Guard and Counterstrike

[Ascon]

Hi together,

First of all I would like to thank Arcane Wonders for this brilliant game! It combines so many genres that I love. The mechanics are so realistic, fun and well-thought-out that me and my playgroup are going to support this game for a very long time. Well done!

Sorry if this question has been asked already, but I couldn't find anything by searching through the forum:

If a friendly creature with the counterstrike trait is melee attacked by an opponent which also has a guarding creature in the same zone, whom is my counterstrike going to hit? Would it be the attacking creature ore the one with guard instead?

I understand the rules that a counterstrike is a completely new attack and therefore forced to hit the guarder (that is how we played it). However, I am not 100% sure if this is correct and it feels odd somehow. I think that a COUNTERstrike should automatically hit the source of the attack regardless of any guarder in the zone.

I would appreciate it if someone could help me to get this straight before the situation occurs again.

Many Thanks

[pixelgeek]

Lets take a quick look at the definitions for Counterstrike first

Counterstrike
If a creature is the defender of a melee attack, and it has a quick action melee attack with the Counterstrike trait, it may use that attack against the attacker during the Counterstrike Step of the attack.

Counterstrike specifically states that the quick melee attack made in Step 7 is against the attacker and this counters any attack redirection that Guard may require.

[Ascon]

Thank you for your quick response, pixelgeek!

It is a bit confusing, since two paragraphs later it outlines that "the counterstrike attack is resolved like a normal attack, starting with step 1: Declare Attack..." And by going back to Step 1 we came across the moment where guard comes into action.

So for a future update of the Codex or an official FAQ, it might be worthwhile to state that a counterstrike cannot be guarded.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the clarification. It makes perfectly sense that way.

[shahriar]

I have been wondering about this for a while:

What happens if my Hydra is guarding and someone attacks it:

1. It has a natural counterstrike

2. It is also guarding so that also results in a counterstrike.

3. What if it is also enchanted with the "Retaliate" card.

So do all three go off at the same time but only 1 attack is made against the attacker?

Thanks

[jacksmack]

I have been wondering about this for a while:

What happens if my Hydra is guarding and someone attacks it:

1. It has a natural counterstrike

2. It is also guarding so that also results in a counterstrike.

3. What if it is also enchanted with the "Retaliate" card.

So do all three go off at the same time but only 1 attack is made against the attacker?

Thanks

Read the rules for counterstrike.

They are very clear about this situation.

Only 1 counterstrike can be made.

[baronzaltor]

The short version is that "counterstrike" is a trait that an attack has, like Piercing, Unavoidable and so on.
gaining Counterstrike again doesnt do anything,  because the attack already has the "counterstrike" trait. 
For example, Brogan has Unavoidable naturally.  So if you played Perfect Strike on him, the second instance of Unavoidable doesnt do anything because its not a stackable trait (as opposed Piercing, which does stack).  Thats whats happening with multiple instances of Counterstrike.

All of the Hydra's quick attacks naturally have that trait, so when it guards its quick attacks gain a trait that they already possess.   Revealing Retaliate also provides the Counterstrike trait, which any blocking creature gained for blocking.