I would rule that he could choose the ally immediately before



And then place the character adjacent to the paratrooper while actually placing the minis on the map (ie setting up)

Ouch. Too much information... will revisit tomorrow.

Swinefeld (and the rules committee) handles all the rules questions and interactions. Like if a CE or SA needs to be reworded to work correctly (ie as intended).

The Balance committee makes sure that there isn't something that is too powerful (ie CDO, or Poggle, etc) that is breaking the competitive balance of the game.

Sorry for not providing more context about that link I posted earlier. (This link: http://swmgamers.com/SWM/Rules/PreGame.html )

That is not "official rules". It is, as stated on that page, my own creation of a step-by-step list that attempts to be consistent with all rulings. I put a lot of effort into making it consistent with every ruling I could find, and I do recommend using it. But there is a chance there's a mistake. The "before setup" terminology was not included in those steps anywhere - I'm not sure if I've ever seen that wording before the Paratrooper.

As urbanjedi said, the pre-game abilities do not use consistent terminology. In the step-by-step layout at that link, I broke abilities into 4 main categories:

"during setup, after seeing your opponent's squad" (deferred squadbuilding like Reinforcements)
"during setup, after seeing your opponent's squad" (other abilities - not deferred squadbuilding. Like Telepathic Insight)
"during setup" (other abilities triggering when you place pieces on the map)
"after setup" (triggering after everyone has set up their pieces on the map)

Where does "before setup" fit? One could argue that it is at the very beginning - before Reinforcements even (step 1a). Or simultaneous with Telepathic Insight (step 4). Or a new step immediately before setting up the pieces (step 7a).

The word "setup" has unfortunately been used to mean both "the whole period of time before your roll the first init" and "the period of time when you're initially placing pieces on the map". Frustratingly inconsistent.

I'd probably rule step 4 if at a tournament. But hopefully we'll hear from Dave with an official ruling soon.

Vset 14 designers are discussing and combing through the conversations not in the design forum.

So we have been saying the same thing the whole time.

No matter how it is ruled, it needs an errata or FAQ, as there literally isn't a time "before setup"

Reinforcements says "during setup after squads are revealed" which is the earliest we have and we really can't have a time period earlier than that. Because if it is before squads are revealed, I can't choose a character because I haven't revealed them to you yet.

I suppose we could add a new time frame (during setup after squads are revealed but before reinforcements are chosen), but that is still "during setup" and not "before setup"

Your base squad is determined before squads are revealed. I'd call that "before" setup.

I'm perfectly happy to avoid that whole thing though. Just wanted to hear what the designers had in mind.

This should do for now:

It was not my intention to define "before setup" with that FAQ. The CE wording may well get changed.

However, if the designers don't want it to work the way I have it above, I will edit.

I drew on the precedent that a character with Programmed Target brought via Reserves gets to choose a target. Not an exact match, admittedly.

I don't see any need to add another timing into the pre-round. It's already a mess.

+1


Sorry - Our bad to add a never-before-used phrase. We overlooked it and had no specific timing intent (that I can see)