Level One - Lesson 3
Comprehensive Rules: Section 1 - Game Concepts: Part 2
Also available are archives of live broadcasts, where the Program Director goes over the lesson, answers any questions that folks may have and sometimes goes on tangets about other elements of judging. You can find the playlist of broadcasts on youtube.
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Hello there and welcome back to the Judge Program for Star Wars™: Unlimited - Level One certification track lessons.
As always, I’m your host Jonah and today we’ll be going over the comprehensive rules, section one - Game Concepts. Going over all of the concepts is actually quite a lot of content, so it’s going to be broken up into two lessons. Last time we covered sections 1.1 to 1.8, this time, we’ll cover the rest, going from 1.9 to 1.17. Some of these were covered in the third Judge Apprentice lesson, but we’re going to talk about them again, just in case you haven’t watched those lessons!
Do you know how to draw a card? Okay, you probably do... do you know the elements of the game state, how that informs what information a player has to share with an opponent, and how to determine their status? That’s a bit more complex, so maybe you’re not as familiar with it as how to draw a card.
All that and much, much more in today’s lesson!
1.9 - Damage
Any card with an HP value (units and bases) can be dealt damage by attacks or abilities.This damage is represented by counters, which are placed on the card when the damage occurs. Similarly, when a card is healed, that many are removed. A card is only considered to be healed if at least one damage counter was removed from it. Likewise, if 0 damage is dealt, or an ability prevents the damage, no damage is considered to be dealt for the purposes of triggers.
A card is considered damaged as long as it has at least one damage counter on it. This damage sticks around until the card leaves play or the card is healed.
If an ability deals damage to multiple cards - like Bombing Run - all damage is dealt simultaneously. If an ability deals multiple instances of damage to one unit, such as with Maximum Firepower, the damage occurs sequentially.
There are also a couple of technical terms - combat damage is only the damage dealt by the attacker and defender as part of an attack action, and no other damage - even damage that occurs during an attack or if the amount of damage is derived from a unit’s power - if it’s caused by an ability, is not combat damage.
Excess damage is any damage greater than the amount needed to defeat that unit. This takes into account shields, remaining HP, and effects like Chirrut’s. A unit with six power and overwhelm that attack Chirrut or a unit with a shield and five HP would not deal any damage to a base, because they did not deal enough damage to defeat the defending unit, and so there was no excess damage.
1.10 - Power
Power, represented in the red box to the bottom left of unit art, is how much damage a unit deals in combat. All units have a power, even if it’s 0.This value is the printed power. When an ability checks to see what a card’s power is, it uses the printed power for out-of-play cards and the current modified power for any in-play cards.
To calculate modified power, begin with the printed power, apply increases, and then apply decreases. If the result is less than zero, treat it as 0 instead.
1.11 - HP
HP or hit points represented in the box to the upper left of base art or bottom right of unit art, is how much damage a card can take before it is defeated.A card’s “remaining HP” is calculated by starting with the printed HP, applying any increases, and then applying any decreases. Finally, subtract the number of damage counters on it - and that’s your remaining HP!
1.12 - Counters
Counters are indicators used to track information during the game. There are three types of counters.The initiative counter keeps track of which player has the initiative (by being placed on that player’s side of the game area) and whether it has been claimed or is available for the current round (either face-up or face-down)
An epic action counter is used to indicate whether an epic action has been used this game or not. This is most frequently seen on leaders but can be used on some bases as well.
Finally, damage counters track how much damage a unit has. Some damage counters have different face values, to indicate different quantities of damage.
A variety of objects can be used as counters - while cardboard pieces are supplied with starter decks, dice, coins, and plastic counters can also be used in their stead, so long as both players understand what is being represented by what.
Players can also use similar objects to track other effects - shield and experience upgrades, as reminders about lasting or delayed effects, and more!
1.13 - Drawing a Card
To draw a card, a player takes the top card of their deck and adds it to their hand.When a player draws multiple cards, they draw those cards simultaneously, unless otherwise specified.
If a player attempts to draw from an empty deck, for each card they would draw, they instead deal three damage to their base.
1.14 - Discarding a Card
To discard a card, the player takes a card from the appropriate zone (usually hand or top of deck) and places it into the discard pile. If multiple cards are discarded, they are discarded simultaneously, unless otherwise instructed.By default, when an ability instructs a player to discard a card from their hand, that player chooses which card to discard. Some abilities make the choice random, or allow a different player the choice - like Cunning or Spark of Rebellion. These exceptions are specified on the cards for which they apply.
If a player has no cards in their hand, they cannot discard any cards and are not considered to have discarded cards for “if you do”. However, the instruction “discard your hand” effectively means “discard each card in your hand until you have no cards in your hand”, which means that a player with no cards in their hand can choose to discard their hand.
1.15 - Actions
During the action phase, players take turns taking actions - these actions are Play a Card, Attack With a Unit, Use an Action Ability, Take the Initiative, or Pass. We began to cover the first three in Judge Apprentice lesson six - Actions, Abilities, and Effects, with some detail. They’re complex abilities, and we’re going to go into more detail later when we get to section six of the comprehensive rules, which will be a few lessons down the line.However, we will be going a bit more in-depth now on taking the initiative and passing.
To take the initiative, a player takes the initiative counter places it near them, and flip it to the “taken” side. They flip it back to the “available” side at the start of the next action phase.
Only one player can take the initiative each round - and once the action has been taken no other player can perform that action that round. Furthermore, once a player takes the initiative they automatically pass for the rest of their turns in that phase. This passing only applies to taking turns - they still resolve all abilities and effects as appropriate, including triggered abilities which may resolve and have the player take an action, like if Cobb Vanth is defeated.
If no player takes the initiative, the player with it keeps control of it.
The other action, passing, means that a player does nothing for their action. Players can pass even if there are other actions that they can take. If a player passes they are allowed to take actions on future turns that round. Once both players have passed, (including one player taking the initiative and the other player passing), the action phase ends and the regroup phase begins.
1.16 Game State
We’re catching up to some elements that we covered in the third Judge Apprentice Lesson - Game State. The term “game state” generally refers to the status and quantity of every object in the game - each card’s current zone, controller, attributes, and status (including ready or exhausted and faceup or facedown); the initiative counter’s controller and status (taken or available); the status of open and hidden information for a player; the status of all active lasting effects and delayed effects; and the status of Epic Action abilities (used or unused).That’s a heck of a list, but it’s pretty much everything observable about the game. An action, ability, or payment of a cost that changes any of these elements is considered to change the game state, and a player must change the game state when they take an action other than passing during their turn. For example with Fennec Shand, Honoring The Deal flipped to her unit side, if you don’t play a unit with her action, you haven’t changed the game state, and must choose a different action for your turn.
However, you can activate Leader Iden Versio, Inferno Squad Commander, even if no enemy units have been defeated this turn because exhausting Iden changes the game state. This rule exists to prevent players from effectively “passing”, without using the “pass” action.
As a corollary - while every action must be associated with a change in the game state, every change in the game state must be associated with an action, ability, or other rule. Players are not allowed to alter the game state without identifiable cause. This means a player can not exhaust resources when they aren’t paying a cost or discard a card they are not instructed to discard.
1.17 - Open and Hidden Information
The game state also ties into the next section, 1.17 which regards Open and Hidden information. Open information is information that all players are entitled to have access to and to know. Hidden information is any information that has restrictions on when it can be known or by whom.Open information includes attributes of face-up cards in play - units, upgrades, bases, and leaders, the number of counters or tokens on cards, the number of cards in various zones, the attributes of cards in each player’s discard, and both sides of each player’s leader. It also includes the attributes of captured cards - even though they’re face-down, all details about them are open information.
All information that is not Open, is considered hidden, such as the contents of a players hand (always accessible by that player) or the order of the cards in a players deck (available to a player while they’re searching that portion of that deck, but not otherwise).
Players must disclose and allow access to all open information to their opponent - you’re not allowed to prevent them from counting how many cards you have in your hand. However, a player is allowed to take actions that involve hidden information, and act as though they have fewer options - for example, a player who plays the unit Grand Moff Tarkin, Death Star Overseer can choose to take no Imperial cards, even if every card is Imperial, despite the ability not saying “may”.
Okay! That’s it for this lesson, but we’ll be back shortly with more knowledge! As always, if you have any questions, comments or insights, be sure to join the discard and make your voice heard. Until next time, good luck and have fun!