I had this situation come up during a game I played over the weekend. It dealt with the Naval ability and the strategy Travel Swiftly..
I am attacking my opponent with 2 naval personalities. He defends with 1 of his own naval personalities. Since i am the active player , i get the first opportunity to react and do so with the naval reaction targeting my Naval personality. so now he reacts with travel swiftly moving 2 naval commanders at his home to the battle. Bringing his naval count to 3. I have no more reactions to play and pass and so does my opponent. Now regardless of how many naval personalities the opponent has now, I would still take the first battle action with my performing naval personality? Because at the time i took naval reaction i had more naval cards than my opponent and have already been granted the first battle action regardless of the naval count after the reaction resolves?
From my opponents side if he wanted to defend but not let me take the first battle action with naval, he would have to assign no one first. Then wait for me to pass my chance to react and then play travel swiftly to move in his 2 naval commanders. which now stops me from taking the reaction as i now do not have more naval cards then the side opposing me ?
Travel Swiftly: This card's Gold Cost is 0 if you are a Crab Clan player. Reaction: After engaging, if there are any units in the current enemy army, target one to three Commander Personalites in your home: Straighten their units and move them to the current battlefield. Cards now in their units will not straighten during your next Straighten Phase.
Naval: Reaction: After engaging, once per battle, if you are the Attacker and your current army has more Naval cards than the side opposing it, target your Naval Personality: You have the first opportunity to take a Battle action, which must be performed by the targeted Personality.