When Dracula enters a location with hunters, can he still play an encounter on them before combat?

The second issue is: If there are 2 or more hunters, the rulebook says he fights them as a group. Is this compulsory? Or can he c hoose to attack just one? If u study carefully, a group of hunters does not really help much in combat. The hunters still roll only one die, and Dracula also one die. The higher value wins.

From what others have posted on the forum, Dracula or agents always protect new vampires first. But after reading the rulebook, I realise this is not stated. In fact, even if Dracula is in the same location as his new vampire and a hunter arrives, the new vampire MUST die before Dracula fights the hunter. Is this correct? I prefer to play by the rules instead of creating house rules, so need some clarification on the actual rules of whether or not Dracula protects his new vampires or lets them die.

Wanderer999 said:

No, he takes an Action, that action is either attack (if Hunter present) or place encounter (no Hunter).

Wanderer999 said:

"If the Hunters win, they
may choose which of their cards to use when
finding the results." (p. 24)

That is probably the biggest benefit I can see, you can hedge your bets, have the Hunter Dracula targets play safe, have others pick offensive combat cards, if Hunters win, choose one the offensive cards, if they lose, hopefully the target played safe enough. Also, yes, I think if Dracula attacks 2+ Hunters, Group Combat is mandatory.

Wanderer999 said:

Yeah, Dracula doesn't protect his New Vamps, Agents can do it. Drac "protects" them by running away, hopefully pulling the Hunters to him, leaving the Vamps to mature.