War of the Ring: Second Edition

Each turn proceeds through recovering action dice and drawing 2 Event cards each, 1 from each deck; the Fellowship phase; Shadow Hunt allocation; action rolls; alternating actions; and a military victory check. The Free Peoples start with 4 action dice and the Shadow with 7; qualifying characters can add dice in later turns. The Free Peoples act first. Use 1 die result for one permitted action; a player with fewer unused dice than the opponent may pass temporarily.

An Army result can move up to two different armies into adjacent regions, or attack an adjacent enemy with one army. A Character result can move or attack with a led army, or handle companions and the Fellowship. Muster can advance one nation on the Political Track or recruit for a nation At War: one elite, or a legal combination of two regulars and/or leaders. Two figures must use different free settlements of their own nations; a besieged stronghold cannot muster.

Activation and being At War are distinct: a passive Free Peoples nation cannot enter the At War step. A nation not At War cannot attack, recruit with Muster dice or normally cross into another nation’s territory. Being attacked or losing settlements advances its political position. Free Peoples army units and leaders killed are permanently removed; Shadow army units and Nazgûl normally return to reinforcements and can be recruited again. Eliminated characters normally leave permanently.

A normal region holds at most 10 army units, and a besieged stronghold at most 5. In each combat round, roll up to 5 dice according to combat strength, normally hitting on 5 or 6; leadership rerolls the appropriate number of misses. Each hit removes one regular or downgrades one elite to a regular; two hits may instead remove an elite. In a siege, the attacker normally hits only on 6 and fights for just 1 round, extending it by downgrading one participating elite for each additional round.

While Hidden, the Fellowship can use a Character die to advance progress 1 step and resolve the Hunt, then place that Free Peoples die in the Hunt Box. A Revealed Fellowship must spend a separate action to hide before moving; hiding and moving are not one action. Its figure marks its last known location and its progress records distance traveled from there. Voluntarily declaring its location in the Fellowship phase differs from being revealed by the Hunt: declaration can leave it Hidden.

Before rolling, the Shadow openly allocates Hunt dice, normally up to the number of companions still in the Fellowship, but may always allocate at least 1. At least 1 is required if a Free Peoples movement die remained in the Hunt Box last turn. Rolled Eyes then join them. Outside Mordor, each Fellowship move rolls up to 5 Hunt dice based on Shadow dice in the box, normally succeeding on 6, with +1 for each Free Peoples die placed there by earlier moves that turn. At least one success draws just 1 Hunt tile. Resolve its damage and reveal effect; events, the Guide or sacrificing one companion may reduce damage under their rules, with the remainder becoming Corruption.

In the Fellowship phase, the Fellowship may enter the Mordor Track from Minas Morgul or Morannon. Each movement attempt then draws 1 Hunt tile automatically instead of rolling Hunt dice. Normally advance 1 step; a Stop icon prevents advancement. An Eye tile deals damage equal to all dice in the Hunt Box, including Free Peoples dice. The Fellowship must still be Hidden to advance and companions can no longer voluntarily separate. If it neither attempts to move nor hides during the entire turn, add 1 Corruption at the end of Action Resolution.

The Shadow wins immediately at 12 or more Corruption. The Free Peoples win immediately by completing the Mordor Track’s five steps to the Crack of Doom with Corruption below 12. Check military victories only at turn end: the Shadow needs enemy settlements worth at least 10 points; the Free Peoples need at least 4. Each enemy city is worth 1 and stronghold 2. The numbered priority is Corruption, Ring destruction, Shadow military victory, then Free Peoples military victory; reaching a military threshold does not end play immediately.