Here's a thread to keep rules questions all in one place, hopefully to make it easier for Fantasy Flight to compile a FAQ.

Thanks, Ephraim, for the idea

Here's one to start it off:

Q: On page 24 of the rulebook, it says "For coexistence battles, the Traitor player is always the defender"

On page 40, in the glossary under Defender it says: "... (Exception: In coexistence battles, the Traitor player is always the attacker)"

Which is correct?

In the combat example on page 29, during the fourth iteration, it states that the Fabricator General receives 2 points of damage from a Thunderhawk Bombardment.

Later on, under the section Thunderhawk Bombardment it states that "Thunderhawk bombardment damage never affects Heroes.

Is the example incorrect?

From BGG:

When a Thunderhawk transports units and Heroes does the Hero (and his retinue) take up one of the two spaces or can they tag along for free?

When do the special abilities of the Heroes trigger, if not specified ? For example, does Mortarions ability cause the enemy to draw less cards or does he affect the ranks after combat cards have been drawn ?

Q: Can flying units (including Jaghatai Khan using his special ability) leave an activated area to join a battle?

There is an unofficial response here - http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1242

I had a strange situation: Horus and some Chaos space marines were in the Inner Palace. Emperor with custodes was in one of the outer palaces. In the adjacent area of the plateau were some Chaos Marines again. The Traitor issued an Assault order from both areas - from the plateau and the inner palace. The Emperor and custodes were the target. I really don't know how to solve the fortifications problem. What to subtract and when???

I tried to answer myself to the question above, and I think that maybe the Emperor and Traitor should subtract 1 point from the regular damage as if fighting over the breached fortification... Why? Because Emperor (outer palace) fighting forces that are in the plateau suffers no penalty but fighting against Horus in the Inner Palace does suffer 2 pts. The same is with the Traitor: the forces in the Inner Palace suffer no penalty, but the forces fighting from plateau do. Thus - 1 pt of regular damage for both sides.

BUT

When Horus and his troops perish in the Inner palace, then the imperial forces stop having any penalty (regardless that the game is over due to Horus' death). In this case the Traitor player has - 2 pts penalty (because he is only in the plateau)

AND

When the Traitor troops fighting from plateau are destroyed, then the Traitor player stops having any penalty. And the imperial forces start having -2 pts penalty.

ANOTHER QUESTION:

Are: Inner Palace, Imperial Fists Fortress Monastery and Forbidden Monastery fortified areas in comparison to outer palaces? In other words, do troops standing in outer palaces areas suffer - 2 pts penalty in regular damage when fighting forces stationed in the Inner Palace, Imperial Fists Fortress Monastery and Forbidden Monastery areas?

Hi!
A few question regarding transporting :
- Can thunderhawk transport heroes ? Our (miss?)interpretation during the game: thunderhawk can only transport units – and heroes are not considered units… but are considered units for movement purposes and transportation is part of the movement…but it’s a special ability of thunderhawk, so not really a movement… But logically if there is a space for 2 units there could be a space for 1 additional character… Maybe their armor is too heavy… We ruled that they can’t – in the name of game balance – no one would like to see Mortarion and other chaos heroes hopping happily over the whole map with their marines…and additionally over any imperial defenses
- Thunderhawk can transport 2 Titans – really ? That’s some mighty bird I say… But there is no rule forbidding it – so we played with Supermobile-10-Force. Did I missed something in the manual ?
Not-transport question : Reiforcements – Horus order – It does not trigger lasers – or does it ?
After reading fiction in scenario book I thought that pods don’t trigger lasers also
Great game!

Heroes do not count as units according to the rules so yes, they can be transported for free. So you can transport any 2 unit types ( Titans included!) as well as any number of heroes in the same move.

Drop pods do trigger defence lasers according to pg 36 of the rulebook under Defence Lasers. Not sure whether Horus' special ability triggers it though.

The Inner Palace, Outer Palace, Forbidden Fortress and Imperial Fist Fortress Monastery are all considered independent fortresses. They are all separated by fortress walls so any battles taking place across these spaces will give the defender the -2 damage bonus.

Also, the four Inner Palace sections are each considered an independent fortress so the bonus does apply when battles occur between them as well.

Warhammer00 said:

Except:

"Heroes move via movement orders, and are considered
units for the purposes of all movement orders’ effects." (p. 32)

This has been discussed over on BGG as well and if I interpret the posts correctly, majority seems to feel Hero takes up one slot on a Thunderhawk. Official clarification would be nice though.

www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/518050/thunderhawks-transporting-heroes

Yes, but if you consider that you are using the transport special ability of the Thunderhawk. It states that it can carry 3 units. Heroes do not count as units for this special transport ability. Only when the hero is accompanying units as part of a regular move using order cards are they considerd units and this is so that they are using their own movement points.

Then again, like another poster mentioned in the linked thread, Thunderhawks can only carry units. If Heroes don't count as units for that purpose, strictly speaking, they can't then be transported because THs only move units.

Warhammer, thank you for your explanation. If all the Palace areas are fortresses it explains a lot and makes things easier. So the Inner Palace, the one in the center is not any better than any of the other palace areas? I know it is in the center, so any palace attacker will have to force the first wall to get to the second, but, on the other hand, it is a pity that attacker who is in the Inner Palace and attacking outer palace area suffers - 2. When you look at the plastic palace, the Inner one looks higher... But I think it is as you explained. If it wasn't, game would be much more complicated.

Sorry if this was mentioned before:

The components list on page 3 of the rulebook says there are 57 activation markers

(28 Imperial, 29 Traitor) included.

I counted twice and it seems that there are also 29 Imperial activation markers included

(58 total).

In Step 1 of Combat Iterations, a player who has no remaining combat cards in his hand is forced to pass. Can he retreat instead of passing if he has no combat cards?

Normally you must retreat all units. If the defender has both flying units and non-flying units and his only path of retreat is across a crevice is it possible to only retreat the flying units?

For the Heresy Unheralded scenario setup, is the Traitor player required to place all his Heroes on the board at setup or can he leave some in his stockpile?

Under the rules for Flying Transport (page 23, two locations) and Preparing to Fight (page 26) the rules mention "combat rating". Reference to "combat rating" should have been "combat rank".

Gamer said:

"Alternately, the active player can retreat instead of playing
combat cards, except during the first iteration, when
retreating is not allowed (see “Retreats” on page 30)." (p. 26)

As I read the paragraph, the active player has 3 options:

1) play X cards

2) pass

3) retreat (not available during the 1st iteration)

Has anybody just e-mailed FFG's customer service about the big rules questions (primarily the Thunderhawk damage and transportation of heroes)? I'm going to right now to see what the official word is. If you haven't done that yet, I highly recommend it. They're fast, concise, and friendly.

Don't forget to post the answer.

I won't. Still waiting for one (well, actually, it'll be like 3 answers).

I have a question about Lightning Raid. Here's the situation: Friendly forces start in sector [A]. Sector contains a friendly activation marker in addition to more friendly forces. borders [C]. [C] contains an enemy force. In the case of a normal move, forces could move from [A] to since nothing forbids movement onto a previously activated sector. Also, a normal attack order from to [C] would not be possible since is already activated.

So, my questions are:

1) Can the forces use Lightning Raid to move from [A] to and then attack [C]?

2) If so, can the forces which started the turn in participate in the battle?

3) Do the answers to 1 and 2 change if the marker on is a routed marker instead of an activation marker?

Starting Order Cards

I just want to check that we are doing the setup correctly. I know the Imperial player starts with the 6 green skull cards. My confusion is over the Traitor player's setup. Now, the Traitor player has 12 green skull cards. In the last stage of the setup, he is instructed to place 4 "Drop Pods" and or "Port Landing" on the strategic map and then shuffle the remaining cards into his order deck, leaving him with 4 Order Cards.

My question is are these the Traitor's start hand, or do they draw up to 6 cards, or do they keep 2 of the Drop Pods or Port Landing in their start hand? This would dramatically change the amount of units the Traitor player can bring into play during the early rounds of the game.

Well I got my answer over on the BGG forums, the traitor only gets the 4 cards after he shuffles the unused port landing and pods cards into the order deck. Just wish this had been a little clearer in the rule book.

Are two locations adjacent if they are just touching a corner (this happens between some of the Palace areas and areas in the Imperial Plateau region)?

Q: Can a player use the card "Boarding Action" to move into the Vengeful Spirit Catacombs (or Inner Palace) area if there are enemy units there?

kevin9793 said:

Hi!

The Attacker definition (Page 40), states the Imperial player is always the attacker.

HtH

L