Does Helo start the game drawing a crisis card? He starts off the ship and cant take a move or an action.

Roslins side effect discarding two cards to activate a ships location does this include Colonial One? If it does its more of a hendrence then any other character, I been playing it she only discards cards to activate a spot on Galatica as she is not a military person. If she dose have to discards on Colonial One and doesnt have the cards to discard can she still activate a space on Colonial One? I am a firm believer in times of peace to use exective orders to give the president actions to draw quarm cards (one exective order is 4 quarm cards) as they are very usefull tools.

If someone crisis card that tosses someone in the brig. Can they choose someone all ready in the brig? It came up twice in my last game. I thought it was cheese and said no, but the other half of the group said it should be and instead of slowing down the game I left it and said I'd ask about it.

Just a few questions we came up with last game cant remember the rest.

Thought of a new question, a whats the max hand size of a Cylon that is revealed, I believe it should be 10. Once they reveal they discard down to 3 cards and can draw two skill cards of any color at the start of thier turn.

SirDusk said:

Yes, you draw a Crisis card on Helo's first turn.

Roslin's disadvantage applies to any location on either ship.

If a player is given the choice to throw a character in the brig, they can choose any character that is not a revealed cylon.

The max hand size for skill cards is 10, regardless of human or cylon. The only exception is Tyrol, whose disadvantage sets his hand size at 8 (which would immediately stop applying if he revealed as a cylon).

James

10 cards according to the text on p20 - but as you say, when they are revealed they discard down to three cards (stops them hoarding all of the good cards prior to revealing I guess) and only draw two cards per turn (but then, they can only play one per test),

SirDusk said:

What happens if Roslin doesnt have two cards to discard, can she still use the Quarm location? During a crisis if you have less than the amount of cards needed to discard it still counts if you empty your hand.

Roslin cannot use any location if she doesn't have the 2 cards to discard.

SirDusk said:

My group was wondering that last part, too. If you don;t have the number of cards to discard for a crisis card choice, is it illegal to take that choice? I would guess no, as it feels like a requirement to meet, but it is a little unclear.

It is a valid choice to discard your cards for a crisis 0/1/3/4 even if you have less than the number needed.

I think the difference works like this:

Rosilin's card says "In order perform a location action you must first discard two cards". It does not say "Everytime you perform a location action discard two cards",

It's like a cost - it's saying that you must 'first pay the cost' in order to then perform the action (the second simply tacks an extra part to the action text in effect).

The Crisis cards instead make you select a choice. Once you've done that you follow the steps in the choice. The text for the choice makes no reference to selecting a "valid" choice (and if you run out of other items, such as cylon ships, then they are simply not deployed - it follows that the same applies here),

Just to clarify an earlier answer - you may NOT choose a character who is already in the Brig to be thrown in the Brig.

Bleached Lizard said:

Says who?

Mike said:

Corey. But apart from that, common sense. The rules say that you may choose a condition on a card that cannot be fulfilled. The rules do NOT say that you can choose to ignore fulfilling a condition if that condition is already satisfied elsewhere.

Sending someone to the Brig is not "a condition that cannot be fulfilled" if there is at least one valid character available outside the Brig.

Roslin's power sucks: so does dying of cancer.

If you want to draw quorum cards with her and you can't sluff the cards you can use the presidents title to draw a single card, as that is an "Action", not a "Location Action"

PS: I've said it a gajillion times but i still maintain that the experience is more fun if you can't honor discard requirements if you don't have cards to pay for it...otherwise it's in your best intrest to have your president bail their hand as several crisis' can be dealt with by having the president discard cards

Bleached Lizard said:

What condition do I have to fulfill? It simply says "pass this skill check to send a character to the Brig" (or something). Nowhere does it say the character must be outside the Brig.

If you are citing Corey, I'd like to have a direct quote, please.

Mike said:

What says "pass this skill check to send a character to the Brig"? The OP wasn't referencing a specific card - he was just asking that if a Crisis card instructs you to send someone to the Brig, can you choose someone who is already there. The wording you describe would not be used anyway, as no Crisis card uses the phrasing "Pass this skill check to..." (this only appears on location skill checks). All Crisis cards simply have a difficulty with a Pass or Fail condition. In this case, the condition would be phrased something like "The current player chooses a character to move to the "Brig" location" (which, it must be noted, is distinctly different to "The current player MAY choose a character to move to the "Brig" location"). Unfortunately my copy of BSG is at a friend's house at the moment, so I can't check the exact wording on any cards.

Only if there were no valid characters outside the Brig could you ignore this condition. The card does not say "ensure that at least one character is in the "Brig" location - move a character there if necessary". It says "MOVE a character blah, blah, blah". If there is a character available outside the Brig, they must be moved there.

I'm afraid the ruling I'm looking for is buried in the depths of BGGs message boards. I will e-mail Corey and post his response here.

I'd just like to put in my two-cents here, saying that I don't think you should be able to send a player to the brig that's already in the brig. Essentially, it's like bluffing your way out of a skill check/crisis card. I'm not sure of the exact wording of any of the cards that send a player to the brig (and wording does make a difference), but likewise sending a player to the brig that's already in the brig is...not possible.

"Hey Boomer, you're already in the brig because it was just the sleeper agent phase, but I'm going to send you to the brig AGAIN just so we can pass this crisis card without anyone getting thrown in there with you."

Makes the game kind of unfair in my opinion...

I'm eager to hear what Corey says about all this.

Bleached Lizard said:

I think you have to be careful about interpreting the wording too literally. If you look at the back of the rulebook it says under "Movement Step", "Move to any location." If you interpret this like you are the briggings then you cannot stay in the same place from turn to turn. In the Crisis cards of course it isn't going to say you 'may' send a character to the brig, because then you can just choose not to. In some ways it is cheap to use it to brig someone already in the brig, but it seems on par with choosing options to discard cards that you don't have.

timonkey said:

That's exactly what I was thinking. Obviously, sending someone to the Brig who's already there makes thematically no sense. From the gaming and rules point of view, however, I see nothing stated that forbids it.

But since so many people apparently disagree with this position, I'd like an official ruling on that one.

While I'm not sure about the answer,

I would say that the word "send" implies that the character is not already there,

If it said "another character" and all other characters where already in the brig, then you'd simply ignore ity - I can see that, and that would fit in with the way crisis are usually handled,

But if a card called for you to deploy two raptors onto a position on the board you couldn't usually pick them up from elsewhere on the board to do it (you have to take them from the supply), which is sort of the same logic,

My e-mail and response from Corey:

Corey Konieczka to me, me
show details 6:01 PM (6 hours ago) Reply

No, he may not choose a character that is already in the Brig. I will add this question to the next FAQ.

I hope this answers your question!
-Corey Konieczka
Fantasy Flight Games
Design and Development

On Jan 3, 2009, at 7:50 AM, < [email protected] > < [email protected] > wrote:

Message from:
Chris Davis

E-mail:
[email protected]

Rule Question:
Hi Corey. If a Crisis card instructs the current player/Admiral/President to choose another character to be moved to the Brig, can he choose someone who is already in the Brig even if there are still valid candidates outside the Brig?

timonkey said:

Actually, several crisis cards do explicitly say " may ". In fact, I don't recall any crisis cards that force a character to the brig, only ones which provide the option.

Edit:

Guilt by Collusion: The current player may choose a character to move to the "Brig".

Requested Resignation: The President may choose to give the President title to the Admiral, or move to The "Brig" location.

A Traitor Accused: The current player chooses a character to send to the "Brig".

Cylon Accusation: The current player is placed in the "Brig" location.

Missing G4 Explosives: ...all characters in the "Armoury" ... are sent to the "Brig."

So, contrary to my initial post, most Brig moves are compulsory (and all compulsory moves are caused by failures). Requested Resignation doesn't involve a skill check, but like all "XXX Chooses" cards, is a mixed bag, and is a quasi-compulsory move. Guilt by Collusion is fully optional, if the skill check is passed.

Thanks, Lizard! While I still cannot see the game mechanic behind this ruling, I shall accept it as if it came from the God-Emperor himself.