Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game is a Living Card Game (LCG) for 2 players set in the fantasy realm of Rokugan. Players represent rival clans competing for honour, military dominance, and political influence. Each player brings two decks: a Dynasty deck (characters and holdings) and a Conflict deck (events, attachments, and characters). The goal is to break 3 of your opponent’s 5 provinces before they break yours.
Ring tokens (5 elemental rings: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Void)
First player token
Setup
Each player places their Stronghold face-up and 5 Province cards face-down in a row.
Shuffle Dynasty and Conflict decks separately.
Place 1 Dynasty card face-down on each province.
Place the 5 elemental ring tokens in the center as unclaimed.
Each player starts with honour equal to their Stronghold’s honour value.
Determine first player (bid honour, lowest wins first player; difference in bids paid in honour).
Each player draws a starting hand from their Conflict deck (varies, typically 4 cards).
Each player gains fate equal to their Stronghold’s fate value.
Turn Structure
Each round consists of the following phases:
1. Dynasty Phase
Each player reveals face-down Dynasty cards on their unbroken provinces.
Players may play Dynasty characters from provinces by paying their fate cost. Additional fate may be placed on characters to keep them in play longer.
Players may discard Dynasty cards from provinces and replace them.
2. Draw Phase
Both players simultaneously bid 1-5 honour on a dial. Reveal simultaneously.
The player who bid higher transfers honour equal to the difference to the opponent.
Each player draws cards from their Conflict deck equal to their bid.
3. Conflict Phase
The first player may declare a conflict by selecting an unclaimed ring, choosing military or political, choosing an attacking province, and assigning attacking characters.
The defending player assigns defending characters.
Both players may play Conflict cards, trigger abilities.
Compare total skill: attacking military/political skill vs defending skill.
Attacker wins: If attacking skill > defending skill, the attacker claims the ring (gaining its elemental effect) and may break the province if the difference exceeds the province’s strength.
Defender wins: If defending skill >= attacking skill, the defender claims the ring.
Each player may declare up to 2 conflicts per round (1 military, 1 political typically).
4. Fate Phase
Remove 1 fate from each character. Characters with no fate are discarded.
Each player collects fate from their Stronghold.
Discard unclaimed rings; return all claimed rings to unclaimed.
5. Regroup Phase
Ready all bowed characters and cards.
Discard cards from hand down to hand limit if necessary.
Pass first player token.
Actions
Play characters from Dynasty or Conflict decks by paying fate costs
Declare conflicts (military or political) at opponent’s provinces
Play events and attachments from Conflict deck
Trigger abilities on characters, attachments, holdings
Bow characters to use for conflict or abilities
Pass in conflict action windows
Scoring / Victory Conditions
Province Break Victory: Break 3 of your opponent’s 5 provinces (including their stronghold province, which is the final one).
Honour Victory: If a player reaches 25 honour, they win.
Dishonour Victory: If a player reaches 0 honour, they lose.
Stronghold Province: The stronghold itself counts as the final province and is typically harder to break.
Special Rules & Edge Cases
Rings: Each has an elemental effect when claimed. Air (take 1 honour from opponent or gain 2), Earth (draw 1 card and opponent discards 1), Fire (honour or dishonour a character), Water (ready a character or bow one with no fate), Void (remove 1 fate from a character).
Honoured/Dishonoured: Status tokens modify a character’s skill and affect honour gains/losses when they leave play.
Unique characters: Only 1 copy of a unique character can be in play per player.
Fate placement: Extra fate placed on characters at the time of play extends their lifespan.
Imperial Favour: Claimed by having the most glory among ready characters. Provides a bonus.
Provinces: Each has a unique ability that triggers when attacked. Strength varies.
Player Reference
Phase Order:
Dynasty (reveal and play characters)
Draw (bid honour, draw Conflict cards)
Conflict (declare and resolve up to 2 conflicts)
Fate (remove fate, collect income, return rings)
Regroup (ready cards, check hand limit, pass first player)
Ring Effects (when claimed by attacker):
Ring
Effect
Air
Take 1 honour from opponent OR gain 2 honour
Earth
Draw 1 card; opponent discards 1
Fire
Honour or dishonour a character
Water
Ready a character you control or bow a character with no fate