BBAP wrote:To add further confusion - on the wiki, it says that Reactive models which did not have
ARO to the first Short skill of a Short-Short Order can declare
ARO against the second Short skill if the Active model's first Short skill puts them in a position to grant
ARO to these other models. That seems to directly contradict the rulebook, which says that
ARO must be declared in response to the first Short skill, can only be declared by eligible reactive models (that have
LoF etc etc), and if it isn't declared at this point then the opportunity to do so is lost.
Page 30.
The Active Player must declare
ARO's for all eligible troopers
immediately after the
Active Player declares his Entire Order or the first Short Skill of his order (see:
Order Expenditure Sequence, page 31). Troopers that fail to do so lose their
ARO against that Order.
If, by declaring the second Short Skill of its Order, the active trooper gives ARO to enemy troopers that did not have ARO against the first Short Skill, then those enemy troopers can declare their AROs. You declare your first Short Skill, including the movement path you are going to take. The opponent declares any
AROs for models that could see your model at any point of that path. You declare your next Short Skill. If that is another move, you declare the second path you are taking. Any new enemy models that could see your model on the second path may declare their
AROs.
With a few exceptions, models can not Idle their first
ARO to see what you do next. So it's almost always left up to you to decide what your second Short Skill is to counter their
ARO. If they don't shoot back and you declare a second move that takes you into
LOS of
new enemies, that's just bad play. If they see your first Short Skill and Idle in response, they can't do anything to your second Short Skill even if they have
LoS, in general only new enemies that gain
LoS can react to the second Short Skill.
ARO's are in almost all cases a 'use it or lose it' situation.
Another confusing part is the next section on page 30 - All at Once. In Infinity Orders and
AROs are all simultaneous regardless of the skills declared.
You declare a move, this takes you from one point of cover to another. Your opponent decides to shoot in
ARO, and each model with
LoS selects the point of your movement they shoot at you. Once you break cover, they can select to shoot you out of cover, regardless of where you started or ended up. If you shoot in reaction to this, you are still shooting from that point of having no cover. If they manage to
KO you in that spot out of cover, you still complete your move and end up behind the next set of cover. This is still an ideal situation, as you end up behind the next bit of cover Prone, so a Doctor can more easily get to that
KO'd model.
ARO timing is probably the most complicated part of the game. Once you get used to it it's very tactical, but for a while you're going to be scratching your head.
The best way I've seen to mark out movement and
AROs when learning is to use washers. Place them along the path to the end of the movement, and when your opponent decides to shoot, they select where and move the model to that spot. Sort out your
ARO, then continue the movement to the end.