1. Thanks for pointing out the difference between Warlord retreat vs. ordinary army unit retreat. I'm glad that I can at least pull out my injured troops.

3. On our first game, we would deploy units from our hand and/or units in HQ. I felt that gave us a bit more strategy with our in-HQ units, but I guess that's the wrong way to play it. I'm not sure I like the idea that ALL units tag along with the Warlord though. Oh well.

5. I'm still a little fuzzy on this one. Say one of my enemy's unit attacks my unit dealing 3 damage. In my hand, I have 2 cards that have 1 shield, 1 card that has 2 shields, and 1 card that has 3 shields. I understand that I can simply discard the 3-shield card and get it over with, but can I discard say 1 1-shield card and 1 2-shield card instead? Or discard the 2 1-shield cards to prevent 2 damage?

New questions:

7. After committing my warlord and all units at the HQ, one of them is a card with a "+1 card" icon on it, another has a "+2 resource" on it. Obviously, both cards are exhausted once they arrive on the planet. When resolving command struggle, assuming I win it, do I get the "+1 card" and the "+2 resource" benefits even if the cards are exhausted?

8. Aside from that one planet that removed damage from one unit, is there other ways of "healing" army units?

5. No. You may play ONE shield card for a unit, every time that unit is damaged. If multiple units are damaged (by AoE for example) you may play one for EACH unit.

7. Yes, but they do not contribute their command icons to the actual struggle while exhausted.

8. There's a unique Eldar whose name I forget who heals another unit when he attacks, and Kraktoof Hall lets you move damage (not strictly healing, but you can move it to an enemy unit...)

5. No. One card only.

7. Yes.

8. At the moment it's just Spiritseer Erathel. I think there is only the ability to move damage around......though I guess Fall Back sorta counts (but not really). There are some spoiled future cards that can heal.

Rockcrete Bunker can prevent damage.

Thanks for the info and clarifications!