Hello,

I always have the same question when playing a match. Somebody asked it before in the "FAQ Questions-Topic" but didn't got an answer.

So I just post his question again, because it is the same I would like to know and I think that his english is a better one.

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The Litari Elves unit card reads: When Played: Refresh one city or stronghold you control. If I had 3 elves in my hand and there was nothing on the field for me to attack successfully, but there were some uncaptured neutral cities (with a defense of say 4 or more) could I play the elves as if i were attempting to take control of the city, knowing full well I don't have enough of an army to actually take the city, but just to use the elves for their "When Played" ability. There is no consequence in the book for failing to take control of a neutral city that's still in the central play area, and there is no written word that says i cannot attempt to take said city with too small of an army. So in my mind… as a strategy for the elves… instead of discarding the three elves that i cannot use to take over any thing else, why not just utilize them for their When Played ability by declaring a capture of a neutral city. Yes? No?

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Sr. that I take the same text without asking the other user. So many cards have useful "when played" abilities I would like to use. For example the ability of the dwarfen unit "Forge Master" which reads "When Played: Reveal the top 2 cards of your deck. Draw 1 revealed Gold card into your hand and discard the remaining card(s). And so on.

Many thanks for the answers and sorry if the question was asked before and I didn't find it in the forum.

Christian

That's how we play and I too have seen no contradiction with the rules. Keep in mind though that you cannot divide your combat round to do non-combat actions and purchases. For instance, let's say you have 4 elven archers in your hand and you use 2 of them to attack Forge, untapping the Frostgate and Vinevale you control, making four influence again at your disposal. You cannot interrupt the combat by making a purchase; doing so ends the combat and therefore you could not attack Forge again for the turn. However, using Pegasus and Lennox Rider abilities that use influence is justifiable because they are during combat. So if you wanted to untap those cities again, it would have to be against a different available target other than Forge. On another note, When Played abilities are always optional, if you ever encounter an ability you never want to use (didn't know this till a couple weeks ago myself).

One more point I wanted to make since we're talking about elves and elven archers: did you know that when playing co-operative scenarios and committing a siege on an allied city exhausts the city? Normally the player would have to wait an entire round for the city to be usable again, but elven archers have the power to untap and use that new and exhausted city the very turn they siege. So first you siege, then you target something else and lay down your elven archers to untap the exhausted city. Neat combo that I wonder how many Rune Age players thought of yet.

Thank you for the answer. I hope my english was good enough to understand it so I try to wrote how I understand it.

So it is possible to attack the Forge with the 2 archers (also if I know, that I can't win. I ask because in many card games it is not allowed to target an illegal target) to untapp for example Frostgate and Vinevale. Then I stop the attack. Loose it and have 4 influence that I can spend for expample to buy a neutral card.

Or if I want to use the abilty of the "Forge Master". Start hand is 3 "1 Gold" and 2 "Forge Master". I attack for example a city or a landmark with the first Master. Reveal 2 cards and discard one. Then I attack with the second "Forge Master" and do the same. In the best case I have after the attack, which I loose and can't win 5 "1 gold" cards in my hand and can buy a unit befor I end my move.

Is this correct?

The second point with the co-operative I don't understand really and I haven't played any co-operative scenarios at the moment. =(

Tromdial said:

Just to make sure we're on the same page, it's not the fact that you attacked another player's city that exhausts it, it's that if you win the siege and claim ownership of the city, it goes in your play area exhausted instead of ready, right? The way you worded it above, it sounds like I can force my enemy to exhaust a city simply by declaring an attack on it, even if I don't win it. I don't think that's what you meant, but I just wanted to make sure.

The idea about using the Deepwood Archer in that scenario is a good one!

Budgernaut said:

Yeah, the phrasing is wonky. Let's try that again:

In co-operative, you may siege allied cities whether they are ready or exhausted. When the attacker succeeds in taking an allied city, it goes to the attacker's play area and is immediately exhausted.

When playing as the elves, declare another valid target if you have an elven archer in hand. When you do, during this combat lay the archer and ready the exhausted city you just gained with the archer's when played ability, making it able and ready to exhaust for its influence for later use instead of waiting until your next untap step. Likewise, you have bypassed the in-game mechanic for allied play that limits using sieged cities gained on the same turn. Elves are the only army that can exclusively do that trick, which is pretty sick.

If there is any more rule or phrase confusion with the new statement, reply again alerting me of the mistake.