Pursuit (Ajax)

[Walgers]

We have a small discussion on the other miniatures page, but need an official rulling on the subject. Thank you for it. (I copied my two posts in this discussion)

The Ajax has the Pursuit ship SA. It allows him to be placed in a location where the selected enemy ship has gone to. What if the enemy has gone to a location where there is already two of your ships. Can you still put the Ajax in that location?

It does not say choose to put it in. The only word choose is about choosing an enemy ship during your movement step.

Example
Let's say I got two Ajax in a location with an enemy ship which I nominate for both. Then I move all my ships. During my opponents movement step he then moves that SA-targetted ship to a location where I got two ships already. I then have move my Ajaxes to that location to (since I have no choice in it due to the exact words in the SA), resulting in four of my ships in one location.

Indeed you must follow, even into a trap. Since your opponent know you must follow the ship (you had declared it before he moved), he can do two things: move his ship to a location where you got two (and seeing the can't over can-rule) your SA is aborted, or move to a position where you can do little damage and he sinks the ajax without trouble.

I think this abuility is more succesfull in the end of the game where there are only a few vessels in the game.

A related question. If your Ajax is crippled it may normally move 1 sector. Yet the wording of the SA does not say it moves to that enemy location, but "put this unit in that Ship's sector". This would also allow you to go around the crippled movement.

(I am not a person trying to cheat on the exact words of the rules, just finding the gaps and wanting a ruling on it to avoid cheats)

[Y2UAsk]

Interesting question. Here's how it works --

This is not a case of can't vs. can, because that applies only when one special ability is in conflict with another special ability. Here, a special ability is in conflict with a rule. When that happens, the special ability always wins. That's what special abilities do -- they let you break the rules.

BUT ...

SAs let you break the rules only in very specific, narrow ways. Again, as some have pointed out in the discussion, the text of Pursuit Ship describes one specific way in which this ship can violate the normal movement rule. It doesn't state that Ajax can violate the stacking rule, which states, "In a single sector, each player may have: ..."

So the answer to your question, if you haven't guessed already, is that Pursuit Ship lets you break the movement rules but not the stacking rules.

As to the second part of the question, because Pursuit Ship specifically lets you break the movement rules and states nothing about speed, it works regardless of crippled status.

Steve

[Y2UAsk]

As a footnote --

Most wargame rules are written in a negative sense. That is, it's assumed that if the rules don't state you can't do something, then you can do it -- i.e., you can't exceed your movement allotment, you can't save movement points from one turn to another, you can't put more than two units in a hex. W@S, however, follows the CCG model for rules writing, which is, you can do precisely what the rules state you can and no more. When interpreting the rules, always approach a situation from that perspective.

Steve

[Walgers]

Thank you very much.