So I'm fairly certain that I read correctly during our tutorial play that each soldier that is assigned to a task is killed if a loss is rolled (which makes the game horrifyingly hard when I as the game owner took the role of squad leader and even with carapace armor set a record for number of pairs of ones rolled in the history of this game so far). We were playing that only one interceptor was lost at a time though, possibly in defiance of the rules, based on something I read as a passing comment in a different topic. Are all interceptors (per continent) lost on a loss? Are all satellites and scientists on a task exhausted on a loss as well or is the attempt decreased by one exhausted asset? If all losses are total, I don't see how it's possible to win this SOB, but it's an amazingly fun game, so I'm sure I'll be probed and dissected many a time in the process. Maybe I'll drink less rum next game. Thanks in advance!

Ziggy

I'm afraid yes you do lose all interceptors in a continent when you lose a die roll (same with scientists and satellites). It's an encouragement not to put all your eggs in one basket.

On the first turn of a game I lost 3 soldiers on base defence then lost another 3 on a mission by rolling 1 twice in a row which sucked balls. I did still win the game (solo).

Keep in mind though, that as Squad Leader you have the unique ability to change which soldiers are actually rolling for the task between rolls.

For example, I have an enemy in the base, and I have 2x Assault, 1x Sniper and 1x Support assigned to base defense. My first roll might be JUST the 2x Assault. If I fail, only they die, and I can choose (or not) to try again with the Sniper and/or Support if they have the correct icons.

Even if I succeed, I can decide not to risk them for the next roll and swap in the other guys. Nobody else has this flexibility (but nobody else has to deal with threat which doesn't reset, or matching icons on tasks either).

auto-success teck is a squad leaders best friend. Along with that Commander tech that saves soldiers from a mission.

@CommissarFeesh: What you said is unclear to me.

Keep in mind though, that as Squad Leader you have the unique ability to change which soldiers are actually rolling for the task between rolls.

For example, I have an enemy in the base, and I have 2x Assault, 1x Sniper and 1x Support assigned to base defense. My first roll might be JUST the 2x Assault. If I fail, only they die, and I can choose (or not) to try again with the Sniper and/or Support if they have the correct icons.

Even if I succeed, I can decide not to risk them for the next roll and swap in the other guys. Nobody else has this flexibility (but nobody else has to deal with threat which doesn't reset, or matching icons on tasks either).

So 2xAssault, 1xSniper, 1xSupport.

You roll and you miss 2xAssault.

You roll again with 1xSniper and 1xSupport then you succeed.

At this point you said "I can decide not to risk them for the next roll and swap in the other guys". Who are the other guys?! 2xAssault should be in the recruitment pool at this point, right?

I assume he means rolling with the assault, and regardless of win or lose, he could afterwards swap out the sniper and/or support.

Unless they die, I'm pretty sure no one should be leaving the board during a task. They are removed during the refresh phase. If you have 3 enemies to fight and 4 guys assigned to base defense, you can assign some combination of troops to the first enemy, then, you could reassign a different combination of troops to that enemy if you hadn't killed it yet. The threat tracker still goes up for each role, but you can change who you want to risk loosing.

What about interceptors? In example I allocated 2 interceptors in Europe, but now threat is high and UFO are less than they used to be at the beginning of the task. They are both still alive. Can I just use one interceptor? I might increase the number of dice with a tech cards so that I can still roll 2 dice and have the same probability but I risk only 50% of my fleet.

What about interceptors? In example I allocated 2 interceptors in Europe, but now threat is high and UFO are less than they used to be at the beginning of the task. They are both still alive. Can I just use one interceptor? I might increase the number of dice with a tech cards so that I can still roll 2 dice and have the same probability but I risk only 50% of my fleet.

I guess you have to roll with all the interceptors assigned.

Unlike the Squad Leader, all other tasks have already committed their reserves in full during the timed phase - there is no additional assignment to be done during the resolution step. That means Interceptors, Scientists, and Satellites are an 'all-or-nothing' roll.

It is a very unforgiving process, to be sure, but there are techs that help protect you from the threats, and with a game that only lasts 7 rounds, I think the all-or-nothing risk is well balanced.