I get that you start with 5 per game and that one of them starts as your stronghold.

What I don't understand is what the stats look like for them or what they do outside of act as placeholders for the cards that come from the dynasty deck. Have any of these cards been revealed yet? Do we have any idea how hard it will be to break these?

I'm also confused by this card

Aren't all the facedown cards flipped during the dynasty phase? It doesn't look like you can actually flip the provinces themselves.

https://l5r.gamepedia.com/Province

The provinces star the game facedown. When the are attacked they are revealed.

Strongholds and Holding boost the Province strength.

When a province is broken the are turned upsided down and Holdings are discarded from them.

There is also this idea floating around that the 5 provinces have to come for 5 different rings.

2 minutes ago, Yandia said:

https://l5r.gamepedia.com/Province

The provinces star the game facedown. When the are attacked they are revealed.

Strongholds and Holding boost the Province strength.

When a province is broken the are turned upsided down and Holdings are discarded from them.

There is also this idea floating around that the 5 provinces have to come for 5 different rings.

Will there be actual cards for Province, or do facedown Dynasty cards represent a Province like the way CCG did?

11 minutes ago, Star Lord said:

Will there be actual cards for Province, or do facedown Dynasty cards represent a Province like the way CCG did?

Just those facedown Dynasty cards for now, although maybe we'll get a broken province reminder card to replace them?

What? No! There are actual province cards! Here: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/legend-five-rings-showcase/

The number on the top left is the number you have to match with ATK Pwr - DEF Pwr. Some holdings provide bonuses.

1 hour ago, Kubernes said:

Just those facedown Dynasty cards for now, although maybe we'll get a broken province reminder card to replace them?

Quote

What's a province?

Seriously, go read the write ups. They explain the provinces pretty well.

Plenty of them have been shown too.

They are separate card types. You start with 5, all facedown. When attacked, they flip face-up, and have a strength, which is what needs to be beaten (along with any defender's strength) to "break" a province - turning it upside down so its stats aren't active. Maybe the game text before inactive too, I'm not sure.

Provinces are also filled with face down Dynasty cards - either Holdings which give more stats/abilities to that Province, or Characters which are recruited the same way we're all familiar with. The purpose of that card you quote is that since after a Character is recruited from a Province, that Province is immediately refilled with a facedown Dynasty card. That action on that card allows you to flip them, potentially revealing even more Characters to recruit. Or alternatively to add Holdings to a Province prior to attacks being declared.

"What's a Nubian?"

The point of the Lion Holding is to use it once you have bought two cards during the dynasty phase.

6 hours ago, kiramode said:

I get that you start with 5 per game and that one of them starts as your stronghold.

What I don't understand is what the stats look like for them or what they do outside of act as placeholders for the cards that come from the dynasty deck. Have any of these cards been revealed yet? Do we have any idea how hard it will be to break these?

I'm also confused by this card

Aren't all the facedown cards flipped during the dynasty phase? It doesn't look like you can actually flip the provinces themselves.

Province card examples currently known:

As for Staging Ground: During the Dynasty phase, all Dynasty cards in Provinces are flipped face up. When they are purchased, they are replaced immediately with another card from the Dynasty deck face down therefore being unavailable for purchase. Staging Ground lets you flip these cards up allowing them to be purchased that turn, giving you a potential 5 buys with one Staging Ground in play or 6 with 2. Additionally, Staging Ground could also give you information as to what your future purchases could be.

7 hours ago, Star Lord said:

Will there be actual cards for Province, or do facedown Dynasty cards represent a Province like the way CCG did?

More or less both... You have Province cards, and you put facedown Dynasty cards on top of them.

7 hours ago, Sparks Duh said:

Seriously, go read the write ups. They explain the provinces pretty well.

It seems the OP actually read the write-ups and did not understand what the Provinces are. His question is polite and does not require ire, it requires an answer, as did Danwarr.

I am reminded of this thread (BTW, thanks Hinomura and Rory Heffernan) . Please, do not alienate players because they did not understand something as well as you did. As long as we keep civil, we should help each other, be it only for the sake of this game we (will) love.

@kiramode
I will expand on what Danwarr explained. Regarding the Provinces, they are the 5 seats of your power and you choose them before the game starts by placing them face down, as to create an element of surprise, notably because some of them have trigger effects. 4 of them will produce Characters or they can welcome Holdings (such as Staging Ground) and 1 of them will welcome your Stronghold (ie Shizuka Toshi or Shiro no Yojin). Stronghold and Holdings add to your Province strength (the "+ X" number in top left corner of the card) as long as they are not broken and have various effects, however they are immobile. Characters are mobile, however their strength has to be applied to certain Provinces, either during attack or defense.

Once a Holding is revealed (ie turned face up), it no longer produces Samurai during the Dynasty Phase. That explains why you can have 5 buys with one Staging Ground: 3 Provinces producing regularly during the Dyanasty Phase + 2 due to Staging Ground; and 6 buys with Staging Grounds: 2 Provinces producing, as 3 of them are occupied (1 Stronghold and 2 Staging Grounds) + 4 due to Staging Grounds.

Your opponent need to break 3 out of 4 Provinces before being able to target your Stronghold. If you click on the "Read More" button in this link , or in this link you will have an example of how a game is displayed. The 4-non-Stronghold Provinces are between the Dynasty and Conflict decks, and the Stronghold is above the Dynasty deck.

Also, as said before, there is a rumor that you will need a Province of each Ring, however that is yet to be confirmed.

@Star Lord
There actual Province cards, and you can see some of them in Danwarr's post.

Also, at the end of the turn, you can discard face up cards from your provinces. This stops holdings from clogging your provinces or allows you to cycle past a character you don't want to use.

Broken provinces MUST discard their face up cards. So having your province broken doesn't stop your economy, but it becomes much less flexible. You have to buy things soon as you want them in this situation.