When do you decide exactly which commons are activated?

[blast_shark]

I looked at the rulebooks and FAQ and didn't find a definite conclusion to this question. Posting this to see if there is an official consensus for tournament play that I'm unaware of.

When you reveal an order marker on a common squad, you can move and attack with up to as many figures as appear on their army card, and you can only attack with those that moved. My question is: At what point do you declare which figures are being activated with the order marker?

This is usually only relevant when you do not move with an entire squad worth. For example: You take a turn with Knights of Weston. You have 5 knights total. One is already engaged with Grimnak, another is engaged with a Heavy Grut. The other 3 are unengaged.


You move the unengaged knights adjacent to Grimnak to attempt to kill him this turn.


The way I've seen most play this is to make attacks with the ones that moved and then use the information gained from those attacks to decide whether to make a fourth attack on Grimnak or an attack on the Heavy Grut. I personally do not think this is how it ought to be, and the rulebook does not make it clear to me how this part of activation is meant to work.

The way that seems most intuitive (and strategically interesting) to me is that the activated figures are decided the moment you reveal the order marker. In practice, this declaration would only need to be made right before any unknown information is revealed (such as an attack roll or the result of a leaving engagement attack/engagement strike ability).

[Unhinged Manchild]

Originally Posted by blast_shark

I looked at the rulebooks and FAQ and didn't find a definite conclusion to this question. Posting this to see if there is an official consensus for tournament play that I'm unaware of.

When you reveal an order marker on a common squad, you can move and attack with up to as many figures as appear on their army card, and you can only attack with those that moved. My question is: At what point do you declare which figures are being activated with the order marker?

This is usually only relevant when you do not move with an entire squad worth. For example: You take a turn with Knights of Weston. You have 5 knights total. One is already engaged with Grimnak, another is engaged with a Heavy Grut. The other 3 are unengaged.


You move the unengaged knights adjacent to Grimnak to attempt to kill him this turn.


The way I've seen most play this is to make attacks with the ones that moved and then use the information gained from those attacks to decide whether to make a fourth attack on Grimnak or an attack on the Heavy Grut. I personally do not think this is how it ought to be, and the rulebook does not make it clear to me how this part of activation is meant to work.

The way that seems most intuitive (and strategically interesting) to me is that the activated figures are decided the moment you reveal the order marker. In practice, this declaration would only need to be made right before any unknown information is revealed (such as an attack roll or the result of a leaving engagement attack/engagement strike ability).

I agree with your sentiment here, although I have no idea if it is supported by the rulebook. I actually don't know why most people play it where if you don't move the full card worth of figures, then you can basically declare a "surprise/backup" mid-turn attack for each figure you hadn't moved.

Then again, I don't think the rules tell us that we have to declare which figures we are activating (other than via revealing an OM, that is,) so it seems to me that it would be illegal (or at the very least players would not have to oblige) if we ask someone to declare which three/four figures they are activating at the moment they reveal the OM.

[AMIS]

It's one of the reasons commons are so ... common. While I can see the sentiment, being able to kill Grimnack and then go after the heavy if possible; I believe that is built into the points for commons.

That's the short answer, here's a longer answer that hopefully helps...(maybe it won't).

Look at the differences between a unique squad (one that automatically states which figures attack) and a common squad (if it moves it must be an attacker). Take for instance the Tarn Vikings and Knights of Weston. Both are Jandar, have 4 figures, Life 1, Move 4, Range 1, Attack 3 and Defense 4.
Skills for the knight include direct bonding and a negative skill to make sure they do not leave engagement. Their go to hero - Sir Denrick - costs 100 points; so a small army section including two squads and hero would cost 240 points.
Skills for the Vikings include a movement bonus and 'reverse' bonding from their go to heroes. Their go to's - Finn or Thorgrim - both cost 80 points; so a small army section of including the one squad and two heroes would cost 210 points. Add Eldgrim (another reverse bonder viking) and you have a solid play test on your hands.
Both small groups play differently but normally if you rush the viking heroes forward into the knight's semi-turtle army it'll leave you with a couple to one full squad of knights left (depending on how well the 8 knights are used to attack the vikings) and Denrick against the 4 Tarn Vikings. That's with using the Finn's gone I can concentrate on attacking Thorgrim or Eldgrim during the same turn in battles.
The 4 Unique Tarns now have (with Finn, Thorgrim and Eldgrim's spirits) backward bonuses that can outmaneuver the knights while having 4 attack and 5 defense. It's always a close battle showing that the points were pre-thought out.
That's the long answer.