Moat

Legend of the Five Rings card from Gold Edition, Imperial Edition, Emerald Edition, Obsidian Edition, Time of the Void

Card Type

Holding

Gold Cost

5

Keywords

Fortification

Card Text

Personalities and Followers attacking this Province have -1F.

Legality

Clan Wars (Imperial), Four Winds (Gold)

Deck

Dynasty

Printings

Rulings

• Erratum: Reads, "Moat 5G Fortification. Each Personality and Follower has -1F while attacking this Province." [MRP, Gold Edition, 1 July 2001] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 83
• Effect begins when units are assigned, so applies before any modifications during the battle (e.g., Terrains). [JA, 30 January 2002] Rules Archive, August 18, 2007, p. 83
• Clarified: -1F penalty only lasts while the attack is in progress. Text Change & Errata List, February 15, 2000, p. 12

Rules Q&A

• Q: Timing question: When Three-Stone River has been played during a battle at a province where Moat is attached, which card's effects are applied first during the Resolution Phase? The order can make a big difference when computing the attacker's force.
  A: The Moat applies first, since it began applying as soon as the units were assigned. Jeff Alexander, "post for 30 January 2002", 31 Jan 2002
• Q: 1) What is the interaction between Moat and Heimin Village? Does the reduction from Moat happen before or after Heimin Village kicks in?
  A: The active player would determine the order. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 January 2002", 11 Jan 2002
• Q: Also: how do Yu and TtLM interact with cards that have timing clauses like "attacking this Province" or "in a battle at this Province"? Would Force-reducing cards like Moat or Road of Dust apply? I'm guessing not, since the "Aftermath" section of the rulings states that "only defending units remain in battle after resolution," but I wanted to get clarification.
  A: Penalties that only last "for" or "until the end of" the battle, or while cards are "attacking", "defending", or "in an army/battle", will still be in effect when it comes time for Yu to kill things. Jeff Alexander, "post for 10 October 2001", 11 Oct 2001
• Q: Playing with a 7 Province Streng Stronghold (Great walls for example), a Moat attached to my last province. My oponent attacks with Uragirimono (3F) and Ogre outlaw (6F). Moat reduces forces to 2F and 5F.
  1- May I play "ring of earth", at the end of the resolution segment, or he never had sufficient force?
  A: He never had sufficient Force. No Ring. Jeff Alexander, "replies to 15-16 September 2001", 17 Sep 2001
• Q: I have 3 provinces, each with a Moat. And I play with a Kaiu Sensei. Is each attacking personality and each attacking Follower at -3 Force?
  A: Yup. Kaiu Sensei is very cool. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for December 21st", 21 Dec 2000
• Q: Caveat: The Armor and Katana do not give a bonus for each Ancestor attached, but only care whether or not you have an ancestor attached.
  Why don't they count multiple times? If a province can be affected by multiple fortifications of the same kind in a cumulative manner, e.g., Moat or Unscaleable Walls, then why can't the Armor and Katana have cumulative effects from multiple ancestors as well.
  A: Wording.
  Armor and Katana of TM are both 'while' cards. While X is true, do this. Even if X is true multiple times, you only do this once.
  Kaiu Sensei is worded differently, so it has a different effect. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 15th", 15 Nov 2000
• Q: I know, I know, but my real point is that counting Unscaleable Walls or Moat multiple times is kind of silly. Each province should check to see if it is affected by a given fortification. If it is, then the bonus applies, if not, then not.
  A: There is no rule about provinces checking to see if they are affected by Fortifications, and Kaiu Sensei in no way implies that it institutes such a rule. There is a rule about having multiple Forts of the same type attached to a province, but that rule never comes into play here.
  Pretend that there was a Fortification that gave a province strength bonus to all of your provinces. If you have one, then it affects all of your provinces. If you have two, then they both affect all of your provinces. Kaiu Sensei works a lot like that. It makes it so that all of your Fortifications have an imaginary phrase added onto them so that they affect and can be used at all of your provinces. That's all. Vaughn Derderian, "Rules for November 15th", 15 Nov 2000