So a question came up in our game the other night. If Corran Horn is overlapping an asteroid, then he obviously can't attack during the combat phase. The question is can Corran use his ability to attack during the End phase. The rules seem to say yes.

The rule in question from page 20:

When overlapping an obstacle token, the ship stays where it lands (on top of the token). A ship that is overlapping an obstacle token during the Combat phase cannot attack any ship but may be targeted by other ships as normal.

This made me wonder if Corran can also attack a ship while their bases are "touching".

Here is the relevant text from page 17:

Ships whose bases are touching cannot declare each other as a target during the Combat phase while their bases remain touching. As soon as either of these ships moves away (so that the bases are no longer touching), this combat restriction no longer applies.

In both instances, the rules explicitly state "during the combat phase" which leaves me to believe that Corran can activate his pilot ability regardless of obstacles, and that he can target a ship he is touching.

I think you're right by a strict reading, but I'd honestly be surprised to see either case hold up on comment from FFG.

The only current rules issue I see as a problem is with the "touching" case. One of the few rulebook errata they've made changes the Combat Phase from a single flow to an opportunity to attack, which now includes the steps of the combat phase. I think there's a fair argument that since targeting is meaningless outside of an attack, "declare each other as a target during the Combat phase" would follow that shift to be "declare each other as a target during an attack."

This does make me wonder if the developer's choice of having Corran attack at the start of the End Phase instead of at the end of the Combat Phase was done to allow him to bypass these situations where most ships would be unable to attack.

As for touching ships:

Step 1 of Performing an Attack (on page 10 of the core rules) states:

"A ship cannot target a ship if their bases are touching".

Corran's attack is an attack like any other and must conform to all rules of "performing an attack." Yes, the section on page 17 for "overlapping other ships" states that you cannot attack a ship you are touching during the combat phase, but the actual rules of "performing an attack" does not state that this rule only applies to the combat phase.

As far as when overlapping an obstacle tokens:

As written, the rules for not being able to attack while on an asteroid does seem to only state "during the combat phase", but I think logically it would make sense that it was meant to apply to any attack. This is more of a RAW vs RAI argument. It makes more sense that a ship overlapping an obstacle cannot attack as long as it remains on the obstacle. Not being able to attack during combat but then being able to attack during the end phase makes no sense...

When the rules about obstacles were written, there was no other time you could attack except during the combat phase. They probably didn't expect to have to deal with attacks at any other time when they wrote it, so didn't feel the need to clarify it.

If every instance of not being able to shoot while on an asteroid or in base to base contact mentions the combat phase and the developers set Corran's second shot to happen at the start of of the end phase that seems like evidence to support that RAW and RAI are the same and Corran should get to shoot. Otherwise there is no reason to have Corran shoot in the end phase as opposed to the combat phase. He shoots before tokens are cleared or anything else is done. It seems like the only reason to have his shot happens outside of the combat phase is to exempt him from anything that only happen in the combat phase.

When the rules about obstacles were written, there was no other time you could attack except during the combat phase. They probably didn't expect to have to deal with attacks at any other time when they wrote it, so didn't feel the need to clarify it.

The rules even mention when talking about the end phase that upgrades or pilot cards might contain effects that happen during that phase so they already had end phase actions in mind. I don't know about corran in particular.

Page 13:

Some card abilities or missions may instruct players to resolve certain effects during the End phase. If this is the case, do so at this time.

I agree with Buhallin,

Clearly RAW you can take that 2nd shot with Corran, but I kinda doubt that would be true of RAI. I could see FFG publishing an errata that drops the "in the combat phase" and just have say you can't attack.

I agree with Buhallin,

Clearly RAW you can take that 2nd shot with Corran, but I kinda doubt that would be true of RAI. I could see FFG publishing an errata that drops the "in the combat phase" and just have say you can't attack.

That may be true at some point in the future, but when interepting the rules without speculation to future errata, I don't see how you can argue against a player taking their end phase shot against a ship they are touching.

On reading the relevant rules section again, it seems like Corran clearly cannot attack while in base-to-base contact. The steps for how to resolve an attack do not stipulate anything about the combat phase in regards to target selection. The rules for attacking seem to be in the Combat Phase section for organizational purposes and not because the steps used in attacking depend on being done during the Combat phase.

In reviewing the bit about not being able to attack while on an Asteroid it looks like there could be some ambiguity with how it is written:

"A ship that is overlapping an obstacle token during