Don't have initiative at a planet, no problem.

But if you do have initiative, you can attack 4 times. The minor setback is that this target is Astra Militarum only, so if you make a hybrid deck (that look like the way to go) you hardly going to use this for full effect. Still, 2 shields and only 1 cost to attack first is enough most of the time.

amazing card if you have straken at the same table. plus the 2 shields make this rarely a dead draw. 

the thing with this card... i did it in a match...so u got straken and some units at a planet, enemy warlord bloodied, play this card and finish him on ranged turn,, he cant retreat and has to play like 3-4 shields min xD

I love this card with jacked up Infantry Conscripts. Especially if I have initiative.

You have to use this with an army set up ahead of time rather than the army following your Warlord to battle, correct? Since they come to the planet exhausted?

Ideally, yes, but not necessarily. Let's suppose there are a good number of units in the planet or you have lots of shields in hand, expecting it to be a long battle that will last several combat rounds. The card's effects persist until the end of the (combat) phase, not until the end of the combat round.

Ideally, yes, but not necessarily. Let's suppose there are a good number of units in the planet or you have lots of shields in hand, expecting it to be a long battle that will last several combat rounds. The card's effects persist until the end of the (combat) phase, not until the end of the combat round.

The Ranged skirmish only occurs at the start of the battle, not at the start of each round of the battle. So it has zero impact on future combat rounds.

Yes, Majestaat is correct.  Ranged Combat only happens once per battle and not once per combat round.

There's an action window before the player with initiative takes Ranged combat turn and an action window after that player with initiative has finished but before the player without the initiative take's their Ranged combat turn so you can play it either way no matter if you have initiative or not. 

However, any units that are exhausted (typically HQ units that come with your warlord) than Preemptive Barrage won't help. 

Lack of sleep had me talking nonsense. Like when I told that guy that units from all planet had to retreat by the end. I really shouldn't post after all-nighters.

So to get the best use from this card (excluding the shields, which is probably a horrible practice while theory crafting) you want to have 3 non-ranged units deployed to a planet prior to your Warlord and HQ units arriving. Is that a typical situation for AM to find themselves in?

Since the only qualification for targets is AM Unit and the Warlord counts as a unit, Straken can be one of the 3. Therefore 2 non-ranged deployed units will still allow for "maximum" use.

Of course if you have 1 or 2 big units, that can still be worth it (sometimes even more worth it than 3 little ones). It's an opportunity to take out key enemy units, or even the warlord after all - and at 1 cost it's certainly not necessarily to only use it when you have 3 targets. (and the 2 shields is handy for including in the deck even if you never play it as a card).

(Guard tokens are also a legitimate target as they too are "units")

When Torquemada is released this could be brutal with his signature squad potentially readying him for multiple ranged hits.

Preemptive Barrage and Catachen Outpost is a "key" setup for IG builds.  More so if Strakken is there and your opponent doesn't have many cards in their hand. 

There's only so many cards an opponent can have with the ability to shield damage and a lot of it will get through regardless with multiple ranged attacks.  Also, most shield cards that are larger than a 1 shield are cards that you don't necessarily want to use as shields.  This is where you can start hitting the warlord or any other unit that's a thorn in your side. 

At worse, for 1 resource, you're going to either do some damage to a warlord or multiple units or at least burn off your opponent's deck, which is a good thing either way. 

In a great scenario, you can send a warlord home Bloodied (taking away their ability), take out some units, win the battle at that planet, and set yourself up for the next turn.

Since the only qualification for targets is AM Unit and the Warlord counts as a unit, Straken can be one of the 3. Therefore 2 non-ranged deployed units will still allow for "maximum" use.

 

Of course if you have 1 or 2 big units, that can still be worth it (sometimes even more worth it than 3 little ones). It's an opportunity to take out key enemy units, or even the warlord after all - and at 1 cost it's certainly not necessarily to only use it when you have 3 targets. (and the 2 shields is handy for including in the deck even if you never play it as a card).

 

(Guard tokens are also a legitimate target as they too are "units")

 

When Torquemada is released this could be brutal with his signature squad potentially readying him for multiple ranged hits.

The only thing about assigning your warlord this ability, is that they still exhaust after a ranged attack.  An exhausted warlord can't Warlord retreat until the end of that combat round (during the normal 'retreat units' step).  This would make them a prime target for whatever units are remaining, as well as other card abilities.

If there are enough units left to bloody your warlord after you Preemptive Barrage then that's a fight you probably shouldn't have been in to begin with.  I've yet to have that happen to me and I've used Strakken as part of a Barrage many times.  Pick your battles wisely.  

Leave for a couple days and the card discussions explode, lol. Making your Warlord Ranged with Barrage is also good if you need to leave a sticky situation as well. Since the Warlord can only exhaust to retreat if they were eligible to attack otherwise (i.e. not the ranged phase normally), this would allow him to escape. Maybe bloodied and you went somewhere you didn't think they'd follow you to, but they did and they have initiative for the win. Just a niche case to keep in mind.

Otherwise a stellar card. I've had an number of times I would have 3 tokens ready on planet, and they can all swing for 2, then Straken can swing at the start of normal combat. You totally thought you had the planet in the bag with just 3 tokens on planet, but now I have 8 damage before you get to swing (plus other shenanigans).

Game breaker!Makes playing against IG a huge headache as if you commit to a planet with a lot of units you're potentially suiciding your warlord.

Won so many games with this card. Only reason to play heavy IG

Best Event AM have currently available. 2 Shields, 1 Cost, devastating ability. 5/5.

This events rewards greatly a mono-AM deck. 2 shields, such an effect for 1R is an automatic 5/5.

Devastating card that changes battles in your favour. No warlord is safe  5/5

no, you can. 

Coteaz attacks with ranged, then readies (sacking henchmen), and he's still ready and ranged, so he attacks with ranged again.

I am so bugged atm! I just lost a game with Omega against Worr, where I definately would have had significantly better chances if not an unfortunate timing issues with this stupid piece of garbage!

Let me explain: Planet one is infested and there is an Infantry Platoon and a Tallarn Raider on Worr's side, and I have nothing on the field. Because I forgot to ask for ranged actions I went ahead and ambushed in a Genestealer Brood. After this Worr plays Pre Emptive Barrage. Obviously I was passing on ranged actions with Omega who doesn't have any ranged capabilities. I just should have asked the opponent first if he wants to play a Pre-em on an empty planet. I doubt many players would do that? Due to this timing mishap, the Brood got killed and I had to waste 3 more R to ambush in a Genestealer Invader and win the planet. But I got a HUGE economical hit there, because I could have used that Invader propably later that turn to bully Worr of Barlus which led me to further discard one more card AND get rid of infestation on that planet. Argh, I was left so sour after the game, because it was a pivotal turn! Damn, damn, damn!

In the future I will be careful to ask for ranged actions, even tho it seems silly and creates another layer of silly "done" abuse.

Phhf one more time...

Yeah, its annoying, tho I think any reasonable player outside of a tournament would chalk this down to miscommunication, and then play out the action windows one by one.

In a tournament, be sure to ask instead, and to specify the window.

Technically, you probably should have taken the units back, since the way the action windows occur, he'd either need to play the Pre-Emptive (to win the battle or force you to ambush into it and suffer the effects) or miss the window until such a point you ambush in your unit.

There's no way for you to put the unit in unless you're intentionally trying to get it destroyed, which both players (being gentleman) would know  is not a thing that would happen. This would be different if it were a mirror-match, but I don't think that's the case here.