So I bought this game for my son but found myself getting into it more than him. I have since been trying to teach my wife how to play and we are doing a decent job and learning but I get confused about the timing of actions. I have searched the forums but have been unable to have my questions directly answered, so here it goes.

-Can actions be played by both people regardless of who's turn it is?

-If a support card says that a character will gain two icons for "that phase" does that basically mean that support card should only be played during "your" story phase where the icons count? Or can the card be played during your operations phase and then you can say that you choose to use it's ability during yours/opponents story phase?

-This question sounds dumb but I have to ask it! For instance, if a card were to say that when it commits to a story you can drive one of your opponents characters insane. Does that mean as long as that card is in play and commits to a story, it can always drive one character insane? Do you have to commit to a story for it to work or can it work even if you are defending a story from an opponent?

-Do support cards exhaust themselves whenever the card they are attached to exhausts? Or do they work differently?

I am sorry if these questions are just dumb but I am trying to learn in order to keep this game alive in my house because it is the most awesome game that I have ever played…

ok. i can answer these…

1. yes. you'll have to read the timing closely, but essentially the player whose turn it is gets to play an action, the opposing player gets to play an action in response if desired. this would continue until neither player wanted to play any further actions, then the window would move to the next phase or portion of phase. rinse. repeat.

2. it's only doing its thing during ONE phase unless it states otherwise. so if you need it during your story phase, don't play it during your operation phase or it'll go poof when you move into the story phase… you CAN play it during your opponent's story phase, yes. in fact you will WANT to do this. you commit "blockers" (characters or support cards or whatever) on their turn and hope those impact the icon struggles in your favor, thereby denying your opponent forward progress.

3. well, you can only drive insane characters who can legally go insane. so forget about doing it to anyone with willpower or their own terror icons. you would have to commit it to a story whether on offense or defense for it to work via a terror struggle. other cards might allow you to drive people insane outside of the story phase though. is that confusing?

4. they work differently unless the card says otherwise. so you can exhaust your character but still have your support card attached to it unexhausted.

hope that helps. really hope i'm not misleading you on any of this stuff.

ParhiaH said:

weird! i answered that EXACTLY 24 hours later to the second!

ParhiaH said:

I'm wondering because support cards can only be played during a player's operation phase (unless the card says otherwise) and gaining icons in the operation phase would be useless.

The things you can do on your turn only are:
- paying a character or support card from your hand to the table in "normal" way, it stays on the table untill something gets rid of it (only your opertaion phase)
- cards that state it explicitly like "Play during your operations phase. " on Opening the limbo gate Event.

all other things, like triggering Actions, Response, Disrupts of your cards in play and events in your hand can be done during any players turn.

If something is done for one phase its for one phase only, usually the best phase to use it is story phase (yours or your opponents) but it happens that you want to give or take icons in operations phase for example for some kind of combo play.

Support attachment and character are two separate cards with separate state. To the point of possibly controlling the character and not controlling his attachments

Hipothetical cards are tricky as small changes in text can change the effect quite a bit, its safer to use cards that exist and have actual rulngs made for them. See http://www.cardgamedb.com/index.php/CoC/CoCCards.html and search cards button at the top of the page.

Using some real card names of cards you dont understand how to use will make it easier to explain.

Welcome to the game!

-Can actions be played by both people regardless of who's turn it is?

Yes. Whenever an action window is open (which is pretty much anytime except during story resolution) both players may play actions. The active player gets the first opportunity, and then you take turns doing one action at a time until you've done all the actions you want to do. Of course, usually there aren't very many of them - but the chance is there if you want to play several.

-If a support card says that a character will gain two icons for "that phase" does that basically mean that support card should only be played during "your" story phase where the icons count? Or can the card be played during your operations phase and then you can say that you choose to use it's ability during yours/opponents story phase?

I think you're confusing "playing" the card and using its ability. A support card can only be played during your Operations phase - where "play" means paying resources to put the card onto the table from your hand. Once a support card is in play, it's like a character, it tends to stay there unless something specifically removes it. Now, a lot of support cards have abilities that allow you to pay something (a resource, exhausting the support card, etc…) to activate some effect. This is an Action, which as we discussed above can be done at nearly any time. So, you play the card in your Operations phase, and then later on you take an action to use its ability - which can be done whenever it is that you need the ability to happen, no matter whether it's your own turn or your opponents.

-This question sounds dumb but I have to ask it! For instance, if a card were to say that when it commits to a story you can drive one of your opponents characters insane. Does that mean as long as that card is in play and commits to a story, it can always drive one character insane? Do you have to commit to a story for it to work or can it work even if you are defending a story from an opponent?

So this ability has an effect, and it has a prerequisite in order for that effect to trigger. As long as you fulfill the prerequisite, then the trigger can happen. In this case, you need to commit that character to a story. Whether you send them on your turn or your opponents turn, that is still committing them to a story so the effect can trigger either way.

-Do support cards exhaust themselves whenever the card they are attached to exhausts? Or do they work differently?

No, they do not. Exhausting a character does not exhaust their attachments, and exhausting an attachment does not exhaust the character they are attached to.

Thank you for your response and no, you are not confusing me at all. I appreciate the time you took to respond to a newb like me!

Jhaelen I am sorry to confuse you. I was at work when I posted my questions and did not remember the card name and apparently the card type. My question stemmed from the cthulhu card: Touched by the sleeper which is an event card. The card states, "Action: choose a Cthulhu character. Until the end of the phase, that character gains two terror icons. I was confused because you can only lay cards down during your operations phase so to me, since it was played during my operations phase it would have to be used then. I imagine that I am wrong. I believe I would play the card in my operations phase then use the action during my story phase, correct?

Thank you dboeren for your in depth response! As I stated to Jhaelen, I was at work when I posted and could not remember the card name. But I also messed up the card type, which was an event card, not a support card. I believe I figured it out though if you look to my other reply you can judge for yourself.

I am still confused though about exhausting card attachments. Why would the character exhaust and not the attachment. The attachment only works for the card it is attached to right? If so, then it wouldn't make a difference whether or not it exhausted with the character or not because it could not be used due to the characters exhausted state.

One other question for you as well. When it comes to paying a cost for card actions, I take it I could pay the cost and drain a domain whenever I needed to? Or can I only pay a cost during the domain phase since that is when I am draining them? Confusing? Let me know and thank you again for your help!!

A concrete card example helps. So as you noticed, Touched by the Sleeper is an Event card and not a Support. Character and Support cards can only be played during your operations phase, but Event cards do not have this restriction. That's their strength. Supports may seem stronger because they stay around so you can use them multiple times, but they have to be played in advance so your opponent sees them coming. Events are usually one-time things, but they can be played at nearly anytime so they can surprise your opponent and change the situation without tipping them off beforehand.

So for an Event like Touched by the Sleeper you would wait until the phase you need the card and THEN play it.

If a character is exhausted, that does not exhaust their attachments, and you can still use the attachments. You're trying to add a rule that doesn't exist because it makes sense in your mind. Any effect that exhausts something will specifically state what card gets exhausted.

If you have to drain a domain to pay for some action, you can do this at any time - as long as the action itself can be done at that time.

dboeren, you are a live saver! The game seems so much easier when some else explains it to you (reading the rule book-not so good…). So you are saying that if I have a support card attached to a character and that character gets exhausted from lets say committing to a story, my support card stays ready so that I can then use it on my oppents turn for defense, etc? Can a support card commit to a story by itself?

Knowing that an event card can be played at any time really makes a difference. I was starting to think that there were no suprises in the game. I was wrong!

If you get tired of answering my questions please feel free to ignore me! Thanks again for your help. I just need to find someone in my area to play with that knows what they are doing!!

ParhiaH said:

Glad to help, and feel free to ask as many questions as you like

1. So you are saying that if I have a support card attached to a character and that character gets exhausted from lets say committing to a story, my support card stays ready so that I can then use it on my oppents turn for defense, etc?

Yes. Whether it's useful in defense or not depends on the support card though. A fair number of weapon type attachments only affect enemies that are at the same story which kind of requires the character to be ready to be able to get there.

2. Can a support card commit to a story by itself?

No, only characters can commit to stories. However, there are a very few support cards that can turn into characters temporarily. For instance:

or

3. Knowing that an event card can be played at any time really makes a difference. I was starting to think that there were no suprises in the game. I was wrong!

Surprises are an important part of the game. It's actually a common thing for new players to think the game is mostly about counting up every combination of icons and then either nobody ever goes to stories (because they can see that something bad could happen if they did, even if that meant the opponent over-extended themselves) or they end up trading unopposed stories (because they can't bring themselves to ever risk anything). Anyhow, Events are the best way to get people over this playstyle hurdle and for this reason I suggest that new players take around 12 or so Event cards out of a 50 card deck to make sure there are enough surprises that it doesn't feel like doing icon math where everything is known in advance. It usually doesn't take too long to get the right idea of how to play once you break that habit.

Just remember to leave a domain open to pay for your surprise! And that your opponent can guess at least a little about what you might do by looking to see what domains you still have open. For instance, if all you have is a 1-domain, you probably aren't going to pull TOO big of a trick. Eventually just the fact that one is open becomes sort of a bluff. Does he have an event, or is it just that he can't afford to play any more cards?