Can any one point me to the part in the rule book describing how a player can hold an action?

What does it mean to hold an action?

When it's a player's turn, they may take their Free Maneuver and their Free Action. They may optionally downgrade their Free Action to a second Free Maneuver, or exert themselves for 2 Strain to take a second Maneuver in addition to their Free Maneuver and their Free Action.

I don't believe there is any provision for 'holding' or 'saving' an Action until another time besides that player's own turn, though.

Is that what you mean?

Yes,

Situation, player had Weapon with Medium Range, target was at Long Range.

player wanted to hold action until target was at medium Range.. then fire..

I saw no mention of this anywhere, and my gut tells me it can get wonky.

The closest you can get is choosing a later initiative slot.

Or using maneuvers to close range to the target..............or buy a rifle.................

Yes,

Situation, player had Weapon with Medium Range, target was at Long Range.

player wanted to hold action until target was at medium Range.. then fire..

I saw no mention of this anywhere, and my gut tells me it can get wonky.

Yep, if the player wants to wait until that NPCs acts, hoping they will move closer, the PC can certainly choose to take their turn in a later Initiative slot.

Otherwise, there's no provision for voluntarily holding an action until a later time. They can choose to take an Action when it's their turn, or not.

Yeah, pretty sure the "free pick of your side's initiative slots" thing is probably why they omitted a "hold action" mechanic in this game. If nothing else, just Aim a couple times and wait til the next round?

Yeah the initiative system doesn't support delaying your initiate like in D&D (the closest you get is just going on a later group slot), or readying an action to use when a certain parameter is met (like when the target gets in range or moves through a door.)

I actually listened to an Order 66 the other day that had this question. The Part 1 of their uber questions podcast.

I agree with the above and what Order 66/Jay & Sam mentioned: There is no hold action like in other RPGs but the Dynamic Initiative fills that void. If you want to 'hold action', take the last Initiative slot

EotE is a self-identified narrative game, so the rules are only really there to support your shared story, not to act as a shackle. As long as your guy is specific about his intentions (he seems to be) it doesn't seem unbalancing, to me.

• If I said "I want to shoot that sword guy as he's running up", my GM would say, "Okay" and I'd get a shot before he finished moving (if the bad guy stayed where he was, I'd lose me action).
• If I said "I want to see how this plays out", my GM wouldn't let me interrupt anyone else's go (he'd just treat it like a delayed initiative slot, as suggested above).