Hello
According to the FAQ, if a hero plays successfully a retreat card in a combat, the hero goes on its turn as if its opponent was defeated.
So, in this case, Sauron can add influence tokkens on the board with the monster or minion wisdom, doesn't it ?
Well, Sauron only adds influence if the hero fails to defeat the opponent, so if Retreat is meant to be treated as a hero win, seems like no influence for Sauron.
I agree with you. But i played with real bad player who wanted a prouf.
I think there is no doubt about the sense of this card. Also, i note that another personn has the same point of view than me. I appreciate that.
So, if more people could say the same thing, it would be wonderful. I would have a proof that i play with bad player and i'm stupid. ;-)
Well, the FAQ answer reads "The hero continues his turn as if he had defeated his opponent in combat. The movement from the card is not treated as a travel step and will not trigger combat or peril in the new location."
The manual (p.29) reads the folowing: "If the monster or minion was not defeated, then Sauron may immediately place an amount of influence equal to his combatant’s wisdom in extension of Shadow Strongholds."
My interpretation is that, by playing Retreat, the minion is considered defeated in combat, therefore Sauron does not spread influence. It's like the hero made a tactical, planned, surprising retreat, leaving the minion moraly defeated and unable to spread fear through Middle Earth.
But the truth is the FAQ does not give a direct answer to that question, and a quick search in the BGG forums shows that there is no consensus among the players.
I sent this question to FFG staff, so let's wait for their answer. Meanwhile, I believe the best way to handle this problem is to house-rule this matter with your friends before you choose who'll play as Sauron next time.
So, I finally got an official answer straight from Corey. In his message, he stated the following:
So if the turn continues, is it ok to explore on the location were the battle took place before moving to an adjacent location by the secondary effect of the retreat card?