It explicitly says you can drop a bomb prior to a SLAM maneuver. Therefore, that's what FFG intends SLAM to be able to do. Therefore, no matter what the rules may say, they will FAQ it such that it does that.

So, no, you can't show me where a slam has you reveal a dial, and revealing a dial is the trigger condition the bombs are looking for.

When you SLAM, you actually reveal a second dial...

No, you don't. When you SLAM, you execute a maneuver on your dial. You aren't required to set or even touch a dial.

So actually while I agree 100% with the point that you are making, I disagree with this statement. Technically, the SLAM action requires you to "choose and execute a maneuver" and "Choosing a Maneuver" is clearly defined in the rule book as "rotat[ing[ the faceplate of the ship’s maneuver dial until the window shows only the desired maneuver [and] then assign[ing] the maneuver to one of his ships by placing the dial facedown near its corresponding ship inside the play area."

THe best argument I've heard for being able to drop after move and before SLAM is that in the core rules, when explaining movement, it uses the same wording and SLAM. To "Set your dial" it specifically says, "Choose a maneuver on your dial" which is the exact same wording as the SLAM action, THEREFORE, even sans article, it is more ambiguous than they intended. It probably would just have taken longer to get clarification. At least now the pretty much HAVE to include it in the FAQ.

The whole reason I, and I will assume others were excited for the K-wing was the ability to drop bombs mid flight. If the article proves wrong it will be a big let down from FFG, and I will say false advertising.

THe best argument I've heard for being able to drop after move and before SLAM is that in the core rules, when explaining movement, it uses the same wording and SLAM. To "Set your dial" it specifically says, "Choose a maneuver on your dial" which is the exact same wording as the SLAM action, THEREFORE, even sans article, it is more ambiguous than they intended. It probably would just have taken longer to get clarification. At least now the pretty much HAVE to include it in the FAQ.

I'm not sure where you get the "exact same wording" thing, but it's really not even close.

Choosing a Maneuver

To choose a maneuver, the player rotates the faceplate of the ship’s maneuver dial until the window shows only the desired maneuver.

Fair enough, this seems to match the idea so far. But then we get to...

He then assigns the maneuver to one of his ships by placing the dial facedown near its corresponding ship inside the play area.

Does SLAM assign the maneuver? Choosing and assigning are clearly different things, so let's take a look at...

SLAM:

Choose and execute a maneuver on the ship's dial.

Hm. Choose, but no assignment. We know that "execute a maneuver" is only Step 3. We also know that Step 1 is "Reveal Dial" where you flip it face up. So there are two possibilities here: either you place the dial face down, in which case it stays that way because there is no Reveal step, or you don't place it face down because you only "choose" but don't assign, in which case there's nothing to reveal even if you did Step 1 (which you don't).

There's undoubtedly a fair RAI argument to be made here, but the rules really have nothing to help out here no matter how badly they're tortured.

The whole reason I, and I will assume others were excited for the K-wing was the ability to drop bombs mid flight. If the article proves wrong it will be a big let down from FFG, and I will say false advertising.

Before that article was posted everyone agreed that you could not drop a bomb before the slam maneuver. It was frequently discussed and several times someone would ask and the answer was always universally "no", because the rules simply don't support it. Then that article showed up and threw everyone into confusion.

My memmory is a bit fuzzy on the details, but how did the "Fettigator" and similar disusions go? Was it not determined that "rotate your dial" was considered a new "reveal"? Would "choose" be any different?

well I got to play the "K" last night and as currently written SLAM is basically a super boost.. Nice but still would be better if you could do stuff mid action.. "After movement and before SLAM" as in the example they showed.

My memmory is a bit fuzzy on the details, but how did the "Fettigator" and similar disusions go? Was it not determined that "rotate your dial" was considered a new "reveal"? Would "choose" be any different?

Yes. Rotating your dial to a new maneuver requires that you do something with the dial; choosing a maneuver doesn't require anything at all.

My memmory is a bit fuzzy on the details, but how did the "Fettigator" and similar disusions go? Was it not determined that "rotate your dial" was considered a new "reveal"? Would "choose" be any different?

We never figured out a "why" for Fettigator. It could be chained reveals after each rotate, or everything could trigger from the initial reveal but act on the current maneuver when it resolves. Either one would work, but we don't know which it is.

Ah yes, the FFG patented "This is how these cards are played, never you mind why"-answer

My memmory is a bit fuzzy on the details, but how did the "Fettigator" and similar disusions go? Was it not determined that "rotate your dial" was considered a new "reveal"? Would "choose" be any different?

...Rotating your dial to a new maneuver requires that you do something with the dial; choosing a maneuver doesn't require anything at all.

Not so fast--what maneuver did you choose? Because you're going to have to pick up that dial and show me the maneuver you chose to go along with your SLAM, and that information is "revealed" to me, so drop that bomb, no FAQ needed.

Edited for being needlessly argumentative.

Not so fast--what maneuver did you choose? Because you're going to have to pick up that dial and show me the maneuver you chose

No you don't. You just need to look at the maneuver reference that comes with every ship and that is supposed to "be available for any player to look at at any time."

I went and looked at the description of the new SLAM ability in this websites shop under the xwing expansions menu. The demonstration that they used specifically depicted a kwing moving in front of it's enemy, then dropping a bomb as it slammed away. Now I agree that the wording on the bomb cards says to drop the bomb after revealing a dial. Slam alternately says to choose a maneuver on your dial with the same speed as your last maneuver. So technically, going by just words from the rule cards on these actions you can't drop a bomb when slammimg. However the bomb rule card was made long before SLAM became a thing, and ffg showed us an example of a kwing doing just that. Dropping a bomb during a slam. So I'm pretty sure it's clear what we're allowed to do with bombs on a kwing.

*note, some bombs require an action to drop them instead of a maneuver. SLAM specifically says you can't SLAM as a free action, so you can't use experimental interface to do both in one turn. And there is no EPT available on a kwing so no PTL either. The only way to SLAM and drop an (action bomb) is to either use the Advanced SLAM modification or to use squad leader on another friendly ship. If you use squad leader, you must SLAM first. SLAM can never be a free action.*

As for the red maneuver while slammimg, I'd say the 2 turn causes stress. The SLAM rule card reads *choose and execute a maneuver on your ships dial...* if you chose the red 2 then you are performing a red maneuver because the card also reads *Performing a SLAM counts as executing a maneuver.* Therefore you are making a maneuver based off your ship dial. I would assume you follow the basic rules for any normal maneuver.

Not so fast--what maneuver did you choose? Because you're going to have to pick up that dial and show me the maneuver you chose

No you don't. You just need to look at the maneuver reference that comes with every ship and that is supposed to "be available for any player to look at at any time."

The reference card for Slam does say "choose and execute a maneuver on the ship's dial." Does that not imply picking up the dial?

Not so fast--what maneuver did you choose? Because you're going to have to pick up that dial and show me the maneuver you chose

No you don't. You just need to look at the maneuver reference that comes with every ship and that is supposed to "be available for any player to look at at any time."

The reference card for Slam does say "choose and execute a maneuver on the ship's dial." Does that not imply picking up the dial?

No. It says the maneuver you choose has to be on the dial, not that you have to use the dial to choose it.

Consider the simplest possible case. Literally every single ship in the game has access to a straight 2. So if I tell you that's the maneuver I choose, there's not only no need for a dial, but no need for the reference card: I chose a maneuver, and that maneuver must be on the dial, so now I execute it.

Ambiguous: "Choose and execute a maneuver on the ship's dial" can have two different meanings:

- On the ship's dial, choose and execute a maneuver.

- Choose a maneuver that is on the ship's dial and execute it.

Given FFG's recent history of releasing cards that are immediately in need of FAQ and their fetish for the painfully ambiguous and inconsistent ". Then" construction, I wouldn't be surprised if it is an internal joke among the devs to make some cards that have not had enough testing time purposely ambiguous so that they can fix them on the FAQ once the community has given them proper play time.

THe best argument I've heard for being able to drop after move and before SLAM is that in the core rules, when explaining movement, it uses the same wording and SLAM. To "Set your dial" it specifically says, "Choose a maneuver on your dial" which is the exact same wording as the SLAM action, THEREFORE, even sans article, it is more ambiguous than they intended. It probably would just have taken longer to get clarification. At least now the pretty much HAVE to include it in the FAQ.

I'm not sure where you get the "exact same wording" thing, but it's really not even close.

Choosing a Maneuver

To choose a maneuver, the player rotates the faceplate of the ship’s maneuver dial until the window shows only the desired maneuver.

Fair enough, this seems to match the idea so far. But then we get to...

He then assigns the maneuver to one of his ships by placing the dial facedown near its corresponding ship inside the play area.

Does SLAM assign the maneuver? Choosing and assigning are clearly different things, so let's take a look at...

SLAM:

Choose and execute a maneuver on the ship's dial.

Hm. Choose, but no assignment. We know that "execute a maneuver" is only Step 3. We also know that Step 1 is "Reveal Dial" where you flip it face up. So there are two possibilities here: either you place the dial face down, in which case it stays that way because there is no Reveal step, or you don't place it face down because you only "choose" but don't assign, in which case there's nothing to reveal even if you did Step 1 (which you don't).

There's undoubtedly a fair RAI argument to be made here, but the rules really have nothing to help out here no matter how badly they're tortured.

So, strictly, a SLAM move should be chosen and the dial should be put near the ship, but not revealed.

Actually, 'assigning' is still part of the same header, so it can be considered part of 'choosing a maneuver'. It's the same paragraph. The beginning of a new sentence does not logically make it a new step to follow.

So, strictly, a SLAM move should be chosen and the dial should be put near the ship, but not revealed.

Not necessarily. It says "He then assigns the maneuver to one of his ships by..." That makes it sound like a newly-defined term, and "Choosing" doesn't necessarily imply the full flow. It probably SHOULD, I'll grant, but we have at least one consistent example where the rules don't work like that, as double-attack abilities don't perform the full action flow.

But as you say, even if choosing does always include assigning, then it's just as bad. Now we assign the dial by putting it face-down, but we never reveal it. Ever.

This whole flow is just borked.

Actually, 'assigning' is still part of the same header, so it can be considered part of 'choosing a maneuver'. It's the same paragraph. The beginning of a new sentence does not logically make it a new step to follow.

So, strictly, a SLAM move should be chosen and the dial should be put near the ship, but not revealed.

Not necessarily. It says "He then assigns the maneuver to one of his ships by..." That makes it sound like a newly-defined term, and "Choosing" doesn't necessarily imply the full flow. It probably SHOULD, I'll grant, but we have at least one consistent example where the rules don't work like that, as double-attack abilities don't perform the full action flow.

But as you say, even if choosing does always include assigning, then it's just as bad. Now we assign the dial by putting it face-down, but we never reveal it. Ever.

This whole flow is just borked.

If they end up making an errata for SLAM that has you reveal a dial, and ever introduce a ship that can SLAM and take Advanced Sensors, the actions just get crazy.

1. Reveal dial.

2. Execute maneuver.

3. Perform SLAM action.

4. Before you reveal your SLAM dial, trigger Advanced Sensors for another action.

5. Execute maneuver from SLAM.

6. Use Advanced SLAM for another action.

Except you can't SLAM as a free action. (step 4 above)

Except you can't SLAM as a free action. (step 4 above)

SLAM isn't a free action in 4. It's your normal action in 3. It's dial being revealed and triggering Advanced Sensors is 4.

If they end up making an errata for SLAM that has you reveal a dial, and ever introduce a ship that can SLAM and take Advanced Sensors, the actions just get crazy.

1. Reveal dial.

2. Execute maneuver.

3. Perform SLAM action.

4. Before you reveal your SLAM dial, trigger Advanced Sensors for another action.

5. Execute maneuver from SLAM.

6. Use Advanced SLAM for another action.

Nah...this isn't problematic! What's the worst that could happen? Besides needing a shift in the time-space continuum so that you can go back and skip the perform action step that you already took to perform an action that revealed the maneuver that triggered the action that caused you to skip your perform action step...err...uhhh....

But in all seriousness, I doubt that they would ever make such a ship

If they end up making an errata for SLAM that has you reveal a dial, and ever introduce a ship that can SLAM and take Advanced Sensors, the actions just get crazy.

1. Reveal dial.

2. Execute maneuver.

3. Perform SLAM action.

4. Before you reveal your SLAM dial, trigger Advanced Sensors for another action.

5. Execute maneuver from SLAM.

6. Use Advanced SLAM for another action.

Nah...this isn't problematic! What's the worst that could happen? Besides needing a shift in the time-space continuum so that you can go back and skip the perform action step that you already took to perform an action that revealed the maneuver that triggered the action that caused you to skip your perform action step...err...uhhh....

But in all seriousness, I doubt that they would ever make such a ship

That's the same thing they said about 2 attack ships getting a System Slot after Accuracy Corrector was spoiled.