JUDGE! 008: March 2024 Comprehensive Rule Book Notes

First things first (I'm the realist), you can get the current version of the Comprehensive Rule book by going to this link: https://wizkids.com/heroclix/gameplay/rules-format and clicking on the nice (new) DOWNLOAD button.

For those that may not be familiar: the Comprehensive Rule Book (“Comp”) is currently the most useful Rule Book we have for Heroclix. In times past, it was more of a “Judge Rule Book,” but over the last few years the Comp has become the defacto Rule Book. What this means is that if you get a rule book in a Starter set and it contradicts the Comp? Go by the Comp.

Okay, now that we're all on the same page, let's talk about some updates in this version of the Comp.

Per our friends at Wizkids, here are the highlights that they feel is important to communicate:

10.8 - Clarified that moving adjacent to a character you just broke away from doesn't end movement.

12.6d - Clarified the knock back sequence to be more clear that unspecified knock back amounts are 3 squares.

17.7 - Characters that can't use Super Strength now drop held terrain markers they shouldn't be able to hold.

17.14i - Defined Mixed Terrain Markers

27.7h - Changed Indestructible to "Isn't destroyed by Destroy actions."

All good, necessary, clear clarifications. But there are a few things I noticed as well that I wanted to highlight.

2.6 “If that character is later generated from the Sideline, it is treated as a new character beginning the game, and no game effects from the last time it was on the map carry over”

This is a subtle, but important, note. This already applies to characters that are KO'd and then generated again, but now this applies to characters that go to your Sideline and come back as well. This makes sussing out effects much simpler because we have a rule to judge it by.

If an effect of any kind applies to a character and it goes to your Sideline only to then return to the map, it is a “new” character. While this will surely open up more strategic avenues with replacement effects, that's fine. The rules should be simple and rigid to allow players and design to safely build around them.

4.4 “Effect with a per-turn limit, such as “once per turn”, can’t be triggered during the beginning of game, as it is not during a turn.“

This is one that's been an issue for years, but has resurfaced due to one of the Scott Porter LEs. And again, it's better to have it clarified so that we can apply it down the road. “Once per turn” effects cannot trigger or apply during the beginning of the game. Simple.

16.8a “Moving through an intersection requires you to consider the terrain of the two squares to either side of the point you are trying to move through (including walls along the edges of those squares that also touch the intersection), and/or any characters occupying those squares “

This is a bit of a personal one for me. For years, line of fire through an intersection clearly laid out that you considered terrain and characters on either side to see if the line of fire was blocked. But for some reason, movement didn't. And in a rules system, if one section doesn't address something but an analogous one does, that difference has to be assumed to be intentional. So, with how the rules were laid out, you could move through the intersection between two characters but not draw a line of fire through that same intersection.

NOW, however, you can't. The two intersection sections now match. And while it may not seem like a big deal, clarity is always healthier for the game. And I welcome it. So again, just to clarify, you cannot move through the intersection of two characters (or a character and blocking) unless you have an Improved Movement that allows it.

And just because we have a little extra space, I'm going to quote the section about Mixed Terrain Markers, especially since it applies to something just released in the Kong Iconix.

17.14i Mixed Terrain Markers Some terrain markers may have squares of different types of terrain printed on them. These are called “Mixed Terrain Markers”. For game effects that check what type of terrain a terrain marker is, a Mixed Terrain Marker is considered to be each type of terrain printed on it. For all other purposes, the squares of terrain on a marker are considered individually. For example, a Mixed Terrain Marker that consists of one square of blocking and one square of hindering would be destroyed by an effect that says “Destroy all blocking terrain markers”, but a line of fire drawn through only its hindering square is hindered, not blocked. If any terrain type on a Mixed Terrain Marker can be picked up, the entire marker can be picked up. The same is true for being held, destroyed, or used in CLOSE/RANGE Terrain Actions.

And that's all that I've noticed so far, besides simple grammatical or clarifying language. If you've noticed something, let us know in the comments.

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Until next time, remember, even if you have the comp memorized, you still need to call a JUDGE!