Sure, you've built decks using every acronym you can think of Your LSD (Lion Speed Deck) is a textbook attacking machine. You can pull out the most powerful Shugenja without blinking, using your CPD (Corrupt Phoenix Deck). When you're bored, you can throw down Hida Yakamo from your CCOD (Crab Clan Oni Deck) faster than you can say "Province Destruction." Your Scorpion Clan deck stains honor, your Crane Clan deck explodes on cue, and your Naga deck is housed in a Unicorn Stronghold. You're a charter member of the Imperial Assembly. You've read the messages on the list server, sent snide comments to InQuest, convinced your local store to carry singles, won your local Sword Tournament, and you've debated Colin, Zen Nick, Allan, and Jeff on-line.

You've got at least one of each Clan T-Shirt, and you've squidded an "Enough Talk/Let's Play L5R" Shirt from your local dealer. You've got your order in early for the special leather-bound edition of the RPG. You have a complete collection of cards and multiples of all the good rares. Every deck you build includes Inheritance.

In fact you only have one problem. You've got no opponents!

The reasons are unimportant. Maybe it's the middle of the afternoon and you haven't been able to infect any of your co-workers with the L5R virus. Perhaps everyone in the neighborhood has gone down to the theater to watch Star Wars again. No matter what, even the best player in the world sometimes gets the jones for a quick match when there are no credible opponents around. What will you do?

You'll play L5R solitaire, and you'll love every minute of it!

These rules also work great for new players who are still learning the ins and outs of the game. They are not designed to present you with an unbeatable opponent, but instead a fairly good "robot" to play against that should present a strong challenge. If you and your local players have recently picked up LSR, you may have found yourselves in a situation where every game seems to become a race to see who can get the most Honor, or a long buildup to one huge battle, where the winner of the battle usually wins the game.

The motto "Speed Kills" is very appropriate for the Robot, and the lessons you're going to learn from it should carry over into your regular Face to Face play as well.

Before we begin, a quick caveat. The Robot is not perfect, and it does not anticipate every possible card effect that could be used against it if you happen to create a situation where the Robot has to make a decision that has not been outlined for it, just use your best judgment.

What You'll Need

Because the Robot is designed to play in a Crab Stronghold, you'll need to get a Crab starter deck. You'll also need a shck of Basic Set (Imperial Emerald or Obsidian Edition) cards to build the Robot from. Most of those cards are Commons, but a few are uncommon and one (Inheritance) is rare. Since the Robot is designed to teach and entertain, don't worry about using a copy of Occupied Terrain as a "proxy" for the Inheritance if you need to.

Here's the deck:

Dynasty Cards	Fate Cards
Hida Amoro 3	Naginata 3
Hida Sukune 3	Light Infantry 3
Ginawa 3	Med. Infantry 3
Heichi Chokei 3	Oath of Fealty 3
Mirumoto Daini 3	Superior Tactics 3
Blacksmiths 3	Deadly Ground 3
Iron Mines 3	Cont Terrain 3
Small Farms 3	Frenzy 3
Jade Works 3	Charge 3
Glimpse the Unicorn 1	Rallying Cry 3
Inheritance1	Ring of the Void 1
Unexpected Allies 1

OK: you,ve built the Robot, now here,s how you play it. Shuflle the cards normally, and set them opposite you on the table. You'll need to keep track of Family Honor for both you and the RoboL You also need to draw the Robot's 5 Fate Cards, and you'll be playing Fate Cards for the Robot. Don't worry about cheating; just pretend that you've played the Robot so many times that you nearly always know what cards it has in hand anyway.

During the Robot's turn, the Robot must play all fate cards from the Fate Hand that can be legally played during the Action Phase. The Robot will not play Oath of Fealty if there are no valid recipients. The Robot will attach Followers to the unit with the highest Force to which they could be legally attached.

Each turn the Robot must attack. In a multiplayer game, the Robot selects targets in this order of preference:

1. The player with the highest Honor
2. The player who most recently attacked the robot.
3. The player with the most force in play.
4. The Crane
5. The Crab
6. Other Clans

Use a coin flip to break ties.

Once the Defender is selected, the Robot will always attack one Province. The Province attacked will be that holding the personality with the highest Force, or the most expensive holding if no Province holds a Personality. Flip a coin to resolve ties.

The Robot attacks with all unbowed Personalities, provided that the Robot has at a minimum enough Force to destroy a Province. In the event that the Robot does not control the minimum Force necessary, it will forego its attack completely.

During the Battle Action Segment, if the Robot's Arrny has a lower Force total than the opposing army, it will play Fate Cards that add Force. If the Robot's Army has a higher Force total than the opposing army, it will play Deadly Ground if possible. If the opponent plays a Terrain, the Robot will remove it with Superior Tactics, if possible.

After the attack, the Robot will use Rallying Cry if possible, unless the total Force value of all opposing units remaining in the game is less than 5. It will not use Rallying Cry if none of the Robot's units survived.

The Robot does not defend. The Robot will bow its Stronghold for a Province strength increase if an attacking army has sufficient force to destroy a Province, and the +3 bonus thus provided would be sufficient to protect the Province.

During the Dynasty Phase, the Robot will bring cards into play in the following order of preference:

1. Crab Clan Personalities (never pays full price)
2. Jade Works
3. Iron Mines
4. Other Personalities
5. Other Holdings

The Robot will try to bring the cards into play as described, but if it cannot afford an available card, it will take the next item on the list. It will always purchase the personality with the highest force in the category it has selected.

In the event that the Robot is challenged to a duel, the Robot will accept a challenge if the Chi of the challenged Personality is equal to or higher than the opponent. The Robot refuses all other duels, if possible. When forced into a duel, if the challenged Personality's Chi is lower by 3 points or more than its opponent, the Robot will strike immediately. Otherwise, the Robot will focus one time, using the card with the highest Focus, except Ring of the Void, then strike at the next opportunity.

For the most part, the Robot will play a very credible game, attacking very aggressively and creating a real threat to win. It is not subtle, and it is fairly easy to outwit if you construct a deck to play particularly to its "weaknesses. However, it is an excellent way to test decks that you are building for a competitive environment.

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