I've played a bout a dozen games with a friend of mine during lunch breaks at work. We've got a bit more familiar with the game and have picked favorite factions and some deckbuilding.

I tend to play HB corp, while my friend plays as the Criminal Gabriel Santiago.

It's usually not too much trouble to find an answer, either in the rulebook or FAQ, but this situation seems a little more specific and could do with some advice for when it (inevitably) happens again.

Here's the scenario.

Gabe was making a run on my HQ. I had a Rototurret (rezzed) and Heimdall (unrezzed as couldn't afford to rez it) and Ash in my server root.

He had Femme Fatale on the Rototurret, so spent two credits to bypass it, leaving him with one credit. He then encountered Ash. He took the Tag as he couldn't afford to match the base strength... and this is where the problem arose!

When making the first "successful" run against the corp HQ, Gabe gets 2 credits. We were trying to agree when he gets them as the outcomes are very different:

1) If the credits are paid as soon as he passes the ice and accesses the server, he would have had 3 credits and would have been able to pay to trash Ash.

2) If the credits are paid when the run is over (i.e. all cards are accessed and all actions etc resolved) then he would have been unable to trash Ash on the run, leaving him free to be apain in the neck for at least another run.

Any help would be much appreciated.

You gain the credits as soon as the run is successful. So before the ash's ability

Hello,

Here are your steps :

- Gabe is running on HQ

ICE1 : Rototurret -> Femme bypass, paying 2 credits.

- Gabe choose to keep running

ICE 2 : Heimdall -> unrezzed

- Gabe choose to access cards.

Reaction : the Corp rez Ash

- The run is successful

Reaction : Gabe gain 2 credits.

Reaction : Ash trace 4 -> if successful, the Runner cannot access any cards other than Ash for the remainder of this run.

- Accessing cards, Gabe can pay 3 credits to trash Ash.

For more information : try to look at the last page of the FAQ. You have the exact timing structure of a run.

And be carefull, but Ash doesn't give any tags

Gabe was making a run on my HQ. I had a Rototurret (rezzed) and Heimdall (unrezzed as couldn't afford to rez it) and Ash in my server root.

He had Femme Fatale on the Rototurret, so spent two credits to bypass it, leaving him with one credit. He then encountered Ash. He took the Tag as he couldn't afford to match the base strength... and this is where the problem arose!

Note that Ash doesn't Tag.

Just looked at the card and noticed you're right! So used to seeing a tag after a trace! Looks like I owe my mate two apologies then!

Thanks for the help everyone. That should make it easier for next time!