- regular
- elite
maximum of 10 units per army, or 5 inside a stronghold under siege.
- not considered an army unit
- must be part of a friendly army
- any number of leaders can be in an army
- can lead any type of unit from free peoples nation
same as free peoples, except:
- not obliged to be part of a friendly army
- can move on their own, flying to any region with a single movement (except for enemy strongholds)
- is not affected by an enemy army on the region it's in
- act like leaders
- are not affected by enemy armies on the same region
free region: when the region has no enemy army or enemy-controlled settlement
color-coded borders.
allows recruitment of troops of a specific nation
CITY ONLY: same as town
During the first combat round, the number on a sucessful attack dice must be 6, not 5 or 6. After the first round, the attack proceeds as usual.
same as town + sieging capability
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DRAW EVENT CARDS Each player draw 1 card from each of their event decks;
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FELLOWSHIP PHASE
- Free peoples player MAY DECLARE the position of the fellowship.
- If on a city or stronghold, that nation is ACTIVATED and the ringbearers may be healed (remove 1 corruption).
- The player may change the guide of the fellowship (to another companion of the highest possible level).
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HUNT ALLOCATION The Shadow player may put a number of action dice in the hunt box (max. the number of remaining companions in the fellowship - ring bearers dont count). this number cant be less than one, because gollum counts as a companion when there are no companions.
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ACTION ROLL Players roll their action dice. Eye results for the shadow player are added to the hunt box.
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ACTION RESOLUTION starting with the free peoples player, each player alternate actions from their resulting dice.
a player can pass (to use their action dice in his next 'round') if he has fewer unused action dice than the opponent.
- VICTORY CHECK 4 VP for free peoples / 10 VP for shadow
num of dice for each player.
shadow player get more dice when he puts his minions in play.
free peoples player get more dice when aragorn or gandalf 'evolve'.
both players lose dice if the corresponding character is eliminated
WHEN THE FREE PLAYER MOVES THE FELLOWSHIP because of an action die, he then places that die in the hunt box after completing the action (and the shadow player completing the hunt for the ring).
when a player is about to take an action, he may use ONE (per turn) elven ring to change the result shown on an unused action die.
- free peoples cant change to 'will of the west' result.
- shadow player can't change the 'eye' result.
Max number of cards in hand: 6
Decks are not reshuffled
Cards are discarded facedown immediately when the hand limit is exceeded
If discarding a card requires the use of an Action Die, discarding the card counts as an action.
Cards can be played for their combat effect during combat
at the end of an action in a region with more than 10 army units, the excess must be removed from the game. these units can re-enter the game later as reinforcements.
- muster action - the new units MUST belong to a nation at war and must be placed in a city, town or stronghold of the nation to which the unit belongs.
When recruiting units, choose one of the following:
- two regulars
- two leaders / nazgul
- one regular and one leader
- one elite
- one character
when choosing two of the same unit, they must be placed in separate settlements.
- nazgul are always recruited in the strongholds of sauron.
free peoples leaders can never be alone
- play combat card (optional)
- roll the dice for combat roll: 5 or 6 is a success, 1 is always a miss
- roll the leader re-roll
- remove casualties
- cease attack OR retreat
- combat card initiative: bottom left corner. if tied, defender's applied first
- combat strength: number of army units (up to a maximum of 5)
- leadership: number of re-rolls (max 5)
- remove one regular or replace one elite with one regular
- If all the Army units involved in a battle are eliminated, then all Leaders (including Characters) that were part of that Army are also immediately removed from play. Nazgûl can still re-enter as reinforcements.
attacker decides if he wants to cease the attack. if not, the defender has the option to retreat (one region).
during the first combat round the attacker hits only in a 6, not a 5 and 6 as usual.
in regions with strongholds, before every battle round, the defender must choose to either Fight a Field Battle (proceed normally) or Retreat into a Siege.
- strongholds under siege must contain a maximum of 5 units.
- during siege battles, the attacker hits only on a result of 6.
- siege battles last only one combat round, unless the attacker decides to downgrade one of his elite units to a regular unit.
- sieges can be reinforced by moving troops (with a movement action, not an attack one) into the region as it were free.
- When an enemy Army enters a region containing a City or Town, or when units defending a Stronghold are eliminated, that region is considered captured.
- The capturing player places a Settlement Control Marker on the region to indicate his control.
- A captured City, Town or Stronghold cannot be used for mustering troops or advancing the Political Track.
- If the original owner of the region is able to recapture it, the Settlement Control Marker is removed and any Victory Points earned from the conquest are lost.
a character action die can:
- move all companions who are not in the fellowship (the same or less than their level - if group, the highest level applies)
- move all nazgul and minions (to any region that doesnt contain an enemy stronghold)
- unaffected by enemy armies.
- must stop upon entering a region with a shadow stronghold.
- cannot leaver or enter a region with a stronghold besieged by the enemy (the mouth of sauron behaves this way as well)
passive nations (beige side of marker) cannot be moved to the last step of the political track (at war).
- A region of that nation is entered by an enemy army
- An army containing units of that nation is attacked
- The fellowship is declared in a city or stronghold of that nation
- when a companion of that nation (lower right corner of card) ends his movement in one of its cities/strongholds
- Gandalf, aragorn, merry and pippin can activate any nation
- muster (Alistamento) action
- certain event cards
- every time a nations army is attacked
- every time a nations settlement is captured by the opponent
- can move outside their nation borders (into neutral regions) but can never move across the borders of other nations - UNLESS THEY'RE RETREATING FROM BATTLE. THEN, THE NEXT TIME THEY MOVE, THEY MUST MOVE OUT OF THAT NATION.
- cannot attack enemy armies (but can defend if attacked)
- can never be recruited by using muster action
restrictions are applied even to an army containing units of nations at war.
Companions (eg gandalf), minions (eg saruman) and nazgul start 'at war'
- ring-bearers figure: indicates the LAST KNOWN POSITION of the fellowship. it is placed in the region where the fellowship was last declared or revealed
- fellowship progress counter: shows how far the fellowship has travelled from its last known position and indicates whether the fellowship is hidden or revealed.
- companions: start as part of the fellowship. When a companion leaves the fellowship, his figure is moved to the map, his card goes face-up into the free peoples side of the table and his counter is removed from the fellowship box.
- During the Action Resolution phase, the Free Peoples player can separate one Companion (or a group of Companions) from the Fellowship by using a Character Action Die result.
- When a Companion separates from the Fellowship, the figure of the separated Companion is moved from the Fellowship box to the map.
- The Companion may move a number of regions equal to the number of the step of the Fellowship Track the Fellowship Progress Counter is on, plus his Companion Level.
- If the Free Peoples player separates a group of Companions, he moves their figures together to one region that can be reached by the Companion with the highest Level in the group.
ONCE A COMPANION SEPARATES FROM THE FELLOWSHIP, HE CAN NEVER REJOIN.
- level: number used during the hunt for the ring and when moving this companion
- leadership rating: used in battle
- starts as Gandalf
- let the guide card's information side face up on the top of the fellowship deck
- the guide must always be the remaining companion with the highest level. In case of a tie, the free peoples player chooses between the tied companions.
- A new guide can be nominated at the end of each fellowship phase OR when the fellowship changes due to separation or elimination of companions
- Gollum becomes the guide if no companions are left in the fellowship (put its card in the fellowship box) - and counts as one companion (so the shadow player may always place one dice during the hunt allocation phase).
- Once the Fellowship has been revealed, it cannot be moved by the Free Peoples player using a Character Action die until it is Hidden again.
- activated by character result in the dice and certain event cards
- move the fellowship track every time the fellowship moves (NOT THE RING-BEARERS FIGURE)
- after each time the fellowship progress counter moves, the shadow player can HUNT the moving fellowship.
- every time a die is used to move the fellowship, that die is added to the HUNT BOX after the HUNT has been completed. These are returned to the player at the end of each turn
- each step on the fellowship track represents a distance of 1 region from the last known position of the fellowship
- the actual position of the fellowship is determined only if one of two things happen:
fellowship declares its own position (MUST BE HIDDEN)
the ring-bearers figure is moved a number of regions equal to or less than the number on the fellowship track (can be 0). Then the progress counter is reset to 0.
The fellowship can be healed 1 corruption if declared in a free peoples city or stronghold not under enemy control.
- turn the progress counter to its revealed side
- player must move the fellowship figure according to the previous instructions, except that it cannot end in a region with a free peoples city or stronghold.
- if the fellowship moves through, moves from or moves into a shadow stronghold still controlled by the shadow player, then a Hunt Tile is immediately drawn as if a Hunt has been successful.
Use a character action die or an appropriate event card to turn the progress counter to its hidden side
If in Morannon or Minas Morgul, the free peoples player must declare the fellowship to begin the journey to Mount Doom.
- numbers on hunt tiles: hunt damage (can be negative, subtracting from corruption)
- If all the tiles in the Hunt Pool have been used, return all Standard Tiles (beige) to the bag. DO NOT return any Special Tiles.
- eye icon: number of successful rolls on the hunt roll determine hunt damage
- reveal icon: the fellowship is REVEALED
- die icon: roll a die to define hunt damage
- stop icon:
- special hunt tiles (red/blue): enter play only when an event card is used and ARE USED ONLY IN MORDOR.
When the fellowship moves, the shadow player rolls dice to determine the effect of the hunt. The shadow player rolls dice equal to the hunt level. Each 6 is a success. Every free peoples action die in the hunt box adds +1 to the result (but 1 is always a failure). IF AT LEAST ONE ROLL IS SUCCESSFUL (including rerolls), the shadow player draws one tile from the hunt pool.
- hunt level: number of shadow dice in the hunt box. MAXIMUM OF 5
- if the ring-bearers are in a region that has a stronghold under enemy control, a shadow army or a nazgul, the shadow player can reroll one failed hunt roll for each of these conditions.
The free peoples player chooses between
- moving the corruption counter a number of steps equal to the hunt damage
- eliminates one companion (randomly - chosen by the shadow player through facedown counters - or the guide). If the hunt damage is higher than the level of the eliminated companion, the excess damage is taken as corruption.
As soon as the Fellowship is declared to be in Minas Morgul or Morannon during a Fellowship Phase, immediately proceed to the following steps:
- Place the Fellowship on the first step of the Mordor Track. The Fellowship Progress Counter is no longer advanced on the Fellowship Track, but it is still used to show whether the Fellowship is Hidden or Revealed.
- Create a new Hunt Pool by placing all Eye tiles previously drawn back with the remaining tiles of the Hunt Pool, and also add any Special Tiles put in play by Event Cards.
- Companions in the Fellowship can never be separated. Any action that would normally separate a Companion eliminates him instead.
- When the Free Peoples player tries to move the Fellowship during the Action Resolution phase, do not roll the Hunt Dice. Automatically draw one tile from the Hunt Pool. The effects of this tile are applied normally as for a successful Hunt, except for the following:
- If the tile drawn shows an Eye, the Hunt Damage is equal to the number of dice in the Hunt box (including Free Peoples dice previously used for moving the Fellowship during the same turn).
- Normally the Fellowship advances one step on the Mordor Track when moving. However, if the tile shows a Stop icon, the Fellowship remains on the same step and does not move forward.
- The Fellowship is still required to be Hidden in order to advance on the Mordor Track. If the Fellowship is Revealed, the Free Peoples player must, as normal, use a Character Action Die result to hide the Fellowship once again.
- If, at the end of the Action Resolution phase, the Free Peoples player has not attempted to move or hide the Fellowship on the Mordor Track during that turn, one Corruption is automatically added to the Ring-bearers.
In order of priority:
- 12 corruption - shadow wins
- Fellowship is at 'Crack of Doom' and has less than 12 corruption - free peoples wins
- The shadow has 10+ victory points - shadow wins
- Free peoples has 4+ victory points - free peoples wins
- In case the last Companion is eliminated or separated due to the Hunt for the Ring, Gollum’s special abilities as the Guide apply only after the effects of the Hunt Tile are completely resolved.
- Re-rolls also receive the +1 bonus for each Free Peoples die in the Hunt box.
- When the Free Peoples player declares the Fellowship, certain abilities and events may force him to draw a Hunt Tile. When this happens, ignore any Reveal icon on a drawn tile if the Fellowship has been declared in a Free Peoples Stronghold or City.