1st Game Play Through Questions

[BlackReign12]

1. I had a question about tide cards and timing... I had a tide card from the Mercenary Tide Deck that was titled "They Don't Pay Me Enough" which stated that when a hero was being attacked that hero could discard their coins and move up to 3 spaces away... However, my wife and I were wondering if she attacks that zone specifically aiming at the hero (she was using a Gunner that could attack a hero as first priority), and I play that card... does that mean A) Do I have to play the card before she rolls for damage or can I wait until after to see if she would have hit me? B) If I play that card, does she then get to re-aim and hit the zone instead (because there were deckhands in that zone that she could have killed with the roll) or does it basically just ruin that turn for her as she was originally aiming at the hero? C) If I play that card after she rolls for damage would I still take the damage and move or see it as I moved out of the way before the damage was dealt and I basically ran before the shots were fired/attack was made? - I believe I could play the card AFTER she rolled, I would not take damage, and she can not re-aim at other enemies? Is that accurate?
2. Are objectives seen as enemies? For instance I had the Pig Bomb guy, and his first attack specifically calls out "enemies" when I attack. So does that mean he can't do any damage to objectives, because his Pork Bomb also specifies "hero's" which again doesn't allow for damage to objectives...? That means he is a beast against hero's but pointless against objectives... correct?
3. Mainly a clarification question... the only time you can substitute a hero is when one gets KO'd and then you have the option to pull in someone else upon the "Deploy Hero's" phase... is that accurate? That is the only major piece my wife didn't like. She wanted to be able to move hero's in and out more often to use their abilities strategically, but couldn't unless a hero was KO'd... did we play that correctly or did I miss something in the rules?
4. Can you move through spawn points, but just not stop on one... or are those zones completely off limits, no passing through or anything? If you can't pass through them, does that mean even your own faction can't pass through your own spawn points, or is that just for the rival faction? IF neither can even pass through the spawn points it really hinders movement on the ship... but maybe that was intentional.
5. Can you ever stand on, or stop on the same zone as an objective? For instance, can you move into the objective zone (like the deck gun)and stay on it, or do you need to attack it from adjacent zones?
6. I would like to know more about "push"... does it have to be a legal space? I was using the Pig Bomb guy and his "Pork Bomb" states that it deals 4 damage to a hero and then pushes them 1 zone. I felt like if it was a bomb, that zone didn't have to be legal... so if they were close enough to the edge, I would blow them off the ship and into the water... clarification on that would be awesome.
7. Tide Decks - Just a clarification... you only use the Mercenaries Tide Deck if you have a complete 5 person team of Mercenaries... otherwise you use your specific faction (even if you have 4 mercenaries and 1 other faction)... correct? Also, what if both 5 hero teams are completely made up of Mercenaries... do you share the Mercenary Tide Deck? How would you play that scenario?

I am sure I will come up with more, but these are the main things we came up with our first play through. I had a blast and look forward to the next time I play. Thanks for your help and responses.

 

[.aaron]

I've played two games so far and had a great time. I had questions like yours during play, too. I like that the rules are pretty easy to get started with, and they don't have too many exceptions. To your questions, I'll give page numbers where I find written rules supporting an answer. Otherwise, I'll note my own speculation as to the intent.


1. The first step in attacking is targeting. This happens before rolling the attack. (p 16) If the Tide Card specifies when a Hero is attacked, then it seems to refer to the time when the Zone containing the Hero is targeted in an attack. The Tide Card should be played at that point, before Hits and Misses are rolled or assigned.


Also, if it comes up, the active player orders events in the case of timing conflicts. (p 16)


2. Objectives are not by definition enemies. The rules note a specific case otherwise: "Sea Creatures are considered enemies to all players. . . ." (p 14)


3. Your reading is correct. The rule book only enables Hero swapping via death of the Hero. Once the Hero moves from the KO'ed state to the In Reserve state, the number of Deployed Heroes should be less than three. So, any In Reserve Hero will be eligible for Deployment. I think one of the Luck Goddesses has an ability to swap a Deployed Hero with an In Reserve Hero.


4. "A model may NEVER enter a Zone containing an enemy Deployment Point." (p 13) Inversely, a model may enter a Zone containing a friendly Deployment Point.


5. As far as I can tell, you can enter a Zone containing an objective, as long as the Zone is still a Legal Zone (defined on p 13).


6. Push is defined on page 16. Essentially, it is a movement that has the additional option of moving into an Off Deck Zone. I.e., you can blast someone overboard with a Porc Bomb.


7. The main rules don't have the Mercenaries Tide Deck. By them, you would choose one of the existing factions and play with that faction's Tide Deck, even if you had five Mercenaries for your crew. If you choose to play with the Mercenaries Tide Deck as an option, then how you wish to do so is somewhat up to you. Would you allow Mercenaries vs. Mercenaries as factions (the same as would you allow a game of Bone Devils vs. Bone Devils)?


More information about the Mercenaries Tide Deck is available in the Kickstater update https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/rum-and-bones/posts/1092668.

 

[BlackReign12]

These are great answers. Thank you so much for the time you took to respond. A lot of these I have come to realize and agree with all of your responses. Thanks again.