TM Rules of Play The time has come for the final confrontation in Welcome Middle-earth between the free people of the west and With this copy of Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, you can relive the dark lord Sauron. Will the Hobbit Frodo and his the epic struggle between the Fellowship of the Ring and the minions of companions bring the One Ring to Mount Doom deep Sauron as told in J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings. in the land of Mordor? Or will their fellowship fall to Sauron’s forces and lose Middle-earth to eternal darkness? If you are ready to guide the Fellowship in their dangerous journey Only one side can win! to reach Mount Doom, or if you are ready to control the forces of Sauron in their hunt for the One Ring, then read on; adventure and excitement await. Game Components 18 Combat Cards Bag End Bag Game Board Shire The Cardolan Arthedain Bree Enedwaith Eregion Rhudaur Fellowship Sauron Rivendell Tunnel of Moria of Tunnel Isengard Combat Cards Combat Cards Mountains Misty Gap of Rohan of Gap Caradhras 1 The High Pass Helm’s Deep Anduin 8 Special Cards Edoras Rohan Fangorn Mirkwood Lothlórien Dol Guldur Anduin Gondor Dagorlad 2 18 Character Stands Shelob’s Lair Barad Dûr Mordor Mount Doom 1. Mountain Regions 2. Region 18 Character Cards 2 Reference Sheets 18 Character Tiles 2 • The Fellowship chooses any four of its characters and places them in the Shire and then places its remaining five characters Playing the in the five regions in front of the Shire (Arthedain, Cardolan, Enedwaith, Eregion, and Rhudaur) so that each of those five Classic Game regions contains one Fellowship character. The rules for playing Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation are explained assuming that players are playing the CLASSIC GAME. Rules • Sauron proceeds likewise: He chooses and places any four for playing either the VARIANT GAME or the DRAFT GAME are found of his characters in Mordor, then places his remaining five towards the end of this rulebook. characters in the five regions in front of Mordor (Gondor, Dagorlad, Fangorn, Mirkwood, and Rohan), so that each of When playing the classic game, make sure that you are using the side of those five regions contains one Sauron character. the character tiles and character cards that display the ring symbol (the • No characters are placed on any of the mountain regions at the characters showing the star symbol—are not used in the classic game). beginning of the game. • Each player places his nine character cards in his play area, RING SYMBOL STAR SYMBOL serving as reminders of character names and abilities. (CLASSIC GAME) (VARIANT GAME) • Each player takes the reference sheet summarizing the Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is a two-player game in which opposing player’s characters and cards. one player controls the nine companions of the Fellowship as the Each character must be placed on the board so that its hidden FELLOWSHIP. The other player controls nine of Sauron’s evil minions (opaque) side is facing the opposing player. In this way players see as SAURON. Before the game begins, players should familiarize only the identities of their own characters. themselves with both their own and their opponent’s cards and characters. The special abilities of each card and every character are described in detail on pages 10 through 15. Setup Before playing the game for the first time, carefully unpack the cards and separate the cardboard counters from their frames. • The Fellowship slides the nine Fellowship character tiles (with the gold numbers) into the light plastic stands. Sauron slides the nine Sauron character tiles (with the red numbers) into the dark plastic stands. Now both players each have nine game pieces called CHARACTERS. Remember, in the classic game, the outward facing characters must all show the ring symbol. • Each player takes his nine combat cards into his hand. The Fellowship takes the Fellowship cards and Sauron takes the Sauron cards. (The eight Special Cards are only used with the game variant described on page 9.) • The game board is placed between the two players so that the corner with the Shire is pointing at the Fellowship and the corner with Mordor points towards Sauron. 3 Setup Diagram 3 2 1 4 5 6 8 9 7 1. Fellowship Reference Sheet 4. Sauron Characters 7. Fellowship Combat Cards 2. Sauron Combat Cards 5. Game Board 8. Fellowship Characters 3. Sauron Character Cards 6. Fellowship Character Cards 9. Sauron Reference Sheet 4 Mount Doom Mount Mordor Barad Dûr Barad Shelob’s Lair Shelob’s Dagorlad Gondor Anduin Dol Guldur Dol Lothlórien Mirkwood Fangorn Rohan Edoras Anduin Helm’s Deep Helm’s The High Pass High The Caradhras Gap of Rohan Misty Mountains Isengard Tunnel of Moria Rivendell • Each player cannot have more than four of his characters in the Shire or Mordor. Character Card & Character Tile Anatomy • Each player can only have one character in each mountain region. • Each player can have two characters in every other region. 1 Rhudaur2 • The number of characters each player is allowed Eregion Enedwaith to have in any one region is indicated by the CHARACTER LIMIT INDICATOR printed on the game board. CHARACTER LIMIT 1 • Some characters have special movement abilities INDICATOR as described in their character text. Such special movement and other special abilities are described in detail for each character on pages 11 through 14. • The River Anduin: The Fellowship can use the river to move 3 Fellowship characters from Mirkwood to Fangorn, orBree from Fangorn to Rohan (as indicated by yellow arrows). Even though this move is sideways, it does qualify as the Fellowship’s forward 4 5 move for that turn. Movement in the opposite direction (from Rohan to Fangorn, or Fangorn to Mirkwood) is not allowed, except by a character or card ability (such as a sideways retreat). • The Tunnel Arthedainof Moria: The Fellowship can move Fellowship Cardolan 1. Strength Value 3. Character Name characters forward through the Tunnel of Moria (as indicated 2. Affiliation Color 4. Character Ability (gold for Fellowship; by the yellow arrow) in one move (from Eregion into Fangorn), 5. Game Version Icon red for Sauron) but never in the opposite direction (from Fangorn to Eregion) even if a character is retreating. The tunnel may be used even if there is a Sauron character in Caradhras. Playing the Game When a character is defeated, the character piece is removed from the Sauron takes the first turn. Play then alternates between the two game board and set aside. players for the rest of the game. Movement The Shire During a player’s turn, he must move one of his characters forward using the following rules: • A character can only move forward to an adjacent region. Characters cannot move sideways or backwards unless Bag End otherwise stated on their character text or allowed by card play or special rules. • Characters cannot move sideways while in the mountains (not even by the use of cards or special abilities, unless specifically stated). 5 Mount Doom Mount Mordor Barad Dûr Barad Shelob’s Lair Shelob’s Dagorlad Gondor Anduin Dol Guldur Dol Lothlórien Mirkwood Fangorn Rohan Mount Doom Mount Mount Doom Mount Edoras Anduin Mordor Helm’s Deep Helm’s Mordor The High Pass High The Caradhras Barad Dûr Barad Barad Dûr Barad Gap of Rohan Lair Shelob’s Shelob’s Lair Shelob’s Misty Mountains Isengard Tunnel of Moria Dagorlad Gondor Rivendell Dagorlad Movement Examples Gondor Anduin Rhudaur Eregion Enedwaith Anduin Dol Guldur Dol Dol Guldur Dol Lothlórien Lothlórien Fangorn Rohan 1 2 Mirkwood 3 Fangorn Rohan Bree Mirkwood Edoras Anduin Edoras Arthedain Cardolan Anduin Helm’s Deep Helm’s Helm’s Deep Helm’s The High Pass High The Caradhras The High Pass High The Caradhras Gap of Rohan Mount Doom Mount Gap of Rohan Misty Mountains The Shire Isengard Tunnel of Moria Misty Mountains Mordor Isengard Tunnel of Moria Bag End Rivendell Rivendell Barad Dûr Barad Shelob’s Lair Shelob’s Rhudaur Eregion Enedwaith Rhudaur Eregion Enedwaith Dagorlad Gondor Bree Bag End Bag Bree Anduin Dol Guldur Dol Arthedain Cardolan The Shire The 1. When moving forward,Lothlórien unless 2. A character cannot move or retreat 3. Only the Fellowship may move Arthedain Cardolan Fangorn Rohan moving intoMirkwood Mordor, the Shire, or sideways in the mountains. In its characters forward directly along a yellow movement arrow the above example, Frodo cannot from Eregion to Fangorn Edoras The Shire Cardolan Arthedain (Fellowship only),Anduin a character must use his ability to retreat sideways using the TunnelThe Shire of Moria. No Helm’s Deep Helm’s Bag End Bree Bag End The High Pass High The always move into one of the two Caradhras because he is in a battle taking movement or retreats are allowed adjacent regions before him. placeGap ofin Rohan a mountain region. in the opposite direction (from Misty Mountains Isengard Tunnel of Moria Fangorn to Eregion). Enedwaith Eregion Rhudaur Rivendell Rivendell Rhudaur Eregion Enedwaith Tunnel of Moria of Tunnel Isengard Misty Mountains Misty 4 Rohan of Gap 5 Caradhras The High Pass Bree Helm’s Deep Anduin Arthedain Cardolan Edoras Rohan Fangorn Mirkwood Lothlórien The Shire Dol Guldur Anduin Bag End Gondor Dagorlad Shelob’s Lair Barad Dûr 4. A character cannot move or retreat 5.Mordor Only the Fellowship may move its into a region that already contains the charactersMount Doom forward along the Anduin river maximum number of characters of its in the direction of the yellow arrows. own side.