I was playing rebel in a recent game and the title situation came up.

I attacked a system containing a DS, super SD, and four TIEs with 2 Mon Cals, 4 corvettes, 2 xwings, and 1 ywing.

After round one, I had 1 ywing left, so I played Death Star Plans, rolled, and destroyed the DS.

The Super SD took 5 damage. And I had the firepower remaining to kill it in round 2.

With the DS destroyed, could the rest of the fleet then retreat?

Yes. The Death Star is no longer there, so the rule that the Death Star prevents the Imperial player from retreating no longer applies.

Wow have I been playing that card wrong! I thought it was played at the end of combat when ONLY the Death Star and at least 1 Rebel fight remained. This makes the objective a little easier to pull off.

Wow have I been playing that card wrong! I thought it was played at the end of combat when ONLY the Death Star and at least 1 Rebel fight remained. This makes the objective a little easier to pull off.

It can be played at the end of each combat round. So if you have any fighters left, you can attempt the card.

If you fail, the next round of combat begins. If you have any fighters left, you can attempt the card again.

Repeat as long as the conditions apply.

Wow have I been playing that card wrong! I thought it was played at the end of combat when ONLY the Death Star and at least 1 Rebel fight remained. This makes the objective a little easier to pull off.

It can be played at the end of each combat round. So if you have any fighters left, you can attempt the card.

If you fail, the next round of combat begins. If you have any fighters left, you can attempt the card again.

Repeat as long as the conditions apply.

Yeah, the Rebel player in ANH had to play it 3 times (1 with Y-wings, 2 with X-wings) before they got a Direct Hit!

Yeah, the Rebel player in ANH had to play it 3 times (1 with Y-wings, 2 with X-wings) before they got a Direct Hit!

Yeah but he was just trying to build up suspense, because he had Luke, Wedge and One in a Million

Thanks, makes sense.

I felt bad ... my last opponent accidently discovered the Rebel base with 2 ion-cannon on it with a death star and some ground troops the death star had 0 dice to attack and I just kept attempting the run (because you can't retreat with the death star) (We may have done this wrong I don't know)

You know I am not sure on that. I know if this situation pops up the rebels are suppose to retreat, but I am not sure if having DSPs in hands changes that. Is anyone clear on that?

You know I am not sure on that. I know if this situation pops up the rebels are suppose to retreat, but I am not sure if having DSPs in hands changes that. Is anyone clear on that?

What do you mean the rebels are supposed to retreat? Why would you retreat if you can kill the death star

If you reach a stalemate with the DS, the rebels are supposed to retreat.

For instance, 2 ion cannons on system, 1 corellian corvette vs DS in space. Neither side of the space battle can win. The DS can't roll attack dice, the Corvette can't damage the DS. Since the DS can't retreat, the Corvette is forced to retreat. If he can't (no space to retreat to), he is destroyed.

Same would go for a fighter instead of a corvette. However, if you have the plans...I don't know. That's probably a question for the devs. I'm guessing they'd rule forced rebel retreat, otherwise you have an automatic DS kill.

Okay I went back to the exact question and answers the devs answered.

"Question: If the Death Star is in a system with no other Imperial ships and the Rebels have ships but no Death Star Plans and two Ion Cannons, the Ion Cannons prohibit the DS from firing (each one cancels out 2 red dice), and ships can't attack the DS normally, what happens?

Answer:

In this situation, the Imperial player can’t retreat, so the Rebel player is forced to retreat his ships.

I hope this answers your question!
- Corey Konieczka
VP of Research & Design
Fantasy Flight Games

The follow up question about if the Rebel player doesn't have a leader to use to retreat:

If the Rebels were unable to retreat for any reason, they would be destroyed.

Thanks for playing!
- Corey Konieczka"

Its not addressed precisely, but I would say its an auto kill of the death star if you have the plans and the DS has no firepower.

The rebels being forced to retreat in the no DSP scenario is because it's the only legal move that will end the battle.

If they have the DSP, there are two legal moves (blow up the death star or retreat) for the rebels and none for the empire. In this case, the rebels can of course try to blow up the death star, and with nothing to run interference, yes. It would mean automatic success (or else you're just rerolling until you score a direct hit on the dice) but if the rebels do not attempt to blow up the death star, they are then forced to retreat or be destroyed.