Dragon Eclipse · Board game rules
When does Rush-Retreat trigger?
Quick answer
Rush and Retreat are movement keywords resolved whenever an Enemy Attack card's effect includes them — they trigger as part of resolving that card during the Enemy's turn, not as a separate event.
Details
Rush and Retreat are Enemy-specific movement effects, similar to how a player's Mystling uses Move. They appear as part of the effect text on an Enemy Attack card and are resolved in order (top to bottom, left to right) along with the rest of that card's effects during step "b. Resolve the Enemy Attack card" of the Enemy Turn [p.22 — Enemy Turn]. There is no independent trigger condition for them — they simply occur whenever the currently active Enemy Attack card's effect lists "Rush" or "Retreat" as one of its instructions [p.22 — Enemy Keywords].
Retreat moves the Enemy to the space farthest from you (highest range), using the fewest possible moves; if it's already at the farthest reachable space, it doesn't move. If several spaces qualify, you (the player) choose which one [p.22 — Enemy Keywords].
Rush moves the Enemy to the space closest to you, aiming to end within range 1 if possible, using the fewest possible moves; if it's already within range 1, it doesn't move. Again, if multiple qualifying spaces exist, you choose [p.23 — Rush].
Watch out: Both Rush and Retreat can be affected by the Slow Condition token, which reduces the Enemy's movement value to 1 and prevents it from being increased by modifiers, even if the base stat or a card effect (e.g. "Rush+2") would normally allow more movement [p.32 — Condition tokens].