l5r ccg - 7a war of honor rulebook

7/28/2019 L5R CCG - 7a War of Honor Rulebook

1/27

1

Rule BookGame designed by Bryan Reese


2/27

2 3

War o Honor is a card game o tactics and strategy or 2 or more players,who take the roles o warring Clan lords in the antasy Empire o Rokugan.Starting with your Stronghold and two decks o cards, you will bring orthan army o heroes, and play devious strategies in a struggle or honor andsupremacy. Provinces and Fortresses will all, reputations will be made orruined in court. And behind it all, the insights o the Five Rings will givewondrous benets to those with the wisdom to learn them.

Legend of the Five Rings

The War o Honor boxed game uses decks o cards rom the Legend o the Five Rings(L5R) Collectible Card Game. It simplies the card games rules, and adds rules ormultiplayer action. This box contains decks or the ollowing our clans: the Dragon,

Lion, Phoenix, and Scorpion.Two new things make War o Honor dierent rom the collectible card game. First, players controlFortresses which give additional abilities and can be eliminated by attacks. Second, the victoryconditions are tracked in a dierent way. In War o Honor, you win by achieving goals thatadvance you along the our dierent Paths to Victory.

Destroying provinces moves you along the Path o Military. Gaining Honor and making others loseHonor will move you along the Paths o Honor and Dishonor respectively. Finally, putting Ringcards into play will move you along the Path o Enlightenment. When you reach the end o a Pathto Victory, you win.

LEARNING THE GAME

Many o you have already played Legendo the Five Rings and are amiliar with therules. I you are one o these players, youmay wish to skip to Page 40 to see what isnew with War o Honor. I you are amiliarwith the game but want a reresher course,

you may wish to skip to the Quick PlayGuide on Page 44. For everyone else, thegame rules are divided into three parts.First, game setup and the dierent types ocards are described (Pages 5-13). Then theturn sequence is outlined (Pages 18-30).Finally, a Glossary gives the meaning o the

game terms you will fnd on the cards andClan Fortresses (Pages 32-33).

CONTENTS

LEGENdOfTHE fIvE RINGS PAGE 3

CLANSIN WAROf HONOR PAGE 4

GAME EquIPMENT PAGE 5

THE CARdS PAGE 7

REAdINGTHE CARdS PAGE 11

STARTINGTHE GAME PAGE 15

THE TuRN SEquENCE PAGE 18

WINNINGTHE GAME PAGE 30

RuLES GLOSSARy PAGE 32

ExAMPLEOf PLAy PAGE 34

AdvANCEd PLAy PAGE 40

CARd CLARIfICATIONS & RuLES REMINdERS PAGE 40

vARIANT RuLES PAGE 42

OPTIONAL RuLES PAGE 43

quICk PLAy GuIdE PAGE 45

GAME CREdITS PAGE 47


3/27

4 5

u 1 Paths to Victory Score Board

u 144 Clan Markers with Clan Mon

u 50 Hexagonal tiles

27 Clan Fortress tiles, with Clan Monon the back

18 Plains tiles 1 Toshi Ranbo tile, the starting tile 4 Quick Rules tiles

u 4 Clan card sets, each consisting o:

1 Clan stronghold card 1 40 card Dynasty deck 1 40 card Fate deck

u 16 Honor/Dishonor tracking Markers

Clans in War of Honor

The Dragon ClanMystic warriors rom the northern mountains, the Dragon explode in battle with chains o martial artsmoves. They have special ways o achieving insight into the elemental Rings, which makes the Path oEnlightenment a natural goal or them.

The Lion ClanProud and honorable, these erce samurai excel at meticulous strategies, but are also savage attackers. TheLion Clan are masters o warare. The Path o Military is the victory they can achieve most easily.

The Phoenix Clan

Elemental magic is the strong point o the Phoenix. Their ranks are lled with Shugenja: magic-wieldingpriests dedicated to the ve elements. These Shugenja use elemental spells in pursuit o victory. While theirspells can unleash great destructive orces, the Phoenix preer peace. They are most likely to win along thePath o Honor.

The Scorpion ClanLabeled as villains by the other Clans, the Scorpion are the Clan o Secrets, using underhanded means toadvance their cause. The Scorpion player in War o Honor will exploit politics and the law to disgrace otherClans, using courtiers and magistrates to uncover the secret sins and weaknesses o their characters. Thisleads naturally to victory by the Path o Dishonor.

Game Components

Game Setup1. Punch out the tiles rom their rames. Separate them accordi ng to their back patterns. There should be 3 Fortress til es or each Clan, plus 2Plains tiles without Clan Mon.

2. Unwrap the cards. Each separately wrapped card set should be kept together. Find the Stronghol d in each card set and turn it ace-up,keeping it with the other cards in the set. Put the corresponding Clan tiles by each card set.

3. Choose which Clan each player will take or the game. Normally, you should shufe the Strongholds and deal one out to each player atrandom. But i all players agree on who gets to play which Stronghold, then go with that agreement. Once Clans are chosen, give each playertheir respective cards, Fortress tiles, one o each ability designator (Battle, Limited, Open), 2 Plains tiles, and Clan Markers. The numbers onthe Markers are used to help dierentiate between multiple players o the same Clan. For example, i there are two Phoenix players, one shouldused the Markers with the number 1, while the other should use the Markers with the number 2. I there are not multiple players o thesame Clan, the numbers on the Markers are meaningless.

4. Put any unused Strongholds, cards, Clan Markers, Fortr ess tiles, and Plains tiles back in the box.

5. Put the Score Board to the side, leaving r oom in the middle o the table. Each player nds his or her Clan Markers and places one Marker inthe starting spaces o each track on the Score Board.

6. Each player sets aside his or her Stronghold card, and the card Border Keep. Then, each player separates his or her cards into Fate (greenbacks) and Dynasty (black backs), and shufes each o these two sets o cards separately as individual decks.

7. Players set up their Stronghold and decks as shown in the illustration . The Fate deck goes about where your right hand is, and the Dynastyabout where your let hand is. The Stronghold is placed in ront o the decks, in the play area, and so is your Border Keep card. Dynasty cardsyou discard go into their own discard pile to the let o the Dynasty deck, and Fate cards are discarded to the right o the Fate deck. Personalitiesthat are destroyed in play should be kept apart, in the discard pile, rom those who are just discarded rom Provinces.

8. Put the Toshi Ranbo tile in the middle o the table.

9. On the punchboard with the Toshi Ranbo tile, the markers are double-sided and havean Honor value (the Fan symbol) on one ace, and a Dishonor value (the Mask symbol) onthe other. These markers are numbered 1, 2, 4 and 8, and are to help you keep track o howmuch honor you have gained, or how much dishonor you have caused on any one turn.Keep these Markers within easy reach o everyone or use throughout the game.

10. Put aside all Bamboo Harvesters cards. These will be handed out later.

Players set up their Stronghold and decksas shown in the illustration below.


4/27

6 7

Stronghold

This card represents yourstarting base o operations,and denes what Clan youare as a player. You start

with it in play.

Card Title: At the top o theStronghold in a white bar is itstitle. All L5R cards have a title.

Clan Icon (Mon): To the leto the title is a symbol that showsyou what Clan you are playing.

Province Strength: The topmost o three symbols at theright o your Stronghold gives your base Province Strength.

Gold Production: The middle o your Strongholds threesymbols, the coin, is its Gold Production.

Starting Number: The bottom number on a Stronghold, inthe boxed game, is used only to determine who goes rst.

Text Box:Like all other L5R cards, the Stronghold has a text

box (see Reading The Cards, on page 11).

The Cards

The game uses two separatedecks, the Dynasty deck oblackbacked cards and theFate deck o greenbackedcards. You draw Fate cardsinto your hand, but dealDynasty cards into Provinceson the table. These plus

your Stronghold and startingHoldings make up your playdeck.

Decks are not reshufed whenthey become empty. However,i a deck becomes empty duringplay, there are no negativeeects, other than havingno more cards o that typeavailable.


5/27

8 9

Holding

These cards representresources in your lands.Holdings, like many cards,have a Gold Costthenumber in the round cointhat you must pay to bringthem into play. Holdings enterplay bowed (seepage 15).

Personality

A Personality card representsone o the notable characterso Rokugan. The title bar o aPersonality will have the icono his Clan alignment.

Force: A Personalitys Force,abbreviated as F, is ound in the lightercolored icon at the top let.

Chi:Chi, or inner strength, is ound inthe dark colored icon at the top right,and is abbreviated as C.

Honor Requirement:Honor Requirement is the letmosto the three icons. This stat has no unction in the War o Honorboxed game, but is included to make the cards compatible with theCollectible Card Game.

Gold Cost:Personalities have a Gold Cost, the middle o thethree icons, which you must pay beore you bring them into play.

Personal Honor:Personal Honor is ound in the an, the

rightmost o the three icons. It stands or inner virtue and honor inthe eyes o society. Its abbreviation is PH.

Dynasty Card Types

Event

Events represent importanthappenings in Rokugan. Theyappear unpredictably in yourprovinces.

Fate Card Types

Strategy

Strategy cards are cards you playrom your hand and then discard.

A Strategy usually has one ormore abilities.

Gold Cost:All Strategy cards in War oHonor have a Gold Cost o zero. You dontneed to pay Gold to play them.

Focus Value:Like all Fate cards, Strategycards also have a Focus Value, in the blackcircle at the bottom o the card. This value isused in some cards eects.

Ring

The Rings show understandingo the ve mystic elementsrom which Legend o the FiveRings takes its name. You mayput Rings into play when youhave ullled their conditionor entering play. You can alsodiscard them rom your hand ora oneshot eect.

dISHONORAbLESTATuS

Some thingscan dishonora Personality,disgracing himin the eyes oRokugan. Turnthe Personalityscard 180 degreesupside down to show this dishonorable state.

A dishonorable Personalitys PersonalHonor is always zero. Ater a Personality isdestroyed while dishonorable, the player wholast controlled him loses Honor equal to thePersonalitys printed Personal Honor.

When one or more dishonorablePersonalities are involved in gaining one ormore points o Honor, the Honor gain doesnot happen and they are rehonored (restoredto honorable status). Specifcally, rehonoringhappens:

Before a player gains Honor from an actionor trait that targeted, came rom, or was

perormed by one or more o his or herdishonorable Personalities.

Before a player with one or more

dishonorable Personalities in his or herarmy gains Honor rom destroying enemycards in battle resolution. In a tied battle,all dishonorable Personalities in an armyare rehonored beore being destroyed, andtheir armys leader gains no Honor.


6/27

10 11

StatsForce, Chi, Province Strength, and Gold Cost areexamples o stats, or number values. Stats may gainbonuses or suer penalties rom eects in the game.

A cards current stat is the printed or base stat,together with all bonuses and penalties currentlyin eect on it. Stats have a minimum value o zero,even i they are calculated to be negative.

Example: Matsu Sakaki has 4 Force. BayushiSorii gives him -5F until the end o the turn usinghis ability. Sakaki is now considered to have 0Force - he cannot have negative Force. Sakakithen has Charge played on him, which giveshim +3F (because he is Lion Clan) until the endo the turn. Sakakis Force is now recalculated.The -5F is still in eect, so his current Force ishis base 4 Force, plus 3 rom Charge, minus 5rom Sorii; a total o 2 Force.

Text BoxThe text boxtells you a cards

game eects andlimitations.

All cardsshould be readunderthe frstCardinal Ruleo L5R:

I the text o any card contradicts the rulebook,ollow the card text, not the rulebook.

The text box may contain any, all, or none o theollowing our parts.

KeywordsA keyword is a phrase o one or more words thatusually appears at the top o a text box, above adividing line. For example, a Personality can be

Attachments

Followers, Items, and Spells are all attachment cards.

Attachment cards enter play by being attached to a Personality, placing the cardunder the Personality with the title showing.

An Attachments Gold Cost, shown in the coin icon in the middle o the card, mustbe paid beore it enters play.

Follower

Followersrepresenttroops,creatures,or advisors.They haveForce, inthe icon atthe top let,

which helps their unit in battle.The letmost icon in the middleis Honor Requirement, anotherstat rom the L5R card game thatis not used in the War o Honorboxed game.

Item

Itemsrepresentspecial objectsand artiacts.Unlike theseparate Forceo Followers,Items have aForce modier

in the upper let hand icon thatdirectly raises their PersonalitysForce.

Items likewise have a Chimodier.

I something in the game needsto check an Items Force or Chi

specifcally, use the value o itsmodifer.

Spell

Spellsrepresentmagic scrollsused by aShugenja(a persontrained inthe magic oRokugan).

Spells have no Force or Chibonus. They will only attach to aShugenja.

aligned to the Lion Clan and be a Samurai.

Keywords are separated rom each other by soliddots (). If keywords appear on more than one linein a text box, the ones on dierent lines are separateas well. A keyword may be made up o multiple

words, like Dragon Clan, but it is treated as asingle phrase.

TraitsAter a cards keywords come its traits: phrases

in normal print that describe the cards eects orrestrictions.

AbilitiesBelow any traits, there may be one or more abilities:blocks o text that describe actions you can take atcertain points in the game. An ability starts with oneor more o the boldace designator terms Limited:,Open:, or Battle:.

The designator limits at what time in the game theaction can be taken.

An ability with two designators such as Battle/Open:can be used at either time, and is treated as bothtypes.

Some abilities have one or more keywords beore thedesignator, such as Political Limited: Some cardeects may check or these keywords.

Example: The Ring o Air looks or Kiho actions(actions rom cards with the Kiho keyword), aswell as Spell actions (actions rom a Spell card).

Sometimes, ater the designator, there is textollowed by a second colon (:).

For example:

Open: Bow this card: Gain 1 Honor.

Anything between the designator and the secondcolon is part o the constraints block, and is required

uNITS

A Personality and all his attached cards make up a unit. The total Force o a unit is the sum o theForce o the Personality and each Follower in the unit, whether these cards are bowed or unbowed.Items contribute directly to the Personalitys Force and are not added separately.

Reading the Cards


7/27

12 13

in order to take the action. For more inormation onthese terms, see When Can I Take an Action?, page 20 .

Ater the constraints block, i any, comes the eectsblock. This describes the eects the action has whenit resolves.

Limited: I your Family Honor is 10 or less,discard a card and choose a perorming Courtier:Gain 1 Honor.

This ability has a constraints block. In thisblock, the phrase i your Family Honor is 10or less is a condition, discard a card is acost, and choose a perorming Courtier lets

you know that you must choose one o yourCourtiers to perorm the action. It also has oneeect, Gain 1 Honor.

Battle: Give all o your Samurai at the currentbattlefeld +1F. Straighten them.

This ability has only one colon, so it hasno costs, triggers, or conditions. It involvestwo eects: giving your Samurai +1F andstraightening them.

Flavor TextAt the bottom o the text box, in italic type, comesa cards favor text: a short quote about the world oRokugan. Flavor text has no game eect.

SELf REfERENCE

In traits and abilities, a card may reerdirectly to its own title; or example, a cardnamed Togashi Oki may read Ater Okienters play: This reers to the card itsel, and

not to any other copy o the card with thesame name.


8/27

14 15

Starting The Game

Going FirstPlayers should determine seating position randomlyby shufing and dealing the Strongholds to eachseat.

The player with the highest Starting Number onhis or her Stronghold takes the rst turn (see TurnSequence, page 18). Turn order then proceeds clockwisearound the table. I there is a tie (or example, i you aremixing decks rom dierent copies o War o Honor), chooseat random which o you goes rst.

Starting HoldingsAlong with the Stronghold, each player begins thegame with one special Holding titled Border Keep inplay.

I you are going last, you also start the game withone Holding titled Bamboo Harvesters in play andbowed. In a our (or more) player game, the lasttwo players each start the game with one BambooHarvester in play and bowed.

bOWINGANd STRAIGHTENING

A bowed card is turned90 degrees to the right to

show that it has spent itseorts. Costs and eectsthroughout the game may

bow an unbowed card, or straighten a bowedcard, returning it to the unbowed state.

PAyING GOLd COSTS

Your Stronghold and Holdings can be bowed to produce an amount o Gold that is given by aStrongholds Gold Production stat or a Holdings traits. Gold produced by a single source must all be

spent to pay or one cost. Extra Gold does not carry over to other purchases. Multiple sources o Goldcan be added together to pay a cost.

Example: Your unbowed Dragon Clan Stronghold has a Gold Production o 4. You also have a Gold Mine Holdingand a Border Keep Holding in play and unbowed. The Gold Mine bows to produce 3 for you and the Border Keepbows to produce 2. I you now wish to buy a card that costs you 8 Gold, you need to bow all three o these cards to

produce 9, because the most you can produce rom any two o them is 7. The extra 1 Gold is lost, and may not beused to pay or anything else.


9/27

16 17

at any acedown cards, even ones in your ownprovinces. Nothing special happens i you run outo Dynasty or Fate cards; provinces remain even ithere are no cards to ll them.

Each province has a separate Province Strengthstat, whose base value is the Strongholds ProvinceStrength.

Place TilesStarting with the starting player and continuingclockwise, each player places one o his or her vetiles (three Fortresses and two Plains). Tiles are laiddown in a hexagonal grid, ully touching edge toedge.

A new tile must be placed either next to ToshiRanbo, or in such a way that it touches two ormore existing tiles.

A tile cannot be placed so that four or moretiles are between it and Toshi Ranbo, byshortest route.

Tiles are placed face-up so that the abilitieson the Fortress tiles can be seen. It does notmatter which way the tiles are rotated when

you place them.

Players continue to take turns clockwise placingtheir tiles until all o them have been placed.

Over the course o the game, Fortress tiles may beturned ace-down. However, a players last ace-up

Fortress can never be turned ace-down. While ace-down, a Fortress acts the same as any other Plainstile.

Fill Your HandDraw six cards rom the top o your Fate deck andhold them so you can see their aces and youropponents cannot. This is your hand.

Your preparations are now over. You are ready tostart the frst turn o the game.

Create ProvincesTo create your provinces, take the top our cards o

your Dynasty deck and lay them ace-down, romlet to right, between your Dynasty and Fate decks.These cards mark your provinces, or game areasrepresenting your lands, one card to a province.

I a province is ever without a card, rell itimmediately with a acedown card rom the topo your Dynasty deck. You may not normally look


10/27

18 19

The Turn Sequence

The starting player takes the rst turn ollowingeach o the steps described below in order. Oncehe or she has completed a turn, the player to hisor her let takes a turn, and so on, until the gameends.

1. Straighten PhaseAs the player whose turn it is, you straighten all yourbowed cards, including your Stronghold. (Note thatthe Bamboo Harvesters card has text that stops itstraightening on the rst turn.)

2. Events PhaseStarting with your letmost province, turn its cardaceup.

Then:

If it is a Holding or Personality, nothing happensat this time.

If it is an Event, take it out of its province. Itseects resolve now, beore the province is relled.Once an Event has resolved, discard it.

Note that events only resolve in the Events Phase. Iyou reveal an Event at any other time (such as duringthe Action Phase by using the ability on Border Keep),it does not resolve at that time.

Ater deal ing with your le tmost provi nce, do the

same or each o your other provinces, moving romlet to right.

3. Action PhaseThe player whose turn it is can take Limited and Openactions in this phase. Other players may only takeOpen actions in the Action Phase i it is not their turn.

As the player whose turn it is, you have the rstopportunity in the Action Phase to take a Limitedor Open action, or pass. The next player to your letthen has a chance to take an Open action or pass.

GAININGANd

LOSING HONOR

In War o Honor, eachplayer keeps track ohis or her ownHonorlosses andHonor gainsseparately each turn.Honor losses and Honorgains do not count againsteach other, but are kepttrack o with separateHonor/Dishonor Markers.

Gaining 8 or more Honorin a single turn will let youmove your Clan Markerone space orward on theHonor track o the ScoreBoard. Also, making otherplayers lose 8 or moreHonor in a single turnrom card eects or killingdishonorable Personalities(see Dishonorable statuson page 8) will also let youmove your Clan Markerone space orward, but onthe Dishonor track.

Honor gains or lossesabove 8 in a single turndont need to be tracked.Players do not need tokeep a running track ototal Honor turn to turn.


11/27

20 21

This continues around the table, as many times asneeded. The Action Phase ends when all playerspass, one right ater another.

I a player passes, he or she can still take an actionlater on in the phase.

Taking actions in turn until all players pass one aterthe other is called an action round.

When Can I Take An Action?You can normally take actions rom abilities onStrategies and Rings in your hand, rom abilitieson your cards in play, rom abilities available to all

players (see Equipping on page 22) and rom abilities onyour ace-up Clan Fortress tiles.

Limited actions are taken in the Action Phase onlyby the active player. Open actions are taken in the

Action Phase by any player.

Battle actions can only be taken during a battlesCombat Segment.

To take an action, go through these steps:

A. Check Conditions

Some required conditions may appear in anabilitys constraints block, such as I you control aShugenja...

There are three other limitations:

Abilities on bowed cards may not be used.

A card or tile must normally be in play andace-up, or be a Strategy or Ring played romyour hand, to use its abilities.

Each separate card ability and tile ability mayonly be used once per turn.

B. Announce

To take an action, announce it to your opponent.I it comes rom a card in your hand (such as aStrategy or Ring), show it. I it comes rom a card

with multiple abilities, speciy which you are using.

C. Required Performing and Targeting

An action may have a number o perormers andtargets mentioned in its constraints block, using the

word perorming or target; or example, Bowyour perorming Samurai with less than 3 Forceor Target an enemy Personality. In this step, youmust identiy and choose a card (normally, a cardin play) to match each o the perormers and targetsmentioned in the action, in the order mentioned. Ithe action allows, a perormer and a target may bethe same.

Exception: Targeting mentioned in the eects blockis not required at this time i it is done by anotherplayer or is optional, or example, you may targeta Samurai. These kinds o targeting are done aseects resolve.

D. Pay Costs

In this step, you pay the costs o the action.Anything in the constraints block that tells you tochange the game state is a cost o the action; orexample, Bow one o your Samurai:

To pay a cost, the change must actually, ullyhappen. For example, i a Personality is alreadybowed, you cant use him to pay the cost Bow yourPersonality. Also, cards out o play cant normallypay your costs.

E. Action Resolution

I all targets and perorming requirements are met

and costs are paid, the actions eects happen in theorder they are mentioned.

F. Tidy Up

Finally, i you took the action rom a Strategy cardin your hand, discard it.

Traits and Effects

The Elemental Ring cards each begin with a traitthat describes a condition you can meet to put itinto play (or example, having taken three or moreactions rom Spells or Kiho cards in a turn, or Ring

EffECTS ARE INdEPENdENT

Once eects start to resolve, they will beapplied no matter what happens to the card

they came rom. Also, some eects may beprevented rom happening beore they areapplied, or while they are ongoing. Forexample, a Personality might be aected bya card that negates his bowing. I anothereect would then bow him the whole actionis still legal to take, and the actions othereects still happen, even i the bowingdoesnt.


12/27

22 23

o Air). On meeting that condition, you may play theRing rom your hand, putting it among your othercards in play.

Gold-producing Holdings may have a trait such asBow this card: Produce 2 Gold. This means theycan be bowed at any time you need to produce Goldto pay other costs.

A trait such as Miyahara has +1F or each otherLion Clan Samurai in her army has a continuouseect that is always on while the card is in play.

How Long Do Things Last?

Some costs or eects are instantaneous, and markedby physical changes to the game components,such as bowing cards, dishonoring Personalities, orfipping tiles. This kind o change does not wear oby itsel.

Other costs or eects involve changes that are notphysically marked by the game components orexample, Give the Personality +3F. This kind ochange normally lasts until the turn ends.

Equipping

There is an action available to all players that letsthem play attachments on their Personalities duringtheir Action Phase.

Limited: Any number o times per turn, chooseyour perorming Personality: Attach a targetattachment card rom your hand to him.

Note that or Phoenix Clan players using the City oTears Stronghold, this action is a Battle/Open actioninstead when equipping Spells so they can attachSpells during other players turns as well as in abattle.

4. Attack Phase(Optional)

As the active player, youmay now optionally create(declare) an Attack Phasei you have any units in play.

An Attack Phase has severalsegments in order.

A. Declaration Segment

You are the Attacker. Chooseone o the other players toattack; he or she becomesthe Deender. You are eachthe leader o your respectiveside in the attack.

Looking at the tiles,announce which o your ace-up Clan Fortresses you arelaunching your attack rom,and which o the Deendersace-up Clan Fortresses youare attacking. You can attackany other players ace-upFortress anywhere on theboard, but you get a benetater the attack i you attackan adjacent Fortress (seeResolution Segment on page 27).

As the Attacker, you mayinvite any, all, or none othe remaining players whocontrol a ace-up Fortressadjacent to the attackingFortress to ally with you.

A player need not acceptor reuse your invitationright away. The Deenderthen does the same orplayers who control a ace-up Fortress adjacent to the


13/27

24 25

deending Fortress, and may invite players that youinvited. You will not know whether your invitedallies will help you until they commit to battle!

Next, battleelds come into being, one battleeldin ront o each o the Deenders provinces (theareas holding Dynasty cards). Battleelds areinvisible areas that hold units. They stand orspecic locations in the campaign thats beingought between the two Fortresses. A battleeld hastwo sides attacking and deending. Cards on theattacking side at a battleeld will be placed in ronto that battleelds area, acing in to attack. Cardson the deending side will be placed opposite the

attacking cards, acing the opposite way.

B. Maneuvers SegmentIn Maneuvers, the Attacker rst simultaneouslyassigns any number o his or her units led by anunbowed Personality rom home to the attackingside at battleelds. The Attacker may assign unitsto one battleeld or dierent battleelds, and maykeep some or all o them home.

Ater the Attacker assigns his units, the rst playerthe Attacker invited to his let may assign, rom hishome, any number o his units led by an unbowedPersonality to any battleelds, in any arrangement

desired. Then each other player the Attackerinvited, continuing in turn order, may do the same.Players the Attacker did not invite may not assignto the attacking side during this attack. Once aninvited player assigns any units to the attackingside, he or she becomes an attacking ally.

Then the Deender assigns units rom home to thedeending side at battleelds, in the same way.

Ater this, players the Deender invited, in turnorder, may each assign units on the deending side,unless they have already become attacking allies.They cannot assign dierent units to opposite

sides o an attack, even i they are at separatebattleelds. This assignment ollows the same rulesas or attacking allies. Players who assign to thedeending side become deending allies.

Ater the rst time each attack an invited allyassigns one or more units, he or she gains 2 Honor.Honor is not gained or moving units during theCombat Segment.

Assigning a unit places it at that battleeld, andis dierent rom moving between locations(see Movement on page 26). A unit led by a bowedPersonality may not be assigned.

C. Fight Battles

The Attacker chooses a battleeld, and a battle isought there. When that battle is over, the Attackerchooses a new battleeld and another battle is

ought there. This repeats until all battleelds havebeen ought at.

Exactly one battle happens at each battleeld, evenones with no units. There is no urther opportunityor a battle at a battleeld that has already beenought at, even i some units nd their way there.

BattlesBattles have a Combat Segment, then a ResolutionSegment.

The Battlefeld


14/27

26 27

Combat Segment

The Combat Segment is an action round o Battleactions ocused on the current battleeld, starting

with the Deender and continuing clockwise aroundthe table even i the next player clockwise is anally o the Attacker.

When Can I Take A Battle Action?

The Attacker, Deender, and any invited allies maytake Battle actions. Battle actions ollow theseadditional rules:

Rule of Presence

To legally take any Battle action, you must controlone or more units at the current battleeld.

Some actions may let you ignore this rule, beingplayable even i you control no units at the currentbattleeld. However, in that case, you must havebeen invited as an ally by the Attacker or Deender.

Rules of Location

To legally take a Battle action from a card in aunit, the unit must be at the current battleeld.

To be legally targeted by or perform a BattleAction, any cards in a unit must be at thecurrent battleeld.

Exception: Battle actions that say they move a unitto the current battleeld are legal to take, regardlesso Presence and Location, i the rules o Presenceand Location would be satised with the unit there.

Movement

Some eects will move units to and rom battleeldsduring the Combat Segment. There are two rules thatregulate this:

A Personality who has already been in anattacking army during a battle resolution inthe current Attack Phase will not move to abattleeld.

If a player has been invited by both Attackerand Deender but has not become an ally byassignment, he or she may move a unit into thebattle. But he or she must choose which side tomove to, and or the rest o the attack, becomesan ally o that side. Once allied, an ally mayonly move units to the side o the battleeld heor she is aligned with.

Once all players have passed consecutively, theCombat Segment ends.

Resolution Segment

All units on a side, leaders and allies, make up anarmy.

The Attacker and Deender total their armies Forceat the battleeld. An armys Force is the total o theForce o all unbowed Personalities and Followers init; a side with no units has zero Force. The side withthe highest Force wins.

I the attacking side wins, destroy all units in thedeending army. I the attacking armys Force was

greater than the deending armys Force plus theProvince Strength o the battleelds province, the

Attacker also destroys the province.

When a province is destroyed, discard any cards init. Push together the other provinces and the twodecks to show the shrinking o their owners lands.I the Deender has no provinces let, he or she iseliminated rom the game.

I the deending side wins, destroy all units in theattacking army.

The leader o the winning side (the Attacker orDeender) gains Honor equal to twice the numbero cards in the enemy army that were destroyedby resolution. This Honor gain happens even ithe Attacker or Deender did not personally winthe battle because they had no units present atresolution (see Win, page 33)

I two armies, each with one or more units, have

equal Force, the battle is a tie. The Attacker andDeender each destroy all units in the enemy army,and each gains Honor equal to the number o cardsthey destroyed. I the battle is tied on zero Force andeither or both sides have no units, the battle has nooutcome.

When these eects have been applied, the battlesresolution ends. Next, all attacking units, attackingallies units, and deending allies units at thatbattleeld bow, then return home, as eects oresolution. Return ater battle is not movement.

Deending units stay at that battleeld, and return

home only at the end o the Attack Phase. They donot bow.

The battle itsel then ends.

Once the last battle has ended, all battleelds ceaseto exist. Any units still at battleelds bow i they

were attacking, and return home.

I the Attackers Fortress was adjacent to theDeenders Fortress, the Attacker may straighten oneo his units that returned home rom a battle or romthe attack (that is, straighten each card in the unit).

I one or more o the Deenders Provinces weredestroyed, then unless the Deenders Fortress beingattacked is his or her last one, fip the DeendersFortress ace-down.

The Attack Phase now ends.

5. Dynasty PhaseBuy Cards From ProvincesDuring the Dynasty Phase, in any order you likeand as many times as possible, you can bringaceup Holdings and Personalities into play rom

your provinces .

To bring a Holding into play, pay its Gold Cost.Unlike other card types, Holdings always enterplay bowed.

To bring a Personality into play, pay his Gold Cost.


15/27

28 29

When you bring Personalities with your Clanalignment keyword into play they ollow twospecial rules:

You may bring them into play paying 2 less Gold.

If you arent choosing to pay the 2 less Goldand it is your turn, you may choose to gainHonor equal to your Personalitys PersonalHonor just beore you bring him into play,once per turn.

Discard FaceUp CardsBeore your Dynasty Phase ends, once you are donebringing cards into play, you may discard aceup

cards rom your provinces one by one, relling theprovince ace-down each time beore continuing.

6. End PhaseIn the End Phase, you draw a Fate card. Then, i

your hand is above the maximum hand size o eight,discard cards down until you are at the maximumhand size.

7. Path to Victory PhaseDuring the Path to Victory Phase, each playersprogress toward victory conditions is recorded,starting with you (the Active Player) and goingclockwise. Each players Markers may move orwardalong the our Paths to Victory, depending on theiraccomplishments that turn. You may only advanceone step along each separate Path per turn, but mayadvance during other players turns as well as yourown. You may advance one step along two or moredierent paths in a turn.

For example, the Lion player destroys twoprovinces and plays Ring o Earth. During the

Path to Victory Phase, he will take one stepdown the Path o Military and one step down thePath o Enlightenment.

You advance one step on the Path o Military i youwere the Attacker, or an attacking ally, and armiescontaining one or more o your units destroyed oneor more o the Deenders provinces this turn.

You advance one step on the Path o Honor i yougained a total o 8 or more points o Honor through

any means this turn. Honor losses arenot counted against this total.

You advance one step on the Path oDishonor i you caused other players tolose a total o 8 or more points o Honorthis turn. Your card eects causingHonor loss count toward this, as well as

your eects that caused Honor loss bydestroying dishonorable Personalities(see Dishonorable status on page 8). I

you were the leader o an army thatcaused Honor loss by destroying anydishonorable Personalities in battle

resolution, this also counts toward the8 points o Honor loss. Honor gainsare not counted against your Dishonortotal. Losses caused to dierent playersare totaled together.

You advance one step on the Path oEnlightenment ater a turn ends in

which you put any Rings into play usingtheir own trait, meeting the condition onthe Ring, which you have not previouslyput into play this game.

A player who takes a step along a Pathto Victory may choose to activate theability ound on that space o the Pathto Victory. Players advancing alongmultiple Paths may choose the order in

which to activate multiple abilities. All

abilities are one-time eects. I a Pathability causes you to have more thanthe maximum number o cards in yourhand, you do not have to discard downto the maximum at this time.

The turn ends when the Path to VictoryPhase does. The player to your let nowtakes his or her turn.

MuLTIPLE PERSONALITIES?

Some Personality cards appear more thanonce in the deck. This is intentional, and

you can have more than one non-UniquePersonality with the same name in play. The

dierent cards are just a way to representdierent people with the same general statsand abilities. There is also a Personalitycard in this set (Isawa Kyoko) who is a moreexperienced, Unique version o a non-UniquePersonality. In the collectible card game thereare rules or replacing one version with a moreexperienced version; in War o Honor, theExperienced Personality is just an individualwho has managed to distinguish hersel.


16/27

30 31

Winning The Game

At the end o the Path to Victory Phase, beore the Active Player ends their turn, i any player is on the thstep o any Path to Victory, he or she wins and the game ends. I two or more players reach Victory on thesame turn, the tie is then broken by counting the total number o steps each o those tied players has takenalong all our Paths.

For example, the Lion and Scorpion player have reached the 5th step o the Paths o Military and Dishonor,respectively, on the same turn. The Lion has taken 5 steps along the Path o Military, 2 steps along the Patho Honor, and 2 steps along the Path o Enlightenment - a total o 9. The Scorpion has taken 5 steps alongthe Path o Dishonor and 3 steps along the Path o Enlightenment a total o 8. The Lion wins the game.

I there is still a tie, then: i one o the tied players is the Active Player, he or she wins.

Otherwise, the tied player who wins will be the rst to go ater the Active Player.

For example, the Phoenix and Dragon players both have reached the 5th step o a Path to Victory and havethe same total number o steps. It is the end o the Scorpion players turn. The Lion player is next, ollowedby Phoenix and then Dragon. The Phoenix player wins, because she would become the Active Player beorethe Dragon.


17/27

32 33

a battleeld i there are one or more units in theenemy army.

Own: You own all cards that were originally inyour deck. Cards you own can never go into anotherplayers decks or discard piles; they always go to

yours instead.

Perform: A Personality or Follower is perormingan action i its controller is the player taking theaction, and any o these things is true:

The action comes from an ability on thePersonality or Follower.

The action comes from an ability on an Item orSpell in the Personalitys unit.

The Personality or Follower is explicitly chosento perorm the action (or example, Bow yourperorming Samurai).

Plains: Plains are the generic tiles that help makeup the game board. They represent empty tracts oland that your army travels over to get to playersFortresses. Plains tiles have no mechanical eect.

Ranged Attack: A Ranged Attack represents amilitary eect that destroys at a distance, such asarchers arrows or a magical ery bolt.

Ranged X Attack, where X stands or anumber, is shorthand or the text You maytarget a Follower or a Personality without

Followers in the current enemy army. I you doand its Force is equal to or less than X, destroyit.

Rehonor: See Dishonor.

Reveal: To turn a acedown card aceup.

Search: To look through a deck or other area ora card o a specied kind. Ater you search a deck,

you must reshufe it ater you take any card(s) yousearched or.

Show: To display the ace o a acedown card to

all other players, then return it to its acedown state.Shugenja: A person trained in the magic oRokugan. Only Shugenja Personalities can attachSpell cards.

Switch: When an eect switches the locations otwo units, each one simultaneously moves to thelocation o the other. I one movement is negated,the other one is also negated.

Transfer: To move an attached card rom onePersonality or province to another. You do not need

to pay the costs o the transerred card, but you doneed to meet any restrictions on attaching.

Toshi Ranbo: Toshi Ranbo is the capitol oRokugan and is the starting tile. It has a trait alladjacent players can use, but otherwise acts as aPlains.

Weapon: A keyword ound on some Item cards. APersonality can have only one Weapon attached.

Win: Any player with units at a battleeld onthe winning side is a winner o the battle, andis responsible or destroying enemy units andprovinces in resolution, or purposes o such eectsas Military Alliance, playing the Ring o Earth, oradvancing along the Military Path. A player withoutunits there has not won the battle even i he or sheis the Attacker or Deender. However, an Attacker orDeender without units there still gains Honor romenemy cards destroyed by the other players on his orher side.

Enemy: Reerring to the player on the opposingside to you during a battle (the enemy leader), andto cards in units he or she controls. IMPORTANT:Cards not in units (such as Holdings) are notenemy cards.

Engage: The point in time when a battle begins.

Fortress: Fortresses are the Clan tiles that helpmake up the game board. They represent where yourarmies are camped. They each have a special abilitythat you may use once per turn.

Home: The location in ront o a players provinceswhere cards normally enter play, as opposed tobattleelds.

Honorable: A Personality not in the dishonorablestate. See Dishonor.

In Play: At home or at a battleeld, but not in yourhand, discard, deck, Provinces or other places.

Leader: The Attacker or Deender in a battle. I youare the Attacker or Deender, you are the riendlyleader to your allies, and the other player (Deenderor Attacker) is the enemy leader to your allies.

Location: An area holding cards in play.Battleelds and each players home are locations.

Look: To inspect a acedown card withoutshowing it to anyone else or changing its position(or example, in a deck).

Move: To change the position o a unit rom onelocation to another. Eects that move a unit to abattleeld always move it into its controllers sidethere.

Negate:A negation eect is one that uses a ormo the word negate, such as Negate all Forcebonuses on him. While a negation eect lasts, itmakes another eect or type o eect ail to happen

whenever it would occur.

Opposed:A card, side, or army is opposed at

Rules Glossary

This section collects rules associated withspecic game terms that have not beenexplained in the main rules.

Active Player:The player whose turn it is.

Additional action: Some eects will allow youto take an additional action o a certain type; theadditional action begins right ater the current actionends. Things that reer to an additional action reeronly to an action granted by the words additionalaction.

Base: Reers to a stat, keyword, or other game textas printed on the card, without modication.

Clan Alignment:A keyword ending in Clanthat reers to one o the major Clans. This seteatures the Dragon Clan, Lion Clan, Phoenix Clan,and Scorpion Clan.

Control: You gain control o a card when youbring it into play, and normally keep control o it

while it remains in play.

Dead, Destroy: When an eect destroys aPersonality, he enters the discard pile in the deadstate. Turn the card 90 degrees to the right, or putthe card apart rom the others in the discard pile, toshow this. Some cards (like Family Library) check tosee whether a Personality in the discard pile is deador discarded, so it is important to keep track o this.

Discard: To put a card in its Dynasty or Fate

discard pile. Discard by itsel means discard aFate card rom your hand.

Discarded: The state o a card that is not dead ina discard pile.

Dishonor: See Dishonorable status on page 8.

Draw: To put the top card o your Fate deck intoyour hand.

Element Keyword: One o the ve keywordsor the mystic elements o Rokugan: Air, Earth, Fire,

Water, and Void.


18/27

34 35

Allen now decides to declare an attack this turn. He chooses his Fortress to attack rom and an adjacentFortress controlled by Cindy (with the Battle: ability) to attack. Daria, the Scorpion, has a Fortress adjacentto both o these, but Bob only has a Fortress adjacent to Cindy. Allen invites Daria to ally and Cindy invitesDaria and Bob.

Allen then assigns his attacking units.He has two: Ikoma Toraji (2F) with a3F Deathseeker Troop (unit total 5F),and Matsu Nishijo who now has a +2Fbonus rom the Fortress in addition to

her +2F bonus or attacking (unit total7F). Both attack the province next toCindys Fate deck, and their units aremoved in ront o it.

Daria (but not Bob) then has theopportunity to assign as an attackingally. She decides to ally with Allen the

Attacker instead o Cindy the Deender.She assigns her Bayushi Sorii (3F) tothe battleeld where Allen assigned, then her Bayushi Shigeo (4F) to the battleeld next to that. Shigeo hasthe Ronin Brotherhood (4F) attached, and the units total Force is 8. Daria gains 2 Honor or allying. At thispoint both Cindys provinces under attack are threatened with destruction by armies whose Force is each

greater than the Province Strength o 6.

Cindy has only one unbowed Personality. She assigns Agasha Giu todeend at the province next to her Fate, against the combined army.Bob now chooses whether to assign any allying units to Cindys side.He assigns Togashi Taro (3F) to oppose Shigeo and Togashi Shiori (4F)

to oppose the joint army at the other battleeld. He gains 2 Honor orallying.

As the Attacker, Allen chooses to resolve the two empty battleeldsrst. Nobody wants to use any actions to move units there, so thebattles end without incident.

He next resolves the Shigeo vs. Taro battle. The order o play in theCombat Segment starts with the Deender, Cindy, but she has no unitsthere and doesnt want to move any in, so she passes. This means thatDaria goes next. She plays the Battle Strategy card Begone, Fool! romher hand. This dishonors Taro, and moves him home. Bob loses 2 Honor.

A ew turns have gone by in this our-player game between Allen (Lion), Bob (Dragon), Cindy(Phoenix) and Daria (Scorpion). It is Allens turn. All cards in his provinces are ace-down.

Allen has two Personalities in play: Ikoma Toraji andMatsu Nishijo. He has his Stronghold and twoHoldings: Copper Mine and Border Keep. He has used Border Keeps second ability this game, so it cant betaken. His ace-up Fortresses have an Open ability giving +2F and a Battle ability that moves a deendingunit home.

Straighten & Event Phase

Allen straightens his cards in play and then turns overhis province cards let to right. He rst reveals an Event,

Military Alliance. The event resolves and a new eect isadded to the game anyone destroying a province will

get 3 extra Honor. Even though Military Alliance doesnot enter play, Allen puts it above his Fate deck as areminder to all players that its eects are active or therest o the game. The next two cards are Personalitiesand a Holding [Akodo Dosei, Ikoma Toraji, Large Farm].

Action Phase

The Action Phase now begins. Allen has the rst option to take a Limited or Open action, includingattaching cards. He has a Deathseeker Troop ollower in his hand, which costs 3 Gold. He attaches it toIkoma Toraji, bowing his Copper Mine to produce the Gold.

Everyone else going clockwise has a chance to take anOpen action. Bob bows his Ring o the Void in play to

draw a card, according to its text. Cindy and Daria pass.Allen now uses an Open action on his Fortress, givingMatsu Nishijo +2 Force. This time around the table, Bobpasses but Cindy takes an Open action. Her Strongholdlets her attach Spells as an Open action, and shebows a Silver Mine to produce 3 Gold or the Groves oStone Spell in her hand, attaching it to her ShugenjaPersonalityAgasha Giu, who already has a Shielded byTempest spell attached. Allen then passes and so doeseveryone else. The Action Phase is over.

EXAMPLE OF PLAY

Attack and Battle


19/27

36 37

Totaling up the Force o each army now, thedeending army has Gius 4F, while the bowedDeathseeker Follower and Nishijo dont contributeForce, Toraji has zero Force, and Sorii has only3F. Seeing her side is now going to lose the battle,Daria plays the Strategy Restoring Orderrom herhand. Bayushi Sorii can perorm the action becausehe is a Magistrate. Daria chooses to target Giu,sending the Shugenja home and bowing her (but herSpells remain unbowed). Allen passes, out o Battleactions.

Bob grins, and says Its not over yet! Even thoughhe has no Personalities at the battleeld, Bob

plays a special Battle Strategy card, Settling theHomeless, which says it can be played even with noPersonalities there. He sends home Darias BayushiSorii. Daria shrugs, muttering I did what I could.

Bob then announces that he has taken our Battleactions rom dierent cards in this battle (SpinningHeel Kick, Cold Hands Stone Heart, Togashi Shiori,Settling the Homeless) and plays the Ring o Waterrom his hand. Everyone passes, and Bob bowsthe Ring o Water, using its Battle ability to moveTogashi Shiori back to t he battleeld. Everyone elsepasses again, and Allen groans. He sees what is

coming. Bob passes, and because this comes atereveryone else passing in order, resolution begins.

The deending army has 6 Force: Shioris base 4,plus 2 rom the earlier Cold Hands, Stone Heart. Theattacking army has 0 Force the bowed Followerand bowed Nishijo dont count, and Torajis Forcehas been reduced to 0 with a -3F penalty.

The Deending side wins and all attacking cards aredestroyed; the Personalities gointo the discard pile sideways,showing they are dead andnot just discarded, but the

Follower is just discarded. Eventhough Bobs Shiori is the onlyPersonality let at the battleeld,the honor is gained by theDeender, Cindy. She gains 6Honor, two or each o Allenscards destroyed. Her totalHonor gains or the turn nowstand at 8.

The battle is over. Shiori returns home, bowingbecause he was an ally. At the end o the AttackPhase, Cindy turns her attacked Fortress ace-down,because she lost a province in the attack.

Allen has no units there and passes, so Bob goesnext. He has no units in the battle, and passes.Cindy also passes and so does Daria. The battlethen resolves, and Shigeos units 8 Force exceedsthe Province Strength o 6, with no deendingarmy to add its Force; the province is destroyed.

At this point Daria plays the Ring o Earth inresponse to destroying the province, and she also

gains 3 Honor rom Military Alliance. Shigeo goesback home, and he and his Follower bow.

The big battle now begins. Cindy has the rst action, and

uses Gius ability without discarding a card to bow theDeathseeker Troop (which, as a Follower, counts as acard without attachments). Daria passes. Allen uses hisVenerable Plains o the Ikoma Stronghold ability, discardingthe card Courtesyto bow Togashi Shiori. Because Courtesyis a Bushido Virtue he gains 2 Honor. Bob plays the StrategySpinning Heel Kick, straightening Shiori and getting anotheraction. He uses this to play another Strategy, Cold Hands,Stone Heart, and removes Matsu Nishijos ability, gaining+2F, drawing a Fate card, and getting yet another action. Bobuses Shioris own ability to bow Matsu Nishijo.

It is Cindys turn. She uses the Battle action on her Groves oStone spell to give the current province +4 strength (now at 10).Daria bides her time and passes, even though she can take an action

with Bayushi Sorii at the battleeld. Allen uses the Battle ability onhis other Fortress to move Togashi Shiori home. Bob passes.

Returning to Cindys turn, she still has Giu at the battleeld, soshe plays the Strategy card Unstoppable Power, targeting IkomaToraji. There are three dierent element keywords in her army(Gius Earth and Fire, and Shielded by Tempests Air; the Earthon her other spell is the same keyword as Gius Earth so itdoesnt count). Toraji takes -3 Force but he only has 2 Force tolose, so he goes down to 0. Cindy gains 2 Honor (not 3, becauseToraji only actually lost 2 Force beore hitting the minimum o 0).Each player has now gained 2 Honor this turn, except or Daria

who gained 5 (2 rom allying and 3 rom Military Alliance).


20/27

38 39

Dynasty and End Phase

Allen moves on to his Dynasty Phase. He can pay 3 Gold by bowing his Stronghold and 2 Gold bowing hisBorder Keep. He bows his Stronghold to bring in a new copy o Ikoma Toraji, paying only 3 Gold becauseToraji is in his Clan and gets the -2 Gold discount. The 2 Gold rom Border Keep go to bring in a LargeFarm, overpaying or its 1 Gold cost; it enters play bowed. In the End Phase, Allen draws a Fate card, andhas only 4 cards in hand, so does not have to discard.

Path to Victory Phase

The Path to Victory Phase now happens. Allen achieved none o the Paths;even though the attack destroyed a province, he had no units at thatbattleeld at resolution. Bob played a Ring, so moves one step along thePath o Enlightenment (to space 2; he carries out the eect on that spaceand straightens his Ring o Water). Cindy gained 8 Honor this turn and so

moves along the Path o Honor to space 1, drawing a Fate card. Finally,Daria also played a Ring and destroyed a province, so she moves alongboth the Path o Enlightenment and Military, both to space 1; her 5 Honor

gained was not enough to move along Honor. She draws a card rom theEnlightenment advance, and straightens her Bayushi Shigeo (but not hisFollower) rom the Military advance.

Bobs turn now begins, and the game continues

Matsu Nishijo Y t t k thi ti i th b it th t id t th ti th


21/27

40 41

ADVANCED PLAY

Many players may already be amiliar with the Legend o the Five Rings CCG and want to use theirown deck, rather than the decks provided here. I you already know the rules or playing L5R, useall rules or a regular L5R CCG Multiplayer game, modied with the rules below.

The Fortresses exist, adding an extra step at setup, giving additional abilities, restricting attacks and allying,and giving a benet or an attacking unit who attacks an adjacent Fortress. (see Resolution Segment on page 27)

You have to control one or more units in order to declare an attack.

I another players Fortresss Limited or Open action causes you to lose Honor, you may ignore HonorRequirements on your Personalities or the rest o the game. Note: This only applies i you are not usingthe pre-constructed decks provided. I you are using the provided decks, ignore Honor Requirements (orPersonalities and Followers) at all times.

Dishonorable Personalities are not rehonored or allying. (see Dishonorable status on page 8)

Victory depends on the Paths to Victory, not the usual victory conditions. (see Winning The Game on page 30)Having no provinces let still eliminates you rom the game.

The War o Honor rules on required targeting and Ranged Attacks replace the Celestial Edition rules; allrequired targeting is ound in the constraints block, and Ranged Attack targeting is not required.

CARD CLARIFICATIONS AND RULES REMINDERS

Military Alliance: The Honor gain is not aected by the presence o dishonorable personalities in theattacking army, and does not rehonor them.

Border Keep: The two abilities can both be used on the rst turn. This card is best used to replacePersonalities on the rst turn, looking or two Gold-producing Holdings to bring out. The once-per-gameability can be used to have another chance at two Gold Holdings on the rst turn, or can be saved or laterin the game - usually, to get rid o Holdings and bring out Personalities, which will be more useul then.Events revealed by these abilities do not resolve until your next Events Phase.

Togashi Nahakara: To be drawn, the shown card must be a Kiho or Tattoo, and must have a Battle ability.

Matsu Nishijo:You cannot take this action ithere are no enemy cards at the battleeld to target.

Agasha Asai: The Kolat, Ninja, and Shadowlandsare sinister groups that are not represented in the

War o Honor boxed card set. You expose him iscolor text that has no game eect.

Asako Meisuru:You can straighten cardsbelonging to allied players in Meisurus army.

Isawa Kyoko (Experienced): She pacies theenemy is color text that has no game eect.

Ramifications: 0 Personal Honor also includesa dishonorable Personality.

Isawa Naki: His ability gives him a new keywordon top o any keywords he already has.

Bayushi Maemi: A Personality cannot havenegative Force; so a Personality with 0, 1 or 2Force aected by Maemis ability will still becomedishonorable.

Ring of Earth: By the denition o win (seepage 33), you may only play this i you had anyunits on the winning side in the battles resolution,and may play it even i you were an ally.

Groves of Stone:An Earth Shugenja does notneed to bow to perorm this Spell.

Allegations: This can target an alreadydishonorable Personality, so that you can bow himor move him home.

Changing Paths: To play this card accurately,you need to be amiliar with the entering playconditions o all the Rings in your deck (seereminder list on the RINGS ENTERING PLAYREQUIREMENTS tile)

Dance of the Void: The granted player abilitycan only be used once per turn, and can only betaken as an additional action.

From Every Side: The bonus or penalty toprovince strength is a one-time adjustment based

on the number o units on that side at the time theaction takes eect. It does not change i units appearor disappear rom the battleeld.

Viper Tattoo: his tattoo comes alive is colortext that has no game eect.

City of Tears: With this Stronghold, its playercan take the Equip action, which is normallya Limited action, as a Battle or Open action iattaching a spell; that is, you can attach a Spelleither in any players Action Phase, or in a CombatSegment o a battle. I you do this as a Battle action,

you may then take an additional action to use aBattle ability o the Spell you attached.

Settling the Homeless: I you have no unitsat the battleeld, you need to have been invitedby at least one player to take this action. However,

you dont neces sarily have t o play it to b enetyour allies

Optional RulesVARIANT RULES


22/27

42 43

For example, the Lion player secretly writesdown his goals o 4 Military, 3 Honor, and

2 Enlightenment. Ater some fghting hasoccurred, he has 3 Military, 4 Honor, and 1Enlightenment. The Lion player attacks againand destroys a province and plays the Ring oEarth. He now has 4 Military, 4 Honor, and

2 Enlightenment. In the next Path to VictoryPhase, he reveals his secret mission and wins the

game.

A True Samurai

To win, a player must reach the th step on one

Path to Victory and at least the third step on anotherPath to Victory.

Overall Champion

The game ends when a player reaches the th stepon any Path to Victory. However, it is the player withthe most steps across all Paths at that time who winsthe game.

For example, the Lion player destroys a provinceand during the Path to Victory Phase, reachesthe fth step on the Path o Military. The game

Optional Rules

The ollowing are alternate rules or playing thegame.

GempukkuPlayers start with one Fortress ace-up, and theothers are ace-down. When a player takes a stepalong a Path to Victory, he may fip one o hisFortresses ace-up. Victory is achieved normally.

Strength of WillFortresses may not be fipped ace-down by otherplayers. A player may still fip his own Fortress ace-down.

VARIANT RULES

Optional Win Conditions

Players may choose (beore the game begins)to use one o the ollowing victory conditionsinstead o the standard victory condition. Theseare still checked in the Path to Victory Phase.

Seeking Your Path

To win, a player must have at least taken one stepalong each o three Paths to Victory, as well asreaching the nal step on at least one Path.

Student of All

The winner is the rst person to have advanced at leasttwo steps along each o the our Paths o Victory.

Secret Missions

All players must write down the names o at leastthree Paths to Victory in secret at the start, andsecretly allocate 9 points between them (at leastone point in each). This is his secret mission. Whena players Path to Victory advancement meets orexceeds his mission goals, he reveals his secretmission and wins the game.

now ends and all players total their numbero steps. The Lion player has 5 Military, 1Enlightenment, and 1 Honor or a total o 7.The Dragon player has 3 Enlightenment and 3

Military or a total o 6. The Scorpion player has4 Dishonor, 2 Enlightenment, and 2 Military, ora total o 8. The Phoenix player has 4 Honor, 2

Military, and 1 Enlightenment or a total o 7.The Scorpion player wins.

Bushido Brawl

The game does not end when a player reaches theth step o a Path to Victory. The only way to win isby eliminating all other players provinces.

Wartime

A player must reach the th step on the Path oMilitary to win.

Classic Mode

Players keep a running total o their Family Honor,beginning at their Strongholds Starting Number,adding to it with each Honor gain and subtractingrom it with each Honor loss. The game does notend when a player reaches the th step o a Path to

Victory.

Instead a player wins i one o the ollowinghappens:

He begins his turn at 40 or more Honor

He has put ve elemental Rings into play bytheir own text

All other players are eliminated from the game

A player is eliminated rom the game i one o theollowing happens

He ever ends his turn with -20 or lower Honor

He has no provinces left

QUICK PLAY GUIDE


23/27

44 45

QUICK PLAY GUIDE

First, read the rules on each o the card types.

A turn consists o:

1. Straighten Phase. Straighten all yourbowed cards in play.

2. Events Phase: Turn up the cards in yourProvinces, going rom let to right. I you turnup an Event, do what it says, then rell theProvince rom the top o your Dynasty deck,ace-down.

3. Action Phase:You can take a Limited orOpen action rom any o your cards or Fortresstiles in play, or rom Rings and Strategies inyour hand. You can also pay or and equipan attachment to a Personality as a Limitedaction. Each other player going clockwise maytake an Open action, then your chance to takea Limited or Open action comes again. Thiscontinues until all players pass one ater theother.

4. Attack Phase (optional): I you controlat least one unit, you (the Attacker) maydeclare an attack against another player (theDeender), saying which o your ace-upFortresses you are attacking rom and which

o the Deenders ace-up Fortresses you areattacking.

You, then the Defender, may invite any ofthe other players to ally. An invited playermust control a Fortress next to the Attackingor Deending Fortress, according to whoinvited them.

You assign any of your units led by unbowedPersonalities to the attacking side at

battleelds. There is one battleeld in ronto each o the Deenders Provinces. Playersyou invited may then assign attacking alliesin turn order.

The Defender, then any players he or sheinvited who did not assign on your side,may assign units in the same way.

You, the Attacker, decide which battleeldto ght at rst. Each battle ollows thissequence:

a. The Deender, then each other player(including you) in turn order, may take Battleactions rom cards in play or Rings andStrategies in hand, continuing around until allplayers pass one ater the other. A player mustcontrol a unit at the current battleeld to takea Battle action, and any o its perorming ortargeted cards must also be at that battleeld.

b. The battle at that battleeld resolves. Addup the Force o all unbowed Personalities andFollowers on each side (Items add Force to thePersonality whether bowed or unbowed).

c. Players with one or more units on thewinning side win the battle and collectivelydestroy all cards on the losing side. The leadero the winning side (Attacker or Deender)gains 2 Honor per card destroyed. (Tiedarmies, i neither army is empty, are alldestroyed and the Attacker and Deender eachgain 1 Honor per opposing card destroyed).

d. I the winning side beat the losing sideby an amount o Force greater than theDeenders Province Strength, destroy theProvince. Ater the Attack Phase ends, turnthe Deenders Fortress ace-down (unless it is

their last ace-up Fortress). I all the DeendersProvinces are gone he or she is out o thegame.

e. Attacking and allied units return homeand bow. I the attacking Fortress was nextto the deending Fortress, the Attacker maystraighten one o his returning units.

Fight the next battle. When all battles aredone, deending units return home bowed.

5. Dynasty Phase:You may pay or and bringinto play Personalities and Holdings ace-up inyour Provinces, relling with ace-down cardsrom your Dynasty deck. Personalities withyour Clan alignment may join you or 2 lessGold, or once per turn you may pay ull costor such a Personality and gain Honor equalto his Personal Honor. Holdings enter playbowed.

6.End Phase: Draw a card rom your Fatedeck, then discard rom your hand down toyour maximum hand size o eight i it has nineor more cards.

7. Path to Victory Phase: Starting withyou and proceeding in turn order, each playeradvances one step along the Path o Militaryi he had units in an army that destroyed anenemy army or Province; one step along thePath o Honor i he gained 8 or more (gross)total Honor this turn; one step along the Patho Dishonor i his eects caused other playersto lose 8 or more (gross) total Honor betweenthem this turn; and one step along the Path oEnlightenment i he put any Rings into playthis turn. Apply each eect o the new step asyou advance. I a player reaches Victory, thegame ends and he or she wins; ties are brokenby total number o steps advanced across allPaths.

The next player now takes his or her turn.


24/27

46

LEGEND OF THE FIVE RINGS and all related marks are TMand Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

U.S.A. Patent #5662332 used under license from Wizards of the Coast. www.L5R.com. Printed in China.

CEO: John Zinser

Lead Design: Bryan Reese

Lead Developer: Mark Wootton

Brand Management: Nicolas Bongiu and Mark Wootton

Production Manager: David Lepore

Art Direction: Justin Walsh

Graphic Design and Layout: Richard S. Bunk

Rulebook Writing: Roger S. G. Sorolla

Story Team: Shawn Carman, Rusty Priske, Nancy Sauer, LucasTwyman, Fred Wan and Brian Yoon

Player Design Team: Thomas Kwong, Duncan MacPhail andGal Schmidt-Clach

Rules Team: Brook Cunningham, Loc Hervier, Alexander Jones,Roger S. G. Sorolla and Zen Faulkes

Playtesters:Bryan Reese, Brandon Synder, Joseph Williams,Daniel Rudd, Matt Rives, Ryan Sabino, Will Brewer, Joshua Ayers,Israel Jiminez, David Szeto, Milton Bonano, Je Gollaher, JordanCalvin, Jan Ang, Alvin Ang, Mik Regalado, Brandon Smith, DeanStevens, Steven Collin, Aaron Devost, Hogan Smith, AndrewFindlay, Dean Collin, Je Burke, Stephanie Beasley, Olivier Rivera,Loc Hervier, Julien Boles, Mael Poncet, Bruno Goube, Rustin Sauland Gael Griot

Original Concept and Design: Ryan S. Dancey, David Seay,Matt Staroscik, John Wick, Matt Wilson and John Zinser

Contributing Artists: Steve Argyle, Storn Cook, Adam Denton,Edwin David, John Donahue, Viktor Fetsch, Anthony Grabski,Raymond Gaustadnes, Je Himmelmann, Paul (Pro.) Herbert,IFS, Jason Juta, Veronica Jones, Heather Kreiter, April Lee, AsierMartinez Lopez, Ken Meyer, Jr., Malcolm McClinton, PatrickMcEvoy, William OConnor, Ben Peck, Arkady Roytman, BobStevlic, Erich Schreiner, Charles Urbach, and Joe Wilson.

Production & Design

A Legend of the Five Rings card game of tactics and strategy

For 2 or more players


25/27

48

The Lion Clan marshals its orces at the Plains o Thunder,determined to exact revenge against the scheming ScorpionClan. The Dragon Clan attempts to reconcile the two armies,even as it reuses to reveal evidence that might exoneratethe Lion, and incriminate the Scorpion. And the Phoenix

Clan races to intervene beore the situation becomes a Waro Honor to turn the Empire against itsel.

In this exciting multiplayer card game set in the Legend o theFive Rings universe, you will orm and dissolve alliances, engagein political maneuverings, and wage mighty battles to determinewhich clan will triumph over a ll others. War o Honor comeswith decks or our clans: Dragon, Lion , Phoenix, and Scorpion;a scoring board; markers; and movable tiles that allow a dierentgame every t ime.

War o Honor is a complete gaming experience, but also includestiles or each o the other ive Clans o Rokugan, allowing you toexpand the game with cards rom the Legend o the Five Ringscollectible card game i you wish.

A Legend of the Five Rings card game of tactics and strategy

For 2 or more players


26/27

Lion - Venerable Plain of the Ikoma Phoenix - City of Tears

Dragon - Tetsu Kama Mura Scorpion - Seven Stings Keep

Deck Lists

Dynasty

EnlistmentMilitary Alliance

3x Copper Mine1x Expendable Resources3x Large Farm3x Permanent Encampment3x Simple Men3x Small Farm

3x Akodo Dosei3x Matsu Sakaki3x Ikoma Toraji1x Matsu Fumiyo3x Matsu Mansaiko3x Matsu Miyahara3x Matsu Nishijo3x Matsu Yosa

Fate

Ring o EarthRing o the VoidRing o Water

3x Black and White2x Courtesy2x Charge3x My Enemys Mercy3x Prideul Allies3x The Lions Charge

1x Paths o Honor and Glory1x Unpredictable Strategy3x Settling the Homeless3x Embracing Virtue3x Glorious Path to Victory

3x Akodo Regulars3x Ashigaru Conscripts3x Deathseeker Troop1x Hired Legion

Dynasty

Emissary o the Ivory KingdomsWisdom Gained

3x Diamond Mine3x Gold Mine3x Temple o Harmony3x Border Village

1x The Seekers Temple1x Traveling Peddler1x Family Library1x Shinseis Tomb

3x Togashi Akagi3x Togashi Chiko3x Togashi Gato3x Togashi Oki1x Togashi Nakahara3x Togashi Kanmu3x Togashi Shiori

3x Togashi Taro

Fate

Ring o AirRing o EarthRing o FlameRing o the VoidRing o Water

2x Changing Paths

3x Striking Through the Void2x Cold Hands, Stone Heart3x Spinning Heel Kick3x The Wrath o Osano-Wo3x Stagnation3x Chokehold2x Viper Tattoo3x Fist and Blade3x A Warriors Wisdom3x Fortuitous Alliance3x Settling the Homeless2x Dance o the Void

Dynasty

Imperial Ambassadorship

3x Border Village3x Geisha House2x Small Farm1x Family Library3x Diamond Mine

3x Disreputable House1x Shrine to Fukurokujin

3x Bayushi Shigeo3x Bayushi Hikoko1x Bayushi Hirose3x Bayushi Jutsushi3x Bayushi Sorii3x Bayushi Maemi3x Bayushi Saka3x Soshi Idaurin1x Soshi Tabito exp.

Fate

Ring o EarthRing o the VoidRing o Water

2x Allegations3x Shameul Death1x Relentless Conviction

3x Shameul Rebuke3x Magistrates Accusation3x Ramifcations3x Restoring Order3x Seeking the Guilty3x Game o Sincerity3x Begone, Fool!3x Settling the Homeless

1x Ronin Brotherhood

3x A Samurais Soul

3x Blades o the Fallen Phoenix

Dynasty

Welcome HomeBirth o the Sword

1x Acrobat Troupe3x Temple to the Ancestors2x Diamond Mine3x Rich Coers3x Silver Mine2x Temple to Shinsei3x War Encampment

2x Agasha Asai3x Asako Hoshimi3x Asako Meisuru1x Isawa Kyoko exp.3x Isawa Kyoko3x Isawa Naki3x Isawa Akihiro3x Agasha Giu

Fate

Ring o AirRing o EarthRing o Flame

3x Consumed By Five Fires2x Groves o Stone1x Heavens Tears3x Fury o the Sea3x Tempest o Flame3x The Storm Within

3x Shielded by Tempest

3x Settling the Homeless3x Chasing Osano-Wo3x From Every Side3x Block Supply Lines3x Desperate Mediation3x Unstoppable Power1x Wall o Honor

Note: The cards Border Keep and Bamboo Harvesters ollow special rules. See rulebook or details.


27/27

Explore the Emerald Empire

Look or Legend o the Five Rings starter

decks and booster packs to add to yourWar o Honor experience! Add new Clansto the game, including the Crab, Crane,and others. Create new versions o theClans you currently have, such as duelingDragons or military Phoenix.

Starter Decks are ready to play right out

o the box. Just match them with theClan tiles rom War o Honor and yourbattle or the Rokugan is underway!

Live as a samurai o Rokugan with theLegend o the Five Rings Roleplaying Game!

The critically-acclaimed Fourth Edition isavailable in stores, along with severalsupplemental books that will put you in thesandals o a noble samurai, pious shugenja,or craty courtier, seeking to bring glory andhonor to your Clan.

In Rokugan, Honor is Stronger than Steel!

l5r ccg - 7a war of honor rulebook

Documents