A history of rulings I’ve had to make in games, so that they’re written down and can be referred to later. This is as of the 2.0 rules. ## Shoals and movement Rules as written: > »Shoals: If at any point of a ship’s move a part of the ship’s base moves over an area of Shoal Terrain, the ship must check to see if it has struck bottom. Complete the move, then roll a number of dice equal to its printed Fortitude value. If any [skull] results are rolled, the ship has struck the bottom and takes an Aground token. There are cards such as the French *Swift Vessels* that allow movement outside of the Movement phase. The question was: if you move off a shoal in the Initiative phase, do you still have to check for the shoal? **Ruling: yes.** Shoals don’t check just during the Movement phase, they check “all movement during a turn, once per shoal per turn”. (Yes, this means if you pass over of through three shoals in a turn, you have to make three separate rolls!) ## Cards and actions when entangled Rules as written: > ENTANGLED: A ship that is Entangled is stuck to another ship and will not move during the Movement Phase as long as it remains Entangled. **Entangled ships may only take the Cut Free Action.** Opposing ships Entangled together may still make Attacks. (Emphasis mine.) > A Note on Special Rules: When specific rules on cards contradict general rules expressed in this rulebook, follow the rule on the card. So when an initiative card grants an extra use for an action, can you do that when entangled? In the case of the French *Elan*, clearly yes: > During the Movement Phase, ships in this Squadron may spend an Action to make a Partial Fire Attack, or if Entangled, a Close Combat Attack. Roll 1 more dice during these Attacks. In the case of the Spanish *Heavy Musket Volley*: > Each ship in this Squadron may spend an Action to make a Partial Fire Attack during the Movement Phase. This attack cannot cause damage or critical hits to the target ship. Or *Rolling Broadsides*: > Each ship in this Squadron may spend an Action to make an Attack during the Movement Phase. Can they spend an action for the card’s effect? **Ruling: no.** While in general if a card contradicts the base rules, the card wins, in these two cases the contradiction is implicit, while for *Elan* it is explicit. The fact that one card is explicit and the other two are not implies that the other two _could_ be explicit if that was the intent, and their silence is dispositive. ## Moving off the table Rules as written: > MOVING OFF THE TABLE1: If a ship ends its move with part of its base off the table, it has drifted too far from the engagement and is removed from the game. Does a ship that moves off the table count as Out of Action or otherwise generate strike points? **Ruling: no.** A ship that moves off the table reduces the size of that player’s squadron, and if it was rendered crippled, that strike point remains, but it does not otherwise count as Out of Action. ## Targeting rigging or crew Rules as written: > To target a ship’s rigging, reduce the number of dice rolled during the Attack by half (round down, to a minimum of 1). and > To target a ship’s crew, reduce the number of dice rolled during the Attack by half (round down, to a minimum of 1). “Reduce by” and “round down” is a maximally confusing way to phrase things, I think. Are you rounding the reduction or the remaining total dice? So, if you have a base broadside of 7, do you roll 3 dice or 4? And more critically, if you have a base broadside of 1, do you roll 1 die or zero dice? In the general case, rolling half (round up, because the _reduction_ is rounded down) is more advantageous. But because of the “minimum of 1” clause, in the specific case of a base broadside of 1, that would mean the minimum reduction is 1, and that you’d be rolling zero, and that’s *less* advantageous. It is also _weirder_, which leads me to conclude that the intent of the phrasing is that you roll “half, round down” of your base broadside value. **Ruling: roll half, round down, minimum one.** If you’re rolling 7 dice base, roll 3. If you’re rolling 1 die base, roll 1. ### Addendum: *Target Rigging* initiative card and Dismantling Shot What about the French initiative card *Target Rigging*? > Every ship in this Squadron must roll 1 more dice during Attacks made against rigging. Or the upgrade *Dismantling Shot*: > When targeting a ships rigging within Pistol [or musket; there are discrepancies] Shot, add an additional dice to the attack. The normal rule is that division of dice values happens last, but that might mean that this initiative card has _no effect_! If, say, you are rolling a base broadside attack of 6, and play this initiative card or have this upgrade, then both 6 and 7 would turn into 3 for an attack targeting rigging. So, exceptionally, these cards apply *after* the division. A base broadside of 6 or 7 is divided to get 3, and then *Target Rigging* adds one, allowing 4 dice to for the attack. ### Addendum: Targeting crew and High Freeboard or Very High Freeboard While targeting rigging can never do Fatigue or Damage to a target ship, targeting crew can do Fatigue (though it, likewise, cannot do Damage). If the target ship has High Freeboard or Very High Freeboard, this means that the attack must do 2 or 3 hits to even cause one Fatigue, as normal. However, an attack targeting crew only hits on [sword] results, _and_ interprets them as though they were a critical confirmation. Therefore, if you target a ship with High Freeboard or Very High Freeboard: 1. One [sword] results in 1 Fatigue, because a critical would, even with those ship special rules. 2. Two or three [sword] results, as appropriate, would cause 1 Fatigue for a successful hit, plus 1 for being interpreted as a critical, for a total of 2 Fatigue. It will also trigger the rules for hitting the helm and any captain or admiral present. 3. If the attack is a rake, it will cause a bonus point of Fatigue even if only 1 [sword] result is rolled. If it is a stern rake, then it will, as normal, ignore High Freeboard or Very High Freeboard. ### Addendum: Skill and targeting crew or rigging You can use skill to reroll dice in an attack targeting crew or rigging; while it is _interpreted_ as a critical, it is still an actual attack roll. ### Addendum: Careful Aim and targeting crew or rigging *Careful Aim*: > When testing for critical damage, ships in this Squadron may re-roll any dice that fail to score [skull], [sword], or [sail] results. **Ruling: This applies when targeting crew or rigging.** You *can’t*, however, reroll dice that do come up as [skull], [sword], or [sail] if that isn’t of the type that your targeted attack needs. ### Addendum: Marines, Buccaneers, and targeting crew or rigging *Buccaneers*: > MARKSMEN: When making an Attack at Musket Shot or closer (including Close Combat), roll an additional dice for each [musket] result. If any additional [musket] results are rolled, the Attacked ship takes 1 Point of Fatigue. Any [muskets] rolled in the targeted attack must be confirmed with a subsequent roll, exactly as described in the upgrade. *Marines*: > When checking for Critical Hits, if one or more [musket] results are rolled, the target ship takes 1 point of Fatigue. This ship adds +1 dice to all Close Combat actions. Since the targeted attack roll is treated as a critical check, if there are any [musket] results, that will immediately trigger an extra Fatigue. Also: > A Note on Special Rules: When specific rules on cards contradict general rules expressed in this rulebook, follow the rule on the card. Therefore, Buccaneers and Marines can still trigger Fatigue even on shots that target rigging. ## Dispatch Ship and cards allowing attacks during Movement Phase *Dispatch Ship*: > If this ship is within Musket Shot of this Squadron’s Flagship, all friendly ships within Musket Shot of this ship are considered to be in formation during the Initiative & Movement Phase. Combine this with initiative cards like *Rolling Broadsides*: > Each ship in this Squadron may spend an Action to make an Attack during the Movement Phase. (Or the similar cards *Elan*, *Heavy Musket Volley*, *Small Arms*, and *Fire as She Bears*.) Do you get the benefit of formation (+1 to Broadside and Partial Fire attacks) made during the Movement Phase when the Dispatch Ship lets you count as in-formation much more flexibly? **Ruling: yes.** Your attacks made during the Movement Phase carry the formation bonus even if the formation is only provided by the effect of a Dispatch Ship. Yes, this means that it’s easier to stack the *only two bonuses for Partial Fire in the whole game*, formation and *Elan*. ## Cut Off scenario The scenario as-written feels more like “defender gets a deployment advantage, bringing ships in on turn 2”. Directly as-written, the ships they bring in can be anywhere within musket shot of a board edge. This includes, say, directly athwart the stern of an attacker’s ship, ready to grapple and board. This does not feel sporting. Therefore, **ruling: your turn-two ship placements must be outside of musket shot of any enemy ship.** ## Persistent & Doughty > **Persistent:** This ship may remove 1 point of Fatigue each time its Squadron earns 1 or more Strike Points. When do you “earn”? How does “not tracked between turns” play into that? In other words, when exactly does this trigger, and is it just “Rally beast” once you’ve got one crippled ship? **Ruling: this triggers in the End Phase when strike points are tallied, and it only triggers if you have more strike points this end phase than you did in the previous one** (or, if you somehow gain strike points by the end phase of turn one, in which case I’m very sorry for your situation). > **Doughty:** If you earned any Strike Points in the previous turn, immediately remove 1 Fatigue from each ship in this Squadron. Same same. **Ruling: for this to trigger, you must have ended last turn with more strike points than you ended with _the turn before last_.** ## Bold > After making an Attack or Skill Test, you may re-roll up to 3 dice. If any of the re-rolled dice fail to score a hit during the Attack or if the Skill test is failed, this ship takes 1 Point of Fatigue. There was a question in the Firelock Discord about whether this is “you just need one of the three re-rolled dice to be a hit to avoid Fatigue” or “every rerolled die must be a hit to avoid a Fatigue”. **Ruling: when rerolling dice for an attack with Bold, every die must roll a hit to avoid a Fatigue. When rerolling dice for a seamanship test, only one must be a hit to avoid a Fatigue.** This is asymmetrical, but in line with the text. Think of it less as “you get rerolls, and might get a Fatigue” and more “you get rerolls for a Fatigue, but if you’re really lucky and glorious, you don’t even have to pay the cost”. A Bold Captain is 1pt; each point of Skill is 2. There’s no way three dice of reroll costs less than one Skill, without incurring a Fatigue cost. ## Cut Free and what counts as immobile Per the rules for the Cut Free action: > If successful, The ship moves Yard Arm distance Directly Away from any ships it was Entangled with. If this ship cannot move Yard Arm distance Directly Away, it cannot Cut Free and remains Entangled. So if a ship is Anchored or Aground, can it cut free? Well: > » Anchored: At this setting, the ship is carrying no sail at all and cannot move. A ship on this Sail Setting takes an Anchored token. > A ship in this state takes an Aground token and may not move until the Aground token is removed. **Clarification: no.** If you are anchored or aground, and need to cut free, you cannot. ## Bold, Lucky, and rerolling edge cases Skill value: > SKILL VALUE: A ship’s Skill Value represents its sailing & fighting ability. Default Skill is 0, Skill 1 or 2 may be purchased as an upgrade on each ship. For each point of Skill a ship has, the ship may re-roll 1 dice during Skill Tests and Attacks. A dice re-rolled in this way can’t be re-rolled again, unless the further re-roll is made using a Fortune Point. Now, two contexts: Bold: > After making an Attack or Skill Test, you may re-roll up to 3 dice. If any of the re-rolled dice fail to score a hit during the Attack or if the Skill test is failed, this ship takes 1 Point of Fatigue. So it’s clear that if you have Skill 2 and only one die you want to reroll, you can only reroll that die once. But do the rerolls for Bold happen as part of the same bunch, or after? **Ruling: Bold rerolls are like Skill rerolls; a single die can only be rerolled once, whether through Skill or through Bold. Fortune, of course, scraps the entire roll and starts it over, resetting the whole matter.** Also, while we’re at it, if you spend Fortune, you don’t get the Fatigue from a Bold failure until and unless that second version of the roll is finished. Lucky: > You may spend a Fortune Point to force your opponent to re-roll an Attack made against this ship. Can both sides spend Fortune on a roll targeting a Lucky ship? If so, in what order? **Ruling: only one player may spend Fortune per roll, whether the attacker, or the defender with Lucky.** If the attacker has already rerolled via Fortune, Lucky cannot be used to reroll it. If the defender has forced a reroll via Lucky, the attacker cannot retry it with their own Fortune. So what, then is the ordering? Rarely will it be contentious, but the defender gets first refusal.