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, 11 May 2011
As it is written in the ruleswiki:
2. Effects of Resolution: Follow one of the procedures under this heading, in order, depending on the battle’s outcome.
If the Attacker wins: i. The Attacker simultaneously destroys all cards in the defending army. ii. If the attacking army's total Force when the outcome was determined was greater than the defending army’s total Force plus the Province Strength of the current battlefield’s province, the Attacker destroys the province. iii. The Attacker gains Honor from resolution equal to twice the number of cards in the defending army that were destroyed by the effects of resolution. EXCEPTION: If any dishonorable Personalities are in the winning army, see Honorable and dishonorable.
If the Defender wins: i. The Defender simultaneously destroys all cards in the attacking army. ii. The Defender gains Honor from resolution equal to twice the number of cards in the attacking army that were destroyed by the effects of resolution, subject to the above Exception about dishonorable Personalities.
If the armies tie: i. The Attacker and Defender simultaneously rehonor any dishonorable personalities in their own army. ii. The Attacker and Defender simultaneously destroy all cards in their respective enemy leader's army. iii. If no personalities in the Attacker’s army were dishonorable before taking step i above, the Attacker gains Honor equal to the number of cards he or she destroyed this way. iv. If no personalities in the Defender’s army were dishonorable before taking step i above, the Defender gains Honor equal to the number of cards he or she destroyed this way.
Destruction of Provinces and cards, Honor gains, and rehonoring, as results of the above procedures, are all effects of battle resolution. Such effects come "from" battle resolution and "by winning" the battle.
Card effects that may be applied "in" or "during" battle resolution are not effects of, and do not come "from," resolution or "by winning" the battle.
vs. The Celestial editions somewhat shorter variant:
"The Attacker and Defender total their armies' Force at the battlefield. (cut out the definition of force calculation). If the Attacker wins, he or she destroys all units in the defending army. (cut out all the bits of destroying the province). If the Defender wins, he or she destroys all the units of the attacking army.
The winner also gains Honor equal to twice the number of cards in the enemy army that were destroyed by resolution.
If two armies, each with one or more units, have equal Force, the battle is a tie. The Attacker and Defender each destroy all units in the enemy army, and each gains Honor equal to the number of cards they destroyed. (cut out the bit about no units and the return home)."
Question: Why the oddity of rehonouring first in the tie, since it is tied to the honourgain? The question comes from me making a bad call, asking if people counted the honour gained before applying the Shadows court, instead of the other way around (I only had the rulebook to rely on).
Also, what is the reasoning of these steps not happening together? Which would explain the rehonouring in a tie admirably?
Alex Jones (rules official), 11 May 2011
As it is written in the ruleswiki:
2. Effects of Resolution: Follow one of the procedures under this heading, in order, depending on the battle’s outcome.
If the Attacker wins: i. The Attacker simultaneously destroys all cards in the defending army. ii. If the attacking army's total Force when the outcome was determined was greater than the defending army’s total Force plus the Province Strength of the current battlefield’s province, the Attacker destroys the province. iii. The Attacker gains Honor from resolution equal to twice the number of cards in the defending army that were destroyed by the effects of resolution. EXCEPTION: If any dishonorable Personalities are in the winning army, see Honorable and dishonorable.
If the Defender wins: i. The Defender simultaneously destroys all cards in the attacking army. ii. The Defender gains Honor from resolution equal to twice the number of cards in the attacking army that were destroyed by the effects of resolution, subject to the above Exception about dishonorable Personalities.
If the armies tie: i. The Attacker and Defender simultaneously rehonor any dishonorable personalities in their own army. ii. The Attacker and Defender simultaneously destroy all cards in their respective enemy leader's army. iii. If no personalities in the Attacker’s army were dishonorable before taking step i above, the Attacker gains Honor equal to the number of cards he or she destroyed this way. iv. If no personalities in the Defender’s army were dishonorable before taking step i above, the Defender gains Honor equal to the number of cards he or she destroyed this way.
Destruction of Provinces and cards, Honor gains, and rehonoring, as results of the above procedures, are all effects of battle resolution. Such effects come "from" battle resolution and "by winning" the battle.
Card effects that may be applied "in" or "during" battle resolution are not effects of, and do not come "from," resolution or "by winning" the battle.
vs. The Celestial editions somewhat shorter variant:
"The Attacker and Defender total their armies' Force at the battlefield. (cut out the definition of force calculation). If the Attacker wins, he or she destroys all units in the defending army. (cut out all the bits of destroying the province). If the Defender wins, he or she destroys all the units of the attacking army.
The winner also gains Honor equal to twice the number of cards in the enemy army that were destroyed by resolution.
If two armies, each with one or more units, have equal Force, the battle is a tie. The Attacker and Defender each destroy all units in the enemy army, and each gains Honor equal to the number of cards they destroyed. (cut out the bit about no units and the return home)."
Question: Why the oddity of rehonouring first in the tie, since it is tied to the honourgain? The question comes from me making a bad call, asking if people counted the honour gained before applying the Shadows court, instead of the other way around (I only had the rulebook to rely on).
Also, what is the reasoning of these steps not happening together? Which would explain the rehonouring in a tie admirably?
The rehonoring happens first so that the Personalities can die honourably. Otherwise, they would die dishonourably, causing an honour loss.
Note that the honour gain happens after the destruction because it is dependent on the number of cards destroyed by resolution; if anything happens to negate the destruction, or a card is destroyed by some effect before it can be destroyed by battle resolution, that card is not counted for the opposing leader's honour gain.