Are all of the above (in title) considered a " move" or a "movement" for Army Units?
My apologies in advance. I keep having this recurring problem as I keep reading different threads on this forum.
Thanks in advance!
Clarification please: Deploy, Put into Play, Place and Return, etc.
It is only considered a move if the rules specifically say move. Sorry at work so cannot provide detailed citations but read each of those words entries in the glossary in the RRG.
Ultimately, none of the things you mention (Deploying, Putting Into Play, Placing, and Returning) are likely to be "moves" or "movement."
The truly important RRG entry for answering this question is the definition of "Move" itself:
Move (RRG, p. 10):
Some effects allow players to move game elements, such as damage, cards, or tokens.
> When an entity “moves,” it cannot move to its same (current) placement. If there is no valid destination for a move, the move attempt cannot initiate.
So a game element (
any
game element) "moves" when it starts in one game space and ends in another.
However, what may not be immediately clear from this is that a "move" can
only
be from one "in-play" game space to another "in-play" game space, unless the "move" effect specifically names an out-of-play game space (like your deck, hand or discard pile) as either the starting place or destination for the a "move."
We know this from a different RRG entry:
In Play and Out of Play (RRG, p.8):
> Card abilities only interact with, and can only target, cards that are in play, unless the ability text specifically refers to an out of play area.
This tells you that everything (including the starting point
and
the destination of a moved element) are assumed to be "in play" unless text specifically refers to an out of play area. So unless an effect specifically says "moves from your deck," "moves to your hand," "moves from the damage pool," moves to your discard pile," etc., both the starting point and the destination must be "in play." So "move" by itself for units will almost exclusively refer to movement between and among planets and the HQ - not to and from out-of-play areas like your hand, deck or discard pile.
Since Deploying and Putting Into Play involve a transition between "in play" and "out of play," they will
never
count for effects that refer simply to "move."
"Placing" and "Returning" could count as movement (e.g., "returning" a unit from a planet to the HQ, or "placing" an unit at the First Planet on another planet), but it is unlikely that those words would be used instead of "move" in such situations.
We had it ruled by PBrennan over at CGDB that routing, retreating an returning are not Moving in the rules defintion of the term.
However I believe 'committing' is.
Sorry. I should have been a little clearer.
Because of the "in play" default, the word "move" as a game mechanic only refers to a game element going from one in-play area to another. It does not refer a game element that goes from "in play" to "out of play," or vice versa.
However, and as Toqtamish alluded to earlier, just because a game element goes from one in-play area to another does not mean that it has "moved" -- at least not as far as the game mechanic is concerned. The word "move" must actually be used, the way that it is in the definition for "Mobile" and the description for committing during the Command Phase, for the specific game mechanic to be invoked. Routing and Retreating do not use the word "move," so they do not, for example, satisfy the play restrictions for an "After this unit moves..." Reaction.
It's weird, but just because a unit moves from one place to another on the table does not mean, as far as game mechanics are concerned, that it has "moved." It's similar to how just because an effect works directly or exclusively on a unit does not mean, as far as game mechanics are concerned, that the unit was a "target" of the effect.
papa, instead of using this rules forum to research rules, you'd be better off searching the rules forum at cardgamedb, where the threads are topic specific, sorted / moderated, and there are tutorials for the trickier bits. That should nail most of everything for you.
is deploying your warlord and units to a planet considered a move?
Deploying is not moving. Warlords never deploy. COMMITTING to a planet is moving, but that's a different thing.