So in our limited little meta, we haven't come across Gunner very often. Last night, playing Heroes of the Aturi cluster, one of the TIEs had the Gunner ability and shot at my friends A Wing. the TIE scored two hits, and my friend said "Well, now his gunner ability won't work".

I said "Nah, they're not actually 'hits' until the compare dice part of the attack. If you evade them, then he doesn't hit you and his gunner will trigger so he'll get another shot".

He was pretty certain it worked the other way (you went from the initial attack roll, regardless of the actual outcome of the attack) and I was pretty sure it was the other way (it only becomes a hit if it's not cancelled out by evade dice/abilities).

Thankfully in the end it didn't matter so there were no hard feelings, but I told him I'd follow up on it and figure out how the card actually works so we know for next time how to use it properly.

So, how exactly does Gunner work? And is there a page reference or FAQ that you could point me to so that I have something concrete to use as supporting evidence, rather than just 'some guy on the internet said so'?

Cheers in advance.

PAGE 5 of the Rulebook, as part of attacking: (Bold Emphasis Mine)

6. Compare Results:

For each 'EVADE' result, the defender cancels one 'POW' or 'KAPOW' result. All 'POW' results must be canceled before any 'KAPOW' results may be canceled. If at least one 'POW' or 'KAPOW' result remains uncanceled, the defender is hit by the attack; otherwise, the attack misses.

7. Deal Damage: If the defender was hit, it suffers one damage for each uncanceled .........

Of course, I have used the words 'POW' and 'KAPOW' in place of the symbol, which I could not readily copy across... But this states when you are Hit. You are HIT if there is one or more uncancelled results on the dice of the Pow/Hit, Kapow/Crit variety, depending on what you want to call it...

There is alsoL

PAGE 12:

HIT

During the “Compare Results” step of attack, a ship is hit if there are any 'POW' or 'KAPOW' results remaining after canceling dice.

The very definition of "HIT" in the rulebook.

As I've read here, it works exactly as you said. If all attack die are cancelled from defense die, evade actions or tokens, focus token modifications, or pilot abilities,than Gunner triggers. You may then conduct a primary weapon attack.

An attack only "hits" after you've going through the Compare Results step. Unless something says the attack hits (ie. Lt. Blount) an attack only hits if there are uncancelled boom/hit or kaboom/crit results left after being cancelled by Defense. No uncancelled results = no hit.

A ship can be hit by an attack yet suffer no damage. A ship may also suffer damage from things yet not be hit by an attack.

Now the strangest interaction would be if you could but Gunner on Wampa. If Wampa uses his ability he cancels all his attack dice so the attack WILL MISS but hit ability can still see the target dealt a card. If Gunner is involved he could then "shoot again" and likely have that attack miss as well yet still deal another card of damage.

if Lieutenant Blount was allowed to carry a crew, I wonder if some idiot would actually equip gunner?

I know some idiots who equipped Munitions Failsafe on him, so yes, I imagine there would be.

In general it's worth noting that (almost) the only time the rules refer to 'hit' and 'miss' is in defining those two terms for this purpose, and using them to refer to that definition.

The symbols on the dice are (almost) exclusively referred to by printing the image, which is why in the rules questions section we usually say 'pow/kapow' or 'boom/kaboom' for the two symbols - because referring to them as 'hit/crit' is confusing.

I may be wrong, but I think the confusion come from the fact that the very first rule of the game was using word Hit and Crit... And they changed them on future reprint, but I may be totally wrong too and only the community used hit / crit reference...

Yeah a successful hit is one that has uncancelled hit or crit dice.

Im not much of a fan of that wording either, as when i started out it made a lot of the cards seem way more powerful than they actually were. Im used to 40k, "hit" means you didnt wiff the initial roll, "wound" means you did damage. Kinda wish they labeled "hit" as you described where you didnt completely wiff your attack, and "struck" be uncancelled dice went through and did damage. Or some other exclusive word.

Initially i thought that was the point of Adv Homing Missiles lol. It deals 1 faceup long as i dont miss my rolls and you cant evade it. Makes sense considering its a HOMING missile, until i played more and found ways to flatout guarantee 1 die will always hit to trigger that effect lol.

You need to unlearn your 40K ways. They don't have anything in common with X-wing.

I know some idiots who equipped Munitions Failsafe on him, so yes, I imagine there would be.

I wouldn't call those players idiots, maybe they want to make sure that they actually do damage to the target (like with an assault missile) not just ensure the collateral/additional effect takes place, or they use a "normal" missile like concussion and Blount for his PS - not nice to call someone an idiot just for that.

I know some idiots who equipped Munitions Failsafe on him, so yes, I imagine there would be.

I wouldn't call those players idiots, maybe they want to make sure that they actually do damage to the target (like with an assault missile) not just ensure the collateral/additional effect takes place, or they use a "normal" missile like concussion and Blount for his PS - not nice to call someone an idiot just for that.

Except that it doesn't work. Munitions Failsafe does absolutely nothing on Blount - because his attacks always hit, MF's conditions are never met and so it never works. It's literally a 1-point blank card on the good Lieutenant.

I know some idiots who equipped Munitions Failsafe on him, so yes, I imagine there would be.

I wouldn't call those players idiots, maybe they want to make sure that they actually do damage to the target (like with an assault missile) not just ensure the collateral/additional effect takes place, or they use a "normal" missile like concussion and Blount for his PS - not nice to call someone an idiot just for that.

Except that it doesn't work. Munitions Failsafe does absolutely nothing on Blount - because his attacks always hit, MF's conditions are never met and so it never works. It's literally a 1-point blank card on the good Lieutenant.

It's the poor man's "Engine Upgrade on a TIE Interceptor".