Alright,

First, this game is awesome. I got it hoping me and a few friends might enjoy it after playing Warhammer Fantasy and sure enough, I like it more. But enough of that, time for the question(s)

The fact is, we're having debates about reinforcements. I'm going to try to list a few points and if anyone could be so kind as to tell me where we're right or wrong, it would be greatly appreciated.

1. If a group of spiders (3 minions and 1 master) are in play and the master is killed, can he be reinforced? (I say no)

2. If a group of spiders (3 minions and 1 master) are in play and the master is killed, can he be reinforced as a minion (group rules suggest no since masters are listed as their own monster group - correct?)

3. If an entire group is killed off can you still Reinforce them? Our thinking is that Reinforce can't be used since logically, what monster would Reinforce non-existant monsters?

4. Can you only reinforce as long as a Master monster is present? (Again, our thinking was that the master monster plays like a bannerman, kill him, cut off reinforcements)

5. Since we play with three heroes we often have an Ettin, Dragon or Elemental that is only a Master Monster, if he is killed, can he be reinforced? If so, is he just reinforces as a minion?

6. Last question: We played Shadow Rune last night and the OL (me) gets three open groups. I took spiders, Bargheists (sp?) and the Shadow Dragon. Now the first two were put into play and the last isn't, in this case, the Dragon. The reinforcement rules stated that I could reinforce with 1 of my open groups at the entrance not exceeding group limits. Now based on my limited intellect, I waited until spiders and bargheists were killed and never thought of using the dragon because I didn't think that you could reinforce with a Master monster. Could I have?

In advance, any suggestions, tips, tricks or info is greatly appreciated. Have a great long weekend.
EXCELSIOR!

-Nexx-

1) Yes, It can be reinforced. Any monster can be reinforced as long as it not exceed the group limits. Unless of course the quest do not allow reinforcements.

2) No, a master is always reinforced as a master, and master and minion cave spiders are the same monster group. Only time you exchange a master with a minion is, if the master has the undying trait, and that is not a reinforcement, but the use of a skill.

3) You can reinforce, even if the entire group is killed.

4) It makes no difference if the master is killed or not.

5) If the quest allows reinforcements you can reinforce, and a master always returns as a master,

6) You could have used the dragon as reinforcement. Why have 3 groups if you only could use 2?

Steenhp147 said:

If you could see the smile on my face…

Thank you.

Nexx said:

#1-2: If the Reinforcements are just per "respecting group limits", then you can have 3 tan, 1 red in play. Red is killed, so you can reinforce the Red. Didn't see any Quests with a quick look that specify reinforcement being minion, they just seemed to say 1 monster.

#3: Yes you can, the card for that monster group is still "in play" even if all the monsters initially placed from it are killed and can be reinforced.

#4: No, you can reinforce regardless.

#5: No, you still respect group limits, meaning for the Ettin those are 0-1 (tan-red), so you can only have a Red Ettin in play and if killed, the new Ettin will also be a master Ettin.

#6: Shadow Vault? Looking over the quest, didn't see any mention of the third open group being put into play, so I think you only get them into play by reinforcing. Since you always start groups 1 and 2 at monster limit, if the heroes don't kill any monsters on their first turn, you can then reinforce a monster from group 3 on your first turn. And you can still spawn a master Dragon, since you are reinforcing but respecting group limits (which for the dragon is 0-1 tan-red for 3 heroes IIRC).

A billion thank you's.
I can't wait until we play next.

Though irrevelant now, I just have to ask: where from you got these ideas from? Seriously, the rulebook doesn't mention anything even remotely to these things you asked about. But on otherhand, I've drawn my own conclusions from plenty of the rules that I've needed to correct, so who am I to say?

One tip: remember that some abilities/cards/stuff can affects only master or minion monsters. For example Spiritwalker Hero Ability, the one that stuns monsters adjacent to her, only affects MINION monsters.

I was the OL and the people I was playing against thought it was too much of an advantage to reinforce that much.
We played all of Act 1 and the Interlude with our fake reinforce rules, then played the correct way for Act 2.

I won.