Starting exactly where we left off last week with Read the Rules, we get back into it with the Measurement section on page 10. Right away we have an answer to a common question, a question that I was just asked yesterday at a tournament! The question I was asked and have been asked before a few times was: “Can I measure using more than one movement or range tool with the new rules?” Reading this section, you’ll know that the answer is “No.” To quote the text directly, “Any distance that is measured using a measurement tool can be measured at any time, but players may only use one movement tool and a range tool with up to five segments.”
Page 11 has some incredibly important distinctions about common wordings on upgrade and command cards that is addressed in the At, Within and Beyond section.
Page 11, 12 and 13 deal with terrain. This part of the CRB received a major overhaul from the old rules, and cannot be skipped over. At the beginning of every single game, you and your opponent will discuss each piece of terrain. This section talks about what that conversation may sound like and what to discuss during that conversation. Terrain can be Scatter, Area or Obstacle as its high-level classification. Each of these terrain types have a set of characteristics and rules associated with them. Having these classifications in the CRB is very helpful, as you can refer to these definitions and if you’ve read the rules, (Which you are already well on your way in accomplishing!) you’ll know exactly what they are talking about. The next trait that you will give to a piece of terrain will be if it is Open, Difficult, or Impassable. This distinction deals with how easily it could be moved through. The third and final distinction is whether it provides No Cover, Light Cover or Heavy Cover. This flows straight into the topic on the next page.
Page 14 ‘s most important topic is right at the top: Cover. Cover is Legion’s system of describing how easy it would be perform a ranged attack on an enemy. The cover a terrain piece provides includes some of the material traits of the object but also some of the immaterial parts. Some internal thoughts you may have while discussing these traits with an opponent is: How good would this material be at stopping a futuristic laser weapon? How good would it be at hiding the movements of something behind it?
The rest of page 14 has some handy, but inexhaustive list of the Actions a unit may take during its activation. It also has a short section on Suppression that flows over onto the next page. A critical takeaway from this section is two sentences that I will take directly from the text. “When a unit has a number of suppression tokens equal to or greater than its courage value, it is suppresses. If a unit has a number of suppression tokens that is equal to or greater than double its courage value, it is panicked.”
Page 15 through 19 are the entirety of the Getting Ready to Play section that I outlined in my first post, and the namesake for RTR#2. You’ll use the information outlined previously (especially the terrain portion) to get ready with your opponent to actually play the game! The section goes through the following steps (with a few clarifying additions):
Step 1 is completed in its entirety almost certainly in the comfort of your home before you are standing in front of the table with your opponent. After reading the relevant pages, 15-17, you’ll probably want to check out a list builder like Tabletop Admiral (also included in my Links page). List builders help organize information during this first step, and while you absolutely should not take that information provided to you through the list builder as the actual rules (only the CRB and other official material are that), you can rest easy that errors are found quickly and the site will tell you with pretty high accuracy what is legal or not.
Page 18 actually has you arrive at the table with your opponent! Hooray! Steps 2-8 are processed through on this page. As you read through this information, visualize yourself in front of the table, and set the cards out in front of you. You don’t need another person, just play the part of both players.
Page 19 has two massively important sections, the first is a Blue Box (BB) about Objective Tokens. This section has an important sentence at the end about setup, check it out! Our last section of the page and of this week deals with Winning the Game. This section has changed quite a bit in this version of the rules! Be sure to read the whole section, but two important takeaways are “Panicked units and objective tokens they have claimed cannot be used to satisfy Victory conditions on an Objective Card.” Earlier in this post, we reviewed what panicked meant. See if you can apply that definition to this statement! The other important takeaway is how you actually determine who wins during the tiebreakers. Remember, if you completely “table” an opponent by defeating all of their miniatures. The game ends and you are crowned the victor. Here is a quick order of tiebreakers:
- Number of Victory tokens
- Point value of enemy units completely defeated
- Player whose army consisted of more points at the start of the game (also referred to as the person who “bids the least”
- If all of the above are ties, then the game results in a Tie.
That wraps up our second week of Read the Rules! Come back again next Sunday to start the Game Mechanics section and read from page 19 to 26.
Be sure and also check back on Wednesdays as I start a new weekly series evaluating some common rules questions and where I will declare a Rule of the Week!