SFR, Inc.

[TheLazyhase]

Hello.

Somebody asked me question on the last game, and since I have a very bad record at understanding the rules correctly, I seek verification here.

The first one, and the one where I think I am correct, was about promotion and Open Grave : I was asked if the promoted unit were going to the reserve army instead of the DUA. The glossary say very clearly that promoted unit are not killed and consequently are not affected by Open Grave.

The second one seem more tricky to me. If an undead dice in an army with Open Grave is killed, can the Stepped Damage racial be used ? To take a concrete example, if a Mummy is killed, can I step damage an Heucuva and return the mummy to my reserve area ?

My understanding is that Open Grave does not allow unit to be killed, they are sent to the reserve instead of being killed. But I am unsure of this, so I prefer seek verifications.

[cliffwiggs]

I htink you did it right.

the open grave prevents the unit from being killed, so stepped damage is not even an option.
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[AC]

I can see the potential view to exploitation, since Open Grave refers to "units taken as casualties," from which one could infer that the units are being killed (albeit briefly -- see also the language in the Stoneskin Rule). However, note that Stepped Damage uses the phrasing "may instead be traded in for [a unit] from the DUA," meaning that the unit being exchanged definitively is going to the DUA, so there would be little advantage to that interpretation.

That is: Even if you could take Stepped Damage on a unit under an Open Grave, you wouldn't want to do so, since you'd be putting it in the DUA and putting a lesser health unit in Reserves. While there could theoretically be some situational utility, your interpretation seems to be consistent with apparent intent (though I could be mistaken). I expect that Open Grave is already slated for a language clean-up to improve clarity.