Learn to Play Introduction “You Have Done Well to Come,” Said Elrond

Learn to Play Introduction “You have done well to come,” said Elrond. “You will hear today all that you need to understand the purpose of the Enemy. There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it. But you do not stand alone. You will learn that your trouble is but part of the trouble of all the western world.” —from the chapter“The Council of Elrond” The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring

Welcome to Middle-earth, a land of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Wizards, and Men. From the bright towns and fields of the Shire, to the The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is a wilds of Mirkwood Forest and Rhovanion, cooperative game in which players work and to the powerful kingdoms of Gondor and together to complete a scenario. During each Rohan, the various peoples of this land struggle game, the players attempt to overcome the against the foul minions and the ancient, evil particular encounters, enemies, and challenges threat of the Dark Lord, Sauron. of a scenario, against which they either win or lose together. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game can be played solo or as a two-player Game Overview game using only the contents of this core set. Up The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is to four players can play the game cooperatively a game of heroes, perilous journeys, and with a second copy of the core set. adventure set in the lands described in the epic fantasy masterpiece created by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings. During this game, players assume the role of a party of heroes The Living Card Game who are attempting to complete dangerous The Lord of the Rings: The Card quests. These quests occur during a timespan of Game is a Living Card Game®, and 17 years: from when Bilbo celebrated his 111th the enjoyment and experience of the birthday (and Frodo celebrated his 33rd birthday) game can be customized and enhanced to days just prior to Frodo’s leaving the Shire. through the purchase of regularly Instead of directly retelling the classic stories released 60 card expansions called that have previously been narrated, this game Adventure Packs. Each Adventure Pack provides players with a variety of elements— provides players with new options and characters, settings, enemies, events, items, strategies for their decks as well as an artifacts, and scenarios—that allow them to entirely new scenario against which to embark upon new adventures and share new play. Additionally, deluxe expansions experiences with the beloved The Lord of the introduce new areas of Middle-earth in Rings characters and settings during this period which players can journey, explore, and of Middle-earth history. seek new adventures.

2 Components

Flies and spiders B 1 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD

The nastiest things they saw were the cobwebs: dark dense cobwebs with threads extraordinarily thick, often stretched from tree to tree, or 8 ‰ H orn of tangled in the lower branches on either side of them. There were none 1 1 gondor stretched across the path, but whether because some magic kept it clear, or for what other reason they could not guess. –The Hobbit 48 1 sHAdow ESCAPE FROM DOL kGULDUREy

TTAC 1 Illus. 2 A

k EA

n 2 s 10 Quest Cards 0 3

‰ dEnETHor Item. Artifact. 2 5/14 AttachGondor. to a hero.Noble. Restricted. Steward. Action: Put 1 ally card into play from your Action: ResponseExhaust Denethor: After a characterto look at isthe destroyed, top add 1 goBlin snipEr hand. At the end of the phase, if that ally is card of theresource encounter to attached deck. Youhero’s may pool. move that Guarded. Restricted. Item. 15/15 still in play, return it to your hand. Goblin. Orc. card to ‘Slowthe bottom should you of bethe to deck.wind that horn again, Boromir,’ said Action: Raise your threat by 2 to claim this 12 Hero Cards There is a seed of courage hidden (often deeply, it is true) During the encounter phase, players cannot Elrond, ‘until you stand once more on the borders of your objective when it is free of encounters. When in the heart“And of the the fattest Lord Denethorand most timidis unlike hobbit, other waiting men: he sees far.” optionally engage Goblin Sniper if there are other land, and dire need is on you.’ –The Fellowship of the Ring claimed, attach Shadow Key to a hero you control. for some final and desperate –The Fellowship danger–Beregond, to makeof The the it Return Ringgrow. of the King enemies in the staging area. (Counts as an attachment. If detached, return Shadow Key to the staging area.) Forced: If Goblin Sniper is in the staging area at the end of Forcedthe combat: At the phase, end of each each player round, deals attached 1 hero EvEnTHEro 23 point of damagesuffers 1to damage. 1 character he controls. Illus. TizianoIllus. Mark Baracchi Winters ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG ©2010 Middle-earth EnterprisesATTACH ©2010 FFG mEnT 10 Illus. Winona Nelson ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG EnEomyBJECTivE Illus. Nicholas Cloister 83 42 ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG Illus. Alexandr Shaldin ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 120 Player Cards 110 84 Encounter Cards

First Player Token 26 Progress Tokens 40 Damage Tokens 30 Resource Tokens

Online Rules Reference The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is supported by a living, online Rules Reference that contains a glossary of all game terms and game rules, including detailed rules clarifications and a comprehensive turn sequence 2 Threat Dials chart. Due to the wealth of effects and interactions that can occur during the game, answers to questions that arise Dial Assembly may not be addressed in this Learn To Play booklet. It is advised that players regularly consult the online Rules Reference to find answers to any rules questions they have. The online Rules Reference can be found at fantasyflightgames.com/lotrlcg.

3 Key Concepts Threat Dial This section introduces a number of Each player has a threat dial which represents foundational concepts to keep in mind while the risk his or her heroes have endured learning and playing the game. during the scenario. Game effects can cause a player’s threat to increase or decrease. When Heroes this happens, the player adjusts his or her dial accordingly. The number displayed on a Heroes are the main characters 12 2 player’s threat dial is sometimes referred to as that players control during the 3 2 that player’s threat level. game. Heroes are represented by hero cards and players 5 ‰ ArAgorn Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. Sentinel. Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, use them to attack, defend, spend 1 resource from his resource pool to ready him. “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of quest, and acquire the Ring

Illus. John Stanko HEro ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG resources. Each player will 1 begin the game with one to three hero cards faceup in his or her play area. Player Decks Threat Dial Each player has a deck that corresponds to his or her heroes. A player’s deck contains allies, Winning the Game: events, and a variety of weapons and items. Completing Quests During the game, a player draws cards from The quest deck tracks the player’s progress this deck and spends resources to play those towards the completion of their adventure. cards, each of which can aid the heroes on During the game, players place progress tokens their adventure. onto quest cards in an attempt to advance to the next stage of the quest. If any number of players survive and advance through all stages of the quest, all players win the game! Losing the Game: Player Elimination Middle-earth is a dangerous place, and it is possible for a player to succumb to the danger and be eliminated from the game. A player is eliminated from the game if that player’s threat dial reaches “50” or if all of that player’s heroes are destroyed. If all players are eliminated from the game before completing the last stage of the quest, the players have lost the game.

4 Ready and Exhausted Each card in play exists in one of two states: Spheres of Influence ready or exhausted. A ready card indicates Most player cards in Lord of the Rings: that the card is available to be used. All cards The Card Game are from one of the enter play in their ready state. A player cannot four spheres of influence. A card’s exhaust a card that is currently exhausted sphere indicates which resources a and cannot use the card for any function that player can spend to pay for that card. requires the card to exhaust until the card Each sphere is represented by an icon readies. Players ready all of their exhausted that is presented on the right side of cards during the refresh phase, which is ally, attachment, and event cards and described later. the lower-left corner of hero cards. Each sphere has a distinct identity and play style and is represented by an icon 9

4 and color. 1 Illus. but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver; may be triggered by each player once round. Éowyn +1 Ò until the end of phase. This effect Action : Discard 1 card from your hand to give

1 Gabrielle Portal of kings. –The Two Towers 4 1 1 3 9

3 ‰ É HE ro ‰ Éowyn owyn of leadership emphasizes Noble. Rohan. Action: Discard 1 card from your hand to give Éowyn +1 Ò until the end of the phase. This effect may be triggered by each player once each round. a hero’s charisma and Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver; but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter

of kings. –The Two Towers 7

Creating Decks Lore Î: The sphere of lore and Scenarios for emphasizes the potential of a the First Game hero’s mind, particularly that When playing The Lord of the Rings: hero’s wisdom, experience, The Card Game for the first time, it is and specialized knowledge. recommended that players use one of the core set’s four starter decks and the “Passage Spirit Ê: The sphere of spirit Through Mirkwood” scenario. emphasizes the strength of To construct the decks for the first game, a hero’s will, particularly players gather the cards described on the next that hero’s determination, page. The lower-right corner of each card has resilience, courage, loyalty, a number that can be used to help identify and heart. the card. Tactics Ï: The sphere For future games, players may continue to play of tactics emphasizes a with these starter decks, or they may customize hero’s martial prowess, their own decks and choose from multiple particularly that hero’s scenarios as described in the “Deckbuilding” combat effectiveness and and “Scenario” sections on pages 25–27 of tactical mastery. this book.

5 Player Decks Scenario and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game core set Encounter Deck contains the following four starter decks: “Passage Through Mirkwood” is the game’s Leadership Deck introductory scenario. To set up this scenario, take the quest cards “Flies and Spiders” The Leadership deck is an all-purpose deck with (119), “A Fork in the Road” (120), “A Chosen tools for a wide range of situations. This deck also Path” (121), and the other “A Chosen Path” contains a number of cards that can be used to (122) and arrange them as a four-card deck as assist and support the other players in the game. shown below. Heroes: Aragorn, Théodred, Glóin Cards: All copies of cards numbered 13–27 Flies and spiders a Stage Indicator and one copy of card 73. 1 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD

athhosen path hosen pa C a Fork in the road actics eck a aC a lies T D PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD F and a 2 1 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD spiders 3 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD 3a The Tactics deck is all about combat, and is well-suited for both attacking and defending.

As you move throughYou are Mirkwood,traveling through hounded Mirkwood by spiders, Forest, the forest carrying path an forks urgent message The trail windsYoubefore into are oneyou… oftraveling fromthe darkest, King Thranduil most through tangled to the parts Lady Mirkwood of Galadriel the forest... of Lórien. Forest, As you move carrying along the an urgent message The deck uses weapons and armor to bolster dark trail, the spiders gather around you... The trail windsYou into sense one fromof that the a darkest, foul, King dark most presence Thranduil tangled is parts hunting of the you, to forest... andthe you Lady move quickly Galadriel in of Lórien. As you move along the an attempt to avoid its evil.Setup: Search the encounter deck for 1 copy of the Forest Spider and 1 copy You sense that a foul, darkdark presence trail, is huntingof thethe Old you, spidersForest and you Road, move andgather quickly add them in around to the staging you... area. Then, shuffle the its heroes so they can go toe-to-toe with the an attempt to avoid its evil. encounter deck. ??? ???

Illus.©2010Ben Middle-earth Zweifel Enterprises©2010 Middle-earth ©2010 FFG Enterprises ©2010 FFG Setup:Illus. Yoann Boissonnet Search theIllus. Ben encounter Zweifel deck for120 1 copy of the Forest Spider and 1 copy ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG Yoann Boissonnet Illus. enemies of Middle-earth. of the Old Forest Road, and add them to the119 staging area. Then, shuffle the encounter deck. Quest cards always begin with Heroes: Gimli, Legolas, Thalin Illus. Ben Zweifel ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 119 Stage “A” sides placed faceup. Cards: All copies of cards numbered 28–42 and one copy of card 73. Each scenario has a unique encounter deck Spirit Deck as depicted by the set icons presented on the Flies and spiders scenario’sa quest card. The Spirit deck focuses on its characters’ 1 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD

willpower and their ability to successfully Flies and spiders a explore locations and make progress on their 1 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD quest. It is also well-suited for resisting the various threats of the encounter deck. You are traveling through Mirkwood Forest, carrying an urgent message from King Thranduil to the Lady Galadriel of Lórien. As you move along the dark trail, the spiders gather around you... You are traveling through Mirkwood Forest, carrying an urgent message Setup: Search the encounter deck for 1 copy of the Forest Spider and 1 copy Heroes: Éowyn, Eleanor, Dúnhere from Kingof the Old Thranduil Forest Road, and toadd themthe toLady the staging Galadriel area. Then, shuffle of theLórien. As you move along the dark trail,encounter the deck. spiders gather around you... Encounter Cards: All copies of cards numbered 43–57 Illus. Ben Zweifel ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 119 Setup: Search the encounter deck for 1 copy of the Forest SpiderSet and Icons 1 copy and one copy of card 73. of the Old Forest Road, and add them to the staging area. Then, shuffle the encounter deck. Lore Deck Illus. Ben Zweifel ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 119 For the “Passage Through Mirkwood” scenario, The Lore deck is good at keeping its characters gather all encounter cards that contain the set alive, and providing the player a variety of icons listed below. This consists of cards 74–80, options for each situation with powerful card and 89–100. draw effects. This deck rewards players who anticipate threats and are prepared to meet those threats when they emerge.

Heroes: Denethor, Glorfindel, Beravor These are the set icons for the Cards: All copies of cards numbered 58–72 “Passage Through Mirkwood” and one copy of card 73. scenario. 6 Setup 4. Determine First Player: Select a first player. That player takes the first player To set up a game of The Lord of the Rings: token and places it in his or her play The Card Game, perform the following steps area. If players cannot decide who should in order. be the first player, determine a first 1. Shuffle Decks: Shuffle the encounter deck player randomly. and each player deck separately. Do not 5. Draw Starting Hand: Each player draws shuffle the hero cards into the player decks, six cards from the top of his or her deck. If and do not shuffle the quest cards into the a player does not wish to keep this starting encounter deck. hand, that player may shuffle the six cards 2. Place Heroes and Set Threat Levels: back into his or her deck and draw another Each player places their heroes in their set of six cards. A player must keep the own play area, adds together the threat cost second set of six cards as a starting hand. of each of their own heroes, and sets their 6. Place Quest Cards: Place the quest cards threat dial to that value. for the scenario near the encounter deck. The quest cards are arranged as described Threat Cost 11 11 2 in the “Scenario and Encounter Deck” 2 2 section, with the stage “1A” side on 2 5 top and each subsequent card beneath it ‰ gimli 2 Dwarf. Noble. Warrior. Gimli gets +1 Û for each damage token on him. increasing in sequence. “Men need many words before deeds. My axe is restless in my hands.” –The Two Towers 2 HEro 7. Perform Scenario Setup Instructions: Illus. Tony Foti ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 4 Perform the “Setup” instructions presented 3. Create Token Bank: Place the damage, on the stage “1A” quest card. Then, flip the progress, and resource5 tokens in separate card to the stage “1B” side. The game is piles next to the encounter deck.‰ gimli now ready to begin. Dwarf. Noble. Warrior. Gimli gets +1 Û for each damage token on him. “Men need many words before deeds. My axe is restless in my hands.” –The Two Towers grEAT forEsT wEB EnCHAnTEd sTrEAm 20 2 2 2 "don't leave the path!" B 3 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD HA dow 3 s THE 1 nd E r u

2 3 0 2 6/12 2/12 13/14 7/15 Forest. king spidEr The shadows grow darker, and you realize that a foul presence is Forest. HEro aiming to draw you from the path. You must defeat it to pass this way. Travel: Each player must exhaust 1 hero he Creature. Spider. While Enchanted Stream is the active When Revealed: Until the end of the phase, raise controls to travel here. When Revealed: Each player must search the encounter deck and location, players cannot draw cards. the total $ in the staging area by X, where X is the When Revealed: Each player must choose and discard pile for 1 Spider card of his choice, and add it to the number of players in the game. As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made with spider- exhaust 1 character he controls. “There is one stream there, I know, black and strong webs one behind and over and tangled with another. Illus. Tony Foti ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprisesstaging ©2010 area. FFG 4 which crosses the path. That you should neither drink of, –The Hobbit nor bathe in; for I have heard that it carries enchantment The players must find and defeat Ungoliant’s Spawn to win this game. and a great drowsiness and forgetfulness.” Shadow: Defending player must choose and Illus. Ben Zweifel ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 121 –Beorn, The Hobbit Shadow: Defending player raises his threat by the exhaust 1 character he controls. (2 characters number of enemies with which he is engaged. instead if this attack is undefended.)

loCATion EnEmy loCATion TREACHERY Illus. Jason Ward ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 77 Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 Quest Illus. Ben Zweifel ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 95 Illus. Igor Kieryluk ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 104 Staging Area Active Encounter Encounter Location Deck Discard Engaged Enemies

10 35

2 2 2 3 0 1

3 5 1/14 6/14 dol guldur orCs dol guldur BEAsTmAsTEr Dol Guldur. Orc. Dol Guldur. Orc. When Revealed: The first player chooses 1 Forced: When Dol Guldur Beastmaster attacks, First Player character currently committed to a quest. Deal 2 deal it 1 additional shadow card. Token damage to that character.

Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +1 Û. (+3 Û instead if this attack is undefended.) EnEmy EnEmy Token Bank Illus. Anna Christenson ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 89 Illus. David Lecossu ©2012 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2012 FFG 91 (One player, mid-game)

11 8 12 3 1

2 1 3 1 2 1 3 0 E in T 2 3 1 0 f Suggested Play Area 5 3 5 1 imli EnETHor lorfindEl ‰ g ‰ d ‰ g dAugHTEr of THE nimrodEl

Dwarf. Noble. Warrior. Gondor. Noble. Steward. Noble. Noldor. Warrior. Silvan. Combat Action: Choose an enemy engaged Action: Pay 1 resource from Glorfindel’s pool Gimli gets +1 Û for each damage token on Action: Exhaust Denethor to look at the top Action: Exhaust Daughter of the Nimrodel to heal with a player. That enemy cannot attack that to heal 1 damage on any character. (Limit once him. card of the encounter deck. You may move that up to 2 damage on any 1 hero. player this phase. card to the bottom of the deck. per round.) “Men need many words before deeds. My axe is restless in “Here is Nimrodel! Of this stream the Silvan Elves made my hands.” –The Two Towers A few brave men were strung before them to make a feint “And the Lord Denethor is unlike other men: he sees far.” “You saw him for a moment as he is upon the other side: many songs long ago, and still we sing them in the of resistance, and many there fell before the rest drew –Beregond, The Return of the King one of the mighty of the firstborn.” North…I will bathe my feet, for it is said that the water is back and fled to either side. –The Hobbit –Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring healing to the weary.” –Legolas, The Fellowship of the Ring

HEro HEro HEro Ally Illus. Tony Foti ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 4 Illus. Tiziano Baracchi ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 10 Illus. Katherine Dinger ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 11 EvEnT Illus. Magali Villeneuve ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 58 Illus. Lius Lasahido ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 34 Threat Dial Heroes Allies Deck Discard 7 Playing the Game The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is Token Bank played over a series of rounds. Each round consists of seven phases that players resolve in the following order: 1: Resource, 2: Planning, 3: Quest, 4: Travel, 5: Encounter, 6: Combat, 12 9 and 7: Refresh. 2 1 3 3 After all seven phases have resolved, a new 2 1 game round begins, starting with the resource 5 4 ‰ ArAgorn ‰ lEgolAs Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. Noble. Silvan. Warrior. phase. Rounds continue to resolve in this way Sentinel. Ranged. Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, Response: After Legolas participates in an spend 1 resource from his resource pool to attack that destroys an enemy, place 2 progress ready him. tokens on the current quest. until the game ends, which is described later. “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of “I can walk this path, but others have not this skill.” the Ring –The Fellowship of the Ring

HEro HEro Illus. ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 Phase 1: Resource John Stanko Illus. Magali Villeneuve ©2010 Middle Earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 5 The resource phase represents the heroes gathering supplies, finding allies, and obtaining information, which are represented in the game by resource tokens and cards. The heroes Step Two: Draw Cards will use these resources to overcome the Each player draws one card from the top of his or machinations of the Dark Lord. her deck and adds it to his or her hand of cards. To resolve the resource phase, players perform (There is no hand limit.) A player’s deck consists the following steps in order: of allies, attachments, and events that can aid the heroes during the game. 1. Gain Resources 2. Draw Cards Phase 2: Planning Each step of the resource phase is resolved by The planning phase represents the mustering all players simultaneously. After performing of the heroes before the next leg of their the steps of the resource phase, proceed to the journey—preparing them with the items and planning phase. allies they need for a successful quest. During this phase, players can play ally and Step One: Gain Resources attachment cards from their hands. Ally cards For each hero a player has in play, that player represent friends, followers, and companions takes one resource token from the supply of the heroes, and attachment cards represent

and places it in that hero’s resource pool. weapons, armor, items, artifacts,BlA dandE of gondolin skills that 1 Each hero has a resource pool next to it that can aid the heroes during their1 adventure. 0 contains that hero’s resource tokens. Players 0 spend tokens from their heroes’ resource 1 pools to play cards from their hands, which is 1 described later. snowBourn sCouT Item. Weapon. Attach to a hero. Restricted. Rohan. Scout. Response: After Snowbourn Scout enters play, Attached hero gets +1 Û when attacking an Orc. choose a location. Place 1 progress token on Response: After attached hero attacks and destroys that location. an enemy, place 1 progress token on the current ...he saw not a shadow, nor a blur, but the small figures of quest. horsemen, many horsemen, and the glint of morning on the It was rather splendid to be wearing a blade made in tips of their spears was like the twinkle of minute stars Gondolin for the goblin-wars of which so many songs beyond the edge of mortal sight. –The Two Towers had sung… –The Hobbit

8 Starting with the first player and proceeding If players are using the starter decks, they will clockwise, each player has an opportunity to not have to worry about resource matching as play any number of ally and attachment cards all the cards in those decks are from a single from his or her hand. To play a card, a player sphere of influence. must pay the card’s cost, which is described later. Then, the card is played and placed in Placing Cards that player’s play area. After each player has Each card type dictates how it is played. had an opportunity to play cards, proceed to the quest phase. When a player plays an ally card, place the card in that player’s play area. When a player plays an attachment card, Paying Costs attach it to another card that is already in 1 To pay a card’s 1 play by placing it in a position so that the in- T rik E cost, a player must s play card slightly overlaps the attachment.

Cost ui C k spend a number Q T rik E s of resources equal ‰ sTEwArd of gondor ‰ sTEwArd of gondor

ui C k Action: Exhaust a character you control to 2 2

Q immediately declare it as an attacker (and to that cost, which resolve its attack) against any eligible enemy target. 12 “...for he that strikes the first blow, if he strikes it hard enough, may need to strike no more.” –Gandalf, The Two Towers is presented in the 2

EvEnT 3 upper-left corner of Illus. Sara Biddle ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 35 the card. 2 Gondor. Title. Gondor. Title. Action: Exhaust a character you control to Attach to a hero. Attach to a hero. Attached hero gains the Gondor trait. Attached hero5 gains the Gondor trait. immediately declare it as an attacker (and Action: Exhaust Steward of Gondor to add 2 Action: Exhaust Steward ‰of Gondor ArAgorn to add 2 When a player spends a resource,resolve its attack) that against anyplayer eligible enemy resources to attached hero’s resource pool. resources to attached hero’s resource pool. “It was commanded yesterday.” –Denethor, The Return “It was commanded yesterday.”Dúnedain. –Denethor, Noble. The ReturnRanger. target. of the King of the King Sentinel. takes a resource from one of their heroes’ Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, “...for he that strikes the first blow, if he strikes it hard spend 1 resource from his resource pool to enough, may need to strike no more.” ATTACHmEnT ready him.ATTACHmEnT Illus. Empty Room Studios ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 26 Illus. Empty Room Studios“I am©2010 Aragorn Middle-earth son Enterprises of Arathorn; ©2010 FFG and if by life26 or death –Gandalf, The Two Towers I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of resource pools and places it in the supply. the Ring HEro A player cannot pay for a card using a Illus. John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 EvEnT resource from any pool; Illus.heSara Biddle or she©2010 Middle-earth must Enterprises ©2010take FFG 35 The “Steward of Gondor” card the resources from a pool that provides a is attached to the “Aragorn” card. ‰ sTEwArd of gondor resource match. That is, the resources must be spent from heroes whose sphere of influence 2 matches the sphere of influence of the card Each attachment card describes the set of cards being played. For example, a player can only it can be attached to; most are attached to play cards that have a leadership icon by hero cards, but some can be attached to other spending resources from heroes that also have card types. a leadership icon. ‰ sTEwArd of gondor A player can spend resources from multiple 2 heroes’ resource pools to pay for a single card if there is a resource match among that card and each pool from which resources are spent. Gondor. Title. If a card has a cost of “0,” a player can play Gondor. Title. Attach to a hero. Attach to a hero. that card without spending any resources; Attached hero gains the Gondor trait. Action: Exhaust Steward of Gondor to add 2 Attached hero gains the Gondorresources to attached trait. hero’s resource pool. however, the player must have at least one “It was commanded yesterday.” –Denethor, The Return The “Steward of Gondor” of the King cardAction can only: Exhaust be attached Steward of Gondor to add 2 hero in play that matches that card’s sphere ATTACHmEnT resourcesto hero cards. to attached hero’sIllus. Empty resource Room Studios ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises pool. ©2010 FFG 26 of influence. “It was commanded yesterday.” –Denethor, The Return of the King

1 9 4 1 1

‰ Éowyn Noble. Rohan. Action: Discard 1 card from your hand to give Éowyn +1 Ò until the end of the phase. This effect may be triggered by each player once each round. Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver; but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter of kings. –The Two Towers

9 2 4 1 3 1

To Token Bank

1. Glóin has a leadership resource icon and three resource tokens in his resource pool. Éowyn and Eleanor each have a spirit resource icon and two resource tokens in their resource pools. 2. Tom wants to play Northern Tracker from his hand. Northern Tracker has a spirit sphere icon so he can pay its cost only with resources from characters that have the spirit icon. 3. Tom spends two resource tokens from Éowyn’s resource pool and two resource tokens from Eleanor’s resource pool, returning those tokens to the token bank. He places Northern Tracker faceup in his play area.

10 20

2 3 1

Phase 3: Quest 20 The quest phase provides the heroes with an When a3 “King Spider” is 2 revealed, each player must 3 1/12 opportunity to make progress on their journey. 1 exhaust a character.king spidEr 3 During this phase, the players can commit 1/12 Creature. Spider. king spidEr Creature. Spider. characters to advance their quest. When Revealed: Each player must choose and When Revealed: Each player mustexhaust 1 character choose he controls. and

exhaust 1 character he controls.Shadow: Defending player must choose and exhaust 1 character he controls. (2 characters To resolve the quest phase, players perform the instead if this attack is undefended.) EnEmy following steps in order: Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 Shadow: Defending player must choose and 1. Commit Characters When exhaustan enemy, 1 character location, he controls. or objective (2 characters card instead if this attack is undefended.) 2. Staging is revealed during this step, it is placed in the staging area, which Eisn Ea myplay area in the 3. Quest Resolution center Illus.ofJohn the Wigley table,©2010 near Middle-earth the Enterprises quest ©2010 FFG deck. 74 Each step is described below. After the players

grEAT forEsT wEB have performed the steps of the quest phase, 20 2 2 "don't leave the path!" B 3 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD proceed to the travel phase. 3 1

2 3 0 6/12 2/12 Forest. king spidEr The shadows grow darker, and you realize that a foul presence is aiming to draw you from the path. You must defeat it to pass this way. Travel: Each player must exhaust 1 hero he Creature. Spider. controls to travel here. When Revealed: Each player must search the encounter deck and When Revealed: Each player must choose and discard pile for 1 Spider card of his choice, and add it to the As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made with spider- exhaust 1 character he controls. webs one behind and over and tangled with another. staging area. Step One: Commit Characters –The Hobbit The players must find and defeat Ungoliant’s Spawn to win this game.

loCATion EnEmy Starting with the first player and proceeding Illus. Jason Ward ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 77 Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 Quest clockwise, each player has an opportunity to Staging Area Deck commit any number of his or her characters to the current quest card. Each hero and each ally When a treachery card is revealed, resolve is a character. the text on the card, and then place it in the To commit a character, a player must exhaust encounter deck discard pile, unless the card that character. A player may commit multiple specifically states otherwise. characters to the quest during this step; If there are no cards in the encounter deck however, if a character is already exhausted, it during this phase, shuffle the encounter deck cannot be committed. discard pile to create a new encounter deck. Step Two: Staging Step Three: Quest Resolution After each player has had the opportunity to During this step, the players’ efforts at commit characters to the quest, the players advancing on their quest are compared against reveal a number of cards equal to the number the forces arrayed by the encounter deck to of players from the encounter deck; this is determine how much progress is made. called staging, and it is used to populate the Each character has a willpower strength that is play area with new locations, enemies, and used to advance the quest. objectives. This step occurs every round, even 12 if the players did not commit any characters to 12 the quest. 2 2 3 Reveal the encounter cards one at a time. If 2 Aragorn3 has a a card’s text has a “When Revealed” effect, willpower strength 5 ‰ ArAgorn resolve that effect by following its instructions of “2.”2 Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. Sentinel. Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, spend 1 resource from his resource pool to before revealing the next card. ready him. “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of the Ring HEro 5 Illus. John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 ‰ ArAgorn 11 Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. Sentinel. Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, spend 1 resource from his resource pool to ready him. “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of the Ring HEro Illus. John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 Each enemy and location has a threat the quest card is equal to or greater than the B Flies and spiders strength that is used to impede a character’s number of1 quest points, the playersPASSAGE complete THROUGH MIRKWOOD quest progress. that stage of the quest, which is described later.

20 grEAT forEsT wEB Quest B Flies and spiders grEAT forEsT wEB 1 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD 20 Points 2 2 2 2 3 8 1 8 The nastiest things they saw were the cobwebs: dark dense cobwebs with threads extraordinarily thick, often stretched from tree to tree, or 3 tangled in the lower branches on either side of them. There were none stretched across the path, but whether because some magic kept it 3 2 clear, or for what other reason they could not guess. –The Hobbit 1/12 5/12 king spidEr Forest. The nastiest things they saw were the cobwebs: dark dense cobwebs Travel: Each player must exhaust 1 hero he Creature. Spider. Illus. Ben Zweifel ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 119 When Revealed: Each player must choose and controls to travel here. exhaust 1 character he controls. As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made with spider- with threads extraordinarily thick, often stretched from tree to tree, or webs one behind and over and tangled with another. –The Hobbit Shadow: Defending player must choose and tangled in the lower branches on either side of them. There were none exhaust 1 character he controls. (2 characters instead if this attack is undefended.) stretched across the path, but whether because some magic kept it EnEmy loCATion Progress tokens are placed on quest cards. Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 Illus. Jason Ward ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 77 clear, or for what other reason they could not guess. –The Hobbit 3 The “King Spider” and the “Great1/12 Forest Web” 2 Sometimes there is an active location, which eaching havepid Ear threat strength of “2.” 5/12 k s Illus. Ben Zweifel ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG is a location card that is placed near the revealed 119 Creature. Spider. Forest. ToWhen resolve Revealed: Eachthe playerquest, must each choose Travelandcharacter : Each player that must is exhaust 1quest hero he card instead of in the staging area. A committedexhaust 1 character to he controls.the quest addscontrols its willpowerto travel here. As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made withlocation spider- becomes active when a player travels to strength together to create websa total one behind willpower and over and tangled with another. Shadow: Defending player must choose and –The Hobbitit, which is described later. strengthexhaust 1 character of all he controls.committed (2 characters characters. Then, the instead if this attack is undefended.) If there is an active location, any game effect or threat strength of all enemies and locations in ability that places progress tokens on the current the staging areaEnE myare added together to create Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 loCATion quest places progress on the active location instead, a total threat strength. TheIllus. Jasonplayers Ward ©2010compare Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 77 up to the value of the location’s quest points. the total willpower strength to the total threat strength and determine the progress of their If the number of progress tokens on an active quest as follows: location is equal to that location’s quest points, EnCHAnTEd sTrEAm that location is explored. Discard that location • Successful: The total willpower is greater and place any additional2 progress tokens on the than the total threat. current quest card as normal. • Unsuccessful: The total willpower is less

than the total threat. EnCHAnTEd sTrEAm 2 • Neither: The total willpower is equal to the Quest total threat. Points

2 The quest resolution determines if players 2 13/14 Forest. 13/14 While Enchanted Stream is the active gain progress tokens or increase their threat. If location, players cannot draw cards. “There is one stream there, I know, black and strong which crosses the path. That you should neither drink of, nor bathe in;Forest. for I have heard that it carries enchantment and a great drowsiness and forgetfulness.” the quest resolution is neither successful nor While Enchanted Stream–Beorn, The Hobbitis the active location, players cannot draw cards. loCATion unsuccessful, nothing happens. “There is one streamIllus. Ben Zweifel there,©2010 I Middle-earth know, Enterprises ©2010 black FFG and95 strong which crosses the path. That you should neither drink of, nor bathe in; for I have heard that it carries enchantment andThis a great location drowsiness is and explored. forgetfulness.” Successful Quest –Beorn, The Hobbit If the quest is successful, a number of progress Unsuccessful Quest tokens equal to the difference between the total loCATion When a questIllus. Ben is Zweifel unsuccessful,©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 increase FFG each95 willpower strength and the total threat strength player’s threat dial by an amount equal to the are placed on the currently revealed quest card. difference between the total threat and the total Each quest card has number of quest points. willpower. If a player’s threat dial reaches When the number of progress tokens on “50,” that player is immediately eliminated from the game, which is described on page 20.

12 Resolving a Quest Toms Character Kriss Characters

9 Illus. 4 but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver; may be triggered by each player once round. Éowyn +1 Ò until the end of phase. This effect Action : Discard 1 card from your hand to give Gabrielle Portal of kings. –The Two Towers 4 1 1 3 1 9 1

‰ Éowyn Noble. Rohan. Action: Discard 1 card from your hand to give Éowyn +1 Ò until the end of the phase. This effect may be triggered7 by each player once each round. Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver; but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter of kings. –The Two Towers

Quest Deck Encounter Staging Area Deck

1. Tom exhausts Éowyn to commit her to the quest. Kris exhausts both Aragorn and the Guard of the Citadel to commit them to the quest. A Gladden Fields location card is already in the staging area. 2. The players reveal one card per player from the encounter deck, and add them to the staging area. 3. The players add the total committed Ò and compare it to the total $ in the staging area. The result is 7 Ò and 7 $. Tom uses Éowyn’s card ability to increase the players’ Ò to eight, which allows them to place one progress token on the current quest card.

When players travel to a location in the staging area, that Phase 4: Travel location becomesgrEAT active. forEsT wEB

The travel phase represents the heroes’ grEAT forEsT wEB grEAT forEsT wEB 20 2 2 2 "don't leave the path!" B exploration and navigation across the lands of 3 3 PASSAGE THROUGH MIRKWOOD 1 2

2 3 2 Middle-earth. 6/12 2/12 0 6/12 ing pidEr Forest. k s The shadows grow darker, and you realize that a foul presence is Forest. Travel: Each player must exhaust 1 hero he Creature. Spider. aiming to draw you from the path. You must defeat it to pass this way. Travel: Each player must exhaust 1 hero he controls to travel here. controls to travel here. When Revealed: Each player must choose and When Revealed: Each player must search the encounter deck and As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made with spider- exhaust 1 character he controls. As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made with spider- webs one behind and over and tangled with another. discard pile for 1 Spider card of his choice, and add it to the webs one behind and over and tangled with another. –The Hobbit staging area. –The Hobbit Shadow: Defending player must choose and The players must find and defeat Ungoliant’s Spawn to win this game.

exhaust 1 character he controls. (2 characters Illus. Ben Zweifel ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 121 The staging area frequently contains one or more instead if this attack is undefended.) loCATion EnEmy loCATion Illus. Jason Ward ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 77 Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 Illus. Jason Ward ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 77 location cards. During this phase, the players can Staging Area Quest Active choose to travel to one of those locations. Deck Location To travel to a location, the players choose one location in the staging area. Place that location

next to the revealed quest card, indicating that it is grEAT forEsT wEB the active location. There can only be one active Before traveling to the 2 “Great Forest2 Web,” each location at a time. If there is already an active player must exhaust a hero. 5/12 location, players cannot travel to a new location. Forest.2 5/12 Forest. Travel: Each player Travelmust: Each player exhaustmust exhaust 1 hero he 1 hero he A location card’s text may have a “Travel” controls to travel here. As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made with spider- webs one behind and over and tangled with another. controls to travel here. –The Hobbit effect, which indicates an effect that players As he drew nearer, he saw that it was made with spider- loCATion must resolve to travel to that location. webs one behind and overIllus. Jason Wardand©2010 tangled Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG with77 another. –The Hobbit 13

loCATion Illus. Jason Ward ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 77 Step One: Optional Engagement Traveling to Locations In an order of their choice, each player has an opportunity to engage one enemy in the Location cards that are in the staging staging area. To engage an enemy, a player area contribute their threat strength takes an enemy card from the staging area during the quest phase, making it and places it in his or her play area, facing off more difficult for players to quest against his or her characters. successfully. Players can remove those locations from the staging area by traveling to them. The active Step Two: Engagement Checks location—as it is not in the staging After each player has had an opportunity to area—does not contribute its threat engage an enemy, players take turns making while players are questing. engagement checks. Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player When the players have placed makes an engagement check by comparing the enough progress tokens on the active value of his or her threat dial to the engagement location (through questing or through cost of each enemy in the staging area. card abilities), they have adequately explored it and rid it of any threats. Exploring a location in this manner 20 20 discards it, and this enables the 2 3 players to travel to a new active Engagement 1 Cost2 location during a later travel phase. 3 1/12 king spidEr 3 Creature. Spider. When Revealed: Each player must choose and exhaust 1 character he controls.

Shadow: Defending player must choose and 1 exhaust 1 character he controls. (2 characters instead if this attack is undefended.)

EnEmy Phase 5: Encounter Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 The encounter phase represents the The enemy in the3 staging area that has the confrontation and pursuit of enemies. During highest engagement cost that is equal to or1/12 king spidEr this phase, each player has an opportunity to lower than the value ofCreature. that player’s Spider. threat dial engage an enemy in the staging area, and then engages thatWhen player. Revealed When: Each playeran enemy must choose engages and exhaust 1 character he controls. enemies potentially engage the players. a player, its card is placed in that player’s To resolve the encounter phase, players play area—thisShadow is: identicalDefending player to must when choose a and player engages an enemy.exhaust 1 character Note hethat controls. any (2 timecharacters an perform the following steps in order: instead if this attack is undefended.) engagement occurs (either by player option, by 1. Optional Engagement EnEmy an engagementIllus. John Wigleycheck,©2010 or Middle-earth by Enterprises a card ©2010 FFG ability),74 the 2. Engagement Checks end result is the same: the player is considered After all players have performed the steps to have engaged the enemy and the enemy is of the encounter phase, they proceed to the considered to have engaged the player. combat phase. Each step is described in the Players continue making engagement checks next column. in clockwise order until there are either no enemies remaining in the staging area or until the enemies remaining in the staging area cannot engage any of the players.

14 Making Engagement Checks

Tom Kris

1 2

3 5 Staging Area 4

1. The first player, Tom, makes the first engagement check. The King Spider has the highest engagement cost (20) that is equal to or lower than Tom’s threat level of 24, so the King Spider engages Tom. 2. Kris makes the next engagement check. Ungoliant’s Spawn has the highest engagement cost (32) that is equal to or lower than Kris’s threat level of 35, so Ungoliant’s Spawn engages Kris. 3. Tom makes the next engagement check. His threat level is lower than the engagement cost of the enemies remaining in the staging area, so neither of those enemies engage Tom. 4. Kris makes the next engagement check. The Forest Spider has the highest engagement cost (25) that is equal to or lower than Kris’s threat level of 35, so the Forest Spider engages Kris. 5. Tom, and then Kris, each make another engagement check. The engagement cost of Hummerhorns is higher than each of their threat levels, so it remains in the staging area at this time. Since all players have made successive engagement checks without being engaged by any enemies, the “Engagement Checks” step is now complete.

15 20

2 3 1 Phase 6: Combat Shadow cards may have a “Shadow” effect presented on the faceup side of the card that The combat phase represents the battles and players resolve during combat, which is struggles between the heroes of Middle-earth described later. 3 and the enemies who seek to hinder or harm 1/12 them during their quest. During this phase, king20 spidEr 2 engaged enemies potentially gain unpredictable Creature.3 Spider. 1 tactics through shadow cards. Then, both ShadowWhen Revealed : Each player must choose and exhaust 1 character he3 controls. enemies and players have opportunities 1/12 Effect king spidEr Creature. Spider. to attack. When Revealed: Each player must choose and exhaust 1 character he controls.

Shadow: Defending player must choose and Shadow: Defendingexhaust player 1 character he controls. must (2 characters choose and To resolve the combat phase, perform the instead if this attack is undefended.) exhaust 1 character he controls.EnEmy (2 characters Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 following steps in order: instead if this attack is undefended.) 1. Deal Shadow Cards If an enemy card leaves play, itsEn shadowEmy card Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 2. Resolve Enemy Attacks is discarded. At the end of the combat phase, 3. Resolve Player Attacks all shadow cards that were dealt this round Each step is described below. After performing are discarded. the steps of the combat phase, proceed to the refresh phase. Step Two: Resolve Enemy Attacks After shadow cards have been dealt to each Step One: Deal Shadow Cards engaged enemy, resolve enemy attacks. Deal one card from the encounter deck to each Starting with the first player and continuing enemy that is currently engaged. These cards clockwise, each player performs the following steps in order for each enemy he or she is are called shadow cards. Place each shadow card facedown next to the enemy to which it engaged with. The player performing the steps is being dealt. Players cannot yet look at these is referred to as the active player. shadow cards. a. Choose An Enemy: The active player First, deal shadow cards to the enemies chooses one engaged enemy in his or her own engaged with the first player, and then deal play area that has not attacked yet this round. to enemies engaged with each other player b. Declare Defender: The active player may in clockwise order. When dealing cards to choose one of his or her ready characters enemies engaged with a player, those cards are as a defender. Exhaust that character. dealt to enemies with the higher engagement Alternatively, a player may declare cost before they are dealt to enemies with a no defenders. lower engagement cost. If the encounter deck c. Resolve Shadow Effect: The active player is depleted of cards, any enemies that cards flips the chosen enemy’s shadow card were not dealt to do not receive shadow cards faceup and resolves any shadow effects on this round. that card. Any non-shadow effects on the shadow card are ignored. d. Determine Damage: If the defender’s defense strength is equal to or greater than the chosen enemy’s attack strength, the defender suffers no damage.

16 20

2 20 b. Determine Attack Strength: The active

2 player adds the attack strength of each of Attack Strength 3 3 1 the declared attackers to determine the Defense Strength12 1 3 combined attack strength for this attack. 1/12 king spidEr Creature. Spider. When Revealed: Each player must choose and c. Determine Damage: If the enemy’s exhaust 1 character he controls. 2 12 Shadow: Defending player must choose and exhaust 1 character he controls. (2 characters defense strength is equal to or greater 2 instead if this attack is undefended.) Attack Strength EnEmy 3 33 Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 3 3 1/12 1/12than the combined attack strength of all 2 king spidEr Defense Strength 2 k s attackers, the defender suffers no damage. 5 Creature. Spider. Otherwise, subtract the defense strength of ‰ ArAgorn When RevealedDúnedain. Noble.: Each Ranger. player must choose and exhaustSentinel. 1 character he controls. the enemy from the attack strength of the exhaustResponse 1 character: After Aragorn commits he to a quest, controls. spend 1 resource from his resource pool to ready him. “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of attackers; the enemy suffers damage equal the Ring 5 Shadow: DefendingHEro player must choose and 5 ShadowIllus. John: Stanko Defending©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFGplayer1 must choose and to the difference. Damage is described exhaust 1 character he controls. (2 characters instead if‰ this A attackrAgorn is undefended.) under “Hit Points and Damage” on Otherwise, subtract theDúnedain. defense Noble. strength Ranger. EnEmy page 20. Sentinel. of the defender from Illus.theJohn Wigley attack©2010 strength Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 of FFG 74 Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, The active player is permitted to declare the chosen enemy.spend The 1 resource defender from his resource suffers pool to damage equal toready the him. difference. Damage is one attack against each enemy that player “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of is engaged with, and may repeat the above described in detail underthe Ring “Hit Points and the Ring steps (a–c) until all of these attacks have been Damage” on page 20. HEro Illus. John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 declared, or until that player is unable or does If the attack was undefended, assign the not wish to declare further attacks this phase. full damage from the attack, which is equal to the attacking enemy’s total attack Phase 7: Refresh strength, to one of the heroes that the active The refresh phase represents an opportunity player controls. The hero’s defense strength for the heroes to rest, recuperate, and regroup. does not reduce the damage assigned by During the refresh phase, perform the undefended attacks. following steps in order: Step Three: Resolve Player Attacks 1. Ready: Ready each exhausted card in play. 2. Increase Threat: Each player increases After each enemy that is engaged with a player their threat dial by one. has performed an attack, the players have an opportunity to use their characters to attack 3. Pass First Player: The first player passes the enemies. Starting with the first player and the first player token to the next player in continuing clockwise, each player may perform clockwise order. the following steps in order for each enemy he After performing the steps of the refresh phase, or she is engaged with. The player performing proceed to the next game round beginning the steps is referred to as the active player. with the resource phase. Continue to play a. Declare Target of Attack, and Declare rounds in this manner until the game reaches Attackers: The active player chooses a conclusion. one enemy he or she is engaged with and any number of ready characters that he or she controls to attack the chosen enemy. Multiple characters can attack the same enemy.

17 Defending Against Enemy Attacks 1

2 4

3 5

1. Kris is engaged with two enemies, the Forest Spider and Ungoliant’s Spawn. At the beginning of the combat phase, one card from the encounter deck is dealt face down to each engaged enemy, as a shadow card. 2. Kris decides to resolve the attack made by Ungoliant’s Spawn first. She exhausts the Silverlode Archer, declaring it as a defender against this attack. 3. To resolve the attack, Kris flips the attacker’s shadow card faceup. The shadow card is the East Bight Patrol, which gives the attacking enemy +1 Û. Kris compares the enemy's total attack strength (6 Û) against the Silverlode Archer’s defense (0 Ú), and places six damage tokens on the defending character. Since the Silverlode Archer only has one hit point, it is destroyed and discarded from play. 4. Kris resolves the attack made by the Forest Spider. She declares this attack “undefended.” 5. To resolve the attack, Kris first flips the attacker’s shadow card faceup. The shadow card is the Enchanted Stream, which has no shadow effect. The Forest Spider's attack is 2 Û. Since this attack was undefended, Kris must place all the damage on a single hero she controls. She places two damage tokens on Aragorn, who survives the attack with three hit points remaining.

18 Attacking Enemies 1 3

2 4

Tom is engaged with two enemies, the Dol Guldur Beastmaster and the Dol Guldur Orcs. 1. Tom declares an attack against the Dol Guldur Orcs, and exhausts Glorfindel as an attacker. 2. Tom takes Glorfindel’s attack (3 Û) and subtracts the Dol Guldur Orcs’ defense (0 Ú), and gets a result of three. Tom places three damage tokens from the token bank on the Dol Guldur Orcs. This enemy started with three hit points, so it is destroyed and discarded from play. 3. Tom declares an attack against the Dol Guldur Beastmaster and exhausts both Legolas (3 Û) and the Gondorian Spearman (1 Û) as attackers. 4. Tom takes his combined attack (4 Û) and subtracts the Dol Guldur Beastmaster’s defense (1 Ú), and gets a result of three. Tom places three damage tokens from the token bank on the Dol Guldur Beastmaster. This enemy started with five hit points, so it survives the attack with two hit points remaining. The damage tokens stay on the enemy to indicate that it is damaged.

19 Concluding The Game Additional Rules If at least one player completes the final quest This section contains additional rules that card of a scenario, the game ends and all players need to know to play their first game of players win. If all players are eliminated from Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. the game before all quest cards have been completed, the game ends and all players lose. Hit Points and Damage20 Quest Advancement Characters and enemies have a number of hit points that determine the2 amount of damage and Winning the Game that character or enemy can suffer. 3 Players complete quests by placing progress tokens on the quest card. When the revealed 1 20 quest card contains a number of progress 2 12 3 1 tokens equal to or greater than the number of Hit Points 3 its quest points, that quest card is completed. 3 1/12 2 king spidEr 1/12 Creature. Spider. When Revealeding: Each playerpid must chooseE andr When a quest card is completed, players exhaustk 1 character he controls.s

3 Shadow: Defending player must choose and exhaustCreature. 1 character he controls. Spider. (2 characters immediately discard the card, revealing the instead if this attack is undefended.) When Revealed: Each playerEnEmy must choose and 12 Illus. John Wigley ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 next quest card for that scenario. Excess 2 exhaust 1 character he controls. 2 progress tokens placed on a quest card do not 3 carry over to the next stage of the quest. When Shadow2 : Defending player must choose and Hit Points exhaust 1 character he controls. (2 characters a new quest card is revealed, players follow 5 instead5 if this attack is undefended.) ‰ ArAgorn Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. EnEmy the instructions presented on the stage A side Sentinel. Illus.ResponseJohn‰: AfterWigley AragornAr commitsAgorn to©2010 a quest, Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 74 spend 1 resource from his resource pool to ready him. of the card, and then flip the card to the stage “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death Dúnedain.I can save you, I will.”Noble. –The Fellowship of Ranger. the Ring HEro B side. If players complete the final stage of a Sentinel. Illus. John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, scenario, they win the game. spend 1 resource from his resource pool to For each damageready ahim. character or enemy suffers, one damage token“I am Aragorn is placed son of Arathorn; on andthat if by characterlife or death Player Elimination I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of or enemy’s card. Eachthe Ring damage token on a and Losing the Game HEro card reduces thatIllus. John Stankocard’s©2010 hit Middle-earth points Enterprises ©2010 by FFG one. If1 a A player is eliminated from the game if that character or enemy’s hit points are ever reduced player’s threat dial reaches “50” or if all of to zero or below, that character or enemy is that player’s heroes are destroyed. destroyed. When a player’s character is When a player is eliminated from the game, destroyed, place it in that player’s discard pile. that player’s hand of cards as well as all player When an enemy is destroyed, place it in the cards he or she controls are discarded. Any encounter discard pile. enemies that the eliminated player was engaged Some card effects allow a character to with are placed in the staging area. Enemies heal. When this happens, damage tokens returned to the staging area in this manner of the specified amount are removed from retain their damage tokens and attachments. that character. Players that are not eliminated continue playing, revealing one fewer encounter card during future quest phases for each player that was eliminated.

20 Responses Card Abilities 12 The text on cards contains many types of A response is an optional ability presented card abilities. on cards that can resolve immediately after a 12 specific event has2 occurred during the game. 2 For example, each time a player commits the 3 “Aragorn” hero3 card to a quest, that player can 2 resolve that card’s2 response ability, spending 5 one resource from that hero’s resource pool to ‰ ArAgorn Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. ready that card. Sentinel. Card Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, spend 1 resource from his resource pool to 12 ready him. “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death Ability I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of the Ring 2 HEro 3 Illus. John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 5 2 There are five categories of card abilities found ‰ ArAgorn on hero and player9 cards: actions, responses, ResponseDúnedain. 5 Noble. Ranger. Ability ‰ ArAgorn keywords, constant abilities, and forced effects. Sentinel. Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. Sentinel. Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, Response: After Aragornspend 1 resource commitsfrom his resource pool toto a quest, ready him. 4 spend 1 resource from“I am Aragorn his son of resource Arathorn; and if by life or pool death to I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of Actions ready him. the Ring HEro “I am Aragorn son of Illus.Arathorn;John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth and Enterprises ©2010if FFG by life1 or death An action is1 an optional ability presented on I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of cards that players can resolve during specific To resolve a responsethe Ring present on a hero, ally, or times of the game.1 attachment card, that card mustHE robe in play. Illus. John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 9 Keywords 4 A keyword is a shorthand for a common game 3 1 Action 1 ability that appears on multiple cards. Keywords ‰ ‰owyn are found at the top of a card’s text box. The Ability 3 Noble.‰ Rohan. Éowyn rules for each of the keywords are as follows: Noble. Rohan. Action: Discard 1Action card: Discard from 1 card from youryour hand to givehand to give Éowyn +1 Ò until the end of the phase. This effect Éowyn +1 Ò untilmay thebe triggered end by each of player the once each phase. round. This effect Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver; Doomed X but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter may be triggered byof kings. each –The Two Towers player once each round. Slender and tall she was in herHE whitero robe girt with silver; If an encounter card that has the “Doomed” Illus. Gabrielle Portal ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 7 but strong she seemed and stern as steel, a daughter of kings. –The Two Towers keyword is revealed during the staging step of To resolve an action on a hero, ally, or the quest phase or during setup, each player must attachment card, that card mustHEro be in play. increase his or her threat by the specified value. Generally, playersIllus. Gabrielle Portal are allowed©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises to resolve ©2010 FFG actions7 between phases and between the defined steps of Ranged each phase. Appendix I of the Rules Reference A character that has the “Ranged” keyword provides players with a comprehensive round can attack enemies that are engaged with other sequence that indicates the specific times during players when it attacks. which they can resolve actions. While another player is resolving player Some action abilities are preceded by a specific attacks, any player can declare a character with game phase, such as “Quest Action” or “Combat the “Ranged” keyword that he or she controls Action.” Such an ability indicates that a as an attacker, but the character must exhaust player can only resolve that action during the and meet all other standard requirements specified phase. necessary to perform the attack.

21 40

1 Restricted Forced Effects 2 The “Restricted” keyword appears on some A forced effect is a mandatory effect on attachment cards. A character can never have cards that must0 resolve during specific times of more than two attachments that have the the game. “Restricted” keyword. If a character ever has 40 three attachments that have the “Restricted” 1 keyword, immediately discard one of 2 3 0 the attachments. Forced 3/12 hummerhornS Effect 3 Sentinel 12 3/12 Creature.HummE rInsect.Horns Creature. Insect. Forced: After Hummerhorns engages you, deal 5 A player can declare a character that has the Forced: After Hummerhornsdamage to a single hero you control. engages you, deal 5 damage to a single hero you control. “Sentinel” keyword2 as a defender against Shadow: Deal 1 damage to each character the defending player controls. (2 damage instead if this attack is undefended.) Victory 5. enemy attacks made against another player. EnEmy Illus. David Lecossu ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 75 The defending3 character must exhaust and meet Shadow: Deal 1 damage to each character the defending player controls. (2 damage instead if all other standard requirements necessary to 2 this attack is undefended.) Victory 5. defend the attack. Since forced effects are mandatory, it is important for players to be awareenemy of the game Illus. David Lecossu ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 75 12 occurrences that trigger any forced effects 2 that are in play. Players must resolve a forced 5 3 effect each time the triggering game occurrence 2 specified by the effect occurs. ‰ ArAgorn Keyword 5 Dúnedain. Noble.‰ ArAgorn Ranger. “When Revealed,” “Shadow,” and “Travel” Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. Sentinel. Sentinel. effects, which were described earlier in this Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, spend 1 resource from his resource pool to ready him. Response: After Aragorn“I am Aragorn son of Arathorn;commits and if by life or deathto a quest, document, are versions of forced effects I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of spend 1 resource fromthe Ring his resource pool to HEro that are resolved during common game ready him. Illus. ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 John Stanko “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death occurrences, such as when cards are revealed. I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of the Ring Surge HEro Constant Abilities When an encounterIllus. John Stanko card©2010 Middle-earth that Enterpriseshas ©2010the FFG “Surge” 1 A constant ability is a mandatory ability that keyword is revealed during the staging step continually affects the game as long that the of the quest phase or during setup, reveal card bearing the constant ability remains in one additional card from the encounter deck. play. Unlike actions, responses, and forced If a card has both the “Surge” keyword and effects, constant abilities are not presented as a a when revealed effect, resolve the “Surge” bold header. keyword immediately after resolving the when Since constant abilities are always affecting the revealed effect. game, it is important for players to be aware “Victory X” of the constant abilities in play. For example, players must remember that if the “Enchanted For rules regarding the “Victory X” keyword, Stream” location card is in play, they cannot see “Victory Points” on page 29. draw cards from their deck.

22 12 Traits Unique Cards 2 Traits appear in a bold, italicized typeface at Some cards represent specific, formally named the top of a card’s text box. Traits have no characters, locations, and items from the 3 inherent effects, but other card effects may Middle-earth setting. Such cards are known as 2 refer to a card’s traits. unique cards and are identified by a ‰ icon that precedes the card’s title. A player cannot 12 play a card that shares a title with a unique card 2 that is already in play. A player can, however, 3 play a card that shares a title with a unique card 5 2 that was removed from play and is in a discard ‰Traits ArAgorn 5 pile. ‰ ArAgorn Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. Dúnedain. Noble. Ranger. Sentinel. Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest, Sentinel. spend 1 resource from his resource pool to ready him. Neutral Cards “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of Response: After Aragorn commits to a quest,the Ring spend 1 resource from his resource pool to HEro Neutral cards are cards that do not belong to Illus. John Stanko ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 1 ready him. any sphere of influence. The Lord of the Rings: “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.” –The Fellowship of The Card Game core set contains one neutral theEvent Ring Cards card: “Gandalf.” To play a neutral card, a player Event cardsHE providero players with actions and must spend resources equal to its cost, but a Illus. John Stankoresponses©2010 Middle-earth that Enterprises they ©2010 can FFG play directly1 from resource match is not required. their hands.

X Start The First Game EA r CH s s ' This completes all the rules A nd lf g necessary to play a first game of Lord of the Rings: The Card Game.

Action: Look at the top X cards of any We recommend playing the first player’s deck, add 1 of those cards to its owner’s hand, and return the rest to the top of the deck in any order. game using the scenario and decks “Less welcome did the Lord Denethor show me then than of old, and grudgingly he permitted me to search among his hoarded scrolls and books.” –Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring suggested on page 6 of this book.

EvEnT Illus. Mike Nash ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 67 If questions arise during the game, players can consult the online Rules To play an event card, a player spends Reference that includes detailed resources equal to the card’s cost from his information about the game’s or her resource pools. Like playing an ally mechanics, which can be found at or attachment card, the player must have a fantasyflightgames.com/lotrlcg. resource match when paying for an event card. After playing the first game, read the After playing an event card, the player resolves “Advanced Rules” section to discover the action or response on the card immediately. how to construct original decks and Then, place the card in that player’s explore the game’s other scenarios. discard pile.

23 Advanced Rules Guarded This section contains advanced rules that The “Guarded” keyword appears on some player will need to know to construct their own objective cards. After an objective that has the decks and play the game’s remaining scenarios. “Guarded” keyword is revealed and placed in the staging area, reveal the next card from the Objective Cards encounter deck and attach it to that objective. A player cannot claim an objective card if there are Objective cards are a type of encounter card encounter cards attached to it. that is included in some scenarios. Objective cards can represent scenario-specific items, Players resolve encounter cards that are attached allies, or goals that heroes may need to to objective cards in the following way: discover and make use of during their journey. • Enemy Card: The enemy card remains When an objective card is revealed during the attached to the objective until it is destroyed quest phase, it is placed in the staging like all or leaves play as a result of a card effect. other encounter cards. Each objective card • Location: The location remains attached to describes how players can claim the card and the objective until it leaves play by being attach it to one of their heroes. explored or as a result of a card effect. • Treachery: Treachery cards cannot be attached to objectives. If the revealed card that would be attached to an objective card dungEon TorCH ESCAPE FROM DOL GULDUR s Ap sHAdow is a treachery card, that treachery card is ' m kEy gAndAlf ESCAPE FROM DOL GULDUR ESCAPE FROM DOL GULDUR resolved as normal, and the objective card will not receive an attachment. • Objective: Objective cards cannot be

14/15 13/15 Item. attached to other objectives. If the revealed Guarded. Restricted. Action: Raise your threat by 2 to claim Guarded.this Restricted. Item. 15/15 Item. objective when it is free of encounters. When claimed, attach Dungeon Torch to a heroAction you : Raise your threat by 2 to claim this card that would be attached to an objective objective when it is free of encounters. When Guarded. Restricted. control. (Counts as an attachment. If detached, return Dungeon Torch to the staging area.)claimed, attach Shadow Key to a hero you control. Action: Raise your threat by 2 to claim this (Counts as an attachment. If detached, return objective when it is free of encounters.Forced When: At the end of each round, raiseShadow attached Key to the staging area.) card is another objective, use the next card hero’s controller’s threat by 2. claimed, attach Gandalf’s Map to a hero you Forced: At the end of each round, attached hero control. (Counts as an attachment. If detached, suffers 1 damage. return Gandalf’s Map to the staging area.) oBJECTivE of the encounter deck to fulfill the original Attached hero cannot attack or defend.Illus. David Lecossu ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 109 oBJECTivE 108 Illus. Nicholas Cloister oBJECTivE ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG

24 Deckbuilding Much of the depth and fun of The Lord of the Within these guidelines, any combination of Rings: The Card Game comes when players allies, attachments, and events can be included conceive and construct original decks, using in a deck. the cards of this core set and those found in Each player begins the game with one to three Adventure Packs and Deluxe Expansions. hero cards. Players may confer together before When constructing a deck, players must obey playing to select the heroes they would each the following rules: like to use during that game. If more than one • A deck must contain a minimum of player desires to use the same hero, they must 50 cards. decide among themselves before the game begins, and the other player(s) must choose • A deck cannot include more than three different heroes. copies of any card that have the same title.

Deckbuilding Tips and Considerations When building a deck, it is important for a player to consider how he or she intends to pay for the cards included in the deck. It may be tempting to use the most powerful trio of heroes available, but is it worth starting the game with the high threat level those heroes would bring? Similarly, a deck full of high cost cards and effects might look powerful on paper, but the time it takes to build up the resources to play those cards could become rather problematic as the enemies mount their assault. A player should also make sure that all the cards in a deck belong to a sphere that matches at least one of the deck’s heroes’ resource icons so that player does not have cards he or she cannot play.

Each sphere of influence has a distinct flavor, which can be used to a player’s advantage when building a deck around that sphere. For example, a deck could be built around the sphere of tactics to support its heroes with an impressive array of armor and weaponry, and then take the fight directly to the enemies that emerge from the encounter deck. As the card pool grows with Adventure Pack expansions, each of the four basic starter decks in this core set can be developed into fully playable standard decks.

It is also possible to focus on multiple spheres when building a deck. A deck built around both the sphere of spirit and around the sphere of lore could focus on self-preservation, with numerous effects that heal hit points and reduce threat. The trick to building around multiple spheres is resource management; having the correct type of resource available at the right time becomes more difficult when a deck is built around two or three different spheres.

Another useful approach when building decks is to follow the cohesion that can be discovered by building around a trait. For example, if a player wishes to run a deck built around three different spheres, it might make sense to use Dwarf cards from all three spheres to take advantage of Dwarf synergies and card interactions.

25 26 Scenario Overview Journey Down the Anduin There are three unique scenarios included in Difficulty level = 4 this core set. Each is introduced in this section, Having survived the dangers of Mirkwood along with a list of encounter sets for that Forest, the heroes continue their journey scenario’s encounter deck. along the banks of the Anduin river, toward Lórien, with dire news of a gathering threat in Passage Through Mirkwood Southern Mirkwood. Difficulty level = 1 The Journey Down the Anduin encounter deck Mirkwood has long been a dangerous place, is built with all the cards from the following and recently one of King Thranduil’s patrols encounter sets: Journey Down the Anduin, has uncovered disconcerting signs of a Sauron’s Reach, Dol Guldur Orcs, and gathering menace in the vicinity of Dol Guldur. Wilderlands. These sets are indicated by the A party of heroes, controlled by the players, following icons: has been assembled to carry a message through Mirkwood, down the Anduin, and eventually to Lórien, to warn Lady Galadriel of the imminent danger. The Passage Through Mirkwood encounter Escape from Dol Guldur deck is built with all the cards from the Difficulty level = 7 following encounter sets: Passage Through Mirkwood, Spiders of Mirkwood, and Dol While exploring in the vicinity of Dol Guldur Guldur Orcs. These sets are indicated by the at Lady Galadriel’s request, one of the heroes’ following icons: companions is captured by the Necromancer’s forces, and is now awaiting interrogation in a dungeon beneath the hill. Knowing their friend’s time is short, the heroes decide to attempt a desperate rescue. The Escape from Dol Guldur encounter deck is built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: Escape from Dol Guldur, Spiders of Mirkwood, and Dol Guldur Orcs. These sets are indicated by the following icons:

27 Modes of Play Standard Mode The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is To play a scenario in standard mode, simply intended for both casual players and dedicated follow the normal setup instructions for enthusiasts. To accommodate different play that scenario. styles, three modes of play are available: easy, standard, and nightmare. These modes Nightmare Mode provide players with a simple way to adjust Players who desire a the difficulty of the game, creating the type truly difficult challenge of challenge they desire. In addition to the should consider using modes of play, players can add the basic game the supplemental or expert game rules as well as scoring to any Nightmare Decks for of the three game modes, allowing players to each scenario. More further adjust the game’s difficulty. information about Nightmare Decks, Easy Mode which are sold Easy mode is ideal for new players and separately, can be found at for players who prefer the narrative and www.fantasyflightgames.com. cooperative aspects of the game with less challenge. To play a scenario in easy mode, perform the following steps during setup of any scenario: 1. Add one resource to each hero’s resource pool. 2. Remove any card from the encounter deck that has a gold border surrounding its encounter set icon.

Some older scenarios, including those in early printings of the core set, do not have the difficulty indicator icon presented on the relevant cards. Please visit fantasyflightgames.com/lotrlcg for a list of which cards should be removed for those scenarios.

28 Scoring and Game Types When a card that has the “Victory X” keyword leaves play, it should be set aside near a Besides the various game modes that players can player’s threat dial. Then, that card is used use to adjust the difficulty of the game, players when determining the final score at the end of can also use the scoring system to measure their the game. success as well as the basic and expert game rules to further customize the game’s difficulty. 35

2 “Chieftain Ufthak” Scoring 3 awards players 4 victory 3 For players who enjoy playing through the points if defeated. 6 same scenario multiple times, they can use 4/14 CHiEfTAin ufTHAk Dol Guldur. Orc. the following scoring system to measure the Chieftain Ufthak gets +2 Û for each resource token on him. Forced: After Chieftain Ufthak attacks, place 1 success of each game. resource token on him. Victory Victory 4.

EnEmy Points If the players win the game, they determine Illus. Mathias Kollros ©2010 Middle-earth Enterprises ©2010 FFG 90 their score as follows: 1. Determine Initial Score: Add the Basic Game following to determine the initial score. Newer players or players who want a more • The final threat of each player. basic experience can skip dealing shadow cards during the combat phase. This eliminates an • The threat cost of each destroyed hero. element of surprise that could make the game • The number of damage on each challenging for beginners. After players are surviving hero. comfortable with this experience, they can 2. Add Round Penalty: Add 10 for each begin dealing shadow cards to make combat completed round of the game. less predictable and more exciting. 3. Subtract Victory Points: Subtract the total Expert Game number of victory points (described below) the players acquired during the scenario For an expert level challenge, players can from the above total. This is the player’s attempt to defeat a series of scenarios, such final score. as the three scenarios in the core set using the same combination of players, decks, and With this scoring system, a lower score heroes. The score from each scenario can be is desirable. Scoring is a useful tool for combined together to create a single score evaluating the effectiveness of a deck or party that measures the players’ success across over time or to compare different decks that multiple scenarios. have completed the same scenario. For an even greater challenge, it is recommended Victory Points that players do not reset their threat, hit points, or Some enemy and location cards award players player decks at the beginning of each scenario. victory points when they leave play. Cards When using the expert game rules with the that award victory points have a “Victory X” scenarios from the core set, the players should keyword presented in the lower-right corner of start with the “Passage through Mirkwood” the card’s text box. scenario, follow with the “Journey Down the Anduin” scenario, and finish with the “Escape from Dol Guldur” scenario.

29 Scenario Name Number of Players

Threat Cost Damage Tokens Notes Player Final Threat Of Each Dead on Remaining Player Names Level Hero Heroes Subtotal

Number of Rounds: (tally)

Combined Player Subtotals

Victory Points Final Group Earned TM Score 10 Points per Round

Scenario Name Number of Players

Threat Cost Damage Tokens Notes Player Final Threat Of Each Dead on Remaining Player Names Level Hero Heroes Subtotal

Number of Rounds: (tally)

Combined Player Subtotals

Victory Points Final Group TM Earned Score 10 Points per Round

Scenario Name Number of Players

Threat Cost Damage Tokens Notes Player Final Threat Of Each Dead on Remaining Player Names Level Hero Heroes Subtotal

Number of Rounds: (tally)

Combined Player Subtotals

Victory Points Final Group Earned TM Score 10 Points per Round

30 Players may photocopy this page for their own personal use. Credits

Original Game: Revised Edition: Game Design & Development: Nate French Producer: Mike David Fantasy Flight Games Editing: Kevin Tomczyk Rules Writing & Revision: Adam Baker, Nate French, Caleb Grace, and Matthew Newman Proofreading: Patricia Meredith and Mark Pollard Proofreading: Tom Howard Graphic Design: Kevin Childress LCG Manager: Mercedes Opheim Additional Graphic Design: Brian Schomburg, Andrew Navaro, and Michael Silsby Graphic Design: Christopher Hosch, Joe Olsen, and WiL Springer Cover Art: Daryl Mandryk Graphic Design Manager: Brian Schomburg Art Direction: Zoë Robinson Managing Art Director: Melissa Shetler Art Administration: Kyle Hough Quality Assurance: Zach Tewalthomas Creative Content Development: Jason Walden Senior Project Manager: John Franz-Wichlacz FFG Lead Game Designer: Corey Konieczka Senior Manager of Product Development: FFG Lead Game Producer: Michael Hurley Chris Gerber Production Manager: Eric Knight Executive Game Designer: Corey Konieczka Publisher: Christian T. Petersen Creative Director: Andrew Navaro Special thanks to Joe Mandragona, Fredrica Drotos, and Sam Benson at Middle-earth Enterprises for Asmodee North America their patience and feedback. To a wonderful team of core playtesters: Damon Stone, Jonathan Pechon, Licensing Coordinator: Sherry Anisi Jerry Warwick, Kathy Warwick, Kat Pealsey, Denise Licensing Manager: Simone Elliott Shepler, Jonathan Benton, Tony Sullivan, Nathan Bradley, Chris Perry, Rob Jones, Marius Hartland, Production Management: Jason Beaudoin Eric F. Huigen, Martijn Ketelaars, James Black, Jason and Megan Duehn Hawthorne, Ninno Canonico, Jared Duffy, Steve Publisher: Christian T. Petersen Zamborsky, Cesare Ciccarelli, Will Lentz, Francesco Moggia, John Goodenough, Jason Walden, Adam Playtesters: Benjamin Bottorff, Jasmine Bottorff, Sadler, and Brady Sadler. And to everyone who Michelle Bottorff, Lachlan “Raith” Conley, Sébastien demoed an early version of the game at GenCon 2010. “Ser Nakata” Michaux, Riley Mullins, Spencer Thank you, thank you, thank you. Palmer, Foster Robertson, John Schaffer, Ken Uy, Ryan “R.R.” Wolohan

© 2017 Fantasy Flight Games. No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission. Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings, and the characters, events, items and places therein, are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises and are used, under license, by Fantasy Flight Games. Fantasy Flight Supply is a trademark of Fantasy Flight Games. Fantasy Flight Games, the FFG logo, Living Card Game, LCG, and the LCG logo are registered trademarks of Fantasy Flight Games. All rights reserved to their respective owners. Fantasy Flight Games is located at 1995 West County Road B2, Roseville, Minnesota, 55113, USA, 651-639-1905. Actual components may vary from those shown. Made in China. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A TOY. NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY PERSONS 13 YEARS OF AGE OR YOUNGER.

31 Players may photocopy this page for their own personal use. Ranged: A character with the “Ranged” keyword Quick Reference can attack enemies that are engaged with other This page contains an easy-to-reference overview of players when it attacks. the game’s basic concepts and turn structure. Restricted: A character can never have more than two attachments with the “Restricted” keyword. Round Overview Sentinel: A player can declare a character with the Each game round consists of the following “Sentinel” keyword as a defender against enemy seven phases: attacks made against another player. 1. Resource Phase Surge: If an encounter card with the “Surge” a. Gain Resources keyword is revealed, reveal one additional card from the encounter deck (after resolving that card’s b. Draw Card when revealed effect, if any). 2. Planning Phase 3. Quest Phase a. Commit Characters b. Staging c. Quest Resolution Character & Enemy 4. Travel Phase Statistics 5. Encounter Phase Willpower a. Optional Engagement Ò b. Engagement Checks Attack Strength Û 6. Combat Phase Defense Strength a. Deal Shadow Cards Ú b. Resolve Enemy Attacks Threat Strength $ c. Resolve Player Attacks 7. Refresh Phase a. Ready b. Increase Threat c. Pass First Player Keywords Spheres of Influence The following section serves as a quick reminder of how each keyword functions. For complete rules on a keyword, see the Rules Reference. Leadership Ì Doomed X: If an encounter card with the Lore “Doomed” keyword is revealed, each player must Î increase his or her threat by the specified value. Spirit Ê Guarded: After an objective with the “Guarded” keyword is revealed and placed in the staging area, Tactics Ï reveal the next card from the encounter deck and attach it to that objective. A player cannot claim an objective if there are encounter cards attached to it.