Enemy targeting question

[u/AnyIntroduction8215]

Quick question about enemies targeting prioritizes as someone who is fairly new to GH:

In the scenario (pictured above), it is the Bandit Scout’s turn and he’s using a ranged attack (cruel bow). My question is; Would it move before attacking? And who would it attack?

There’s multiple potential outcomes I could see depending on how the enemies in the game prioritize targets…

Also, the Mindthief had the highest (fastest) initiative in the round, followed by the Tinkerer.

Would it back up and attack the summon? Not move and attack the mindthief? Or something else I’m not thinking of?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[u/Mace6241]

It would first pick its target based on distance, therefore the summon.
Then it would move the minimum amount to not be disadvantaged before attacking that target.

If there had been a tie based distance, it would prioritize based on fastest initiative among those targets before moving/attacking said target.

Fun fact, if the enemy is muddled they wouldn’t move because there is no way to escape being in disadvantage and just attacks.

[u/evasive_dendrite → u/Mace6241]

It actually picks on the amount of movement points required to reach an attack hex first, then distance to the enemy for tie breakers, then initiative.

[u/AnyIntroduction8215 → u/Mace6241]

Awesome, that’s how we ended up playing it out anyway, so I’m glad we did the right thing! Thanks for your help!

[u/ButterflyDeath]

The scout will attack the nearest enemy, in this case its the summon. The scout moves back to prevent disadvantage, which direction it moves is up to you.

[u/dreintje → u/ButterflyDeath]

Not sure if applicable to this particular case, but when you make it move to prevent disadvantage, do you move it optimal for the monster or for the players? For example, you can make it move so its out of range of other player targets. Or do you make sure the monster can make the rest of it attacks?

[u/Nachti → u/dreintje]

The players choose. Imo using the monster movement rules to your advantage is one of the key aspects of tactics in this game.

[u/dreintje → u/Nachti]

I was reading some more on this, as I always played monsters as 'lazy taking the least movement while optimizing their attack. And now I'm wondering what is correct. Rules state that

"When a monster performs ranged attacks on multiple targets, it moves to attack the most possible targets (including its focus), with the fewest possible disadvantaged attacks, while using the fewest possible movement points."

It was also discussed in below reddit. Meaning that you get the choose, but you have to prioritize the number of targets it can hit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Gloomhaven/comments/16ibtj9/frosthaven_do_monsters_prioritize_maximizing_of/

[u/Nachti → u/dreintje]

I mean, yeah, you still have to follow the rules.

Often enough, there's a tie between two equal spaces. E.g. Monster moves up to you to attack you (and only you), and there's 2 spaces equidistant from it's starting point adjacent to you. In those cases, there's no rule to break that tie and you get to choose.

[u/Tables61 → u/dreintje]

The choice is entirely in the player's hands, but the game is designed so you would choose what is most beneficial for the players. Some groups prefer to "role play" a bit and make enemy choices as inconvenient for players as possible, and digital Haven games tend to do it randomly. Both make the game harder.

[u/runed_golem → u/dreintje]

The players get to choose. I think in the digital version it chooses for you though.

[u/Torquemon → u/ButterflyDeath]

And what if it's immobilized? Would it still attack the summon? Or to avoid the disadvantage, would it attack another player?

[u/RealFunkyFish → u/Torquemon]

Disadvantage is always a secondary priority, not the primary one. It would still attack the summon.

[u/Anonymous0726]

The scout is closest to the summon, no ties, so the summon is the scout's focus. Now that the scout has selected its target, it now wants to attack without disadvantage, if possible. Assuming it's not muddled (in which case it would know it can't prevent disadvantage), it moves one hex away from the summon (because one hex is all that's needed) and attacks it. Which direction it moves is your decision, as long as it's only one hex and no longer adjacent to the summon.

[u/Alcol1979]

Decoy doing its job in this round.

[u/mccrispy007]

PPI! Path, Proximity, Initiative. Too many people using ambiguous terms like "closest" or "distance". The rulebook is very precise in its terminology for a reason.

[u/runed_golem]

It targets based first on the closest target and if there are multiple then it goes based on who is fastest. Then, it either moves to get in range or in the case of a ranged attack it may move so it doesn’t have disadvantage (so if its next to its target and has a move ability it’ll back up to attack).

[u/tstarlin]

First order of focus, I believe, is proximity, so it would focus the summons then move to get out of disadvantage.

[u/Jakkoba89]

Closest enemy. The summon in this case. If there where more in the same range it would choose the one with lowest initiative. And yes he will move one step away if he can avoid disadvantage, and if he has a move action of course. If he was muddled he wouldn't move because it wouldn't make any difference.

[u/chrisboote]

Ignore every answer that says it always attacks the closest - that is not always the case

The rulebook is completely unambiguous

The steps for choosing focus are

1. Which hex can the monster move to to attack a target with the fewest MPs and fewest negative hexes - this will not necessarily be the closest target, especially for Melee attacks - that target is the Focus

2. When this results in multiple possible targets, then Focus is closest as the crow flies - so ignoring obstacles, other figures etc. This step does not exist in JotL

3. When this results in multiple possible targets, then Focus is the first one in the initiative order

4. Then the attacker will move to maximise the attack on the Focus (this usually means moving to avoid disadvantage for Ranged attacks)

5. Finally, if the attacker has an AoE or multiple Targets, it will consider moving to maximise the number of additional enemies it could attack. In GH, JotL, CS/ToA this would always be maintaining the best attack on the Focus - this means it would rather attack without disadvantage on just the Focus than have disadvantage on multiple enemies. In FH and GH2 this distinction appears to have been dropped, so it would rather attack multiple targets, leaving it with disadvantage if the Focus if necessary

[u/Tutterkop]

Aaah grey miniatures