Strategize and Dominate order placement rules

[Strategize and Dominate order placement rules]

Thanks, but I fear I haven't made myself clear. Allow me to illustrate:

 

2-player game

3X2 setup

Me = Chaos

Him = Space Marines

 

We're on the 8th round, neither of us had any objective tokens, so the victor would be the player who controlled

the most planets. At the start of the round, I controlled 3 of the 4 planets in the middle of the board. He was preparing to perform orbital strikes and 'drop pods' (he played with Space Marines) on my worlds to steal control. My plan was to intercept his ships, with my own, before he could perform an orbital strike and route or destroy his fleet.

 

Here's the problem...

I had no ships, so my last order was a 'Deploy' order. I placed 1 'Deploy' order on the tile where my factory was, to buy ships. My opponent had NO friendly, worlds or structures in that tile, or the adjacent tiles. My subsequent orders were 'Advance' orders, placed adjacent to my 'Deploy' order tile to advance my ships and attack where he was planning to move his. He placed all 4 of his orders on top of mine, including my 'Deploy' order stopping (blocking) me from building ships. I assumed that the order he placed on top of my 'Deploy' orders in the tile where he had no friendly MUST have been an 'Advance' order, since as far as I'm aware, 'Advance' is the only order that you may place in a system that you have NO friendly units, worlds or structures.

 

During the operation phase, he reveals his orders in such a way that the first orders he reveals only allows me to play my 'Advance' orders (All 4 of his tokens were on top of mine so I could only play in the order that he decided). Since I had no units to advance the orders were wasted and he managed to take control of 2 of my planets and putting himself in the lead and essentially winning the game. For his final move, he revealed the 'Strategize' order, on top of my 'Deploy' order. He admitted that he played the 'Strategize' order simply to block me from building ships. I claimed that he couldn't place a 'Strategize' order in a tile which he had no friendly units. He then claimed that he could just as well have played a 'Dominate' order in it's place. I claim that that wasn't possible either since you also need units in the active tile to place it, same for a 'Deploy' order. Essentially, I maintain that he would be allowed to block my 'Deploy' order, but only by placing an 'Advance' order on top of it, thus not allowing him to 'Advance' across both centre tiles and claim my worlds. If he's right, I believe it would fall under the cheap and dirty category and would end up just killing the game; You could place 'Strategize' tokens on top of your opponents' 'Deploy' tokens every round making the game extremely frustrating.

 

TLDR

Do the prerequisites of requiring friendly units or worlds in the system you are placing a 'Strategize', 'Dominate' or 'Deploy' order only apply to order resolution (i.e. you're free to PLACE ANY order token on ANY tile, but require friendly units to resolve it) or do they apply to placement too (You CANNOT even place S,D or D order tokens on tiles without friendly units... Unless you have something like the Eldar 'Farseer' order upgrade)

[Strategize and Dominate order placement rules]

So, i just played a game with a buddy and we got into a debate regarding 'Strategize' and/or 'Dominate' order placement rules. The rules state that a 'Strategize' or 'Dominate' order requires friendly units in the active system in order to play. However, does this allow a player to place either of these orders in a system without any friendly units, simply to block another player's orders? 

My friend maintains that though you're not allowed to resolve the 'Strategize' or 'Dominate' order, you may place the token in any system, simply to block another player. I maintain that the rules are a prerequisite for placement i.e. unless special conditions apply, such as the Eldar Farseer Order Upgrade, you may not even place a strategize order in an area without friendly units, even with the intention to block.

[Combat Card limit question]

So, at the start of a conflict, each player draws 5 cards and is allowed to use a

maximum of 3, of the 5 cards, for the entire.

What happens when, for example one of the Eldar Lv3 combat upgrade cards (I forget which one, I'm at work), allows a player to draw an extra card and use it's armour and offensive stats (not it's ability)... Technically, one could even stack these draw extra cards to draw up to 3 cards in a single combat round i.e.

 

You play the draw extra combat card and only use it's offensive and defensive stats. Then you play another one of the same card, and finally a different card to total 3 cards in one round.

Should the combat last 3 rounds, you could technically play up to 5 cards for said combat.

 

So, does the 3 card limit only apply when you're playing a combat card with it's abilities included or does it include a card played, simply for it's stats?

[Expansion Rumors?]

New Races - To keep faction ideologies balanced I'd like to see 3 new races

; Tau (similar ideology to the Eldar), Dark Eldar or Necrons (alternative to Chaos) and the Sisters of Battle or Imperial Guard (personally, I'd prefer the SoB, they have more charisma).

 

Super Abilities/5th Order - A player can be given a rare chance or under unique conditions (Space Marines special ability activates when they're on the brink of defeat. Eldar special ability activates once all LV3 Combat Upgrade cards are bought) once a round, to play a 5th order, which could be some kind of super ability. E.g. Waagh! All Ork units gain a massive firepower and morale boost, for 1 round, at the cost of armour. 'Unwavering Faith' All SoB units get a massive morale boost during combat for 2 rounds.

 

New units - I love the models, but my problem is the flags. I would've loved to have a small squad of Eldar rangers or Banshees instead of just a lame flag. The flags, especially, are extremely fragile. I opened my brand new box and discovered an Eldar and Space Marine flag broken. Adding new units to the faction card will be a problem, though they could get around it. I'd like each side to have a hero unit or commander, giving combat boosts to units in the same area tile.

 

The Warp

- Aside from blocking movement, the Warp Storm hasn't been used to it's full potential. I think it would be a terrific idea to, after every round, roll dices to determine whether the Tyranids will emerge from the Warp (as a non-playable faction and universal enemy) to attack and occupy nearby worlds. I love this game, it's very well balanced and the Tyranid Warp factor might just give it that extra bit of excitement.