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, 31 October 2007
One of the people in my gaming group has an annoying tactic to try to win games, which involves finding any awkward wording he can and manipulate it to his favor, and he tries to argue obviously wrong rulings until we concede to shut him up.
Such as last night. I declared an attack against him with my Lion army of Ikoma Noda, Akodo Shigetoshi xp, and Akodo Hachigoro. Hachigoro had a bowed Gate Gaurdsman attached. My friend had two Unicorn Shugenja out, neither with a Follower. Naturally, I figure I can pop my bowed Gate Gaurdsman to destroy one of his peeps without Followers, thanks to Shigetoshi. My friend then comes along and says he remembers a rule that says bowed cards can't pay costs at all. I try to explain to him that bowed cards can't pay the cost of bowing, but they can pay any other cost. I relent, because it was annoying, and just didn't assign. I was correct here, right?
Later on that night, I had the same army out, but this time with a straightened Gate Gaurdsman. However, my friend strikes again when I try to use Hachigoro's Reaction. Now, the trigger for Hachigoro's Reaction reads 'Reaction: If you are attacking, after armies at Hachigoro's battlefield engage:'. My friend tries to tell me Hachigoro's Reaction doesn't go off because he didn't assign any units to the defending army, thus only one army is engaging. He tried to tell me that because only one army was engaging, not two or more 'armies', I can't use Hachigoro's Reaction. Please tell me he's wrong about this.
Chris Fuchs (rules official), 31 October 2007
One of the people in my gaming group has an annoying tactic to try to win games, which involves finding any awkward wording he can and manipulate it to his favor, and he tries to argue obviously wrong rulings until we concede to shut him up.
Such as last night. I declared an attack against him with my Lion army of Ikoma Noda, Akodo Shigetoshi xp, and Akodo Hachigoro. Hachigoro had a bowed Gate Gaurdsman attached. My friend had two Unicorn Shugenja out, neither with a Follower. Naturally, I figure I can pop my bowed Gate Gaurdsman to destroy one of his peeps without Followers, thanks to Shigetoshi. My friend then comes along and says he remembers a rule that says bowed cards can't pay costs at all. I try to explain to him that bowed cards can't pay the cost of bowing, but they can pay any other cost. I relent, because it was annoying, and just didn't assign. I was correct here, right?
Later on that night, I had the same army out, but this time with a straightened Gate Gaurdsman. However, my friend strikes again when I try to use Hachigoro's Reaction. Now, the trigger for Hachigoro's Reaction reads 'Reaction: If you are attacking, after armies at Hachigoro's battlefield engage:'. My friend tries to tell me Hachigoro's Reaction doesn't go off because he didn't assign any units to the defending army, thus only one army is engaging. He tried to tell me that because only one army was engaging, not two or more 'armies', I can't use Hachigoro's Reaction. Please tell me he's wrong about this.
He's wrong on both. Nothing prevents bowed cards from paying costs that they are able to pay. "When armies engage" is a timing point and does not require the presence of either army to allow reactions to said timing point.