THE POINT

This FAQ is designed to serve as a living, fluid resource for the X-Wing community until such a time that it is rendered moot by an official FAQ by FFG. The rulings herein are not law and have been gleaned from the community for which it is provided. It seemed that it might be helpful to gather everything in one place as a reference for all of us, but particularly for the new players that I know we're all hoping to introduce to the game. I also thought it might be helpful as a one-stop resource for anyone running local unofficial tournaments for the time being. Please do not make ANY posts on this thread. I will be doing my best to keep things organized and user friendly, and your restraint will help me in this immensely. I'll do my best to keep it as up to date as possible. The focus is primarily on known issues within the rules, though once all of these are included I may start to work in some of the questions that simply pop up a lot not because there's any real question as to how they work, but because they are either counter-intuitive or confusing to some people.

HOW IT WORKS

Each post beyond this initial guide will be devoted to a different topic. Within I will cover the Summary, Status, and Suggested Resolution. The Summary is, obviously, just a recap of the topic, the language that initiated the question at hand, and the debate for one resolution or the other. I'll also try to include a link to the primary thread of discussion on the topic.

The Status is simply a property I've assigned to each topic to note the level of resolution the community seems to have reached to date. The options are Wide Open, Consensus, Ironclad, and FFG Approved. The last one is obvious, though it is not likely to be used any time soon. Wide Open means that there is a solid argument to be made on all sides, and there really is no answering the question until FFG does so themselves. Consensus means that the community has discussed the topic at length and tends to lean heavily in favor of one particular answer. These topics have reasonable arguments either way and it seems fairly clear what the answer should be, but we concur that you can't really say for certain until the Official FAQ. Ironclad means the topic has been well discussed and is all but certain to be decided a particular way. We've made up our minds, and we're just waiting for official word.

The Suggested Resolution is just a quick reference of how the community tentatively concurs the issue ought to be resolved until such a time as we have a definitive word from FFG.

The Index is a reference for the various topics. It's very simple. The first entry in the Index is the first post beyond this. The seventh entry will be the seventh post. And so on.

THE RULES

Again, please do NOT post on this thread. I'll be posting a secondary thread for discussion on this topic and for all of your suggestions, complaints, and so on. Please feel free to be liberal with either. Also, feel free to message me any concerns, questions, suggestions, or to notify me of any typos. If you feel there is a topic that I have omitted that needs to be present please be sure and bring it to my attention as well. If you would like to help, please feel free to author a topic that has yet to be filled out and message it to me. I'll be sure and credit you.

This is a work in progress, so for now the Index contains more entries than I have posted. I'll be working on this through the week, so cut me some slack. And yes, I know they're not alphabetized.

INDEX:

Expert Handling and Barrel Roll
R2 Astromech vs. the Ion Cannon
R2 Astromech vs. Engine Damage
Howlrunner's Ability
Ion Cannon and Critical Hits
R2-D2 vs. Asteroids
Marksmanship and Cluster Missiles
Garven Dreis and 'Spending Focus'
Movement vs. Out of Play
Simultaneous Attacks

EXPERT HANDLING AND BARREL ROLL

Status: Consensus

Summary: The issue centers around whether or not Expert Handling and Barrel Roll count as the same action. Currently it only matters in regard to Vader and Squad Leader. If they are in fact separate actions, then in these two cases you could conceivably execute two barrel rolls with one ship. Expert Handling reads ‘Perform a barrel roll. If you do not have the <barrel roll> icon, receive 1 stress token. You may then remove 1 enemy target lock from your ship.’. Some say that the phrase ‘perform a barrel roll’ is a command to carry out the actual, specific action and then receive additional benefits. Others argue that the term is only referring to the type of maneuver to be performed and that it is an entirely separate action. It’s a fairly hazy topic that other cards do little to clarify. Other cards provide actions that are clearly not simple extensions of preexisting actions, which would support the idea that it is its own action. However, none of these other cards contain language that tell you to ‘perform’ what would otherwise be an action unto itself. Therein lies part of the problem. But to boil it down, essentially the way the rules and cards are phrased there is no way to definitively say one way or the other. Here's the link to the primary discussion on the topic: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=331&efcid=6&efidt=716760 .

Suggested Resolution: I was tempted to mark this one Wide Open. However, most of us seem to agree that the intent is that you should not be able to use Expert Handling and Barrel Roll in the same round. It is certainly not clear, and not everyone is on board with this. Though until FFG has their say, the vote of perceived intent would say they can’t work in tandem. But ultimately this come down to rolling a die if you disagree with your opponent.

R2 ASTROMECH VS. ION CANNON

Status: Wide Open

Summary: This issue is a result of two conflicting outcomes on an affected movement dial. The R2 unit reads “You may treat all 1- and 2- speed maneuvers as green maneuvers.”. The portion of the Ion Cannon reference card in question reads “Activation Phase: The owner moves the ship as if it were assigned a white <straight 1> maneuver.” The question is which effect takes precedence. And this could simply go back and forth forever. There is some small argument to be made in that the Ion Cannon says to move as if given this maneuver, which could imply that it isn’t actually being assigned a maneuver at all. Which could lead one to say the R2 unit is trumped through irrelevance. However, this is weak at best, especially since the second part of the text says “After executing this maneuver…”. Also, you could say that since the R2 says ‘may’ that the Ion Cannon overrides that by forcing the player to choose a white action and to NOT treat it as green. Most people think the Ion Cannon is probably supposed to trump the R2 unit. However there is simply not enough evidence in the text to say remotely definitively one way or the other.

Suggested Resolution: As with other incidents of two cards producing conflicting effects, I personally recommend a variation on what the rulebook says about settling it through the dice. Just roll em every time to determine which effect wins out. You can turn it from a rules question into a fun element of chance in the game. Most of these instances should not be gamebreaking anyway.

R2 ASTROMECH VS. DAMAGED ENGINE

Status: Consensus

Summary: This issue is very similar to R2 Astromech vs. Ion Cannon, but stems from two conflicting lines of text that are almost identically worded. R2 Astromech reads “You may treat all 1- and 2- speed maneuvers as green maneuvers”. Damaged Engine reads “Treat all turn maneuvers as red maneuvers”. Now, the argument has been made that in the rulebook it says “Some abilities on cards conflict with the general rules. In case of conflict, card text overrides the general rules. If one card ability forbids an effect, while another ability allows it, the effect is forbidden” and that this is applicable in this situation. They say that the R2 unit allows white maneuvers to become green, and that Damaged Engine forbids them from being anything but red. However this doesn’t hold up on its own. One could just as easily turn the two nearly identical phrases around say that the R2 unit is the one that forbids the other. However, a possible solution resides in the fact that the R2 unit’s phrasing includes the word ‘may’. This would suggest that R2 is an option and Damaged Engine is a command. Thus the game is saying to you “You have this option, but in this instance I’m telling you that you must choose this alternative option”. As well, the general feeling of the community seems to be that the INTENT was for the critical effect to override the ability granted by the upgrade card. Here is the link to the primary discussion on the topic: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=331&efcid=6&efidt=718525 .

Suggested Resolution: The general consensus is that Damaged Engine should, and probably does, override the R2 Astromech. But it is acknowledged that we cannot claim this conclusively and the official FAQ is needed eventually. Again, if you still can’t agree with your opponent, take the fun route and roll a die every time.

Just skimmed through your faq. why not change the index to actual questions?