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Had a debate tonight.

When declaring the use of Expert Handling, using the card IS your action, correct?

And it's basically a barrel roll and shaking off a lock.

Someone today really wanted the barrel roll, which is labeled as "free", to not count as an action and thus allow him another action. I tried to explain that using the card WAS his action, and the barrel roll was part of it. He insisted it was not, that the barrel roll was free entirely.

I explained it that the action was what allowed him to remove a target lock. Because you can't normally do two actions, it allowed it to also do a barrel roll that didn't, in and of itself, count as an action and was therefore "free", but that his action was still used up because he decided to use the card and follow its instructions.

He didn't want to let it go, and saw no point in the card [except you know....removing a lock?]. He couldn't accept that the card was an action that was mainly designed to remove target locks, and just included a barrel roll as part of it.



If you can't complete the barrel roll, are you still able to remove target locks, or are you disallowed from taking the action at all?

Expert Handling is an action, it just includes a free barrel roll. The main point is giving barrel roll to ships that normally don't have it, like X-Wings.

If you try to use EH and can't possible execute a barrel roll, you just can't do it.

The text on the card starts with: Action.

This means that you have to spend your action in the Activation phase in order to be allowed to read, much less resolve, the rest of the text.

Just like a Proton Torpedo. You do not get to read or resolve the text unless you have a Target Lock. It doesn't matter if the text later talks about something being "free".
You do not gain access to that without the Target Lock.

The reason why the Barrel Roll on the Expert Handling card is called "a free Barrel Roll action" is because the basic game rules rightly assumes that only a single action is taken per ship. Every action allowed in excess of the first initial action is called "free" (with only one exception, as far as I know).
Another example is the wording of Push The Limit.


In general gaming terms this is often called the Condition, Timing and Effect relation.
Most rules, in any game of sufficient complexity, need to have those parts present in order for the rule to be understandable and resolvable.

Conditions needs to be met in order for the rule to take effect.
Timings tells us when the rule can take effect.
Effects tells us what happens.

Sometimes the Timing is in relation to the Condition ("after having done X, you are allowed to do Y").
Other times Timing stands in relation to Effect ("at the end of the phase roll 3D6 and.....").

Enough rambling. You were right.



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