BrianA:

I am a little confused on Defending. The rulebook states that you must defend a challenge with at least one character, but the sample game gives an example where the "defender" chooses to not to defend and let the attacker gain an extra power for an "unopposed challenge". Any help would be appreciated.



Thomas Stark:


In order to "defend" a challenge, you must have at least one character involved. If you defend with one character and that character is removed/killed during the challenge, you are then considered to have no defenders. Allowing a challenge to go unopposed is always an option though.


This is a great game, and once you get a feel for how it runs you will love it. Keep bringing us your questions and we will be happy to keep you pointed in the right direction.




BrianA:

Than you very much...I already love the game. i have been a magic player for years, and this has really been such a nice change. Honestly i am probably more impressed with the community, everyone has been very helpful. It is appreciated.


ktom:


That particular wording in the rules has confused a lot of people. It really does make it sound like declaring defenders is mandatory if you have an eligible character when actually, a fair amount of the "art and science" of the challenge phase is deciding when to take it on the chin so you can attack later.




Jon Snow:

Quote:
In order to "defend" a challenge, you must have at least one character involved. If you defend with one character and that character is removed/killed during the challenge, you are then considered to have no defenders. Allowing a challenge to go unopposed is always an option though.


Excellent point, another point to know is if the defender is still in the challenge but their strength is reduced to 0 or they don't count their strength, even though you 'opposed' the challenge, it is still considered unopposed


Trump:


Or to state it in yet another way, if defensive strength is less than 1 during challenge resolution, the challenge is unopposed.



staton_70:


Well in AGoT, you can never have negative strength. It always rounds up to 0.



Trump:


Yeah but when I simply say unopposed is when defensive strength = 0 it doesn't seem to work as well. For some strange mental reason, some people wonder if no defenders is the same as STR=0, yet if I say STR<1 they KNOW that no defenders qualifies for that. <shrug>



staton_70:

Right, yes. I know exactly what you mean. It just makes more sense from an explanation view point. I was just clarifying in case it ever comes up in the futue.




ktom:


~ How many different ways CAN we say "you need a participating defender AND a challenge STR greater than 0 to oppose a challenge"?

Actually, it can be a bit of a new concept for people coming from other games. Take M:tG, for instance. There was a time (and I don't know if it's still the same or if it has changed since I haven't looked at the game in close to 10 years) when even if a defending creature was removed from the board before the attack was finalized, the attack was still considered blocked.