Hi everybody,

yes, there has been already lots of dicussion about this, but I still have an - at least for me ;) - important question.

According to mosts posts in this forum it seems to be obvious, that a reanimate can be activated during the turn it is summoned.

But the rulebook clearly states: "Essentially, a hero player with a familiar must choose whether to activate his hero first or his familiar first." p.17
As the hero can't fullfill this "essential" requirement - the famliar isn't on the map and until the hero is activated  and summones the reanimate - he IMO cannot activate the familiar during the same turn.

Later on it is stated: "When activated, a familiar may perform a move action following the same rules as heroes. […] The familiar may perform additional types of actions during its activation, as noted on its Familiar card. " 
As the familiar can't be activated - due to the above mentioned requirement - it can't move and/or attack.

Does this make sense?

Best regards,
   Mario

I agree with everyone else (so far), the Reanimate can activate the turn it is summoned.  Essentially does not mean "it is essential" in this case.

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/909800/familiar-activation-question

http://www.pegasuspublishing.com/English-Doesnt-Borrow-from-Other-Languages-Shirt-p-26671.html

The famililar "reanimate" can be activated at the same turn it is summoned. It only is a general rule if he is on the board that you need to activate it before or after the controller's turn. Meaning nothing else than you cannot activate him midturn.

I think you are reading into it too much. Basically, the rules are stating that you can't split turns between you and your familiar. The rule is there because most heroes are solo, so they don't think twice about such a "small" detail - they perform two actions and pass the dice. If you play with a familiar, you are playing more in tune with the OL. Just like the OL must perform each individual monster's actions before another's, so, too must you commit fully to either your hero performing both actions before your familiar or visa versa. This may seem petty, but I can assure you it is not. The first time you try performing a Blast attack as you hero's first action while your familiar is in the radius will have you understand how NON-trivial the rule is. Enjoy!

As the question was asked on BGG the same day as here, and with about the same wording, I would suspect some form of "double posting".
Link here : http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/909800/familiar-activation-question

The fact is that most posters on this forum also post on BGG's one.

So posting a question on both forums won't generate many different answers.

A better way to go, to have complementary answers to a question, is to send it to FFG (see bottom of page, Rules questions).