CE Sequence of play

Sequence of play

General rules on sequence of play

Triggers “after” the end of a phase or segment happen prior to any triggers “before” the start of next phase or segment. These timings happen between one unit of time and another, although they are still part of the larger unit of time in which they happen.

Triggers "before" the start of a larger unit of time happen prior to triggers "before" the start of a smaller unit of time contained within it. For example, the start of a turn comes before the start of the Straighten Phase.

EXCEPTION: A battle, and its Combat Segment, both start at the same point of time, which is referred to as "engaging."

Triggers “after” a turn ends happen prior to any triggers “before” the next turn begins. If the turn in which such triggers happen needs to be determined for purposes of wording such as “the next turn” or "once per turn", then triggers after the turn ends refer to the turn just ended, and triggers before a turn begins refer to the turn about to begin.

Turns and turn order

A game of L5R is divided into turns. Beginning with the starting player, and continuing in turn order (i.e. proceeding to the left), each player takes a turn.

References to “turn” as a unit of time, such as “two turns from now” refer to the active player’s next turn.

References to a player’s turn otherwise refer to that player’s turn only.

References to “this turn” or “the turn” refer to the current turn.

At any time after the start of the game, turn order starts with the active player and continues clockwise, to each player’s left.

Whenever an effect asks “each player” to do something, the default is to start with the active player and continue once in turn order, skipping any players who are not eligible to do that thing.

The start of a player’s turn comes before the start of his or her Events Phase, and the end of a player’s turn comes after the end of his or her End Phase.

Start of game

After a game of L5R starts, follow steps A through G in sequence.

A. All players show their Strongholds at the same time, and start with the Stronghold and an unbowed Border Keep holding in play. Each player begins with his or her Family Honor stat at his or her Stronghold’s Starting Honor.

B. The starting player is the player with the highest Family Honor. If one or more players are tied in Family Honor, they decide who goes first randomly, such as by rolling dice or flipping a coin.

C. Each player who is not going first also starts with a Bamboo Harvesters holding in play and bowed. The player who is going first does not include Bamboo Harvesters in his or her deck.

D. All players shuffle both their decks separately. Players should offer their decks to the other players for further shuffling or cutting.

E. All players place their decks and create four Provinces, filling each one from left to right with a card from the top of their Dynasty deck.

F. All players draw six Fate cards simultaneously.

G. Play begins; the starting player becomes the active player and takes a turn sequence, consisting of the Straighten Phase through End Phase. When his or her turn has ended, the next player’s turn, in turn order, begins, and he or she becomes the active player. This continues until one player has won the game, at which point the game ends immediately.

When the starting player is determined, he or she is also considered the active player for purposes of things that happen before the first turn begins.

The turn sequence

Straighten Phase

The active player simultaneously straightens all his or her cards in play.

Events Phase

Starting with the card in his or her leftmost province, the active player goes through steps A through F for each card in each of his or her provinces.

If a province contains more than one card, the active player decides which card is dealt with first. The active player must then deal with any other cards in the province before moving to other provinces.

A. The active player turns a card in the province face-up, revealing it. If the card was already face-up, the other steps still happen, but the card is not "revealed" for purposes of triggering effects.

B. If the card is a Holding or Personality, nothing happens.

C. If the card is an Event, resolve it, following the rules on resolving Events.

D. If the card is a Region, and the Province it is in can attach it, bring it into play attached to the Province, following the rules on bringing Regions into play.

E. If the card is a Celestial, put it into play, following the rules on playing Celestials.

F. a. If the province contains a different face-up card than the one dealt with in the previous steps B through E (for example, if the previous card was discarded and the province refilled face-up), return to step B and follow steps B through F for the new card.

F. b. If the province contains a face-down card, or the same face-up card, or if there are no cards in the province, the next province to the right is dealt with (or the next card in the same province); or, if all provinces have been dealt with, the Events Phase ends.

Action Phase

Each player in turn order, starting with the active player, has the opportunity to pass or take a legal action, continuing around the table any number of times any number of times until all players pass consecutively. This procedure is known as an action round. It is also used in the Combat Segment and to deal with multiple Reactions to the same trigger (see Timing).

The active player can only take Limited and Open actions at these opportunities. All other players can only take Open actions at these opportunities.

After all players have passed consecutively, the Action Phase ends.

Attack Phase (optional)

The active player may create an Attack Phase if he or she wishes. This attack is optional.

In addition to this normal Attack Phase, some effects create Attack Phases at other times; these attacks are normally not optional. The effect will specify who is the Attacker and Defender, either directly or indirectly (such as by specifying attacking and defending units.)

The Attack Phase consists of the following sequence: Declaration Segment, Infantry Maneuvers Segment, Cavalry Maneuvers Segment, Battles.

Attack Phase: Declaration Segment

This segment follows the sequence A through C below.

A. Declare an attack.

The player creating this Attack Phase declares an attack. He or she becomes the Attacker for this Attack Phase. He or she then chooses another player. The other player is the Defender for this Attack Phase.

A player who is prevented from declaring an attack is also prevented from creating an Attack Phase by any means.

From the Attacker’s point of view, the Defender is the enemy leader. The Attacker is likewise the enemy leader to the Defender. (See “Enemy,” “Leader.”)

B. Create Battlefields.

A battlefield is created at each of the Defender’s provinces (see Battlefield).

C. Invite Allies.

Players other than the Attacker or the Defender are known as third-party players. The Attacker may invite any number of third-party players to ally with him or her. The Defender then may invite any number of third-party players to ally with him or her.

Invited players do not need to do anything at this point. Being invited allows a third-party player to assign or move units to battlefields in the attack (see Maneuvers Segments, below.)

The Attacker and Defender may each choose not to invite anyone to ally.

During any one Attack Phase, a player other than the Attacker who was not invited by the Attacker may not assign his or her units to the attacking side, and his or her units will not move into the attacking side, or be brought into play on the attacking side. This prohibition includes the Defender and third-party players.

Likewise, a player other than the Defender who was not invited by the Defender may not assign his or her units to the defending side, and his or her units will not move into the defending side, or be brought into play on the defending side. This prohibition includes the Attacker and third-party players.

The first time each attack an invited player has one or more of his or her units assign to, move to, or enter play at an attacking or defending side, he or she becomes an ally of that side’s leader, and that side is his or her side. [ADDED 30 Jun 2011] The invited player is now known as an attacking ally or a defending ally. The invited player’s units are allied units of the player whose army he joined, and that player is considered to be his allied leader. The other player involved in the attack is considered to be the enemy leader from the invited player’s point of view.

Once a third-party player’s status as an attacking or defending ally is established, he is no longer considered invited by his new enemy leader.

Effects that move, assign, or create units controlled by another player on a side at a battlefield can establish the other player's allying status, keeping in mind that he or she must currently br invited to ally by the appropriate leader for those effects to work in the first place.

A player who has been invited by both Attacker and Defender, and whose units move to, assign to, or are created at a battlefield without the effect specifying which side, chooses which side to appear on and ally with. [ADDED 30 Jun 2011]

Effects will not have a third-party player’s units appear on both an attacking and defending side simultaneously. If this is about to happen, the third-party player must choose one set of movements or assignments to fail.

After the first time each attack an invited player assigns one or more units, he gains 2 Honor. Honor is not gained in this way for moving units or bringing them into play.

Invited and ally status does not persist from one Attack Phase to another.

Attack Phase: Infantry Maneuvers Segment

This segment is so named because it is the only time Infantry units can assign – although Cavalry units may also assign at this time. For determination of whether a unit is Infantry or Cavalry, see Infantry and Cavalry in the Glossary.

In the Infantry Maneuvers Segment, subheadings A through D occur in sequence.

A. Assign Attacking Units.

The Attacker chooses, from his home, any number of his units whose Personality is unbowed. He assigns these units to any battlefields in any arrangement desired.

B. Assign Attacking Allied Units.

Starting with the first player the Attacker invited on his left and continuing in turn order, each player invited by the Attacker may assign, from his home, any number of his units led by an unbowed Personality to any battlefields, in any arrangement desired.

C. Assign Defending Units.

The Defender chooses, from his home, any number of his units whose Personality is unbowed. He assigns these units to any battlefields in any arrangement desired.

D. Assign Defending Allied Units.

Starting with the first player the Defender invited on his left and continuing in turn order, each player invited by the Defender may assign, from his home, any number of his units led by an unbowed Personality to any battlefields, in any arrangement desired.

Attack Phase: Cavalry Maneuvers Segment

In the Cavalry Maneuvers Segment, subheadings A through D occur in sequence. This is similar to the Infantry Maneuvers Segment’s sequence. Although only Cavalry units may be chosen for rulebook assignment in Cavalry Maneuvers, card effects that allow assignment during this phase do not have this restriction. [CLARIFIED 8 Mar 2011]

A. Assign Attacking Cavalry Units.

The Attacker chooses, from his home, any number of his Cavalry units whose Personality is unbowed. He assigns these units to any battlefields in any arrangement desired.

B. Assign Attacking Cavalry Allied Units.

Starting with the first player the Attacker invited on his left and continuing in turn order, each player invited by the Attacker may assign, from his home, any number of his Cavalry units led by an unbowed Personality to any battlefields, in any arrangement desired.

C. Assign Defending Cavalry Units.

The Defender chooses, from his home, any number of his Cavalry units whose Personality is unbowed. He assigns these units to any battlefields in any arrangement desired.

D. Assign Defending Cavalry Allied Units.

Starting with the first player the Defender invited on his left and continuing in turn order, each player invited by the Defender may assign, from his home, any number of his Cavalry units led by an unbowed Personality to any battlefields, in any arrangement desired.

Attack Phase: Battles

One by one, a separate battle (see Battles) is fought at each of the attack’s battlefields. The first battlefield is chosen by the Attacker, and a battle is fought there.

Once a battle ends, the Attacker chooses the next battlefield, which must be one at which a battle has not ended yet.

The Attack Phase ends once the Attacker has the opportunity to choose a battlefield, but battles have ended at all battlefields.

Dynasty Phase

The Dynasty Phase is when a player normally brings Holdings and Personalities into play from Provinces.

During the Dynasty Phase, steps A and B happen in order.

A. Bring cards into play.

During the Dynasty Phase, the active player may, one at a time, bring any Holding or Personality face-up in his Provinces into play, in any order desired and as many times possible. See Playing Personalities and Playing Holdings for more information.

During the Dynasty Phase, when a player brings into play from his Province a Personality aligned to his Clan, that player has options to modify the Gold cost paid for bringing the Personality into play [CLARIFIED 4 Jul 2011]:

• He may increase the Gold cost to play the Personality by 2. If he does so, he may ignore the Personality's Honor Requirement to bring him into play.

• He may reduce the Gold cost to play the Personality by 2. If he does not choose to do so, he may choose to gain Honor equal to the Personality's Personal Honor just before he enters play (also know as "buying for Honor"). A player may only gain Honor this way once per turn.

A player may choose either, neither, or both of these options.
Example: When ignoring a Clan-aligned Personality’s Honor Requirement, a player may pay the Personality’s normal cost (plus two then minus two) to have him or her enter play without Honor gain, or pay the normal cost plus two to have him or her enter play with Honor gain.

Paying a Clan discount or ignoring Honor Requirement does not reduce or increase the Gold Cost stat of the Personality for the rest of the turn, because it is a change in payment and not in the Gold Cost stat.

Buying for Honor is an entering-play effect. If anything causes the Personality not to enter play, the Honor gain does not happen.

Buying for Honor does not necessarily mean that the Personality's full Gold cost is paid.
Example: A Personality may be bought for Honor, but at less than full cost, if another effect reduces his cost further.

These rules about ignoring the Honor Requirement for Gold, Clan discount, and buying for Honor do not apply to Personalities brought into play outside the player’s own Dynasty Phase.

B. Discard Province cards.

Before the Dynasty Phase ends, a player may discard any face-up cards in his or her Provinces, one at a time. If an effect refills these cards face-up, he may discard their new cards. After the player discards any cards this way, he or she cannot bring further cards into play from Provinces that phase.

End Phase

During the End phase, steps A and B happen in order:

A. Draw a card.

The active player draws a card from his or her Fate deck. This card draw is not optional. Effects that modify card draw "during" the End Phase are applied at this point.
Example: A card effect that makes you “draw an additional card during the End Phase” makes you draw two cards instead of one at this step. You may not draw the additional card after you have discarded in step B.

B. Discard to maximum hand size.

If the player has more Fate cards in hand than his or her maximum hand size, which is normally 8, the player must discard cards from his or her hand, one by one, until his or her number of cards in hand is no longer greater than the maximum size. A player may not choose to discard more cards than necessary through this procedure.

Subsequent to the end of the End Phase, the player's turn ends. The next player in turn order becomes the active player.

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