[SOLVED] Reactions vs Reactionary Activations

Question

1. Are they different?&#010;2. Also, in the short explanation it says they trigger on Activation, but in a bulletpoint underneath it says you can also trigger a reaction with movement. How does this work? 3. It says for your Reactionary Activation, you may take a move, or an action. If you decide to take a move, how much movement do you get? 4. Is this sequence correct?:&#010;- Berserkers want to go and charge Horse Archers, so they declare their movement - Horse Archers do not want to get charged, so they declare a Reactionary Activation, and move away - The Berserkers see the Horse Archers back off, they decide to run into a nearby forest instead, and hold their action. Is this how it works?

Durnaxe · Accepted Answer

1) Are they different:
Sort of. Anything that can be used as an action can be used as a reaction but at a penalty of -1. So casting a spell as a reaction would be a -1 to whatever base stat they use (willpower or Command).
2) The example shows a charge so that's how I have been playing it when it comes to movement. Since just moving into base (a charge) doesn't take an actions then you should still be able to react.
3) It should say a move action. A move action is your base movement. So if your move is 3, you then apply the -1 to the movement and you only move 2.
4) I don't think so. Basically once the Berserkers move into base contact you then get to take a reaction before the Berserkers get to take their (combat) action by falling back.
IF it doesn't work that way then its way to easy to exploit charging to force certain units to fall back. Of course those archers could have also just stood and shot as a reaction but then their ranged is at a -1.

Durnaxe · Answer

@natfka Wait, so the scenario Mark described above (berserkers charging archers) is the correct one?

That seems really, really, really, really stupid. 
As far as I can find there is no declaration of a charge required before moving a model/squad.
So in Mark's scenario, the controller of the Berserkers merely states "I'm activating this Squad" and then the Horse Archers don't do anything, because they don't know  where the Berserkers are moving, then suddenly the Berserkers are in base contact making it too late to do a shooting or fall back reaction.
The only other game I can think of that does something like this (that I have played/heard/watched) was Warhammer fantasy and you at least got to choose to flee if models were going to charge you AND you got to know if models were gonna charge you in the first place.

natfka · Answer

@Mark You may declare a reactionary activation in response to a movement or an action are resolved "before" they occur. This interrupts gameplay allowing players to do what they can to try and survive bad situations. Doing this uses up one command value and lowers your characteristics for your movement or action by 1. It also activates the squad, which you will not be able to activate a second time during the game round.

Having the initiative against your opponent can be quite handy, but with reactionary activations you can play a reactionary game vs opponents with very high Command.

There has been many factions that have been through here that just don't worry Command. Don't get me wrong though, having a solid command comes in handy to keep the initiative and control the field. Fighting reactionary battle can be very difficult.

Mark · Answer

Fair enough, although for 4) I found an example in the core book on p.14:
 "During the Player 2’s Turn, Player 1 decides to declare a Reaction against a charge from some elite infantry to get their squad out of charge range. Once Player 1 has resolved their Reaction, they reduce their Command Value by 1."
This suggests I had the right idea

Ravenousminiatures.com · Answer

So taking the charge example, since we're suppose to know the army list the other player brought you would know what that squad could do, you then decided to do a reactionary movement to get outta range of the charge this would allow you to move -1 and hope get outta range.

Since this interrupts the turn does that mean the chargers can then do something else ?