Hey all,

We dusted off our 2nd Ed Runebound this week and tried it out. One of the things we're wondering about is combat.

If the challenge has no damage value, do we still have to roll if we're defending? Obviously a fail would net us 0 damage, same as if we succeeded in defending. This is, of course, given that no other mechanic relies on the roll (card, ability etc.). So far we've been skipping combat phases that we need to defend on that has no damage value, to speed up play some.

Is there something we're missing, or can we skip defending as we've been doing?

If you fail an attack against a 0-damage creature, you are supposed to take one fatigue point instead of a wound, I do believe. Though at the moment, I don't have my rulebook handy to give the exact rule.

Torbal said:

What...? Is that from the first edition? Can you find a quote on this? I would hate to think that we have been playing wrong all this time. We usually skip the rounds where zero damage can be dealt if you fail a defense roll.

Torbal said:

I would be interested in official confirmation for this rule as well, I have always skipped a combat round when defending if the creature deals 0 damage.

I've had a look at the rulebook and didn't find anything there (might have missed it though)

There is nothing in the rules that states that or in the errata either. We have always skipped a zero damage combat roll.

It is described in combat example on rulebook (at least on my rulebook).

"Varikas is weak in the ranged combat attribute, he decides to defend. However, since the Challenge has zero damage potential for ranged combat, it is not necessary for varikas to roll the dice at all."

Okey, dokey then. Clearly I am using a variant rule pulled from another source. I use it when playing RB solo, which is frequent!