Hey all,

Hit this question this week. Luke is the only unit left to activate. He activates and immediately upon completion of his activation his controller plays "Son of Skywalker". His controller has initiative (in case this may be relevant). Does Luke end up ready or not?

The important distinction is that the card exhausts after the activation via a rulebook effect and uses the exact same wording of the Command Card (a player effect). What I do not know is the order in which these resolve. Does Son of Skywalker resolve first? If so, Luke would end up exhausted since he would ready, then exhaust from the rulebook effect, Does the person with initiative get to choose the order? I don't think so even though that's how we played it, since these are not both player or mission effects.

Relevant Rules below.

Son of Skywalker Command Card:

After a figure resolves an activation , ready your Deployment card.

Actions Section RRG Page 3 Bullet 8

After resolving an activation , exhaust the figure’s activation token (for heroes) or Deployment card (for all other figures).

Timing Section RRG Page 2

Numerous game effects have the possibility of triggering at the same time. If this occurs, use the following to determine the order in which these effects are resolved: In a campaign, [snip]. In a skirmish, resolve mission rules first, followed by effects triggered by the player with initiative, then effects triggered by his opponent. During an attack, in both a campaign and a skirmish, resolve mission rules first, followed by effects triggered by the attacker, then effects triggered by the defender.

Conflicts Section RRG Page 9

Numerous abilities, mission rules, and other game effects can be triggered at the same time.

• While attacking , mission rules are resolved first, followed by effects from the attacker (including figures friendly to him), then effects from the defender (including figures friendly to him).

• Effects from multiple figures under the control of a single player are resolved in the order of that player’s choice.

• The decision for a player to resolve an optional effect coincides with the order of resolution. After a player has declined to trigger one or more abilities, he does not have the opportunity to trigger that ability until the next triggering instance.

[snip}

During a skirmish, mission rules are resolved first, followed by effects from the player with initiative, then effects from his opponent.

• If multiple mission rules would resolve at the same time, the player with initiative decides the order of resolution

The issue I see is that exhausting the Deployment Card is a rulebook effect, so it does not fall under mission/player effects, so none of the rules to determine the order cover it. There is no question if you play the card after another group's activation, since Luke would already be exhausted/ready and would be obviously useful/not useful..

Luke would end up ready.

Son of Skywalker is referring to the timing window after you finished resolving an activation, and before your opponent has resolved an activation.

It's only abilities that trigger "during" a figure's activation are used before or after either of that figure's two actions.

Son of Skywalker is not played during his activation - it is played outside.

Luke would end up ready.

Son of Skywalker is referring to the timing window after you finished resolving an activation, and before your opponent has resolved an activation.

It's only abilities that trigger "during" a figure's activation are used before or after either of that figure's two actions.

Son of Skywalker is not played during his activation - it is played outside.

But you do not exhaust the card until after the activation as well. The wording on the Command Card and the wording from the RRG activation (quoted above) are basically identical. The question is what happens first? The command card readying the unit? or the exhaustion of the card from the previous activation? The order matters significantly and they both seem to have the same trigger. None of the conflict rules appear to cover what order this occurs in.

In this case, the activation would exhaust the card, then Son of Skywalker would take effect, readying the card.

Remember the "Golden Rule", RRG, Page 2:

Card abilities can override the rules listed in this guide. Mission rules can override both card abilities and rules from this guide.

Additionally, Initiative in this case would not matter as you are the controlling player of both the deployment card and the effect, you would resolve the conflict.

Extrapolation from "Conflicts", RRG, Page 9:

Effects from multiple figures under the control of a single player are resolved in the order of that player’s choice.

One could easily argue that if that is the case for multiple figures with single effects, that this would apply with a single figure with multiple effects.

Hida77 makes a really good point. This isn't covered by the timing or conflict rules and it should be. This is another instance where a timing window structure would help. The rules don't give any indication of where "rulebook" rules fit in the conflict resolution timeline. I think it makes sense that they should be first following the pattern of general to specific, but that isn't stated.