Question of the Day

[styx]

This came up last night: Can you "stack" actions from a prior turn to count to the next turn.

Example: Bob the character has Heroic and thus 3 actions, he is in the Treasure Hunt mission. He does not move and looks for the treasure (spending 2 actions), he has 1 action left (can he spend that action to save to the next turn so he could search twice?).

From what we could find, you can't do this with Dynamite for example, I think the same for a rifle and .30 cal machine gun...

[superflytnt]

two answers and both apply:

NO

and

I wish!

[Mathyoo]

The answer is no. No. No. No...NO!

And keep in mind, Bob the character can only use heroic (and with it, third action) ONCE in a game.

At this point, I'd love to get a clarification of this rule. You have to say "I will use heroic this round" at the nominations, or you can, for example, use 2 actions to shoot and as you didn't kill what you wanted, declare heroic and try one more time?

We play it as you have to declare, but my brother always forgets so he just uses it when he thinks it'd come in handy

[Cherno]

You don't have to declare how many actions a model will do and how, so I see no reason why a third action would be a special case.

[styx]

The answer is no. No. No. No...NO!

And keep in mind, Bob the character can only use heroic (and with it, third action) ONCE in a game.

At this point, I'd love to get a clarification of this rule. You have to say "I will use heroic this round" at the nominations, or you can, for example, use 2 actions to shoot and as you didn't kill what you wanted, declare heroic and try one more time?

We play it as you have to declare, but my brother always forgets so he just uses it when he thinks it'd come in handy

Yea, we missed the heroic thing also...we assumed the stacking was a no, so we played it that way.

[superflytnt]

At this point, I'd love to get a clarification of this rule. You have to say "I will use heroic this round" at the nominations, or you can, for example, use 2 actions to shoot and as you didn't kill what you wanted, declare heroic and try one more time?

I totally disagree with the former for a couple of reasons.

First, does Doc Savage yell across the room to the bad guy "OK, I was thinking of firing at you lot 3 times right now, so sit still, be a good chap?"

Second, it's called "Heroic" not "Strategist". A hero jumps into action, has the extra stamina or brawn to carry through. That extra move is him pushing with every ounce of courage/strength/stupidity and going for broke.  We have never played with it, so I can't say, but were we to, I'd expect that it would be a one-time "at will" power usable anytime during a model's nomination.

That's my 2p for what it's worth.

[LidlessEye]

Heroic can be declared 'on the fly' at the UMW Lab, so you can indeed take two shots, then decide to burn Heroic.  I think this fits the character/spirit of the skill better, as it allows a model in a dire situation to find an extra reserve of courage in the heat of battle.  Of course, this isn't set in stone, and you should all feel free to carry on however you prefer to.

In regard to the original question, a model may never save an Action for a future turn.  What can cause a bit of confusion here are scenarios with objectives that require multiple Actions to complete: eg. 'Threshold must spend 4 Actions to clear the rockslide'.  In this case, the rockslide accumulates expended Actions, which will remain on it from turn-to-turn until the rocks are cleared.  Any given Threshold model may still only contribute a maximum of 2 Actions per Turn (3 with Heroic) to the effort.

[superflytnt]

Any plans to have a subset of Heroic, like perhaps a second level of Heroism (Superheroic? Stalwart? Studmuffin?) that would only be "purchasable" if Heroic is selected, that allows a permanent +1 action? Maybe one that requires two seperate skills as prerequisites to make it more difficult to attain?

I'd like to see something like that so that higher-level models who've lost many comrades in battle (and whose build points are approaching 15) can have an extra edge against a large Lurker force. Hate to say it, but even the toughest Threshold Character who is going it alone is going to have a hell of a time going against 20-22 BP Lurker builds that includes 4 Cult Leaders who can command one another, allowing a total of 8 attacks against them.

[Dolmot]

What can cause a bit of confusion here are scenarios with objectives that require multiple Actions to complete: eg. 'Threshold must spend 4 Actions to clear the rockslide'.

To fill some gaps regarding these: Is it a general rule that "spend actions" objectives are accumulative in any combinations? The FAQ mentions that two models can combine their actions. But let's say that one model reaches a two-action objective spot and wants/has to split the job over two turns, spending one action now and the other later. Is it still fine? I'm not sure if this is stated explicitly anywhere.

('Ready' actions must always be performed on the same turn, I think. And generic saving of actions is never possible as said.)

[superflytnt]

Just as an aside. I find Heroscape wound markers (little stackable red discs) work great as counters for those things.