Hi Guys,

Lately I've been using a little trick to be able to see initiative on planets. Once the first 5 planets are revealed (and we do the same for the next 2) we orientate the planet so that it is facing the player that has or will have the initiative marker when that planet is number one.

I've found it is a quick and easy way to look down the line and plan your strategy and is really helpful in speeding up deployment decisions (i.e. you look down and see that you won't have initiative on planet 4 so you drop your Marksman there...).

We used it at my local store champs on the weekend and everyone seemed to like it.

I guess my question is: Is this technically allowed in a tournament setting (even with both player's agreement)?

Note: This is about who will have the initiative marker - obviously a number of things will determine who will have initiative at the battle at the planet (warlords, events ets). It is mainly a deployment thing - and is also really helpful when you forget to exchange the initiative marker and need to count back!

There is nothing in the rules (either LtP or RRG) mentioning how planets should be oriented. It simply doesn't matter, so you are free to orient them the way you like.

My friends and I* are kicking around the idea of putting the planets face down on the table and turn them face up when a unit deploys/commits/moves there. So it feels a bit like discovering new worlds and you can't imediatly go "I'm gonna go for blue, so i need to take 1st planet, then my oponent can have the second one, but i gotta set up to take planets 3 and 4." Right from turn one.

* If its a good idea it is mine, if it turns out to be a stupid idea it was theirs.

My friends and I* are kicking around the idea of putting the planets face down on the table and turn them face up when a unit deploys/commits/moves there. So it feels a bit like discovering new worlds and you can't imediatly go "I'm gonna go for blue, so i need to take 1st planet, then my oponent can have the second one, but i gotta set up to take planets 3 and 4." Right from turn one.

Well, that's fun from a flavor point of view, but the "I'm gonna go for blue, so i need to take 1st planet, then my opponent can have the second one, but i gotta set up to take planets 3 and 4 right from turn one" thinking and strategizing, as well as deploying to manage resources/cards during command, is part of the game - and the reason why the rules say to reveal the first 5 planets during game setup.

I like both ideas, then again, I've always been a 4X games fan.

My friends and I* are kicking around the idea of putting the planets face down on the table and turn them face up when a unit deploys/commits/moves there. So it feels a bit like discovering new worlds and you can't imediatly go "I'm gonna go for blue, so i need to take 1st planet, then my oponent can have the second one, but i gotta set up to take planets 3 and 4." Right from turn one.

We used to do the same thing with the story cards in the Call of Cthulhu LCG. Stories played face down so you didn't know what they were and when completed you had to enact the effect. Made for some more interesting games.

As I do have 3 cores , we play with 2 rows of planet cards one facing each player along the middle so we can both see the text upright and readily readable .