<p>I've had a response <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2398808/strategy-im-confused" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>
From a user named: David F:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>It's invoking this rule. Bolded the part that's relevant for this.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>rulebookwrote: Front-Line Unit Combat Capability Effects When
    resolving a skirmish, if a player’s final attack strength equals or
    exceeds the final health value of the enemy, that player’s attack is
    said to have “sufficient strength,” meaning that he normally will
    destroy an enemy unit in the skirmish. However, the involved units’
    types, combat capabilities, and arrangement in the skirmish will
    affect whether and which figures are actually destroyed. The following
    factors govern this determination, and are considered during the
    “Destroy Units and Discard Cards” step of skirmish resolution.</p>
    
    <ul>
    <li>If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit’s combat capability allows it to target the opponent’s front-line unit,
    the opposing front-line unit is destroyed. (The combat rules and
    examples on pages 26–33 assume this.)</li>
    </ul>
    
    <p><strong>- If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit’s combat capability is unable to target the opponent’s front-line unit,
    but is able to target one of the opposing supporting units in the same
    skirmish, such a supporting unit is destroyed instead. (If multiple
    opposing supporting units are possible targets, the player who
    controls those units selects which one is destroyed.)</strong></p>
    
    <ul>
    <li>If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit is unable to target any opposing unit in the skirmish, no opposing units
    are destroyed.</li>
    </ul>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Deliberately put a Valkyrie in front, go "oh sorry I can't hit the
  Zealot. I guess I'll hit the air unit behind it then".</p>
  
  <p>To counter this, use the Defensive Module from Brood War (ruled here
  that you can switch units within the same skirmish).</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-01T17:45:57.690Z
I accidentally thought I was on gaming.stackexchange.com and that this question was about the actual Starcraft video game. Had to read through this a few times before I realized why it made no sense to me at all!
GendoIkari
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-01T20:08:34.717Z
@GendoIkari a lot of successful video games get tabletop versions, just like a lot of successful tabletop games (like say Warhammer) get video game versions. The video game to tabletop is the more common direction now, with how much more popular video gaming is in general, but it does still happen both ways.
Andrew
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-02T03:34:05.060Z
There's even the tabletop simulator version on steam workshop.
Maxpire
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-02T08:04:22.040Z
The answer will be chosen tommorow since I cannot do it now.
Maxpire
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-01T10:40:49.480Z
2020-04-02T04:51:05.870Z
2020-04-02T04:51:05.870Z
Maxpire
<p>I found strategy guide <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/67751/strategy-guide-starcraft-boardgame" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>
that states:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Killing supporting unit Imagine you want to kill a special unit (say,
  a hero) but don’t have the force to kill all units in his area. Let’s
  imagine you want to kill the Gantrithor, supported by a Zealot. Now,
  your enemy will be confident since the Gantrithor can’t be splashed by
  simply killing off the Zealot, a tactic you would normally use. But
  there is another way: simply set a air-unit like the Valkyrie against
  the Zealot. It shouldn’t be hard to penetrate its health, and then the
  supporting unit will be destroyed. The only defense against such
  things except of course to avoid these pairings in your areas is to
  build the Defense Module.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I understand that the Gantrithor should be immune to ground splash damage since the Zealot is a ground unit.</p>

<p>However the Valkyrie can only target air so it can't target the Zealot, <strong>did I miss a rule somewhere</strong>? Can you attack a support like this? Or is it just an air splash damage that triggers? You <strong>normally</strong> need to kill the front line unit for a splash to happen, if this was a Wraith I could see this working, but can someone help?</p>

<p>Edit:(I did miss a rule) The strategy is done WITHOUT using splash damage at all, see bolded part in the answer.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-02T08:00:38.810Z
The edit on the title was wrong, because the strategy is getting done without splash damage. (the answer I shared makes it obvious)
Maxpire
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-02T10:03:32.803Z
o.k so edit the title such that it will represent the question.  "Question about a strategy" is too broad
Cohensius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-02T11:24:44.970Z
How does this strategy work?  then xD
Maxpire
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-02T11:38:39.893Z
better to generally explain what strategy you are talking about.  something like "killing supporting hero with air unit",  or whatever you think is short and to the point.
Cohensius
<starcraft>
How does the strategy of attacking a support unit in a skirmish work?
Maxpire
# How does the strategy of attacking a support unit in a skirmish work?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-01)

I found strategy guide [here](https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/67751/strategy-guide-starcraft-boardgame)
that states:

> Killing supporting unit Imagine you want to kill a special unit (say,
> a hero) but don’t have the force to kill all units in his area. Let’s
> imagine you want to kill the Gantrithor, supported by a Zealot. Now,
> your enemy will be confident since the Gantrithor can’t be splashed by
> simply killing off the Zealot, a tactic you would normally use. But
> there is another way: simply set a air-unit like the Valkyrie against
> the Zealot. It shouldn’t be hard to penetrate its health, and then the
> supporting unit will be destroyed. The only defense against such
> things except of course to avoid these pairings in your areas is to
> build the Defense Module.

I understand that the Gantrithor should be immune to ground splash damage since the Zealot is a ground unit.

However the Valkyrie can only target air so it can't target the Zealot, **did I miss a rule somewhere**? Can you attack a support like this? Or is it just an air splash damage that triggers? You **normally** need to kill the front line unit for a splash to happen, if this was a Wraith I could see this working, but can someone help?

Edit:(I did miss a rule) The strategy is done WITHOUT using splash damage at all, see bolded part in the answer.

**Tags:** starcraft

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The edit on the title was wrong, because the strategy is getting done without splash damage. (the answer I shared makes it obvious)  
> **username_1**: o.k so edit the title such that it will represent the question.  "Question about a strategy" is too broad  
> **username_0**: How does this strategy work?  then xD  
> **username_1**: better to generally explain what strategy you are talking about.  something like "killing supporting hero with air unit",  or whatever you think is short and to the point.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2020-04-01. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

I've had a response [here](https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2398808/strategy-im-confused)
From a user named: David F:

> It's invoking this rule. Bolded the part that's relevant for this.
>
> > rulebookwrote: Front-Line Unit Combat Capability Effects When
> > resolving a skirmish, if a player’s final attack strength equals or
> > exceeds the final health value of the enemy, that player’s attack is
> > said to have “sufficient strength,” meaning that he normally will
> > destroy an enemy unit in the skirmish. However, the involved units’
> > types, combat capabilities, and arrangement in the skirmish will
> > affect whether and which figures are actually destroyed. The following
> > factors govern this determination, and are considered during the
> > “Destroy Units and Discard Cards” step of skirmish resolution.
> >
> > * If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit’s combat capability allows it to target the opponent’s front-line unit,
> >   the opposing front-line unit is destroyed. (The combat rules and
> >   examples on pages 26–33 assume this.)
> >
> > **- If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit’s combat capability is unable to target the opponent’s front-line unit,
> > but is able to target one of the opposing supporting units in the same
> > skirmish, such a supporting unit is destroyed instead. (If multiple
> > opposing supporting units are possible targets, the player who
> > controls those units selects which one is destroyed.)**
> >
> > * If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit is unable to target any opposing unit in the skirmish, no opposing units
> >   are destroyed.
>
> Deliberately put a Valkyrie in front, go "oh sorry I can't hit the
> Zealot. I guess I'll hit the air unit behind it then".
>
> To counter this, use the Defensive Module from Brood War (ruled here
> that you can switch units within the same skirmish).

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I accidentally thought I was on gaming.stackexchange.com and that this question was about the actual Starcraft video game. Had to read through this a few times before I realized why it made no sense to me at all!  
> **username_3**: @username_2 a lot of successful video games get tabletop versions, just like a lot of successful tabletop games (like say Warhammer) get video game versions. The video game to tabletop is the more common direction now, with how much more popular video gaming is in general, but it does still happen both ways.  
> **username_0**: There's even the tabletop simulator version on steam workshop.  
> **username_0**: The answer will be chosen tommorow since I cannot do it now.  

---

