It's a contested area so it's not open. You can't retreat *into* a battle, right?

No.
The Aegean was contested.

OK,... I thought that if my fleet wasn't part of the 'contest', the space was open at the end of the turn.

There was a standoff. LTFR.

I'm surprised how many people don't understand the rules, but, more than that, don't understand WHY the rules are the way they are. Like, if you could retreat into a standoff, that would make the game utterly different.

correct, you are not able to retreat into an area where a standoff occures. Irrelivant of who was involved in the standoff.

as to WHY this is the case, it is less important because you can't self dislodge, but if you had an ally who could dislodge a unit of yours, you could standoff your enemy in a contested territory and then retreat forward into the contested area.

that would be rather messy.

Yeah, the game was devised very carefully, with a lot of thought put into the rules. Few people get this.

I don't understand how people don't just understand the rules. They're quite intuitive and logical.

Yes some people are sooooo stupid! *sigh*
Only kidding. I think a lot of people haven't actually read the rules. I would always suggest that new players read the rules thoroughly and experiment with a few scenarios.

To clarify:

1: You can only retreat into a territory which you would have been able to move into during the diplomacy phase, AND into which no other unit is retreating in this retreat phase*.

2. In this case, your fleet would not have been able to move to the Aegean in the diplomacy phase, because it would have bounced with the other units attempting to move there. Thus, you cannot retreat there either, because the conditions in (1) above are not satisfied.



* In that case, all the units attempting to retreat are disbanded instead. They effectively stand-off against each other, but cannot bounce back into their original territories because they have been displaced, so they must disband.

Can we please go easy guys? I think we need a nice friendly environment where people feel comfortable asking for rule clarifications. If everyone understands the rules better then we will have more fun and challenging play.

I really was only kidding. The rules can be confusing to new players (I know I have been there). But I would still encourage new players to read the rules.

I wasn't calling anyone stupid. I'm just so intelligent that sometimes it's hard to relate.

Reading the rulebook is a necessary first step to asking a question, so, nah.

Hahaha, alright guys.

The way I like to think of it is standoffs are actually massive battles, so you can't retreat through them. Real armies don't "bounce".

no, centurian, real armies bounce all the time... they recieve an order to move into a province, and the see another army moving in so neither move an inch.

the force of their superiors order metaphorically bounce against each other, while the individual troops on the ground laugh it off as they don't want to get themselves killed in a silly fight over a patch of sea.

Real armies are made of india rubber

Real armies come from Firestone. Real fleets come from Goodyear.