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, 30 March 2008
Flanking Action: "Battle: If your current army has more units than the current enemy army, bow one of your target Samurai there: The enemy leader targets and destroys a Personality in his army."
If I am in a battle where my opponent controls the same number of units that I do (or has more units), can I: a) play Flanking Action without paying the cost of bowing a Samurai (only have to pay the cost if I have more units) or b) not play Flaning Action because I do not meet the restriction of needing to have more units than my opponent.
I'm unclear about the "If your current army has more units...", does it apply to restricting the action's ability to be played or does it modify the cost of the action?
Alex Jones (rules official), 31 March 2008
Flanking Action: "Battle: If your current army has more units than the current enemy army, bow one of your target Samurai there: The enemy leader targets and destroys a Personality in his army."
If I am in a battle where my opponent controls the same number of units that I do (or has more units), can I: a) play Flanking Action without paying the cost of bowing a Samurai (only have to pay the cost if I have more units) or b) not play Flaning Action because I do not meet the restriction of needing to have more units than my opponent.
I'm unclear about the "If your current army has more units...", does it apply to restricting the action's ability to be played or does it modify the cost of the action?
It restricts "the action's ability to be played".
Because it comes first in the constraints and costs block, "If your current army has more units than the current enemy army" is a constraint; "bow one of your target Samurai there" is a cost.
See the example here.