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, 23 July 2007
In multiplayer games, can certain 'harpoon' techniques be used to move other players' units into your side of the battle thus forcing them to be allies if they were otherwise uninvolved?
It sounds like from the rules for allying, as long as a player is 'invited' by an attacker or defender they can, at any time, move into the battle. "The first time Each Attack phase a player has any units on one side of a battlefield, he or she becomes the inviting player's ally."
So, in the following situation:
I'm playing Mantis in multiplayer with a Crab and a Crane player. I attack the Crane, and offer the Crab an invite to help attack. The Crab declines. The Crane offers the Crab to help defend, and again the Crab declines. I assign my units, the Crane assigns her. Now can I, using Yoritomo Naizen's 'harpoon' ability move the Crab player's Hida Kuon into Naizen's battle on my side, thus making the Crab player my ally? Or vice versa, forcing him to be the Crane player's if I so choose?
Thanks.
Martin Lund (rules official), 23 July 2007
In multiplayer games, can certain 'harpoon' techniques be used to move other players' units into your side of the battle thus forcing them to be allies if they were otherwise uninvolved?
It sounds like from the rules for allying, as long as a player is 'invited' by an attacker or defender they can, at any time, move into the battle. "The first time Each Attack phase a player has any units on one side of a battlefield, he or she becomes the inviting player's ally."
So, in the following situation:
I'm playing Mantis in multiplayer with a Crab and a Crane player. I attack the Crane, and offer the Crab an invite to help attack. The Crab declines. The Crane offers the Crab to help defend, and again the Crab declines. I assign my units, the Crane assigns her. Now can I, using Yoritomo Naizen's 'harpoon' ability move the Crab player's Hida Kuon into Naizen's battle on my side, thus making the Crab player my ally? Or vice versa, forcing him to be the Crane player's if I so choose?
Thanks.
Man, there isn't an Multiplayer entry for the Rules Wiki yet.
I dug around in the Samurai Edition Preview Rulebook to see if I could sniff up at least a clue.
It doesn't say a whole lot, so I'm going to wing it here. If he's invite by both sides, you can send his man into either side's army, at which point he becomes an ally of that side. It really doesn't specify which army, and it is your ability, after all, so you can make the choice. It keeps things simple.
Just remember that once he's allied, you can't send any of his units into the other army.
Happy multi-player gaming!