Combat cards? When and how exactly to use them?

By lexblow, in War of the Ring

Well, my question may seem simplist at first glance, but it is not. See do i have to choose one of my combat cards BEFORE the rolling Always, or only when specified it should be used before the rolling? Second, do i have to pre-select one card and may use it or not depending on the battle? third, do i have to use them before the rollign and after rolling see if the results apply, and this way may i lose my bonus in combat? Can i use more than one card per round?

TX in advance

Combat cards are chosen at the beginning of each combat round. This is the first thing that is done in the round, unless the battle is a field battle occurring in a Region with a Stronghold, in which case the defender makes the choice whether or not to retreat into siege before combat cards are chosen.

The procedure is that first the attacker decides whether to play a combat card, then the defender decides whether to play one. After this decision, the player(s) that elected to play a card choose them simultaneously, then reveal them. Only one card may be played by each player in each combat round. The effects of the chosen card must be used, unless they are stated to be optional. For example, if a card says "you may eliminate up to 4 units" to gain a bonus, you may choose to eliminate none.

I hope this helps.

Well, this explains a bit but not everything. There are cards that are explicity written to be played BEFORE the rolling. Other cards do not have that instruction.

There also cards that have to be played when a trigger happens (ex1.: if i take 2 casualities, i may remove on casuality; or ex2.:for each 1 my adversary rolls, he takens 1 casuality). If i play this card before the combat i may loose it's benefit, instead of choosing not to showing it, and keepping the card for further use. Don't know if i made myself clear enough..

Any light?

lexblow said:

There are cards that are explicity written to be played BEFORE the rolling. Other cards do not have that instruction.

Except there aren't. Both players have to play their cards before any rolls in each round of Combat. There are cards that kick in "before Combat Roll" or "before Leader re-roll".

Sequence is:

"1) Play a Combat Card (optional)
2) Roll the dice for the Combat Roll
3) Roll the dice for the Leader Re-roll
4) Remove Casualties
5) Choose to Cease the Attack or Retreat." (p. 13)

Combat effects then kick in as per the card, "before the Combat roll, before the Leader re-roll, before removing casualties, after removing casualties, etc." (FAQ, p 5) It's the timing of the combat effect that you need to pay attention to.

Exactly. Different combat cards may take effect at different points in the combat round, but they're all played at the beginning of the round.

The bad thing about this is that it takes away strategy, and put way more luck factor into the game... Using the card selectevely when it will make more damage sounds much more apropriate than randomly throwing it and expecting it to "hit".