Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Since I am not an Elder, this is how Younger STAMP sees it:

Ambush the City will be abused if it is categorized with The Long Day and Grapes of Wrath.  It should remain in the side battle category but with the extra caveat that it also switches the RA from one to the next.  In other words, AtC starts a side battle then changes it to be the main battle, and changes the main battle to be a side battle.  Furthermore, the original battle does get put in the set-aside area so they can be targeted by cards such as The Watcher.  Finally, as pertains to EC that are either ignoring or protected from the hero's actions, they do not go to the set-aside area but rather return to territory, a la ANB.

So in summary:

1) You can only play one AtC per turn.

2) AtC does not start a new Battle Phase.

3) Cards in original battle are in set-aside area.

4) ECs that ignore or are protected from AtC return to territory.

Will I build an AtC-abuse deck?  Absolutely.  The player in me strives to find great combos.

"A new Rescue Attempt means a new phase" in the case of Grapes of Wrath and The Long Day creates consecutive battle phases, in the case of Ambush the City it creates concurrent (or nested or overlapping) battle phases.  I don't like the idea of two phases happening at the same time, thus I have always been against this rule but it is the status quo.

This means any ongoing effect from the original battle applies to the new battle (because the original battle phase hasn't ended yet), but ongoing effects in the new battle will not generally affect the original battle (because they end when the new battle phase ends which is just before the original battle resumes).  So if Ambush the City is played on Moses, both the original battle and the new battle are by-the-numbers, but if Ambush the City is played on someone else and Moses starts the new battle, the new battle is by-the-numbers but the original battle is not.

Ambush the City does (according to the status quo) move the cards from the original battle to the set-aside area.  If a card cannot be set aside it would remain in the Field of Battle and wait for the other cards to return.  Of course this creates an issue with the "no character can enter battle twice in one turn" rule.  When the characters from the original battle are set aside they leave the Field of battle, to resume the battle they would have to enter the battle a second time...which they are not allowed to do.

Hidden Treasures says "Once per turn..."