An Engaging FAQ of Legend of the Burning Sands Combat

Continuing from last issue, here is more on combat in the Burning Sands.

Berserk Ain't just a Robot

Berserk is a special way to engage damage. Berserk cards must have the Berserk trait, and while players can choose not to use it there's no real disadvantage not to use it so most of them always do.

Berserk is special, in that any card hit by Berserk damage cannot use Fate discards to absorb the damage. If someone with Berserk 4 hits you, and your entire army of a 2S Hero and two IS Heroes dies. (If your opponent didn't have Berserk, you'd probably have only lost one Hero and discarded a Fate card to make up the difference.)

But how does Berserk work with usual engagements? Well, there's nothing stopping you from engaging Berserk cards with normal cards. But if you combine Berserk and non-Berserk cards for a single engagement, the entire engagement becomes non-Berserk. Sorry, but you know how tough it is to keep a head of froth. To gain the benefits of Berserk, you have to engage only Berserk cards. Otherwise, all other rules for engagements work normally.

I Shot an Arrow into the Air

Okay, so we've got down immunity, engaging for damage, the respective advantages and disadvantages of being the Attacker and Defender, and frothing Berserks ... by the Sun, is there anything e left to cover with this FAQ?

Well, yes. There's a very special form of engagement that slightly tweaks the rules. Ifs called 'Archery," and a few Heroes and Followers have it. Other cards might grant Archery as well.

In general combat melee is an inelegant affair. Even the lordly Gaheris doesn't particularly care who he hits with his 5S engagement; he just sort of lazily swings and smiles as whole divisions die. Not so the Archers. Heroes and Followers with Archery can use Archery when they engage. You have to say they're using it as you engage them, and you can't change your mind afterward. Furthermore, Archery engagements put a crimp in the otherwise free-for-all rules for the numb( of a Hero's Followers that can engage: if you want to Archery, only Followers or Heroes who all have Archery can engage together. This doesn't mean your Hero has to have Archery to allow his or her Archer Followers to team up- Argoun leading two Archers can have the two Archers engage for 6S Archery easily enough, saving up his own 2S engagement for later.

With all of these restrictions, why bother with Archery? Well, it's the only way for you to engage and decide which card in the opposing army takes damage You engage Yesugai, Moto Clan Archer. Instead of just causing a generic 2S attack that the opposing player split up as he or she sees fit, you, the Archery-using player, can point out who gets the hit ('Yesugai plugs Janan Barakah like a gasping tuna. Suffer!"). As you can see, this allows you a good deal of control over what goes on in a battle; at least, more than most non-Archery engagements.

Now, Archery does have its limitations. Beyond somewhat limiting what Followers and Heroes can engage together, an Archery engagement can target only a Hero or a Follower. And before you can shoot down a Hero, you have to shoot down all of the Hero' Followers. Even the Trained Peacocks will nobly take the shot to save their master's life. Archery can only target one card at a time. If you're going to shoot those OS Trained Peacocks with a 6S Archery attack, you get one really dead bunch of Peacocks ... and that's it.

As with all engagements, immunity still applies to Archery. Gaheris laughs off 3S Archery engagements, just like he laughs off generic 3S engagements. You c, target immune cards with your Archery engagements, but if the controller of those cards doesn't want them suffer the damage, then they won't. In general, don't waste your time doing it.

But the uses of Archery generally overcome its limitations. It doesn't usually kill off huge Heroes, but it is tallies off the annoying groupies who follow in a big Hero's shadow to help him or her and eat engagement damage. Nepherus, for instance, often tags along in the shadow of Senpet armies, destroying any offending Defensive Omens the opponent plays. A generic engagement might not hit Nepherus; any Archery shot of IS or higher kills him. Adnan often joins armies to die (with his Fate card clutched boldly to his bleeding chest) in place of Heroes the player actually cares about. Use Archery to ignore the sacrificial lamb Adnan and get rid of the really threatening Heroes.

Some Archery cards have bonuses or penalties to their Archery trait. For instance, Ramontet says 'Archery + 1 " That means that if and when he engages for an Archery attack, you raise his Strength by I-only for that Archery engagement.

But wait! How do Archery and Berserk work together? It's actually rather easy to get a Berserk Archery attack.

(Give any Hero with Archery some Elephants, and engage only the Hero.) just remember that while you can engage non-Berserks with Berserks, you cannot engage non-Archers with Archers. It's just rather pointless, as an Archery engagement only kills one target anyway, so the ability of Berserk to negate your opponent's Fate discard to suck up damage doesn't make much of a difference.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

And that's the end! If you have any questions, comments, or improvements for this FAQ, please contact the author at . I hope you found this useful and easy to understand, and may Lady Sun bless you in all of your endeavors and engagements.

Q: Do I need someone who's specifically "Mantis Clan" to assign with Yoritomo Chujitsu?

A: No. You can assign him with any Yoritorno's Alliance Personality as well. The rulebook says they're equivalent and Chujitsu doesn't say anything about being an exception to this rule.

Q: Does One Life, One Action stop a Who that's been attached via Blessings of Isawa from being cast?

A: No. It isn't "played" when it's used. One Life, One Action won't stop it from attaching, either, assuming it was legally and successfully cast.

Q: If a kiho is cancelled, can I still attach it to a Personality with Blessings of Isawa or keep it in my hand with the Eternal Halls of the Shiba?

A: No and no. It needs to resolve for either of those to trigger.

Q: Tchickchuk says "A Ratling Follower can be attacked to Tchickchuk when he performs this action." Does that mean I get to do two things at once: use him to make some other Ratling card free and give him a Follower at the same time?

A: No. That clause only assures you it's legal for him to make a Follower that he's attaching to himself free, since bowed Personalities normally cannot attach cards.

Focus on... In Search of the Future

This will zero out all Force-increasing effects not provided to a card by another card attached directly to it. That includes bonuses cards give themselves, like Matsu Gohei's +2F when attacking, and bonuses from Items or Followers to other Items and/or Followers. Of particular interest is the fact that an Ancestral Sword's own variable Force bonus to itself is stopped before its total stats get added to its Personality. It will only be a 0/(X+l) weapon. It's a very wide-reaching effect, catching even things like Oath of Fealty, Evil Portents, and Stronghold bonuses like on the Spawning Grounds and New Akasha.

Attaching is a two-way relationship, though, and bonuses that a Personality provides to his own cards stay just as live as the ones he receives from them.

Focus on... judgement of Toshiken

This reaction renders null and void all card effects which alter Chi, focus values, or how the resolution of the duel is handled. This includes Togashi Yoshi, the Double Chi trait, and Kharmic Strike (but not Toshimoko Sensei, because Sensei text is considered to be on your Stronghold and Strongholds are not cards).

It applies for the entire duration of the duel, affecting even cards played after it, such as Poisoned Weapon.

It has no effect on bonuses or penalties which were already in place before the challenge was issued, such as Strength of Purity or Touch of Amaterasu.

It does not change a non-Chi duel to a be duel of Chi.

Focus on... Hiruma Sensei

What it does:

It applies to all extra requirements placed on actions, not just true costs. In particular, it defeats Storms of War.

For the first two effects, it doesn't matter who played the card that's trying to impose the restrictions. For instance, the Defender can ignore his own Deadly Ground.

What it doesn't do:

It does not allow defending players to ignore their actions' own legality, costs, and listed playing conditions. It only overrides other card effects which prohibit or impose additional costs or requirements on otherwise legal actions. Here are some things Hiruma Sensei does not allow:

Taking a Limited action.
Playing a Terrain when there is already one in play.
Taking an Open action which says "You may not perform this action during battle"

It does not override targetting restrictions, whether they're native to the action being taken (ex: Charge) or due to another card (ex: Kitsuki Kaagi's journal).

It does not make defenders' actions immune to being cancelled or redirected.

Focus on Kage Sensei and At'tok'tuk Sensei

There has been some confusion (even within the design team) how these two sensei cards exactly work. As of February 1, 2000, both senseis will work as follows: When you have one of these two sensei cards in play, they grant your clan trait onto all of your Kolat/Ratling Personalities in your deck.

This is a REVERSAL of a ruling made on the l5rinfo listserver. The original ruling was more in line with the original intent of the cards, but was confusing and counter-intuitive to the players. This reversal/ruling should be much easier for everyone to understand and apply.

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