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THE
LORD OF THE RINGS(tm) TRADING CARD GAME
THE TWO TOWERS(tm) STARTER RULEBOOK
( Special thanks to Decipher
for the rules , you can contact them by the given address <scroll down>. )
____________________________________________________________________________________
If you have never played a trading
card game...
This Starter Rulebook and its
60-card fixed pack are designed for new players just like you. We've added more
examples and explanations of basic rules to help players new to TCGs learn how
to play.
If you have played another trading
card game...
Play a game or two with just the
Starter Rulebook and thecards in your 60-card fixed pack, as if you were new to
TCGs. Then get the Deluxe Rulebook and some booster packs to find all the depth
and strategy of the full game.
If you have played this game
before...
This Starter Rulebook describes a
simplified game for new players. Don't panic if you don't see a rule or two in
here... they're still in the game! There's nothing new for you here if you
already know how to play, although this is a great rulebook to get a friend
started with the game. Check out the Deluxe Rulebook to see what's new for
experienced players in The Two Towers set.
STARTER RULEBOOK
The Starter Rulebook is in every
Two Towers starter deck or deluxe starter set. The 60 cards in the fixed portion
of your starter deck are designed to work with this rulebook, but the three rare
cards in your starter deck might have game text that is not explained in this
Starter Rulebook.
If this is your first experience
with this trading card game, you should set your rare cards aside. Rare cards
have an "R" in their collector's info in the lower right corner.
The Starter Rulebook describes how
to play a game between two or more players who each have a Two Towers starter
deck. (Other Lord of the Rings TCG starter decks might have game text that is
not explained in this rulebook.)
DELUXE RULEBOOK
Many additional concepts are
explained in the Deluxe Rulebook. If you've played The Lord of the Rings Trading
Card Game before, you should be familiar with most of them.
These include: allies, artifacts,
deckbuilding rules, bidding to go first, the Rule of 4, the Rule of 9, maneuver
actions, archery actions, assignment actions, regroup actions, and transfer.
However, there are new rules
introduced for The Two Towers that can be found only in the Deluxe Rulebook.
These include changes to the adventure deck, the adventure path, keywords, and
new rules for site control.
You can find the Deluxe Rulebook
in any Two Towers Deluxe Starter Set, available from your local retail store.
If this is not an option for you,
both rulebooks may be downloaded for free from decipher.com. For those without
internet access, you can request to be mailed a Deluxe Rulebook. Choose A or B,
then send to the PObox below:
A) U.S. / Canada residents - Send
$1 U.S. and a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
B) Outside the U.S. - Send one IRC
and a self-addressed return envelope with your street address information.
(International Reply Coupons are available at post offices all over the world
and must be validated and stamped by your post office in lower left corner.)
Two Towers Deluxe Rulebook,
Decipher, P.O. Box 56, Norfolk, VA, USA 23501-0056.
(Available with this special
mail-in offer while supplies last.)
INTRODUCTION
Most card games have just one deck
of cards that never changes, but a trading card game (or TCG) works differently.
In a TCG, you personalize your playing deck using cards from your collection.
The Lord of the Rings Trading Card
Game provides two or more players with the same challenges that Frodo Baggins,
bearer of the One Ring, faced on his fateful journey from Hobbiton to Mount Doom
to destroy the Ring.
Each player's cards include his
own fellowship - a group of companions, each represented by a different card.
Other cards represent allies, possessions, artifacts, events, and conditions
that support and defend the fellowship.
On each player's turn, a marker
representing that player's fellowship advances along the adventure path - a
sequence of site cards, each representing the scene of an episode in the
adventure. All players share the same adventure path, even though it is made up
of cards from all the players.
Each time a fellowship moves,
minions played by one or more opponents may attack it; these minions may be
supported by possessions, artifacts, events, and conditions of their own. The
attacks will succeed or fail depending on the relative strengths of the
companions and minions.
The minions of evil become more
numerous as the fellowship moves farther into Middle-earth, resulting in greater
risks to the fellowship and the Ring-bearer. In great need, the Ring-bearer can
save himself by putting on the Ring - but this puts him in greater peril of
succumbing to the burden of the Ring, and losing the game.
If your fellowship survives its
adventures to reach the final site first, you are the winner!
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
KINDS OF CARDS
The Lord of the Rings TCG has
three basic kinds of cards: site, Free Peoples, and Shadow. There is also The
One Ring, which is different from all other cards.
Site cards
Each player has an adventure deck
that consists of only nine site cards. These cards are used to chart the
progress of the game.
The adventure deck is separate
from the cards drawn and played during the game, which are placed in the draw
deck.
In The Two Towers base set, site
numbers have a special site identifier called the tower symbol (T) to
differentiate them from the sites in previous sets.
Rivendell is site 3, from an
earlier set. Streets of Edoras is site 3T from The Two Towers set.
Free Peoples cards
Free Peoples cards represent the
forces of good. Each player has his own fellowship, made up of a Ring-bearer and
other companions. When you take your turn, you play and use your Free Peoples
cards.
Free Peoples cards have a light
colored circular field in the upper left corner.
Shadow cards
Shadow cards represent the forces
of evil and corruption. When another player takes his turn, you play and use
your Shadow cards to hinder that player.
Shadow cards have a dark colored
diamond-shaped field in the upper left corner.
The One Ring
This card represents the uniquely
powerful item that is the focus of the story of The Lord of the Rings. In the
middle of the card, The One Ring has its subtitle. It has no twilight cost, and
its card type is "The One Ring."
The One Ring is not a Free Peoples
card and it is not a Shadow card.
CHARACTER (COMPANION, MINION,
ALLY)
All characters use the same basic
card layout.
A companion is a Free Peoples
character in your fellowship.
A minion is a Shadow character
that attacks other players' fellowships. (Minion cards have a site number where
the signet is shown above).
An ally is a Free Peoples
character helping your fellowship (you may find an ally in your starter deck
rare cards).
POSSESSION, EVENT, CONDITION,
ARTIFACT
A possession is a weapon, suit of
armor, or other kind of object used by a character.
An event is a card played from
your hand representing an important occurrence, which you discard after you play
it.
A condition is a card representing
a significant change in the world, which stays in play until something discards
it. Some conditions are played on characters or sites.
An artifact is a card representing
a special, powerful object (you may find an artifact in your starter deck rare
cards).
SITE
You bring a set of nine sites in
your adventure deck. Each of those must have a different site number, with one
for each number from 1 to 9. Sanctuary sites, numbered 3 or 6, have a different
colored template from other sites.
CULTURE
Most cards are part of a specific
culture. A card's color, its background texture, and an icon in its upper right
corner indicate its culture.
You'll find that cards from the
same culture work well together. Sorting your cards by culture can make building
your own deck easier. However, your deck may contain cards from several
different cultures if you like.
Site cards and The One Ring are
not part of any culture.
Culture names and symbols
Free Peoples cards
Shadow cards
[Dw]
Dwarven
[Du]
Dunland
[El]
Elven
[Is]
Isengard
[Ga]
Gandalf
[Mo]
Moria
[Go]
Gondor
[Ra]
Raider
[Ro]
Rohan
[Ri]
Ringwraith
[Sh]
Shire
[Sa]
Sauron
You don't have to memorize these
names, since cultures are always referred to with icons in game text.
SIGNET
Some of the Free Peoples character
cards have a signet, found in the lower left corner of the card. Cards with the
same signet generally give bonuses to each other and work well in the same deck.
Each signet is based around an
important character in the story. The available signets are Aragorn, Frodo,
Gandalf, and Thoden.
VITALITY
All characters in the game have
vitality. This number represents a character's life force, stamina, sturdiness,
and will to live.
Wounds
When a character is wounded by an
enemy attack, his vitality is depleted. Place a wound token on the character to
illustrate this. Glass beads (preferably blood red) make good tokens for this
purpose. Wounds are always placed on a character one at a time. When you
"wound a character," you place only one wound.
If a card tells you to "Wound
2 companions," you must choose two different companions to wound one time
each (you may not wound one companion twice).
Healing
When a wound is removed from a
character, this represents resting or healing. If game text says you should heal
a character, the default meaning for that phrase is to remove one wound.
You may not heal a character who
is not wounded (a wounded character is a character who has at least one wound
token).
If a card tells you to "Heal
2 companions," you must choose two different companions to heal one time
each (you may not heal one companion twice).
Generally, your fellowship only
heals (removes wounds) at a site with the keyword sanctuary. At the start of
your turn when your fellowship is at a sanctuary, you may heal up to 5 wounds
from your companions (not allies).
When the rules say "you may
heal up to 5 wounds from your companions," you may choose to heal 5
different companions once, or one companion twice and another three times, or
any other combination. You don't have to heal any wounds at all since it says
"up to 5," which means you may choose any number from zero to 5.
Killed
When the number of wounds on a
character equals his vitality, that character is immediately killed. Place
killed Free Peoples characters (companions and allies) in your dead pile. The
dead pile is separate from and next to your discard pile. Place all killed
minions in your discard pile.
When you have a unique companion
or ally in your dead pile, you may not play another copy of that card, or any
other card with the same title. (You may play another copy of a non-unique card
that is in your dead pile.)
A unique card has a dot („) in
its card title.
When you discard a companion or
ally to use its game text or as a result of some other effect, place that card
in your discard pile (not your dead pile).
Exert
Sometimes you may exert a
character by placing a wound on that card to show that the character takes an
action that depletes his vitality.
Exerting a character is different
from wounding a character, even though both require placement of a wound token.
Cards that prevent wounds may not prevent a wound token placed by exerting.
Conceptually, wearing armor
protects you from a sword strike (taking a wound token), but it won't help you
lift a heavy weight (placing an exertion token).
Once a wound token is placed,
whether from exerting or wounding, it can be healed by any effect that heals a
wound.
No player may exert a character
who is exhausted (who has only 1 vitality remaining). Such a character cannot be
chosen as a character who must exert. To exhaust a character means to exert that
character as many times as you can.
If a card tells you to exhaust a
character with a vitality of 4 who has 1 wound, then you must exert that
character 2 times by placing 2 wound tokens. A character with a vitality of 2 is
exhausted with a single wound. A character with a vitality of 1 is always
exhausted.
TWILIGHT POOL
The twilight pool is an area on
the table where twilight tokens are placed. The tokens in the twilight pool
represent how dangerous the world is for the fellowship. Glass beads (preferably
black) make good twilight tokens, but any convenient tokens will do. Keep a
large reserve of twilight tokens handy.
Twilight Cost
In the upper left corner of each
Free Peoples and Shadow card is that card's twilight cost. This is the number of
twilight tokens that must be added to or removed from the twilight pool to play
that card.
When you play a Free Peoples card,
you must add a number of twilight tokens (from the reserve) to the twilight pool
equal to that card's twilight cost.
When your opponent plays a Shadow
card, he must remove a number of twilight tokens from the twilight pool equal to
that card's twilight cost. A Shadow card may not be played if its twilight cost
cannot be met by the tokens available in the twilight pool.
In game text, you will find
phrases like "Add (1)" which means, "Add 1 twilight token to the
twilight pool."
You must meet any requirements to
play a card (or perform an action)before paying its costs.
If a Free Peoples event requires
you to spot twilight tokens, they must be there before you add tokens to pay for
that card's cost.
PHASE ACTIONS
Before you learn more about the
phases of a turn, you need to know how certain game actions link to those
phases.
During each phase of a turn, one
or more players are allowed to perform phase actions that use a word matching
the name of that phase. These words are printed in boldface and followed by a
colon.
Each phase action lasts for the
duration of the phase named in the boldface word (unless otherwise specified).
The effects of a phase action with
the keyword Skirmish: last only for the skirmish phase in which it is played.
Each phase action must be
completely performed before another phase action can be performed. Phase actions
cannot be combined.
If one card says,
"Fellowship: Play an Elf from your draw deck" and another card says,
"Fellowship: Play an Elf to draw a card,"you may not play one Elf from
your draw deck to draw a card. You must choose one phase action or the other.
An action labeled with the word
"Response:" is not a phase action. Responses are explained later in
this rulebook.
EVENTS
Every event card has a phase
action that defines when you may play that card from your hand. The game text on
that event may be performed only once for each copy of that event played. You
may not play an event during a phase that does not match its phase action.
Discard an event after you play
it, and before the next action is taken. Even after being discarded, an event
often has an ongoing or delayed effect until the end of the phase, or until a
specified phase or condition is met.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Other types of cards may use a
boldfaced word to indicate apart of their game text called a special ability,
which may be used only while the card is in play. (The boldfaced word defines
when you may do so.)
Each special ability is optional;
you don't have to use it ifyou don't want to. You may use each special ability
as many times as you like (even repeatedly during the same phase), as long as
you meet the requirements for it and pay its costs. You may not combine special
abilities.
WHEN, EACH TIME, AND WHILE
A few special words or phrases
you'll see in game text govern the timing of an action, just like the names of
phases that are in phase actions. These include when, each time, and while; each
is described below with an example.
* When is used if an effect can
happen only once. When you play this possession, you may draw a card. This game
text activates only once, when this card is played.
*
* Each time is used if an effect
can happen more than once. Each time you play a possession or artifact on your
companion, draw a card. If you play one possession, this game text activates
once; if you play a second possession, it activates again, and so on.
*
* While is used if an effect is
continuous. For example, While Merry bears a weapon, he is strength +2. When you
play a weapon on Merry, this game text is activated; if that weapon is
discarded, then this game text "turns off."
*
Each of these effects has a
trigger describing what makes it happen. The trigger is always described first,
and followed by a comma.
SETTING UP THE GAME
Players need a supply of wound
tokens (preferably red) and twilight tokens (preferably black). Each player will
also need a player marker (a differently-colored token) that shows where his
fellowship is on the adventure path.
Adventure Deck
Take all 9 of your site cards and
place them face down in a pile on the table. This is your adventure deck.
No other player may look through
your adventure deck during the game.
You don't have to keep your
adventure deck in any order. Just look through it to get a card when you need
to.
If a site is replaced, take the
old site from the adventure path and put it back in its owner's adventure deck.
Since only one card with each site
number is played to the adventure path, a site belongs to the adventure deck
that's missing a site card with that number.
Who goes first?
Determine randomly who goes first.
The first player places his copy of site 1 (from his adventure deck) on the
table tobegin the adventure path. Each player places his player marker onto that
site card.
Place the adventure path off to
the side, opposite from the twilight pool. That leaves room in the middle of the
table for minions.
Starting Fellowship
Take one copy of each of the cards
indicated below (depending on which starter product you have). Place them face
up on the table, with Frodo bearing The One Ring (place it under Frodo with its
title showing).
Thoden Starter: owyn, omer,
Frodo, The One Ring
Aragorn Starter: Aragorn, Frodo,
The One Ring
Deluxe Starter: Gandalf, Frodo,
The One Ring
Don't place any tokens into the
twilight pool for the cards in your starting fellowship.
Draw deck
The rest of your cards form your
draw deck. Shuffle your draw deck, give the opponent on your right the
opportunity to cut it, and draw eight cards to form your starting hand.
Note:If at any time you have no
cards in your draw deck, you may reshuffle your discard pile to make a new draw
deck. You may only do this once per game. When you play using the rules from the
Deluxe Rulebook, you won't be able to reshuffle your draw deck.
Game Setup Summary
* Each player places his adventure
deck on the table.
*
* Determine randomly who goes
first.
*
* First player plays site 1.
*
* Each player puts his player
marker on site 1.
*
* Each player places his starting
fellowship on the table.
*
* Each player shuffles his draw
deck and draws 8 cards.
*
PLAYING THE GAME
Each player, going clockwise
around the table, takes a turn according to the following turn sequence.
1. Fellowship Phase
2. Shadow Phase
3. Maneuver Phase
4. Archery Phase
5. Assignment Phase
6. Skirmish Phase(s)
7. Regroup Phase
When one player finishes his turn,
the next player in clockwise rotation (to his left) takes a turn and so on.
Although the turn order rotates to
the left (clockwise), note that many other procedures in the game actually
rotate to the right (counter-clockwise).
TURN SEQUENCE
When your turn begins, remove all
tokens from the twilight pool. (The pool begins the game empty, so this is not
necessary on the first turn of the game.)
Then you may complete any "at
the start of each of your turns" actions. Each of these actions may be
performed only once per turn.
1. FELLOWSHIP PHASE
During your fellowship phase, you
may perform fellowship actions including playing most Free Peoples cards.
Finally, move your fellowship forward along the adventure path.
Perform fellowship actions
If you are the Free Peoples
player, you may perform fellowship actions during this phase, in any order.
Two fellowship actions are always
available:
* Play a Free Peoples companion,
ally, possession, artifact, or condition from your hand to the table.
*
* Spot a unique companion or
unique ally with at least one wound and discard a card from your hand with the
same card title (it may have a different subtitle) to heal that character.
*
A unique card has a dot („) in
its card title.
You may find other fellowship
actions on events in your hand, or as special abilities on cards you already
have in play.
Paying costs
To play a Free Peoples card, add a
number of twilight tokens to the twilight pool equal to the card's twilight
cost.
Playing companions
Play companion cards in a row,
near the other members of your fellowship already in play.
You may not play a card from your
hand to replace another card in play, even if those cards have the same card
title or represent the same personality.
Playing possessions
Play Free Peoples possessions
under a character, with the left edge of the card visible for its card title and
attribute bonuses (modifiers for the character's strength and/or vitality,
written with a plus sign like "+2"). Some possessions play to your
support area (a row of cards behind your fellowship.
Class
Each character may bear one
possession or artifact of each class at one time. For example, a character may
bear only one hand weapon, only one ranged weapon, only one armor, only one
cloak, and only one staff.
Some artifacts and possessions do
not have a class. There is no limit to the number of artifacts and possessions
without a class that a character may bear.
Playing conditions
Play Free Peoples conditions
either under a character (like a possession, if the card says, "Bearer must
be...") or toyour support area, as indicated in the game text of the
condition card.
Moving your fellowship
During each of your fellowship
phases, when you are finished performing fellowship actions, your fellowship
must move forward to the next site on the adventure path.
All players use the same adventure
path for their player markers. The cards that make up that path are taken from
the adventure decks of the players. There is only one site 1 in play (on the
adventure path), one site 2, and so on.
A new site is added to the path
only when a player's fellowship is ready to move to the next site and there is
no site card available on the adventure path for that move.
How to move
Place your player marker on the
next site on the adventure path. If there is no site there yet (as is the case
for the first player in the first turn), then a new site must be played from one
of the Shadow players' adventure decks.
Place new sites in order by their
site number. When the first player moves for the first time, place a site with
the site number of 2.
To determine which player places
the new site on the adventure path, look at the site you are moving from. Each
site has an arrow at the bottom center of the card. This indicates who is to
play the new site, with ą meaning the Shadow player to your right and ß
meaning the Shadow player to your left. (In a two-player game, there is only one
Shadow player at a time, so that player always plays the new site.)
When you move your player marker
to the next site first perform any actions triggered by leaving the old site.
Then perform actions that say, "When the fellowship moves..." Finally,
perform actions that occur when moving to the new site. This includes adding
tokens to the twilight pool equal to the Shadow number on the site you moved to.
In addition, for each companion in
your fellowship, you must add one token to the twilight pool each time your
fellowship moves.
Movement Summary
* Shadow player places the next
site card if needed.
*
* Move your player marker to the
next site.
*
* Perform "When you move
from..." actions on the site you are moving from.
*
* Perform "When the
fellowship moves..." actions.
*
* Perform "When you move
to..." actions on the site you are moving to.
*
* Add twilight tokens equal to the
new site's Shadow number.
*
* Add one twilight token for each
companion.
*
2. SHADOW PHASE(S)
Each other player in the game,
starting with the player immediately to your right, has one Shadow phase.
During each player's Shadow phase,
that player may perform Shadow actions, including playing most Shadow cards.
Each Shadow player may perform Shadow actions in any order desired during his or
her Shadow phase.
Perform Shadow actions
There is one Shadow action that is
always available:
* Play a Shadow minion,
possession, artifact, or condition from your hand to the table.
*
Each Shadow player may perform any
Shadow actions during his Shadow phase. When he has completed all of the Shadow
actions he wishes to perform, the next Shadow player to his right (if any) then
performs a Shadow phase.
Playing Shadow cards
A minion is played to the center
of the table, across from the active fellowship. Artifacts, possessions, and
conditions state in their game text where they play. The Shadow player must
remove twilight tokens from the twilight pool as required when playing Shadow
cards.
A Shadow player may not play a
Shadow condition or possession on another Shadow player's minion or to another
player's support area. However, Shadow cards may give bonuses or other game
effects to other players' Shadow cards, and Shadow players may play events for
other players' Shadow cards as appropriate.
A Shadow player's minion may
receive a strength bonus from another Shadow player's condition.
Each minion is normally played to
a certain range of sites beginning with the minion's site number. Thus, if the
minion is played to (or currently at) a site that has a lower site number, that
minion is roaming. The player must pay a roaming penalty by removing an
additional two twilight tokens when playing that minion.
A minion with a site number of 4
must remove 2 more twilight tokens to play at site 3 (or site 3T). If that same
minion plays to site 4 (or site 4T), there is no roaming penalty. If he survives
the fellowship's first move to 3, he would no longer be roaming when the
fellowship moves to site 4.
When the first Shadow player
completes his Shadow phase, the next Shadow player does so. All Shadow players
pay for cards by using the same twilight pool. The second Shadow player uses
twilight tokens left over from the first Shadow player, and so on.
When all Shadow players have each
completed a Shadow phase, it is time for the maneuver phase. (If there are no
minions in play at the end of the final Shadow phase, then skip directly to the
regroup phase.)
3. MANEUVER PHASE
There are no cards in your starter
deck that use this phase. Skip the maneuver phase.
4. ARCHERY PHASE
During your archery phase, you and
your opponents conduct archery fire.
Archery fire
All Shadow players count the
number of all their minions with the keyword archer to determine the
"minion archery total." No matter how many Shadow players there are,
there is only one minion archery total.
As the Free Peoples player, you
also count the number of your Free Peoples archer companions to determine the
"fellowship archery total."
There is always a
"default" archery total of zero for each side. A card may add to your
archery total even though you have no archers in play at that time.
You must then assign a number of
wounds equal to the minion archery total to your companions (and participating
allies) in any way you wish.
After you have assigned archery
wounds, you choose one Shadow player who must then assign a number of wounds
equal to the fellowship archery total to his minions in any way he wishes.
Since these tokens are assigned as
wounds and not from exertion, any player may assign enough wounds to kill his
own minion or companion.
Wounds are assigned one at a time,
so a character may not have more wounds assigned than that character's vitality.
Ignore any leftover wounds that cannot be assigned.
If there are no minions left after
the archery phase, then skip directly to the regroup phase.
Archery Phase Summary
* Determine archery totals for
each side.
*
* Free Peoples player assigns
archery wounds to his companions (and participating allies).
*
* Free Peoples player chooses one
Shadow player.
*
* That Shadow player assigns
archery wounds to his minions.
*
5. ASSIGNMENT PHASE
During your assignment phase, you
may assign companions to defend against attacking minions. When the assignment
phase is complete, each companion being attacked will lead to a separate
skirmish phase.
Assign defenders
You may now assign companions to
defend against attacking minions in any order (without needing events or special
abilities). A player may not assign more than one companion to the same minion.
Frodo and Aragorn face a single
Uruk-hai. The Free Peoples player assigns Aragorn to the Uruk-hai, protecting
Frodo from harm. He may not assign both companions to the Uruk-hai.
When the Free Peoples player
assigns one of his characters to skirmish a minion with the keyword ambush (X),
the Shadow player who owns that minion may add (X).
If your Southron with ambush (2)
is assigned by the Free Peoples player, you may add two tokens to the
twilight pool.
All assignments of characters are
on a one-to-one basis, with the following two exceptions:
* If your assigned companion has
the keyword defender +1, you may assign that character at this time to one
additional unassigned minion. Defender +2 allows that companion to defend
against two additional unassigned minions, and so on. A character with defender
+2 (or greater) satisfies any requirement for defender +1.
*
Frodo and Aragorn face two
Uruk-hai. The Free Peoples player could assign Aragorn to one and Frodo to the
other. However, Aragorn has defender +1, so he may be assigned to defend against
both minions, leaving Frodo again unharmed.
* When you complete the assignment
of companions, the Shadow players may assign any unassigned minions to any
companions (even if those companions are already assigned). The first Shadow
player on your right may assign any of his unassigned minions, and so on,
counter-clockwise around the table.
*
Frodo and Aragorn face four
Uruk-hai. The Free Peoples player uses Aragorn's defender +1 and assigns him to
defend against two minions. He assigns Frodo to another. This leaves one
unassigned Uruk-hai, so the Shadow player assigns the last minion to Frodo,
trying to kill the Ring-bearer.
Assignment Phase Summary
* Free Peoples player may assign
defending companions to minions.
*
* Shadow players may assign
leftover unassigned minions to any defending companions.
*
6. SKIRMISH PHASE(S)
When the assignment phase is
complete, each defending companion will fight in a separate skirmish phase. In
an order decided by the Free Peoples player, skirmishes are resolved one at a
time by conducting a skirmish phase for each.
During each skirmish phase,
players may perform skirmish actions, and then that skirmish must be resolved.
All skirmish actions must be complete before proceeding to resolve the skirmish.
Once a skirmish phase has
finished, the Free Peoples player must select another skirmish, if any, and
perform another skirmish phase.
Perform skirmish actions
Players may perform skirmish
actions (special abilities oncards in play with "Skirmish:" and events
with that keyword) using the action procedure.
Action Procedure
As the Free Peoples player, you
get the first opportunity to perform an action, and then the player on your
right gets an opportunity, and so on counter-clockwise around the table.
If a player does not wish to
perform an action, he may simply pass. Passing does not prevent a player from
performing an action later in the same phase.
Each skirmish action lasts only
for a single skirmish. When all players consecutively pass, proceed to resolve
that skirmish.
Resolve that skirmish
If the total strength of one side
is more than the strength of the other side, the side with the most strength
wins that skirmish. (If there is a tie, the Shadow side wins.) Place one wound
on each character on the losing side.
If Aragorn, with strength of 8,
faces two Orcs, each with strength of 3 (total strength of 6), then Aragorn wins
that skirmish and each losing Orc takes one wound.
When the winning side has one or
more characters with the keyword damage +1, then each losing character takes one
additional wound for each damage +1. (Damage +2 adds two wounds, and so on.)
This is called a damage bonus, which may be added to or removed by various
effects.
To continue the above example, if
Aragorn has damage +1, then each Orc takes two wounds.
But if both Orcs have damage +1
and strength of 4 (thus winning the skirmish with combined strength of 8), then
Aragorn takes three wounds instead.
If the total strength of one side
is at least double the total strength of the other side, all the characters on
the losing side are killed (regardless of how many wounds or how much vitality
each has). This is also called being overwhelmed. When a character is
overwhelmed, that character does not take any more wounds - he simply dies.
When the Ring-bearer is
overwhelmed, he is killed, regardless of whether he wears the Ring. The One
Ring's ability to convert wounds into burdens does not protect him from being
overwhelmed, since no wounds are placed.
A skirmish phase ends after all
actions triggered by winning or losing that skirmish have resolved.
A surviving minion or companion
may skirmish again this turn if the fellowship makes another move (or if the
minion has the keyword fierce).
Skirmish Phase Summary
* Free Peoples player chooses a
skirmish.
*
* Players perform skirmish
actions.
*
* Resolve that skirmish and assign
wounds.
*
* If any skirmishes are
unresolved, repeat this procedure.
*
FIERCE
After all the normal skirmishes
are resolved, surviving minions with the keyword fierce must be defended against
a second time.
Players perform another assignment
phase and then complete a separate skirmish phase for each fierce skirmish.
Assignment Phase (Fierce)
The Free Peoples player assigns
defenders using the same procedure as before, and then Shadow players assign any
fierce minions that remain unassigned.
Skirmish Phase(s) (Fierce)
When the assignment phase for
fierce minions is complete, each defending companionwill fight in a separate
skirmish phase. The procedure for each of these skirmish phases is the same as
for a normal skirmish phase.
Aragorn is assigned to defend
against a fierce Uruk-hai. In the normal skirmish phase, Aragorn wins and the
Uruk-hai takes one wound. During the following fierce skirmish phase, the Free
Peoples player may once more assign a companion to defend against the Uruk-hai.
This companion may be Aragorn or may be a different companion.
Only when all skirmishes (both
normal and fierce)have been resolved do the players move on to the regroup
phase.
7. REGROUP PHASE
During the regroup phase, each
Shadow player reconciles his hand. Then, the Free Peoples player decides whether
to end his turn now or move again this turn.
Shadow players reconcile
Each Shadow player must reconcile
his hand to eight cards, as follows:
* He may first discard one card
from his hand.
*
* If he then has less than eight
cards in his hand, he must draw cards until he has eight.
*
* Otherwise (when he has more than
eight cards in his hand), he must discard from his hand until he has only eight.
*
Free Peoples player chooses
At the end of the regroup phase,
if you are the Free Peoples player, you must select one of the following two
choices:
* Move the fellowship to the next
site (allowing the proper Shadow player to place a new site if needed), add
tokens to the twilight pool (both for the Shadow number of the new site and for
the number of companions in the fellowship), and return to the Shadow phase(s).
*
* Or, reconcile your hand (just as
the Shadow players did above). Then the Shadow players discard all minions in
play (and cards borne by them), and your turn ends.
*
Move limit
During each of your turns, your
fellowship must move once, and may move a number of times up to your move limit.
In a two- or three-player game,
your move limit is two. In agame with four or more players, your move limit is
equal to the number of your opponents when the game begins. During your regroup
phase, you may decide to make another move, subject to the limit above.
WINNING THE GAME
A player wins the game when his
fellowship is at site 9 and his Ring-bearer survives all skirmish phases. The
game ends, and there is no regroup phase on the last turn.
A player wins the game when he
becomes the last player left in the game (see below).
Losing the Game
A player loses the game if his
Frodo is killed and Sam is not part of his fellowship to carry on as
Ring-bearer. (Alternately, if Sam has become your Ring-bearer, you lose the game
when Sam is killed.)
A player also loses the game if
his Ring-bearer becomes corrupted. If the Ring-bearer has a number of burdens on
his card equal to his resistance, he is corrupted.
A burden is a black token (like a
twilight token) that is placed on your Ring-bearer (usually Frodo). There are
many cards that add or remove burdens. Burdens are only placed on your
Ring-bearer.
There are also card effects that
can corrupt the Ring-bearer, regardless of how many burdens he might have.
If a player loses a game and there
are at least two other players remaining, remove his player marker and all of
his cards from play (and discard any opponent's cards that were on them).
Remove his sites on the adventure
path in numerical order, and replace each one with an opponent's corresponding
site, in counter-clockwise order starting with the player on his right.
The other players complete the
losing player's turn.
OTHER IMPORTANT RULES
ACTIVE CARDS
During your turn, only these cards
are active:
* the sites on the adventure path,
*
* your Free Peoples cards, and
*
* your opponents' Shadow cards.
*
All other cards are inactive.
Inactive cards are not affected by the game and do not affect the game.
Your companions and your
opponent's minions are active. Your opponents' companions are not.
Exception: Cards borne by active
cards are active and cards borne by inactive cards are inactive.
An opponent's Shadow condition on
another opponent's companion is not active because that companion is not.
You may not play another copy of a
unique card that is already in play and currently active.
Sites are always active. A site's
game text may not be used unless the fellowship is there, although some cards
may copy and use that game text.
If the game text of a site has a
Shadow special ability, you may use that special ability only when the active
fellowship is at that site and you are a Shadow player.
Exception: Site text is not active
when the starting fellowships are played.
UNIQUENESS
Unique cards
Many character, possession, and
artifact cards represent a thing that there is only one of. Such a card has a
dot („) before the card title, to tell you that only one of that card may be
active and in play at a time.
You may have only one card with
the card title of „Gandalf in play at one time. Other players may also have a
card with the title of „Gandalf in play, but only one is allowed per player.
Two cards represent the same thing
if they have the same card title (even if their subtitles or collector's info
are different) or they have the same collector's info (even if their titles and
subtitles are different).
For Shadow cards, if a copy of a
unique card is already in play and active, you may not play another card that
has the same title (regardless of subtitles).
You may not play a card from your
hand to replace another card in play, even if those cards have the same card
title or represent the same personality.
Non-unique cards
All cards that do not have a dot („)
before their card title are non-unique. This means that all players may have
many copies of those cards in play at one time.
Most conditions are non-unique,
and you may have multiple copies of these conditions in play at one time. The
effects of these cards are cumulative.
RESPONSES
A special ability or event labeled
with the word "Response:" indicates that you may perform that action
whenever the trigger described in its game text happens.
A response action is not a phase
action (because there is no "response phase").
THE ONE RING
Frodo always begins the game as
your Ring-bearer. He bears The One Ring for you, much as when he carried the
Ring in his pocket or on a chain around his neck.
When can he put on the Ring?
The Ruling Ring, the version of
The One Ring in your starter deck, has a "Response:" special ability.
It can be used during any skirmish phase, even one that doesn't involve your
Ring-bearer. Before you place a wound token on your Ring-bearer, you may tell
your opponent that your Ring-bearer is putting on The Ruling Ring instead.
When you use the special ability
on The One Ring, your Ring-bearer "wears" the Ring. Using this special
ability on The One Ring is optional.
Remember, wounds are always placed
on a character one at a time. Once activated, this special ability continues to
be in effect as long as your Ring-bearer wears The Ruling Ring.
Your Ring-bearer cannot put on the
Ring to save himself from being overwhelmed. When he is overwhelmed, no wounds
are taken and he is killed.
What happens while he wears the
Ring?
While your Ring-bearer wears The
Ruling Ring, each time he is about to take a wound, a burden is added instead.
While wearing the Ring, your
Ring-bearer can perform all normal actions such as moving and skirmishing. He
may defend against attacking minions as usual.
There are special Shadow cards
with powerful effects that can only be played while your Ring-bearer wears the
Ring.
How does he become corrupted?
If your Ring-bearer ever has as
many burdens as his resistance (usually 10), he becomes corrupted and you lose
the game.
Your Ring-bearer may also become
corrupted by a card effect. This takes effect immediately, regardless of how
many burdens are currently on your Ring-bearer.
How does he take the Ring off?
At the start of the regroup phase,
your Ring-bearer takes off the Ring and simply carries it again.
What happens when he is killed?
If your Ring-bearer is killed
(even if he is overwhelmed), you lose the game.
Exception: Sam has a special
ability on his card that is a response action you may use when Frodo is killed
(not corrupted). If Sam is in play at that moment, this allows you to transfer
the Ring to Sam, and then he becomes your Ring-bearer.
KEYWORDS
Each card has one or more keywords
that identify it. Most keywords are unloaded keywords, with no special rules
(although they may be referenced by other cards). Keywords with rules are called
loaded keywords. Find the explanation for each loaded keyword with the index.
Unloaded keywords
Class (such as staff or hand
weapon) and race (such as Man, Elf, Ent, Orc, Uruk-hai, or Wizard) are unloaded
keywords.
The race of "Man"
includes women of the appropriate culture. A possession that requires a [Ro] Man
bearer may be borne by a [Ro] female character who has the race of
"Man."
Note that in The Lord of the Rings
TCG, Uruk-hai is a different race from Orc.
Sites have unloaded keywords like
battleground, forest, mountain, plains, river, and underground. Other unloaded
keywords include Easterling, machine, ranger, search, Southron, spell, stealth,
tale, tracker, valiant, and villager.
Loaded keywords
Card types (such as Minion or
Event) are loaded keywords. Other loaded keywords include ambush, archer, damage
+1, defender +1, fierce, Ring-bearer, and sanctuary. (Unhasty is another loaded
keyword explained in the Deluxe Rulebook.)
Ring-bound and unbound. Only
companions can be unbound or Ring-bound (not allies or minions). Any companion
without the Ring-bound keyword is an unbound companion.
Exception: All versions of Frodo
and Sam are Ring-bound.
MISCELLANEOUS
Discard
The default meaning of the word
"discard" is "discard from play." Discarding from other
locations (such as from your hand or from the top of your draw deck) is always
specified.
Playing cards from your draw deck
Some cards allow you to play a
card directly from your draw deck or discard pile. You must still pay any costs
and meet requirements necessary for playing that card.
When you finish looking through
your draw deck, reshuffle it and give the player to your right the opportunity
to cut it.
Spot
The word spot sets up a
requirement for playing a card or using a special ability in conjunction with a
noun such as, "To play, spot an Elf." This is equivalent to, "An
Elf must be in play and active for you to play this card."
Cards in your dead pile are active
during your turn, but they're not in play. You can't spot a card in your dead
pile.
Normally, you don't have to spot
all the cards in play that meet the requirement if you don't want to.
If a card says, "for each Elf
you spot" and there are 2 Elves in play (and active), you may choose to
spot 2 Elves, 1 Elf, or none.
However, if a card says, "you
can spot," that means you don't have a choice and you have to spot anything
and everything that meets the requirement.
If a card says, "While you
can spot an Uruk-hai, the fellowship archery total is -1" then you can't
make any choice (it either works or it doesn't).
CONTACTING DECIPHER
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The information in this document
is copyrighted by Decipher Inc. 2002; however, it can be freely disseminated
online or by traditional publishing means as long as it is not altered and all
copyright notices are attached.