Ambush + Reserve + Coward

L5R CCG Rules board, 5 February 2014 to 6 February 2014

A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.

A player, 5 February 2014

Hello! I was curious if this was legal

1) I play Ambush 2) In the course of the battle, am I allowed to use the Reserve ability to recruit someone to the battlefield?

I wasn't sure because I didn't know if Recruiting was technically moving into the battlefield.

Also, if I play Coward! I'm assuming my opponent can't actually move the to the battlefield, therefore giving me automatically the effects of him not moving to the battlefield.

Thanks!

Ambush - Limited: Target your unbowed Personality and another player's Personality. Create a battlefield (not at any Province). Assign your Personality to attack there. Assign the other Personality to defend there, even if he is bowed. Other Personalities cannot move there. Fight a battle there (after this action resolves). After the battle ends, lose 5 Honor.

Reserve Ability - Absent Repeatable Battle, Variable Gold : If he would be opposed, Recruit your target Reserve Personality (into the current battlefield).

Coward! - Battle: Target your unbowed Samurai and target a Personality in the Defender's home. Straighten his unit. The Defender may move him to the current battlefield. If he chose not to, he loses 2 Honor, dishonor the Personality, and you may draw two cards.

A player, 6 February 2014

For Reserve, Recruiting is definitely not moving, so it is legal to use Reserve during a battle created by Ambush. (Note it does count as "attack", or "defend", however, but that is not relevant for Ambush)

For Coward!, the Blind Cards Rule says that you can make a choice even if you know that the effects can (or will) fail.

When a rule or card text needs to know what an action does or will do, it only takes into account the current text of the action. It does not consider any continuous, ongoing or triggered effects that change the action's effects or cause them to fail.

So, you play Coward!, the opponent gladly chooses to move, the movement fails because of Ambush's negation, and you don't get the cards (or the dishonorable enemy Personality, or the honor loss) because he still chose to move.