Would like to get some input on how Iron Discipline interacts with Plague Bomb. Especially if Church of Sigmar is out.

Church of Sigmar
2
EE
Kingdom. Opponents cannot target your units with card effects unless they pay an additional 1 resource per effect.

Plague Bomb
3
CCC
Action: Deal 1 damage to target unit. Deal 2 damage to another target unit. Deal 3 damage to a third target unit.

Iron Discipline
0
E
Action: Target one unit. Until the end of the turn, cancel any other action that targets this unit unless the action's controller pays an additional 4 resources (per action).

So if an Empire player has Church of Sigmar and 3 units (A, B, and C) out, and a Chaos player pays 3R to play Plague Bomb....

It looks like the Chaos player has to pay an additional 3R (one extra for each effect generated), for a total of 6R?

And if the Empire player then responds by playing Iron Discipline on unit A, is the entire Action (Plague Bomb) cancelled? Or just the effect that targeted unit A?

Information I found in the FAQ that might be pertinent includes:

If a card has multiple effects, all effects on the card resolve if possible. These effects resolve independently of each other with the following important exception: If a card uses the word “then” the preceding effect must have resolved successfully before the effect following the term “then” can be resolved.

and...

Illegal Target
If a card effect specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are legal when it is played and again when it resolves. A target can become illegal if it is removed from play, if it is removed from the zone specified in the ability, or if any specific characteristics on the card that were targeted have changed.
If all of the targets for a card effect become illegal, then the card effect is cancelled. If any of the targets are still legal when the card effect resolves, then
the card effect will resolve normally, only affecting the legal targets.

and...

Card Effects (v1.4)
Some cards reference card effects. Card effects is a game term that includes Actions, Forced Effects, Constant Effects, and Keywords. After card effects are triggered (usually by paying a cost or meeting a timing requirement and declaring its use), they exist independently of the source.

Would really like to hear an official response on these questions. Maybe even see the FAQ updated with some more complex examples (like, for instance, this one).

Thanks,

Papa

You won't get an official response on these forums, as FFG doesn't post here. I can tell you how to resolve that question though.

If the Church is out, then Plague Bomb costs 6 to play, as you said. The Chaos player cannot even attempt to play it unless he can pay 6R, since the Church is a constant effect that is modifying the game all the time.

If the Empire player responds with Iron Discipline, then the Chaos player must pay an additional 4R when Plague Bomb is resolving, or the entire Tactic is cancelled. While Plague Bomb can still resolve successfully if one of its targets becomes invalid, ID specifically cancels any tactic targeting that unit unless 4 more resources are paid, rather than just making a single target invalid.

Entropy42, while I understand your part about Church of Sigmar I do not understand the part about Iron Disciple. What's the difference between an invalid target and the effect of Iron Disciple?

To my mind the chaos player may not target the unit who is protected by Iron Disciple. But he is allowed to deal damage to two other units.

Iron Discipline doesn't affect the validity of the target, it says "cancel" any action targeting that unit unless the player pays 4 resources. It can't cancel just one aspect of the Tactic. If he doesn't pay 4R, the entire tactic is cancelled. An invalid target would be something like "until the end of the turn, this unit cannot be targeted by card effects". In that case, Plague Bomb would resolve and deal damage to the 2 other targets. ID creates a choice, pay 4R or cancel the action.

Action: Target one unit. Until the end of the turn, cancel any other action that targets this unit unless the action's controller pays an additional 4 resources (per action).

Entropy42, I don't believe you can equalize the words action and tactic as you suggest in the answer above. The cancellation effect of Iron Discipline only refers to the unit which is targeted. That's a limitation. Therefore it is not justified to cancel an action that also relates to other units.

Actualy it kind of does. A tactic is a type of card you can play to resolve an action printed on it, and in this case it's the action that does the damage. Therefore, if the chaos player cannot pay the extra resources, the action as a whole must be canceled, as per the Iron Discipline text.

GrumpyStranger said:

Yeah, the Tactic's card text says " Action : Target a unit....."

Its an action, and ID will cancel it. There is no provision in the rules for just cancelling part of the action. You can make one of its target's invalid, but that's not what ID does.

Is PB then considered to be one effect? If so, wouldn't Church only add +1 resource to the cost (making it 4R not 6R), since CoS adds one per effect?

Dam said:

No. One action can have multiple effects, like Initiate of Saphery : one action to heal them all, but one effect per unit healed (that's why Glittering Tower triggers its action every time a unit is healed).

Budmilka_fr said:

I don't think that is the same. Each unit being healed triggers a separate instance of Glittering Tower, but I think Initiate of Saphery is a single effect, because its not targeted.

One action can have multiple effects, though (see the FAQ section Multiple Effects) I think each damage chunk from PB is its own effect, so each one requires you to pay 1 extra.

Opponents cannot target your units with card effects unless they pay an additional 1 resource per effect.

Despite being multiple effects, Iron Discipline still cancels the entire Action (unless you pay), because it specifies that you cancel the action, not just the effect.