Rules for August 8th, 2003

Hi, everyone! Sorry I'm late. It's taken me longer than I thought to recover from Gencon, especially considering I took an extra three days to hang out with the Famous Mike Colson (tm).

This makes sense. Another question along these lines. Can someone use Tireless Assult to move another of their personalities into the (Ambush) Battle on either side? i.e., my opponent Ambushes Bowed Personality X. Can I Tireless Assault Personality Y to join the defense against the attacking Personality?

No. Ambush says that no other units may be assigned or moved to the battle.

No Mercy says that any player that lost honor due to his own card effects looses the game at -14 honor. Does that mean that the ruined fortress and the Sepulcher of bone self destruct at -14 or less even if they usualy don't when they are at -20 or less? Or does no mercy simply change the game rule where your provinces go down when you reach -20, thus not affecting the said strongholds?

No Mercy will eliminate Ruined Fortress and Sepulchre of Bone players from the game. The loss from No Mercy is completely seperate from the rule about losing the game at -20 honor.

Ok, so I have my 4F/5C Double Chi Ratling personality (Tonfas are a wonderful thing).

I focus with a Primal Rage then a Strike is declared.

Does my Primal Rage Focus equal 8 or 12?

I don't know. Depends on what the printed Force of your Ratling is. Primal Rage's focus value is equal to the *printed* Force of your Creature/Shadowlands Personality. Assuming that your Ratling has 2 printed Force, and is equipped with two Tonfa, the focus of Primal Rage is 4, added twice due to Double Chi.

Say I am playing a phoenix deck, and have a Shiba Takeshi in play, together with 2 Glick, whom have been Oath'ed to join the phoenix. Next I cast inspiration on the 2 Glick, and then kill one of them. Does this mean that Shiba Takeshi will get a billion Force and Chi?

No. He will gain +1/+1 every time that a Glick dies, and you will lose 3 honor every time a Glick re-enters play, until you lose enough honor to put you at -20, out of the game (or -14 if No Mercy has resolved). The card you're looking for is Political Distraction:

Political Distraction * 4g * 1 Focus * This action has a zero gold cost for Scorpion and Crane players. Political Limited: Lose 2 honor. Until the beginning of your next turn, all honor losses are reduced to zero.

You're welcome.

Should you manage to get one (or more) Shiba Takeshi's in play, plus two Glick's, plus two Inspiration's, I'd suggest declaring a finite number of times that you choose to resolve the "infinite" combo. Perform the loop that many times, and then move on with the game.

Can Yoritomo Komori XP destroy Kaiu Hosaru's tokens on a Province? The rules only talk about cards, units, and players.

Sure. If Fortifications and Regions can be attached to the Province and still be considered opposing cards, the same holds true for tokens.

So Jeff if my opponent Ambushes my peep (bowed or otherwise) and I use Outmaneuvered in Court or the new ability on Naseru to prevent their targeted peep from assigning they cannot get anyone into the Ambush right?

This one's in the Archive. Declaration and assignment are handled simultaneously by Ambush. Reactions that are triggered by the declaration of an attack cannot prevent Ambush assignment, becauseby the time you get a chance to React, the thing you wanted to prevent has already happened.

Celestial Imbalance vs Bend Like a Reed.

If Celestial Imblane is in effect and someone wants to play Bend Like a Reed which if any focus values are reduced to 0 by the Celestial Imbalance effect?

The 3 FV cards? The 2FV cards?

Neither. Bend Like a Reed is not "revealed" (unless it is focused normally in a duel), and so won't count against Celestial Imbalance.

Do a dishonored personality's focuses do anything during a duel of personal honor? My understanding is that a dishonored personality's personal honor is set to 0 after all other modifiers, and I would think that focuses in a duel would be be zeroed out just like anything else that trys to raise their honor.

Correct. Good argument for being honorable.

Lobbyist: Imperial Retainer. Political Reaction: Bow and destroy Lobbyist to pay the cost of using the Imperial favor.

Do you need to possess the Imperial favor to be able to use this effect?

No. Lobbyist (and Acquiring Favor) were designed to be used as replacement costs for the Imperial Favor, available to anyone who wanted to devote deck space to using them.

It may be a relatively simple answer, but I was unsure and figured I would ask anyways.

Can I cancel my opponent playing Armed and Ready with my Fall on Your Knees?

No. Fall on your Knees cancels Reactions played during the Battle Action Segment. Armed and Ready happens at the start of the Resolution Segment.

This has probably already been covered, but, does Jotaro have to be at the battle of the person he dishonors? Furthermore, does there have to be another of Jotaro's personalities at the battle to allow his action to be used?

Jotaro doesn't have to be in the battle, but you have to have some way of satisfying the Rules of Presence and Relevance. In other words, *someone* has to be there, it just doesn't have to be Jotaro.

[in regards to Kakita Hirotada]

Must you bow a necesary bow a holding/ST/... to pay de holding? Or can you just bow Hirotada to pay the cost of a 3 golg holding?

He can pay for a 3g cost holding all by himself.

1. The rulebook says that when the battle at a province resolves, the surviving defenders stay at that province. Are they still considered in a battle for the purposes of cards like Superior Tactics?

Defending units stay at a province they have defended until the end of the Attack Phase. However, Superior Tactics refers to Provinces, not battles. Is there another card you were wondering about?

2. If I use the force bonus from Razor's Edge Dojo on an army including Kaiu Hisayuki, soul of Silence, does he just increase the force bonus on himself or does the stronghold now give everyone +2 force?

Just himself.

I have 3 Zashiki Warashi's and The Emerald Armor attached to one Personality who has a Chi total of 3 and I bow each Zashiki Warashi in succession as my Battle Actions.

Since this personality cannot have his Chi reduced below one, can I still produce the Elemental Actions that would normally lower his Chi below 1 but are prevented from the Armor?

Sure. The Chi loss from the Zashiki Warashi isn't an additional cost, just a seperate effect.

Hi,

I have a question on three stone river. If the force of the personality's follower is higher than the force of the personality , does three stone river 'lower' the force of the personality to the same force as the follower or does the personality's force remain the same?

The Personality's force will stay the same. You can't lower up.

Basically question is this. If I have a personality, say Tsuruchi Hiro who is bowed, and I have not used the second trait on Castle of the Wasp, can I unbow him with Inner Fire and have him shoot using that trait?

Sure.

Then the real meat of the question is, since he cannot be targeted by actions, is use of this trait from Castle of the Wasp considered to be an action and therefore cannot target him?

No. His own action is not considered to be targeting him (it's self-referential), and the trait of Castle of the Wasp is not an action.

If I use the Temple of the Ninth Kami and my opponent chooses to challenge Yokubo but I use Yokubo's Reaction to negate the challenge, is my opponents Personality dishonored since the challenge was negated?

Sure.

Okay question, can a Ratling shugenja (or other shugenja for that matter) cast Clarity of Purpose out side of battle?

As long as you have Presence and Relevance in the Battle, a Shugenja can cast Clarity of Purpose, targeting any personality in the Battle.

I.E. the same as the way the Ratling Shug casts for all rats out of a battle.

Two totally different things. The Ratling Conjurer's action is non-targeted. It fulfills Relevance in a totally different way. You still need Presence, though.

Field of Glorious Slaughter read: Immediate Terrain Political Battle: Gain 2 Honor each time a card you do not control is destroyed at this battle.

By GE Rulebook Resolution Phase is prior to destruction of Terrains. If i win a battle i'll destroy all his cards, and i get two honor for each card, because i've win, and two more aditional honor points for each card because the terrain.

I've won to a 6 cards army, so this terrain will make me win a total of 24 honor. That's turbo honor! :-p

I've applied correctly this card, or i'm missing something?

Seems right to me.

Does Thuk-Kigi's Battle actions (If Thuk-Kigi's unit is home, switch it with one of your units in the current battle.) work the same way as Way of Deception (Switch the locations of two of your units led by unbowed Personalities. These units are not considered to be moving.)?

The same way...in what way? Is Thuk-Kigi's action still considered to be movement? Yes. Do both units have to be unbowed to be legal targets for either action? Yes. Other than that? You'd have to explain what you mean in more detail.

I just had a couple questions regarding what happens in certain situations with Solitary Engagement. The card itself reads: Battle: Send home one of your units and one opposing unit. Your Personality challenges the other Personality to a duel.

1) I was wondering what exactly happens when you do this to Snak, the KYD 6 gold rat that cant be challenged. "Snak may not be challenged while controlled by a Ratling player." ex. Snak is attacking one of my provinces, i defend with a Hoshi Yoson and play Solitary Engagement, what happens?

You send home both Personalities, and then try to issue a challenge, but Snak's trait prevents it. The action is done resolving.

2) Can Solitary Engagement be play when there arent enough attackers/defenders to choose from. ex. There are two personalities attacking my province, can i still play Solitary Engagement even if i cant send home one of my own peeps. And can i do it the other way around, no attacking army can i still send home my guy even if i cant send home an attacking personality.

You can't play the card unless you have *both* required targets. You need a Personality in the battle, and you need a legally targetable opposing unit. If you don't have both of those, you can't play the card.

3)Test of Courage vs. Solitary Engagement, Test cancels the entire action and neither person goes home correct?

Correct.

-- Vaughn

* Rules Guy * The Random Ninja