I had this situation come up in a game that I played;

LS declares objective and one attacker.

DS plays an event that has the one LS attacker discarded.

LS player wants to play Admiral Ackbar.

I believe Admiral Ackbar can be played, but I am unsure of when. The engagement hasn't come to the "Declare defenders" step. Can the LS player play Admiral Ackbar after defenders are declared or even after the last declared defender is focused to strike?

there is actually an action phase after attackers are chosen so you can deploy him then or during any other action phase during battle.

You can still play him into the engagement on your side, but, because no defenders have been declared yet, you won't get his reaction to damage enemy participating units when he is played during the engagement.

stormwolf27 said:

Yes, but if you wait for the action window AFTER defenders are declared…

rikktherek said:

rikktherek said:

Once an objective is engaged, the engagement happens. The FAQ spells out that an objective is engaged after an objective is picked and attackers are declared. If your opponent kills your only attacker in the action step right after "Declare Attackers" and before "Declare Defenders" the rest of the engagement still happens. Including Declare Defenders, the Edge Battle, and Strikes. Ackbar can be played in any Action Window following the start of the engagement. Which is after Attackers are declared.

ziggy2000 said:

but why would your opponent declare defenders when you have no surviving attackers? The question is over a particular scenario where the DS player has eliminated all attacking characters after an engagement has been declared. If the engagement continues to resolve, as one of the other repliers alleges, then you can play him after the DS player declares no defenders and sneak in an unopposed, but there is no need for the DS player to assign anyone to defend, unless he/she has some benefit to having defenders in the engagement without attackers to kill them.

stormwolf27 said:

Tactics icons.

dbmeboy said:

I'm not questioning playing Ackbar. I think it's a great sneaky move. My concern is the timing of playing him after "declare defenders," when it's highly unlikely you're going to get his reaction off to deal damage to participating enemy units, unless they want to declare defenders with no attackers, simply to get off their tactics icons, as Toqtamish pointed out

stormwolf27 said:

Yeah, while this move is sneaky and can be pretty effective, you do lose the damage enemy units effect unless the DS has some units with Tactics icons they want to toss in as "unopposed" defenders (wouldn't be a bad move, could lock down remaining units so that they couldn't even attack). I think it actually works better with Backstabber because his ability works just as well with no defenders.

rikktherek said:

i have a question based on this that i am unclear as to if it has been answered,

Lets Say:

LS has declared attack with 2 units

DS defends with 2 units

LS wins Edge

combat goes though and the last DS unit has focused to strike,

During that action slot before the end of combat can i play Ackbar, and would this activate his reaction and then i swing wiith Ackbar for his 2 tactics??

Thats great thank you, now gives me a use for ackbar i always hd a problem with working out where and when to place him

Thanks for the responses. In the rare cases where all attackers are eliminated before the declare defenders, I am going to make a point of considering declaring defenders or offering for my opponent to do so, even if I am not holding a card like Admiral Ackbar or Backstabber.

It occurs to me that a card with targetted strike would also be good to defend in an attackerless attack.

rikktherek said:

Not really, pg 25:

"Targeted Strike
When a card with the “Targeted Strike” keyword strikes during an engagement as an attacker , damage from its [unit damage] icon type may be assigned to one target enemy unit card, even if that unit is not participating in the engagement."

Good to know! I haven't used the ability much, and I think only on the attack.