CRETACEA F.A.Q

Here you can find answers to and submit questions about the game in it's first edition. All of these are ironed out and addressed in the new book. Please feel free to send any more as you need!

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Current f.a.q

• My T-Rex takes a point of damage to the head. Does she lose 1 pip off the head, and 1 health point? Or does she only lose 1 health point after the head has lost both it's pips?

Whenever a dinosaur takes a point of damage to a hide are (any) they take a point of damage also to their HP stat. 

• During the check phase if a herbivore passes a spot check and moves does it then get to move again or graze in the move phase? Or does that count as it's movement for the turn?

Any move as a result of a meander does not count as that dinosaurs actual "move action". 

•  There is a couple of mentions of free attacks, are these in addition to regular declared attacks? As an example when you get charged you get an attack roll or when you barge you get a free attack.

Barging gives you one entire free attack, conducted during the barge, Charging adds +1 to your attack roll that turn following the charge. 

• What is the order of events when a T-Rex used Snapping Jaw in the last turn but then gets charged by a Triceratops with initiative in the current turn? What if the Triceratops barged instead?

Snapping jaw always over rules the initiative order, hence it's power and limited uses. If the herbivores have priority and charge then yes the T-Rex still get's to attack first in that combat, because of the snapping jaw rule. 

•  Last turn a herbivore grazed, this turn it meanders 3", can it graze again or does it need to move a little more? 

Bare ground is 3 " and meander is also, so therefore yes they could. A dinosaur grazes with their mouth and not the center of their tummy, the place most people instinctively think of (the center of a model) when they think of a models position and bearing. 
If you feel this still doesn't make sense either simply take our word for it, or add 1" to meander distances. :) 

• If I have a team of 5 Triceratops they have a grazing goal of 10. They can all graze the first turn, meander during the second turn checks and then graze again. Effectively they could win a scenario before the Predators can get close enough to do anything. Is there something wrong with the way this was done? 

No not at all. the game is designed to emulate animal characteristics and survival, not human conscious thought and tact. Henceforth this is, and can often be the outcome of a game, hence two distinctly different play styles. Keep in mind also that the scenario you describe is so very rare, unless you continually fielded the same models again and again. If a predator player chooses to not move their models towards the prey in their move phase, regardless of smell check success then the losing the game, is on them. To clarify the situation you describe implies that the predator player is almost entirely docile and not attempting to actively find the herbivores, it also presumes that on that second turn not a single one of those graze actions was interupted. 

• Is roaring done during the combat phase instead of an attack?

Yes, it is understandable how further clarification may be needed on this. You may conduct one combat action per dinosaur in the combat phase, as stated in the four step structure of combat. This is either a roar or a combat attack. 

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• Is the Famous Bite attack affected by any of the original attack's modifiers, such as from charging or if your target disengaged?

Any time you conduct a combat, regardless of if you wish to use special you must account for movement modifiers (charges, barges and sneaks) and also you must account for combat stats, special rules and broken hide areas. The game is brutal, fast and well...brutal! Many attacks are double damage and this is the way it would have been with creatures that are almost always bigger than a double decker bus! To clarify, your miniature has 1D6 + their attack modifiers + movement modifiers + Roars + specials (And that's all before you roll). Some rolls are at +9 or 10 even before they roll. And yes that's ridiculous...but so were dinosaurs. A dinosaur using Famous bite would be able to conduct a free disengaging attack (at an disengaging dinosaur) but it would be at the usual +1 and it does not count as a famous bite attack, just a free disengaging attack. 

• When prey meanders, if the result says the dino moves to one side or the other, does the figure get turned to follow the direction of travel for free, or does it simply "slide" sideways? Similarly, if the direction of movement indicates backward movement, does the figure simply move backward, or does it turn around (180 degrees) and then move forward ("backward" relative to where it started its meander as opposed to literally in reverse)?

This ruling was not so specified as it seemed to make such a small difference. We tend to move them to face the new direction (the one they meandered) however it is your choice and your game. Prey still can see 360 for 15" regardless of it's facing and depending on size can turn 180 for free anyway! 
This is something that could use one more sentence for clarification in the book. 

• I'm having some trouble really getting a handle on how initiative order is applied during each step of the turn. Would you be able to provide a few sample turns to give me a better feel for how the flow of the game interacts with initiative/player order?

Initiative simply dictates who moves/acts first in the movement and combat phase. As such if you have initiative, you do your checks, movements and combats first.  
The turn sequence is broken down and then again broken down further in each relative section, if you use the book as a play by play guide for your first game this should unveil itself. 
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• The Combat rules state that you "must announce your intended attack after a sneak, barge or charge action" (p. 16). Can you also declare an attack after a walk or run action, or must you initiate one of the stated actions to declare an attack?

Simply put combats after walks or runs are not necessary  to declare, the reason for this is that it is easy for a player to walk up, then say in the combat phase "i charged" and get away with it.
If they MUST declare it at the end of the charge or barge then they get the correct benefits but legally and fairly. It's recommended you announce all attacks at the end of any move if within combat distance to prevent free disengagements from un announced combats, however it is only necessary for charges and barges due to their extra (and powerful) benefits.

• If a predator passes through the line of sight of prey but does not end its move in the prey's line of sight (moving between clusters of trees, for example), does the prey still make a Spot check because of the movement?

If the predator is within 15" then yes, however if they use a sneak they are much harder to detect. Herbivores we think where simple, yet it's easy to forget that their entire existence was based on survival, and wits. 

• When prey make spot checks during the Checks step, do they make a spot check for each predator in their line of sight, or just one spot check for all of the predators they can see? If the latter, which initiative score is added to the predator roll?

Good question! If they make a spot check they are testing for the nearest model to them so it is their initiative they test. Of course if this model is hidden say, and another is slightly farther away but visible then they test using that one. 
For further clarification imagine each game step (movement, combat) as one single minute in time, if a prey  fails a check in it's check phase but then a dino moves into it's line of sight in the combat phase, they can re check as they may have not noticed one a minute ago, but they might now. If there is more than one predator in an area and a herbivore is making checks always use the closest and do one check. 

• ​Do the predators make their Smell checks before the prey make their Spot checks during step 2 of the turn if the predators won the initiative?

The team who won initiative is the team that rolls their checks first. 
Page -8- "Checks and tests in this phase of the game go as follows (starting with the team that got initiative)"

• Some barge questions:
  1) does the free attack at +1 for a barge occur during the movement step, and if so, does it occur before any topple check resulting from the barge?
  2) Is it correct that the barge still allows the barging dino to make a normal attack during the combat step if the barged dino is within 2"? If so, does that attack have to be declared during the movement step, or can the attacker wait until the combat step?
  ​ 3) If the carcharaodontosaurus in the left image on p. 12 were facing the opposite direction, could it still make a barge against the herbivore? The rules suggest yes; it just seems counterintuitive, as the carch would be running backwards to initiate the attack.

1) Nope, it happens before your combat action, however the topple roll does come before that combat, meaning it goes barge, topple roll if necessary, then barge attack and normal attack. 
2) If you mark the barge it is plausible you could avoid issues by just pointing to said marker in the combat step however due to their complicated nature barges, charges and sneaks must be marked before then, meaning you announce them before the combat phase to avoid any free disengagements. Steps 1 and 2 of the combat phase are mostly for cleanup and final announcements as well as giving the attacked a chance to get attacks back!
3)In effect you are right, however when limiting this rule in play testing it seemed unfair that they couldn't barge being that (for instance) i could barge another human sideways from a forward or backward facing with appropriate timing. So therefore surely a double decker sized monster could too! If anything it is easier for them!

• The turning rules seem to suggest that smaller dinos can turn any amount whether during movement or while in combat, but larger dinos can only turn up to 90 degrees while in combat. How far can larger dinos turn during movement? Is 90 degrees the limit then too? Is “free turning” only a concept used in combat to change tactical facing, separate from any kind of free turning used during movement?

I see the confusion here given the wording in the book! Basically the reason turning in combat is mentioned is because yes, the same rules apply, large giant and garg can only turn 90 degrees for free at any point, anything over that (at any point in the game) counts as a movement action. So a charco could turn 180 for instance in it's combat and would be able to do so without counting as disengaging, however it would NEED to do this with a move action and it does not count as disengaging, whereas a parrasaurolphus has the benefit of a smaller frame and more agile build so he can whip around much quicker. In short Large, giant and garg dino's must use a move, at any point in the game, to turn their facing over 90, otherwise they are golden :) 

• The rules state "if you are engaged from a previous turn of combat you announce your attacks and combat actions at the beginning of the combat phase." (p. 16) Does this mean that dinos in ongoing combat announce before the normal 4-step structure indicated on that page? Or do they announce at the same time as dinos entering or initiating combat?

I see your confusion here again! In this instance i think it is the placement of this info way up on the page and not just inside the 4 step bit. You announce combat actions for ongoing combats in your turn of the combat phase, or both players may agree to rush through them e.g. "ok so he's doing the same as last turn" - "mine too" etc. 

• When disengaging, does each opposing dino in combat get a free attack against the departing dino? If not, how do you determine which opposing dino gets the opportunity attack at +1?

Yes each dino get's an attack at the disengaging dinosaur. We didn't actually encounter many group combats in the play testing phase since you are usually fielding few and far between, however the answer is yes and henceforth entering a combat you plan to leave is more so risky! 

• Would it be accurate to summarize movement options as walk, run, sneak, charge, barge, and graze? And combat actions as attack, disengage, and roar? So 6 options during the movement step, and 3 during the combat step?

Yes that would in essence be correct. More so there is 5 movements and an alternate option (barge), then 5 attacks and some alternate options (roars). 

• when rolling to do damages in combat do you need to equal or beat the def of a hide area? 

To cause a damage you must roll equal to or more than the def of a hide area.