Forgive me if this has been done before. I am new to the Conquest game and I can not figure out how Blackmane's Hunt works. I have read threads, but the once I ran across have just confused me more, as they often include a lot of other topic mixes. Can someone please tell me how it works, why it works, and when it works? Thank you much!

Oh yeah, looking at old threads on this will become confusing because this card was part of a much larger discussion. Let me try to focus some of this for you:

Card -

Blackmane's Hunt:

" Reaction : After your warlord commits to a planet, commit your warlord to an adjacent planet."

WHEN it works : The event is used after your warlord (Blackmane) commits to a planet. 99 times out of 100, this is going to be in the Command Phase - right after all the units (including the warlord) go from HQ to the planet set on the dial, but before any of the command struggles are resolved.

HOW it works : Simply play the event when you would normally trigger a reaction to committing your warlord to a planet, pick up your warlord, and move him over one planet (in either direction). This will be after you move everything from the HQ to the planet, but before any command struggles are resolved, so the "(virtually) auto command win" for the warlord's presence will be at the new planet, not the one you originally sent him to. It is also important to note that the event only moves Blackmane, not all the other units that came with him from the HQ to the planet set on the dial. Those units stay (exhausted) where the dial sent them. Only Blackmane moves. (NOTE: You can trigger this before or after other reactions to the warlord committing, like the Sentinels, giving you more flexibility with some of Blackmane's support tricks, too.)

WHY it works : Mechanically, it works (and moves only the warlord) because it is a reaction to the warlord committing the first time, meaning that that first commitment is over, done, and complete before the event is played - and the warlord is "committed" to the new planet from the old one, not from the HQ. Strategically, it works because, as I'm sure you know, Blackmane's strength (and basic strategy) is to get to the same planet as the enemy warlord and hit that warlord hard, fast and often. Of course, this is hard to do if, in the Command Phase, you "miss" and commit Blackmane to a different planet from the enemy warlord. Blackmane's Hunt allows you something of a "do over" in the Command Phase so that you can, once you see where your opponent committed his warlord, chase your enemy's warlord down (if you were close enough when setting your own dial). The event essentially says that since you want Blackmane at the same planet as your opponent's warlord, if you miss your guess on where your opponent's warlord is going by one, you can catch him. There is also a side benefit here in that if, for example, you want all the units in your HQ at Planet 1, but your warlord at Planet 2 this round, you can send everything in the HQ to Planet 1, then move just your warlord to Planet 2 (effectively allowing you stop stack your units at Planet 1).

Thank you ktom! That is awesome!