Attack versus Feint

Question

When using a Feint in Mouse Guard, the rules say this:

Feint is a special attack. if played against Defend, the Defender may not test. The Feinter makes an independent test; successes reduce his target's disposition. If played against an Attack, the Feinting player may not attack or defend.

(Emphasis mine)

Mouse Guard is otherwise wonderfully straightforward and well described, however this case is kind of puzzling my group. Three sessions have gone by without us happening to land on a Feint vs Attack combination, and when we did we just kind of stopped and looked at it. Does this mean the Feinting player cannot take Attack or Defend actions for the rest of the conflict? That seems a little extreme. Does it mean I can't Attack or Defend for this round? So what happens to my other potential two actions? Does it mean I can't Attack or Defend for this action? O-kay... but I wasn't, I was Feinting. Most of the time, when talking about the mechanical Attack, Defend, and so on they're capitalized, so does the lack of capitalization here mean that it's just a narrative thing that I can't attack or defend for this action? Alright, fine, so what do I do, mechanically?

Assume I am a fool trying to teach a seven year old child. This is true as far as the child goes. My own foolishness seems apparent. Answers should assume neither the fool nor the kid have a clue what this passage means, but that we are otherwise able to play several sessions of Mouse Guard without incident.

It's a Fight. I have a Fighter of 3, and Attack. My opponent has a Fighter of 2, and Feints. What happens? Who rolls what, and what do we do with those results?

Our solution for now is "Skip it, on to the next action" but this is not satisfactory for anyone in the group.

Answer 1

A Feint is an anti-Defend, anti-Maneuver action. It does not work against an Attack and only marginally works against a Feint.

In the case of an Attack versus a Feint, the Feinting player does not roll and the Attacking player's successes reduce the Feinting player's disposition. The Feint is a ploy that the Attacking player sees through. The Attack is not impeded in any way. Unless this brings the Feinting player's disposition to zero, the conflict continues just like any other interaction.

In your example, the Attacker rolls Fighter 3, the Feinter rolls nothing, and the successes from the Attacker damage the Feinter's disposition.