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, 28 August 2012
Hello, I have a question about evading actions with Snake Tattoo while facing opponent using Kyuden Kitsune exp:
Snake Tattoo: "Reaction: After another player's Battle action targets your Tattooed Personality: Move him to an adjacent battlefield. If he is no longer a legal target for that action, negate its effects."
Kyuden Kitsune Exp: "Your forests are maddening. Negate the first movement each battle into attacking armies at your provinces' battlefields from other players' actions."
So let's say that I target opponent attacking tattooed monk with some kind of kill action, and he uses: a) One Snake Tattoo to jump to unresolved, empty battlefield: a1) so he is stopped by forests, and he dies, as this was his first movement into attacking army a2) and he's not stopped by forest , as the battlefield is empty ant it is not (yet) an attacking army, as there are no personalities there b) Two Snake Tattoos: b1) so the first movement is stopped, but second goes as normal and he escapes terrible death b2) There's no need to use 2nd Tattoo, as 1st movement was not stoped
I am pretty sure that options a1 and b1 are correct, as there IS attacking army at empty unresolved battlefield, and there wee some similar questions asked on this board (as the question about ninja movements vs KKxp), but my opponent wanted to know answer to that exact matter.
Brook Cunningham (rules official), 28 August 2012
Hello, I have a question about evading actions with Snake Tattoo while facing opponent using Kyuden Kitsune exp:
Snake Tattoo: "Reaction: After another player's Battle action targets your Tattooed Personality: Move him to an adjacent battlefield. If he is no longer a legal target for that action, negate its effects."
Kyuden Kitsune Exp: "Your forests are maddening. Negate the first movement each battle into attacking armies at your provinces' battlefields from other players' actions."
So let's say that I target opponent attacking tattooed monk with some kind of kill action, and he uses: a) One Snake Tattoo to jump to unresolved, empty battlefield: a1) so he is stopped by forests, and he dies, as this was his first movement into attacking army a2) and he's not stopped by forest , as the battlefield is empty ant it is not (yet) an attacking army, as there are no personalities there b) Two Snake Tattoos: b1) so the first movement is stopped, but second goes as normal and he escapes terrible death b2) There's no need to use 2nd Tattoo, as 1st movement was not stoped
I am pretty sure that options a1 and b1 are correct, as there IS attacking army at empty unresolved battlefield, and there wee some similar questions asked on this board (as the question about ninja movements vs KKxp), but my opponent wanted to know answer to that exact matter.
You're right; a1 and b1 are the correct answers.
If he is attacking at the current battlefield, any movement to an adjacent battlefield would move him into an "attacking army". Even if there is no army there to start, he himself would BE the attacking army when he got there, so the movement would be stopped by those maddening forests.