We played our first game last night and we certainly agreed that the game has legs We did have a few questions however.

I'm unsure about the wording/timing of readying units after a battle. During a battle combat rounds are played out and if units remain they all ready.

Pg 9 of the Learn to Play book says " After a combat round is completed (usually when all units at the planet are exhausted), each unit at the planet readies simultaneously. "

Under winning a battle on page 11 it says " When a player wins a battle at any other planet his warlord (if it was committed to that planet returns to his headquarters , maintaining the state (ready or exhausted) it was at the end of the battle. The planet remains in play and other surviving units remain at the planet also maintaining their state"

So my question is - if units ready as soon as the final combat is over, how would they remain in an exhausted state after the battle is over? Is it the case that they do not automatically ready after the final combat round? It implies that but I cant see it anywhere in the text...

Cheers for any help.

Combat ends when one unit goes to take a combat action and has no enemy at the planet.

So, example:

2 of my units at the first planet, one of yours. I have initiative and attack, destroying your unit.

Action window (we both pass).

My second unit goes to take a combat turn, finds no enemy, I win the combat. The units return to HQ one ready, one exhausted.

Now, to contrast let's assume you shielded my first attack and hit me back, THEN my 2nd unit attack and destroys yours. I now have 2 exhausted units at the planet.

Action window (let's assume we both pass, and you don't deploy another unit with Ambush. If you DID, you'd get to attack with it before I can ready.).

The combat round ends. I ready both my units.

Action window (let's assume we pass again)

I NOW win the combat, with two ready units, because one of my units takes a combat turn and finds no enemy. Both units return to HQ ready.

Does that help?

The only way a combat round can end is if the battle doesn't end during that combat round. A battle ends if you have a ready unit start its combat turn when there are no enemy units at that planet. At that point, the battle ends immediately, and you jump out of the flowchart sequence (RRG pg 22) straight to the end-battle sequence - ie you don't do any combat round end stuff. That's why units don't auto-ready at battle-end.

The battle-end tutorial at cardgamedb helps flesh this out and gives examples of some battle end situations, and hopefully helps:

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

Mm, I think I see what you mean, though it seems needlessly tangled as a rule for simply finishing a combat round. I think I see what you mean though. Thanks for the help.

I think FFG could have made this important mechanic a little less opaque. There is a fiddly interaction between a Combat Turn, a Combat Round, a Combat Phase and a Battle...