CoE Rulings Digest #117

[zarathustra]

1. Ben Sorenson asked: " If I use By the Ringwraith's Word to make a RW follower a Leader, may I use Orders from Lugburz to include a Troll Leader in the company as well? Outside a darkhaven, I mean?"
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Orders from Lugburz merely lets you have an additional leader in the company (since normally you may have only one), and that leader must be a troll. Normal company composition rules like trolls vs. elves or trolls vs. Rw still apply.

2. Manuel Cabezali asked: " Ok, so here's a combo I have seen played several times that has caused some confussion in some games...

Is this combo legal?

- Assassin against a character
-> pumped by Rank upon rank it gets two strikes, but assassin says only one character can take strikes from an assassin
-> there are more strikes than defenders, so Pierced by Many Wounds converts that -1 in -4"
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All characters in a company facing an attack are considered defending characters, even if not all of them will face a strike. Therefore, the use of Pierced by Many Wounds with an Assassin affected by Rank Upon Rank (or Hoarmurath of Dir) is illegal unless there is only 1 character in the company facing the attack.

3. A question has arisen concerning what resources a player may legally attempt to influence away from his opponent. METW, MELE, and MEBA rules books seem to disagree on the scope of what a player may influence.
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You may not attempt to influence away any of the following from your opponent: his avatar, an ally controlled by his avatar, an item controlled by his avatar, or a follower of his avatar.

4. Ben Sorenson asked: "is the play of A Chance Meeting/We Have Come To Kill actually legal under circumstances other than when character play is allowable [i.e., during the organization phase, etc.]? "
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A Chance Meeting and We Have Come To Kill may be played with any company that is at a site, during any phase. The character brought into play in this way does not count against the 1-character-per-turn limit.

5. A question has arisen regarding what cards may be played on attacks and what cards may be played on automatic-attacks.
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First, we distinguish between (a) attacks (whether due to creatures or automatic-attacks or whatever else) and (b) automatic-attacks which are not being faced. The latter may exist when the former do not. For example, a company traveling to the Lonely Mountain is not currently facing the automatic-attack at the site, even though the automatic-attack is part of the text of a card that is currently in play. Our ruling is as follows:
(I) Resources that are playable on
* attacks (a) can be used on automatic-attacks only when a company is facing them, but are subject to restrictions as per the CRF.
* automatic-attacks (b) can be used on automatic-attacks at any time.

(II) Hazards that are playable on attacks (a) or automatic-attacks (b) can be used on automatic-attacks during the movement/hazard phase (or revealed as on-guards).

So, for example, it is possible to do any of the following:
- During the movement-hazard phase, play Not at Home to reduce the number of strikes of an automatic attack.
- During the movement-hazard phase, play Dragon's Desolation to increase the prowess of an automatic attack.
- During the movement-hazard phase, play Exile of Solitude on an automatic attack
- During the site phase while facing the automatic-attack, play Old Thrush to reduce the prowess/body of an automatic attack.
- During the site phase while the automatic-attack is being faced, reveal Dragon's Desolation on guard to increase the prowess of the attack.
- During the site phase while the automatic-attack is being faced, reveal Exile of Solitude on guard to attempt to capture a character.

However, it is not possible to do any of the following:
- During the movement-hazard phase, play Old Thrush to reduce the prowess/body of an automatic attack.

6. CoE Rulings Digest #17 incorrectly states that "If you can initiate COMPANY VS. COMPANY, you can obtain kill points from it."
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Both the defender and the attacker can always receive kill points from defeating characters or allies in CVCC.

7. David Barton asked: "In CVCC, are cards that change the number of strikes playable by the defender? I think the answer should be no, but the recent ruling leaves this open. If you can play these cards it would be a bit of a mess, because how do you decide which strikes are eliminated and which are still going to happen? "
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Your intuitions are entirely correct. Cards that change the number of strikes are not playable by the defender in CVCC.

8.
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I said something stupid about Forge-Master in my last digest. Please ignore " Note that there are no hoard items that Forge-Master would allow you to play: all the hoard items are battle gear."

9. David Barton asked: "In line with the recent ruling on CVCC, the defender is prevented from playing anything in between strike sequences, correct? Because it is too late to play resources that affect the attack, and otherwise he is only allowed to play resources during the strike sequence. "
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Your intuitions are entirely correct again.

10. David Barton asked: "I 've found contradictory rulings on playing at-home dragons and legendary hoard. (COE 19 & 59, also COE 46 might be relevant) I still find the playing of items with legendary hoard somewhat confusing. I know there is a three item limit, but what if I only play one item and the card isn't rotated. Can I play another item the next turn and the site still won't tap, and then another item the following turn? "
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None of these digests contradicts another regarding Legendary Hoard. Your suggested cheeziness at a hoard is indeed possible.

11. Jaded raised a question concerning the mechanics of To Get You Away, especially the use of the site cards. This in turn led us to deal with general mechanics for site cards in play but not being used by companies.
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(a) To Get You Away specifies that the agent returns to the site placed with the hazard host. Therefore the site card is considered to be with the agent as well.
(b)Site cards associated with agents or hazard hosts are considered in play. However, those site cards are placed with the agent / hazard host, meaning that the site cards are reserved for that purpose only. They may not be used for other purposes (e.g. company movement, playing cards on the site), unless so specified in the rules or card texts. Global-effects (e.g. Long Winter) still affect these sites as well.




Best,

Mark Alfano
mark.alfano@gmail.com

Official Council of Elrond Netrep*
http://www.councilofelrond.org/, http://www.councilofelrond.org/forum/index.php,

*Prepared in collaboration with Mikko Vihtemäki (NetRep Team), and Chad Martin, Brian Min, Manuel Cabezali Romero, Konrad Klar, and David Barton (NetRep Advisors).