I'm looking for thoughts on how these interact - here's the situation: I have a lu duan, and I want to mask it as a desperado during deployment. I'm going to forgo the deployable repeater minelayer, and I'm going to not use holoprojector, just holomask, so I place a single desperado. When I deploy it, what can/do I declare vis a vis impetuous/partial cover? As I read the rule: "When deploying Troopers with the Impetuous Special Skill and with Motorcycles or AI Motorcycles (and before making any Booty Roll for that Trooper), the player can choose whether the Trooper stays Impetuous and cannot benefit from Partial Cover, or loses Impetuous and can benefit from Partial Cover with no change in their Cost and SWC." The lu duan has neither, so this rule doesn't trigger. But what can I (with an interest to good sportsmanship) say about that deployment? Do I say "I'm declining to choose" and let them infer that the bike will stay as it is (assume that it's impetuous, which might mean they don't think it gets the cover bonus it will get)? Or do I say "its not impetuous" to and provide what is in effect hidden information? Could I say, "I'm choosing X" at all (I tend to think no, b/c the trigger of the rule - it being an impetuous motorcycle - never fires). I'd appreciate the community wisdom on how to approach this.
Nice question! I'd say privately check with the TO in advance. Otherwise, any choice you make might be interpreted as bad sportsmanship if they disagree with you on how it should be played. I think my preference would probably be: to preserve the effect of holomask, you pretend it's a bike and declare whether it will be impetuous or not. You can choose either option. Of course, even if you choose impetuous, secretly it's not actually impetuous.
If you’re not impetuous, and you mask as a trooper that is, you have to point out that whatever it is isn’t impetuous. You don’t have to try to explain why, but you do have to state that it isn’t. Explicitly, HoloMask doesn’t replicate automatic skills. It’s a bad idea trying to impersonate things with different (particularly Obligatory) automatic skills.
HoloMask replicates automatic skills and implicit attributes like Impetuous just fine, you just can't use the rules but they will be the open information you share with your opponent. When you place a HoloMask unit on the table it will have the public information of the unit you choose - and that includes everything about the profile, including Impetuous. You explicitly do not need to say that it isn't Impetuous underneath. You in fact have to say that it is Impetuous. Given that the Tactical Ride rule is written as a scenario rule and not as a skill, you would not need to disclose this information - however, since the Lu Duan is not a Motorcycle unit, the rule will not apply to the Lu Duan. This is no different from e.g. Taowu pretending to be a Nisse and not having to explain that Taowu can't do Follow Up because the Nisse is not actually Medium Infantry. In addition to all this, the Tactical Ride rule is written in a optional way, you are not forced to choose, neither for a Lu Duan who can't choose nor for e.g. an Aragoto who can choose. On the whole, putting an Aragoto on the table next to a Lu Duan you can simply not use the Tactical Ride rule and your opponent won't be able to tell which one is a Lu Duan and which one is the Aragoto - until the Order Count phase when you do not put a Impetuous marker next to the Lu Duan but do put one next to the Aragoto... because remember that those Impetuous "orders" have to be placed on the table next to their corresponding troopers whether you use them or not!
