L5R:TCG ‘Children of the Empire’ Crab & Scorpion Clan Preview
When it’s time to get the job done, no two clans put duty above honor more than Crab and Scorpion. Today, Fantasy Flight Games is showing off some of what these clans are getting in the upcoming expansion Children of the Empire for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game.
Honor plays a big deal in Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game. Not only is the concept infused throughout the setting, it’s also a resource and mechanic in the game as well. If you ever run completely out of honor, you lose. Characters can also become honored (and gain a benefit) or become dishonored (and get a penalty). However, Clan Scorpion is notorious for being able to skirt that line of honor/dishonor and still achieve victory. And the Crab Clan is too busy defending against the Shadowlands to worry about honor – they play pretty defensive and get better when the chips are down.
In Children of the Empire, we’ve gotten to see how honor as both a concept and a mechanic is getting more of a focus again. We got a look at the Lion, Phoenix, and Unicorn Clan’s preview. Today we delve into two clans who’s sense of duty clash heavily with the culture’s sense of honor with the Scorpion and Crab preview.
The Scorpion Clan
As a clan, they serve the Emperor – it’s just that Clan Scorpion’s methods aren’t exactly on the up-and-up. They are more than willing to do the deeds in the shadows that are only mentioned in whispers and rumors. They have a unique relationship with the concept of honor and will scheme and manipulate situations to achieve their goals even if it means toeing the line.
The Characters
Loyal Challenger’s basic ability is that winning or losing a conflict will gain or lose you an honor. That’s really important because it can allow Clan Scorpion to get to the exact honor they need to so they can trigger some of their other abilities. (The ones typically a the lower end of the honor spectrum.) It can also be used to help recover if you’re getting in danger of actually losing outright. The Loyal Challenger’s Action ability allows you to start a political duel during a conflict – and you can treat the text of the loser of that duel’s text box as if it were blank! That’s a pretty powerful action if used correctly.
A new unique character the Scorpion Clan is getting is Shosuro Hametsu who is a master of poison. It’s fitting that the Scorpion Clan would have access to poisons and Hametsu allows you to lose an honor to search your conflict deck for a particular poison and add it to your hand. The poisons available to Clan Scorpion are pretty diverse and not all are meant to kill their target. For example, a new poison is Kirei-ko, which is used to bow a character who triggers an ability:
Catch them off guard with this card and you could find yourself with an opening to win a duel, a conflict, or bust a province wide open!
The Crab Clan
Defensive play is the strong suit of Clan Crab. They defend the Empire from the horrors of the Shadowland and are more concerned with survival than they are with the court politics. Most Clans have at least a grudging respect for what they due, even if they don’t agree with their methods. Openly attacking the Crab can be risky – as they are more than willing to sacrifice some honor for survival.
The Characters
The Yasuki Procurer is basically a weapons smuggler and for the low cost of dishonoring this character you can reduce the cost of the next attachment OR character you play by 1. That’s a steal – literally! Crab Characters aren’t the most expensive, so getting them on the board for even less resources is a good deal. Plus, you can always use more attachments on your characters.
The Daring Challenger is a military character to the core. If you have less honor than your opponent, it gets an additional +1 to military as well. And if you use this character in a duel and win, you get to add a fate on the winner which can help them stick around longer. It also helps with paying the cost for those now even cheaper attachments like this one:
The Honed Nodachi costs a fate for the attached character, but you can use it to force your opponent to discard a character that participated in a military conflict. The synergy between these cards is pretty clear. Honored or not, you do not want to mess with the Crab!
Children of the Empire $39.95
A Premium Expansion is a new level of product for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game. Children of the Empire features a total of 234 new cards that celebrates the era of tranquility brought upon Rokugan by the Hantei Dynasty. Every Great Clan gets new tools, with themes of dueling and honor persistent throughout the expansion.
Children of the Empire also provides a snapshot of characters and events in the Legend of the Five Rings story as they are today. Look for cards that represent some of the biggest moments from Legend of the Five Rings fiction, and an updated version of an iconic character whose role in the celestial order has shifted.
With 234 new cards covering every clan and dedicated themes, Children of the Empire is the perfect companion to the Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game Core Set!
What will you choose – honor or duty?
