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Ryan Hackel
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Game Designer
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I would like clarification on how the Command phase works, especially when using multiple Officer cards.

Here's my interpretation... let me know if I'm way off. Officers can Command either from in play or from the Hospital, but not from the hand. From my reading of the rules, Officers can both maneuver and rally during the same Command. Players take alternating turns making a Command until both players pass consecutively. When making a Command, the player selects an Officer card from play, manuevers that Officer by swapping with an adjacent card in play or with a card in the hospital, then rallies troops using that same Officer (assuming it is still in the ranks).

So I'm assuming that Commands are done with the players alternating turns, as is done with the attacking phase. I'm also assuming that the same Command maneuvers then rallies (as opposed to manuevering with all Officers, then rallying with all Officers).

Lastly, does using an Officer during the Command phase make it unready, or does the Officer remain ready? If the latter is the case, can I use the Officer multiple times in the same Command phase?

I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this part of the rulebook which could have used more elaboration.
Matt Click
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I am also really wondering about this. In the rulebook, it's not even clear that the Command phase works like the Attack phase. It also mentions that Officers can Maneuver and/or Rally, which implies that they can act more than once. I suppose that makes sense, but I didn't realize that while playing the first couple of times. Can anyone clear this up for us?
Mike Selinker
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Yeah, that's the same definition of "take turns," like in the attack phase. (For comparison, step 4 is not "Take turns drawing.") But it could be worded better. It should say, "players take turns choosing..."

Each Officer can only command once per turn, but that Officer can both maneuver and rally in that command, in exactly that order, before the opposing Officer does the same. Officers are never unready. When both players pass, the command phase is over.

Mike
Matt Click
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Thanks a lot for the help, Mike. But I still need some clarification here.

So, each player chooses one officer to maneuver and rally with, then the second player does the same with one? Or do you each maneuver and rally with as many officers as possible? And if an officer is never unready, does that mean an officer can maneuver and rally multiple times during the command phase? Thanks.
Mike Selinker
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RocketNumber09 wrote:
Thanks a lot for the help, Mike. But I still need some clarification here.

So, each player chooses one officer to maneuver and rally with, then the second player does the same with one? Or do you each maneuver and rally with as many officers as possible? And if an officer is never unready, does that mean an officer can maneuver and rally multiple times during the command phase? Thanks.


Just like in the "take turns attacking" phase, I use an officer, then you use an officer, then I do, then you do, and so on until we both have passed.
Matt Click
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Thanks, Mike. You've been a great help.
We apologise for the inconvenience
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Hi. This question here is the same one I had...
RocketNumber09 wrote:
And if an officer is never unready, does that mean an officer can maneuver and rally multiple times during the command phase?

Seems to me that if you can indeed move an officer multiple times, taking turns until you both pass, then (barring too many empty spaces) all you'd need is one officer in either your hospital or battlefield to be able to endlessly shuffle your troops around like one of those sliding-tile puzzles, pretty much positioning them all exactly how you'd like.

Also, the number of troops they can rally per turn wouldn't seem to be of any value, since you could just rally more with the same officer.

So did this...
mike selinker wrote:
Each Officer can only command once per turn
...perhaps mean once per "volley" (complete round)? But the "officers are never unready" thing goes against that.

I must be missing something somewhere... confused!

EDIT: Of course, there wouldn't be any empty spaces at that stage, otherwise you would have lost the game!
Last edited on 2008-08-31 09:07:04 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Matt Click
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Pudsy wrote:
Seems to me that if you can indeed move an officer multiple times, taking turns until you both pass, then (barring too many empty spaces) all you'd need is one officer in either your hospital or battlefield to be able to endlessly shuffle your troops around like one of those sliding-tile puzzles, pretty much positioning them all exactly how you'd like.


Yeah, that's a good point. You could also swap all wounded troops out to the hospital, which removes their wound tokens, and swap them right back, essentially healing your entire army. We still must be missing something here, because that seems wrong to me.

Maybe Mike will return to save us from ourselves.
We apologise for the inconvenience
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Hehe! Hadn't even thought about that, but yep, you could remove all wounds too.

For now, we've ended up going with the interpretation that you may only use (move and/or rally with) one officer each (player with initiative acting first) - and then you progress to flipping the initiative token & drawing back to 5 cards.

This seemed to play ok, but I could also see it working if you can use each officer upto once, perhaps temporarily turning them sideways to keep track, then turning them all back afterwards. You'd also have to remember which officers have been pulled off the battlefield.

Feels like there'll be a great little game in here given some guidance for the rules-handicapped among us ;)
Matt Click
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Pudsy wrote:
This seemed to play ok, but I could also see it working if you can use each officer upto once, perhaps temporarily turning them sideways to keep track, then turning them all back afterwards. You'd also have to remember which officers have been pulled off the battlefield.


Here's how I've been doing it: All Officers that have Maneuvered and/or Rallied are turned sideways. Officers moved off the battlefield are kept separate from the Hospital, in a place I like to call the Officer's Infirmary. That way I can turn hospitalized Officers sideways as well. Seems to work.
We apologise for the inconvenience
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Sounds like a good plan until we hear otherwise.

And topical, given the current talks over here regarding health service top-up payments for certain treatments, that those officers should have their own hospital wing ;)
Dean Longo
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I just read the rules for the first time and I have a "dumb?" question. I understand that you can maneuver and rally with the same officer. So if I use an officer with a rally of 3, can I maneuver him around 3 times and then rally 3 times? Or is that 3 total actions (so maneuver once and rally twice?)
Last edited on 2008-09-02 13:49:11 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Matt Click
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DLongo wrote:
I just read the rules for the first time and I have a "dumb?" question. I understand that you can maneuver and rally with the same officer. So if I use an officer with a rally of 3, can I maneuver him around 3 times and then rally 3 times? Or is that 3 total actions (so maneuver once and rally twice?


Well, in that example, you can maneuver the officer and rally up to three troops with it. The cards say, "May maneuver and/or rally up to two/three/four units," but the number only applies to number of adjacent (including diagonal) units an officer can rally. Does that clear things up for you?
Dean Longo
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Unfortunately, it doesn't. :(

That still does not seem to answer the question of whether you get 3 maneuver actions and then 3 rally actions...or simply a total of 3 maneuver and rally actions together.
Matt Click
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DLongo wrote:
Unfortunately, it doesn't. :(

That still does not seem to answer the question of whether you get 3 maneuver actions and then 3 rally actions...or simply a total of 3 maneuver and rally actions together.


No officer gets more than one maneuver. For example, an officer that reads: May maneuver and/or rally up to three units." That officer can maneuver ONCE and then rally up to three units.
James Williams
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Pudsy wrote:

For now, we've ended up going with the interpretation that you may only use (move and/or rally with) one officer each (player with initiative acting first) - and then you progress to flipping the initiative token & drawing back to 5 cards.
That's the only interpretation that makes sense to me. The rules say
Quote:
Starting with the player who has initiative, each player may choose one of his Officers on the battlefield ...


It says "one". Not all.

In the attack phase, it says specificially that "players take turns ordering attacks." Attacks is plural. One is singular.

Furthermore the rules state in "Continue taking turns attacking until both players have passed". This phrase is not used in the Step 2: Take turns commanding section.
Last edited on 2008-10-02 19:35:52 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)