The rules do not contain hyperlinks, but bookmarks have been created that match the table of contents. The color inserts are also missing.
Table of ContentsPart III and the Appendices are still missing.
INTRODUCTION
During the Third Age, the Valar sent five Maiar to Middle-earth to
unite and counsel the Free Peoples in their struggles against Sauron,
the Dark Lord. However, they were forbidden to dominate the peoples of
Middle-earth or to match the power of Sauron with power. These five
were known as "Wizards" (also called Istari) in Middle-earth, and
individually they were called: Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, Alatar, and
Pallando.
In Middle-earth: The Wizards,
you play one of these five Wizards. Your goal is to marshal the forces
of the Free Peoples so that Sauron can be resisted until the One Ring
is destroyed. Since your fellow Wizards do not agree on how best to
accomplish this goal, you must battle for the minds, bodies, and souls
of the Free Peoples.
In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf was the only
Wizard to succeed. Saruman was corrupted by power, Radagast "went
native," and Alatar and Pallando disappeared into the East. Only
Gandalf remained true to his task, marshalling the characters and
forces that withstood Sauron long enough for the Fellowship to destroy
the Ruling Ring.
"Evil forces" are represented by hazards that the players use against
one another. For example, if you move a character into Moria, your
opponent could play a Troll card as a hazard. These hazards are not
"controlled" by the Wizards, but rather they represent the forces of
Sauron, who himself is in a "dormant" or hiding phase. All players are
"good," so conflict takes the form of hazards and direct attempts to
"persuade" or "dominate" each other and each other's characters and
forces, rather than the form of direct conflict.
Note:
For purposes of readability, these rules use the standard masculine
pronouns when referring to a person of uncertain gender. In such cases,
these pronouns are intended to convey the meanings: she/he, him/her,
etc.
These rules are organized into four sections: the Starter Rules, the Standard
Rules, the Optional Rules, and the Appendices. The Starter and Standard
Rules are for a two-player game; multi-player rules are provided in the
Optional Rules.
The introductory material on pages 4-8 provides a brief player turn summary,
player notes, and definitions of commonly used terms.
The Starter Rules - The Starter Rules contain all of the guidelines
you need to play METW. They have been designed to simplify teaching the
game and to speed up play. You should use the Starter Rules if you and your
opponent have never played this game before or if one of you only has access
to a starter deck.
If you are already an experienced player of collectible card games, you
might read the next couple of pages and the sections that are not boxed.
As you play, you can refer to the other material that details the more complex
rules and situations that may arise during play.
The Standard Rules - These rules assume you have already played several
games using the Starter Rules. The Standard Rules consist of additions and
extensions to the Starter Rules that make play and deck building more flexible,
exciting, and interesting. We recommend that experienced METW players use
all of the Standard Rules.
The Optional Rules - Interesting variations to the standard rules.
Before play begins, both players must agree on which optional rules are
to be used.
The Appendices - An index, credits, keys, the Full Player Turn Summary.
The color insert includes a map and a key to the cards.
Play consists of a series of "Player Turns." During your turn,
follow the steps outlined in this turn summary. Then, your opponent does
the same during his turn. You and your opponent alternate turns until the
game ends. This turn summary is included here to give you an idea of how
play proceeds; see p. 68-70 for the Full Player Turn Summary.
Untap Phase - Each of your characters may do one of the following:
Untap or Heal (if at a Haven site). In addition, untap (see page 15) all
of your other tapped non-site cards.
Organization Phase - You may take the following actions in any order:
play one character (if allowed) or your Wizard (if available), reorganize
your companies, transfer items between characters (corruption checks required),
and store items (corruption checks required). In addition, each of your
companies may plan its movement by playing a new site card face down on
its present site card.
Long-event Phase - Discard your resource long-events and your opponent's
hazard long-events. Play new resource long-event cards.
Movement/Hazard Phase - One at a time, each of your companies takes
the following actions. The company turns over its new site card (if it has
one); its current site becomes its site of origin. If the company moved
to a non-Haven site, you may draw up to the # of cards indicated by the
site that it is moving to (at least one card must be draw); your opponent
does the same. If the company is moving to a Haven site, you may draw up
to the # of cards indicated by the site that you are moving from (at least
one card must be drawn); your opponent does the same. Next, your opponent
may play allowable hazard cards on the company; the maximum number of hazards
that may be played on a company is equal to the size of the company (to
a minimum of two). Finally, remove the site of origin card and each player
discards or draws so that he has eight cards in his hand.
Site Phase - One at a time, each of your companies may take the following
actions at its current, untapped site. The company decides to enter and
explore the site. First, if the site has an automatic-attack, it attacks
the company. Then, the company may attempt to play one item, ally, faction,
or information resource card that is "playable" at that site.
A character in the company must tap to make this attempt. If the card is
successfully played, tap the site.
End-of-Turn Phase - Each player may discard one card. Then each player
must draw or discard so that his hand has eight cards.
Clarification: The card, Twilight, is an exception to this rule-it
can be played at anytime, either as a resource or as a hazard (it does not
count against the hazard limit). Certain other cards specifically state
when they may be played.
To get a general idea of how to play, read the Starter Rules sections that are not boxed. Later you can refer to the boxed sections for more information on special situations.
Random ValuesTwo six-sided dice (2D6) should be used to generate random values during
play. This is called "making a roll." To make a roll, roll 2D6
and add the two results together.
Note: If dice are not available, a random value can be generated
by drawing a card from your play deck. Each card in a play deck has a number
on the right side just below the center. You can use this number as the
random value, then discard the card. Do not use this method if dice are
available!
The game ends when one of the following occurs during play:
Note: If one or both players only has access to
a starter deck (76 cards), this requirement of 20 marshalling points should
be lowered to 18.
Just before the Free Council, each character must make a corruption check.
The player who took the last turn makes corruption checks for his characters
first.
At the Free Council, the leaders of the Free Peoples decide which Wizard's
advice is best to follow. This is based upon a comparison of the resources
each of the Wizards has marshalled.
Clarification: Characters do not automatically untap when the
Free Council is called. A character may only untap during his own untap
phase.
Clarification: A character that fails his corruption check prior
to the Free Council is no longer in play. That character and any non-follower
cards he controls are not available at the Free Council-thus, they do not
count towards the marshalling point totals.
A player may play resource cards that can affect his characters' corruption
checks made prior to the Free Council. Hazard cards may not be played.
After all characters have made their corruption checks, the game ends if
one Wizard has failed his corruption check (the other player wins). If both
Wizards fail their corruption checks, no one wins-both players lose (if
you have to, roll dice and the high roller is the winner).
The winner of the game is the player that has gathered the most marshalling
points from:
Marshalling points are printed on the top left corner of the cards that
award them.
Note: You may find it useful to use pencil and paper
or extra dice to keep a running total of marshalling points.
Clarification: If both players have the same number of marshalling
points at the Free Council, the game ends in a tie-both players win (if
you have to, roll dice and the high roller is the winner).
Example: (CPs = Corruption Points, MPs = Marshalling Points)
Our two players Jessica and Jason have been playing for awhile and Jessica
exhausts her play deck during her turn. Since she has 15 MPs and Jason only
has 14, she decides to call the Free Council. Each player has one company
in Lórien:
Jessica Controls:CPs - MPs
Men of Lebennin (faction) 0 - 2
Dreams of Lore (information) 0 - 2
Pallando (controls:) Total CPs: 2 - 0
Sword of Gondolin (item) 2 - 2
Gwaihir (ally) 0 - 2
Celeborn 0 - 2
Gildor Inglorion (controls:) Total CPs: 1 - 1
Healing Herbs (item) 1 - 0
Legolas (controls:) Total CPs: 2 - 2
Elfstone (item) 1 - 0
Dagger of Westernesse (item) 1 - 0
Elrohir 0 - 1
Elladan Total CPs: 0 - 1
Jason Controls: CPs - MPs
Radagast (controls:) Total CPs: 0 - 0
Beorn (controls:) 0 - 2
Quickbeam (ally) 0 - 2
Théoden (controls:) Total CPs: 4 - 2
Sword of Gondolin (item) 2 - 2
Great Shield of Rohan (item) 2 - 2
Faramir (controls:) Total CPs: 2 - 2
Dagger of Westernesse (item) 1 - 0
Healing Herbs (item) 1 - 0
Imrahil (controls:) Total CPs: 0 - 2
Since Jessica called the council, Jason gets one final turn before the council
starts. Jason brings Éomer into play for one more MP, and then moves
his company to Lake-town. After facing the hazards Jessica plays, he successfully
plays the Men of Northern Rhovanion faction for two more MPs. Jason now
has 17 MPs and will win the game if he does not lose any MPs due to characters
failing corruption checks.
In this example, any character with 2 or more CPs could fail his corruption
check (see pages 35-36). If Pallando fails his corruption check, the game
ends immediately and Jason wins. If Legolas fails his corruption check,
Jessica loses 2 of her MPs. If Théoden fails his corruption check,
Jason loses 6 of his MPs. If Faramir fails his corruption check, Jason loses
2 of his MPs.
There are five types of cards: site cards, character cards (including
Wizard cards), resource cards, hazard cards, and region cards (this last
type is not used with the Starter Rules).
Note: The card types can be distinguished as follows:
Clarification: For emphasis, a value used during play
is often provided both in a card's text and in another place on the same
card. For example, a character's corruption check modification is stated
both in the text and the lower right corner of the character's card.
Note: Each starter deck has a small pack of cards called a fixed
set. There are 5 fixed sets in all. One appears randomly in each starter
deck. The top facing card of all fixed sets is Gates of Morning.
A
fixed set is included in each starter deck to make a starter deck playable
without any other cards.
During play, your cards are organized into 2 decks and 3 piles:
You can use resources at certain sites and under certain conditions.
Resources include: items, factions, allies, events, etc. You may only play
resource cards during your own turn. You use hazards to hinder and attack
your opponent's characters in order to prevent them from marshalling resources.
You may only play hazard cards during your opponent's movement/hazard
phase.
Clarification: The card, Twilight, is an exception
to this rule-it can be played at anytime, either as a resource or as a hazard
(it does not count against the hazard limit). Certain other cards specifically
state when they may be played.
Clarification: Your play deck is "exhausted" when you draw
its last card. Some cards require that your play deck be manipulated and
then reshuffled-this does not "exhaust" your play deck.
Note: Because hazard cards are distinct from resource
cards, you may not play your hazards on your side of the playing surface.
At the end of a game, it will be obvious whose cards are whose, i.e., hazards
in your area must belong to your opponent. We suggest adopting a neutral
zone between each player's side of the playing surface. Non-targeted long-events
and permanent-events can be played in this neutral zone.
Note: You may freely examine the contents of your discard pile; your
opponent may not. The contents of your out-of-play and marshalling point
piles may be freely examined by you and your opponent.
Clarification: If a character is eliminated due to combat or due
to failing a corruption check by 2 or more, his card is placed in the out-of-play
pile-that character may not be brought back into play by either player.
If a creature is defeated, its card is placed in the defender's marshalling
point pile. If such a creature is unique, it may not be brought back into
play by either player.
When a card is removed from play in all other cases, the card is discarded
unless the card specifically states otherwise.
Clarification: Several types of cards are referred to by the key
word included in the first few words of a card's text. For example, the
text of a "spell" card starts with spell; the text of a "Nazgûl"
card starts with Unique. Nazgûl; the text of a "Palantír"
starts with Unique. Palantír.
Often combinations of several cards and other actions are required to achieve a desired result. For example, to bring The One Ring into play requires: traveling to a site to play one of the Gold Ring cards, some sort of "Test" card or ability, The One Ring card, and a high die roll. In addition, the Wizard's Test card and the Scroll of Isildur card will dramatically improve the chances of successfully getting The One Ring into play.
TAPPING AND CARD POSITIONSNormally, during play, each of your cards is placed on the playing surface
so that its top is towards your opponent and its bottom is towards you.
During play certain cards must be "tapped" when they are used-this
is a record keeping mechanism to keep track of card usage. To tap a card,
rotate it 90° so that it is turned sideways-to untap a card, rotate
it back 90° to its normal position.
When one of your characters is wounded, his card is placed with its top
towards you (i.e., rotated 180° from an untapped position). All restrictions
to tapped characters also apply to wounded characters.
Clarification: A tapped (or wounded) character can
perform any action that does not require the character to tap.
For example, a tapped (or wounded) character can move normally, he can fight
with a penalty (if the attacker chooses him as the target of a strike),
he can transfer items, etc. A tapped (or wounded) character may not tap
to acquire an item, to influence a faction, to play a card requiring that
he tap, etc.
Items and characters tap independently.
If a card states that it is "unique" or that it "may not
be duplicated," only one such card (or its effects) may be in play
at a time. The first card played takes precedence (influence checks may
change this). This restriction applies to all cards in play, i.e., both
yours and your opponent's.
Only one of each "unique" card may be included in your play deck
and starting cards combined. As an exception, two of the same Wizard may
be included in your play deck (to give you a better chance of drawing one
early).
Follow these steps to get ready to play:
Clarification: None of your starting characters
may be considered to be followers for the purposes of determining their
combined mind attributes-your initial characters have to have combined mind
attributes of 20 or below.
Clarification: The initial 1-5 characters and two minor items do
count toward the "one-unique" and "three-others" limits
on the play deck. However, they do not count towards the number of resource
and character cards in your starting play deck.
Play consists of a series of "Player Turns." During your turn, you take various actions during the following phases. Then, your opponent does the same during his turn.
A Brief Player Turn Summary is presented on page 4. A detailed Full Player
Turn Summary is presented on pages 68-70.
Clarification: The actions that may be taken during
your organization phase may be taken in any order. Actions of the same type
do not have to be taken together (e.g., you can store an item, then bring
a character into play, and then store a second item).
Clarification: If one of your companies doesn't move, neither player
draws cards based on that company's movement. However, your opponent can
play still play allowable hazards on that company (hazard limit still applies).
Clarification: Each player draws cards when each company moves and
then discards or draws to 8 cards after the company has completed movement.
Additionally, at the end of each turn, each player can discard one card
and then discard or draw to 8 cards.
Clarification: During the site phase, a company may decide not to
enter and explore its current site. In this case, the company does not face
the automatic-attack, but it may not take any other actions or play any
cards during the site phase. The company remains at the site and it may
decide to enter and explore the site on a later turn.
Clarification: Before a company can attempt to play one item, ally,
faction, or information resource card that is "playable" at its
current site, it must face the site's automatic-attacks. The company need
not defeat the attacks, it merely needs to resolve the attacks normally
(such attacks can be canceled).
A company can face a site's automatic-attacks and still not play an item,
ally, faction, or information resource card (e.g., all of its characters
are tapped after facing the automatic-attacks). If such a company wants
to play a card at the site on a later turn, it must face the automatic-attacks
again.
Clarification: A site is tapped when one item, ally, faction, or
information card is played. Non-Haven sites only untap after being discarded
and after your play deck is exhausted. So, each time through your play deck,
only one such card may normally be played at a given non-Haven site. Haven
cards, whether tapped or not, always return to your location deck.
As a player, you influence and control a number of characters that move
and act in the world of Middle-earth. Each character's abilities are defined
by these attributes: race, skills, direct influence, prowess (offense),
body (defense), mind, marshalling points, and special abilities (e.g., corruption
check modifiers). A character can be eliminated and removed from play as
a result of combat (failing a body check) or corruption (failing a corruption
check).
If you have enough general influence or direct influence during a given
turn, you may bring into play: one character at his home site or at any
Haven or your Wizard at his home site or Rivendell.
Characters are primarily controlled by your pool of 20 general influence
points. For each controlled character, you must commit a number of general
influence points equal to his mind attribute. In addition, you may control
a character by using another character's direct influence-a character controlled
in this fashion is called a follower and does not use general influence
points. (See page 21 for an extended example.)
During play, you may organize your characters into groups called companies.
A company's size is equal to the number of characters in it, with each Hobbit
character only counting half (round up). A company is limited to a size
of seven. A company's hazard limit is equal to two or the size of the company,
whichever is greater. The maximum number of hazards that can be played on
a company during a given movement/hazard phase is equal to its hazard limit.
Companies can only combine at a Haven-just remove all but one of the companies'
Haven site cards. The resulting company then has one site card consisting
of one Haven site card.
One company can split into two or more companies only at a Haven (use two
Haven cards).
Note: The number of characters you have in play limits
the number of actions you may take during a given turn. You use your Wizard's
general influence or your other characters' direct influence on a character
to bring that character into play and to keep it in play. A character in
play can move and take actions (e.g., defending against attacks, influencing,
etc.). Items, allies, and other cards representing things a character acquires
and controls are placed under his card.
Each character's abilities are defined by the following attributes (the notation for certain attributes is given in brackets).
You have a pool of 20 general influence points. At any one time, the
total mind attributes of your characters in play (not counting followers)
must be less than or equal to 20; this total is equal to your used general
influence points. Your unused general influence points help your characters
resist the effects of certain cards (e.g., Call of Home, Call of the Sea,
Muster Disperses, etc.).
Note: In the Standard Rules, your unused general influence
points help your characters, factions, allies, and items resist influence
attempts made by your opponent.
Direct Influence
Some characters have a direct influence attribute of one or more. If such
a character's direct influence is greater than or equal to another one of
your characters' mind attribute, he may take control of that other character,
who then becomes a follower of the controlling character. These conditions
must be met:
A follower does not require influence points from your general pool.
The follower must remain stacked under the character exerting the direct
influence at all times. A follower may not use his direct influence to control
characters (i.e., a follower may not have his own followers). A follower
is handled in all other ways as a normal character (e.g., counts for
company size, takes normal actions , etc.).
If you have enough unused general influence points, you may move a follower
from direct influence to general influence (or vice versa) during your organization
phase.
If a character directly influencing a follower is removed from play, the
follower remains in play and does not immediately count against general
influence. However, during your next organization phase, you must discard
the follower, place the follower under the control of another character
in his company with enough available direct influence, or place the follower
under the control of general influence (if enough is available).
Example: In this example and later examples, the notation "#·#"
is used. The first number is the character's mind attribute; the second
is his direct influence (DI). You have nine characters you want to control:
Gandalf (- ·10), Aragorn II (9·3), Boromir II (4·1), Legolas
(6·2), Gimli (6·2), Frodo (5·1), Sam (4·0), Merry (4·1),
and Pippin (4·1). In addition, Aragorn II has Narsil (+1 to direct
influence), Frodo has The One Ring (+5 to direct influence), and Gandalf
has a Lesser Ring (+2 to direct influence). In order for you to control
and keep these characters in play, you must use all of your 20 points of
general influence (GI) and their direct influence (DI).
First, Gandalf does not require any influence-he's your Wizard. You use
your GI to control Frodo, Aragorn II, and Gimli. This uses all 20 points:
5 for Frodo, 9 for Aragorn II, and 6 for Gimli. Gandalf has 12 DI (his normal
10 plus 2 for the Lesser Ring), so he uses it to control Sam, Merry, and
Pippin (they become his followers). Aragorn II has 4 DI (his 3 plus 1 for
Narsil), so he uses it to control Boromir II. Frodo has 6 DI (his 1 plus
5 for The One Ring), so he uses it to control Legolas. The company size
is 7 because Hobbits only count half. The resulting company organization
is outlined below:
General Influence(- ·20)
A company is a group of characters that move and act together. This allows
characters to move, act, and defend as a unit, allowing stronger characters
to protect the weaker characters. This mechanism can be used to allow a
variety of tactics during play.
For example, if you have 3 characters in play, the 3 characters can move
separately and perhaps do more in terms of acquiring marshalling points
(items, other characters, etc.); but each individual character is more vulnerable
to danger. However, the same 3 characters operating as a company might acquire
marshalling points more slowly, but they are safer (i.e., you risk less).
Normally, a company is limited to a size of seven, but a company at a Haven
site may be of any size. For these purposes, a Wizard counts as a character,
but an ally does not. The size of a company is determined for each company
at the beginning of the movement/hazard phase (e.g., it remains fixed even
if a character leaves the company).
During your organization phase, you may perform one and only one of the following activities:
When you play a character, you may place him into a company already at
his arrival site or he may become a new company (consisting of one character).
In the second case, you must place the arrival site card next to the character
played.
Clarification: If character is played at his home site
or a Haven site and there is no company there, you must play the site card
for his arrival site with him. If the appropriate site card is not available,
you may not play the character.
Clarification: Playing a character does not tap a site.
Each
character and Wizard is unique. So if you already have a character in play,
your opponent may not play the same character. Similarly, if a character
has been eliminated, he may not be brought into play again by either player.
Example: In our example from page 11, Jessica calls the Free
Council. Then Jason gets to take his final turn. Since his company is at
a Haven, Jason may play a character card from his hand during his organization
phase. Jason has Éomer (with a 3 mind attribute) in his hand so he
plays him. Jason has 3 points of unused general influence; he also has Théoden
with 3 points of unused direct influence and Radagast with 3 points of unused
direct influence. So Éomer may be placed under the control of general
influence, Théoden, or Radagast (Jason's choice).
Once you decide to reveal your Wizard, you may still use your pool of
general influence points; but, in addition, your Wizard acts as a character
(a very powerful one). While revealing your Wizard is an advantage, it also
carries with it the danger of losing the game by losing your Wizard to death
or corruption.
After being revealed, a Wizard operates as a character and thus may use
his direct influence just like any other character.
Each of your characters at a Haven may heal during the untap phase of your turn. Such a character moves from a wounded position to a tapped position (i.e., the character is still tapped). In addition, certain cards can heal characters when they are played (e.g., Healing Herbs, Halfling Strength, etc.).
6 · MovementIn METW the lands of northwest Middle-earth are represented by regions.
The site cards represent places that companies can visit within those regions.
Except for a moving company during its movement/hazard phase, each company
always has a current site card associated with it-the company is located
at that site.
Clarification: The specific region cards are not used
with the Starter Rules. Remove these cards from your location deck if you
are not using the Standard Rules. Region cards are not included in starter
decks.
Note: Site paths do not direct the movement process. The site path
is used to determine which hazard creatures your opponent may play against
your moving company.
Note: By using the site cards and site cards only, a company can
move from any site to any other site. First, if necessary, the company moves
to the nearest Haven. Then, if necessary, it moves to another Haven. Finally,
it moves from that Haven to the destination site.
A company commits
to moving by playing a new site card (face down) during its organization
phase. A company does not have to move during a given turn (i.e., it does
not play a new site card).
At the beginning of its movement/hazard phase, a moving company current
site card becomes its site of origin-the company is considered to be en
route to its new site card (i.e., the company is moving).
At the end of a moving company's movement/hazard phase (before players return
to their hand sizes), its site of origin is removed (discard if tapped;
otherwise, return it to your location deck) and the new site card becomes
the company's current site card.
Clarification: Some cards can interrupt this process
by forcing a company to return to its site of origin.
Moving From
a Non-Haven Site
If the company's site of origin is a non-Haven site, the new site card must
be the Haven listed as the nearest Haven on the site of origin card (i.e.,
the company can move back to its nearest Haven).
Moving From a Haven Site
If the company's site of origin is a Haven, the new site card must meet
one of the following requirements:
Clarification: If a company is not moving, no cards
are drawn. If a company is moving to a non-haven site, you may draw up to
the # of cards indicated by the site that it is moving to (at least one
card must be drawn); your opponent does the same. If a company is moving
to a haven site, you may draw up to the # of cards indicated by the site
that it is moving from (at least one card must be draw); your opponent does
the same.
Clarification: To summarize the movement process:
Suggestion: To help decide where a company should move,
look at the resource cards in your hand. Then decide to which of your available
sites to move. For example, if you have a major item, go to a site where
a major item can be played.
Example: Jessica's company
is in Bree (i.e., its current site) and wants to go to Thranduil's Halls
to try and bring the Wood-elves faction into play. Bree's nearest Haven
is Rivendell, while Thranduil's Halls nearest Haven is Lórien.
First, it takes one turn to move from Bree to Rivendell using the site path,
w w, indicated on the Bree site card. Jessica just plays the Rivendell site
card as her new site card during her organization phase, and she removes
the Bree site card at the end of her movement/hazard phase.
During the next turn, the company may move from Rivendell to Lórien
using the site path, w w b w, indicated on both the Rivendell and Lórien
site cards. Jessica plays the Lórien site card during her organization
phase, and she removes the Rivendell site card at the end of her movement/hazard
phase.
Finally, the company takes one turn to move from Lórien to Thranduil's
Halls using the site path, w b b, indicated on the Thranduil's Halls site
card. Jessica plays the Thranduil's Halls site card during her organization
phase, and she removes the Lórien site card at the end of her movement/hazard
phase.
There are six types of regions and six types of sites:
Region Type Symbol - All region symbols have a circle around them.
Site Type Symbol
A site path is the sequence of regions between a site and its nearest
Haven. However, each region in the sequence is only indicated by its type,
not by its name. Each non-Haven site card has a site path on it. Each Haven
site card has two site paths, but each of those two paths gives the sequence
of regions between the Haven and one of the two Havens nearest to it.
Note: Site paths do not direct the movement process.
The site path is used to determine which hazard creatures your opponent
may play against your moving company.
Clarification: A "company's site path" during its movement
/hazard phase is the site path between its site of origin and its new site.
On non-Haven site cards, the site path is provided on the top left border.
On Haven cards, the site path to each of the two adjacent Havens is provided
in the card text.
Example: The Lonely Mountain site's
nearest Haven is the Lórien site. The symbol for Wilderness is w,
the symbol for Border-land is b. So the site path between Lórien
and the Lonely Mountain is: w b b w.
The regions between these two sites are Wold & Foothills (Wilderness),
Anduin Vales (Border-lands), Woodland Realm (Border-land), and Northern
Rhovanion (Wilderness).
Example: In the Example of movement from Bree to Thranduil's Halls
on page 26, the first site path used was from Bree to Rivendell: w w. During
that movement/hazard phase, Jason (Jessica's opponent) can play hazard creatures
keyed to wilderness (w), double wilderness (w w), and Havens (the new site).
During the next turn, the company uses the site path from Rivendell to Lórien:
w w b w. During that movement/hazard phase, Jason can play hazard creatures
keyed to wilderness (w), double wilderness (w w), border-lands (b), and
Havens (the new site).
Finally, the company takes one turn to move from Lórien to Thranduil's
Halls using the site path, w b b. Jason can play hazard creatures keyed
to wilderness (w), border-lands (b), and free-holds (the new site).
Region Types
Site Types
Combat normally occurs when one of three things happen:
Combat consists of one or more attacks that must be resolved one at a time. An attack consists of one or more strikes:
Unless the attack states otherwise, the defender chooses which untapped
characters will be the targets of given strikes. Then, the attacker chooses
which other defending characters not yet assigned a strike will be the target
of any remaining unassigned strikes.
Clarification: Against a given attack, a character
may only defend against one strike.
Clarification: If the text on a creature card states that the "attacker
chooses defending characters," any characters in the defending company
may be chosen (by the attacker) as the targets of the attack's strikes.
Clarification: All of an attack's strikes must be assigned to the
characters in the defending company or as modifications to the strikes assigned.
The attacker may not choose to not apply strikes. Any strike in excess of
the number of characters in the company becomes a -1 modification to prowess
of one character taking a strike (the attacker chooses). Only those strikes
that are assigned need be defeated for the creature's marshalling points
to be received by the defender.
Strike Modifications
There are a number of standard modifications to strikes:
Condition and Mod. to Target's Prowess
Unwounded, tapped character * ...-1
Wounded character *... -2
Untapped character decides not to tap *... -3
For each unused strike allocated (i.e., each extra strike) * ...-1
Up to one resource card that requires skill ...varies
Other resource cards ...varies
Hazard cards ...varies
Clarification: The prowess modifications marked with
an * above are applied for a given attack and then are removed immediately
after the attack is resolved. That is they do not carry over from attack
to attack.
Resolving Strikes
Strikes are resolved one at a time as decided by the defending player. When
you choose a strike to resolve, determine all of the factors affecting the
strike before the roll is made (see "The Strike Sequence" below).
To resolve a strike, the defender makes a roll (2D6) and adds his modified
prowess:
Body Checks
If a strike against a character is successful, the character is wounded
and must make a body check. To make a body check, the attacker makes a roll
(2D6); if this value is greater than the character's body attribute, the
character is eliminated. If the character was already wounded before this
strike, the roll is modified by +1.
Clarification: If a character was already wounded before
a strike wounds him again, the resulting body check modification is always
+1 (regardless of how many times a character is wounded).
Clarification: If a strike against a character is successful, a body
check must be resolved for the character before anything else happens. For
example, Healing Herbs may not be used to heal such a character until after
the body check is resolved (of course, if the character is eliminated, the
Healing Herbs may not be used on him at all).
As presented above,
a strike that fails is defeated if its body attribute is "­p;"
or if it has a body attribute and fails a body check. To make such a body
check, the defender makes a roll (2D6); if this value is greater than the
strike's body attribute, the strike is defeated.
Example: Smaug has a prowess of 17 and a body of 8. He normally
has two strikes when he attacks. If one of his strikes against a character
fails, the defender makes a body check. If the resulting roll is greater
than 8, that strike is defeated. However, both of Smaug's strikes must be
defeated in order for him to be eliminated-this would require at least two
body check rolls greater than 8.
Defeating an Attack
An attack by a hazard creature is defeated if all of its strikes directed
against (i.e., assigned to) a company are defeated. If a defeated attack
is a hazard creature, the card is placed in the defender's marshalling point
pile. The defender receives marshalling points for eliminating it.
If a hazard creature has multiple attacks, each must be defeated in order
for the defender to receive the marshalling points.
If one of the strikes was canceled or ineffectual, the attack is not defeated.
If the attack is canceled, the attack is not defeated. A canceled attack
has no effect on the defending company.
Example: Faramir is untapped with a prowess of 5 and a body of
8. He is facing a strike from a Huorn (only has one strike) with a prowess
of 10 and a body of "­p;." Faramir could decide not to tap
against the strike; in which case his prowess would only be 2 (his normal
prowess of 5, minus 3 for not tapping) against this strike. However, Faramir
decides to tap to face the strike.
If Faramir rolls a 6 or better (i.e., his prowess plus the roll will be
greater than the Huorn's prowess of 10), the strike fails and the Huorn
attack is defeated (it only has one strike and its body attribute is "­p;").
If Faramir rolls a 5 (i.e., his prowess plus the roll is equal to the Huorn's
prowess of 10), the strike is ineffectual.
If Faramir rolls a 4 or less (i.e., his prowess plus the roll is less than
the Huorn's prowess of 10), the strike was successful. Faramir is wounded
and must make a body check. The attacker makes a die roll-if the result
is 9 or more, Faramir is eliminated and removed from play.
The Strike
Sequence
You and your opponent must play any cards that modify the number of strikes
before you assign the strikes.
Note: The "strike sequence" is the time from
when a player declares that one of his characters will resolve a strike
until the strike die roll is made and any associated body checks are made.
Strikes
are resolved one at a time as decided by the defending player (i.e., he
chooses a strike to resolve, the strike is resolved, he chooses the next
strike to resolve, the strike is resolved, etc.).
All of the factors affecting the strike must be decided before making the
roll (2D6). Address these factors in the following order:
Clarification: Certain attacks state that each character
in the company "faces one strike" or "is attacked" (e.g.,
Crebain, Watcher in the Water, etc.). Such an attack is never affected by
a card or effect that modifies the number of strikes of an attack.
Clarification: The prowess modification and maximum for a weapon
is applied to a character before any other modifications. For example, Beorn
has a base prowess of 7 and a Sword of Gondolin (+2 prowess to a maximum
of 8)-he starts with a prowess of 8 before any other modifications are applied.
Similarly, the body modification and maximum for a shield or armor is applied
before any other modifications.
Example of Combat [(#/#) means
(prowess/body)]
You control Bilbo (1/9), Balin (4/7) and his follower Bofur (4/7) (with
Healing Herbs), Beretar (5/8), and Beregond (4/8) (with an Elven Cloak).
They are en route from Rivendell to Lórien. There are 4.5 characters
in the company which rounds up to 5, meaning the hazard limit is 5.
Your opponent plays Orc-raiders. He keys this hazard creature to the border-land
of your company's site path because he is mindful of Beregond's Elven Cloak
(a minor item that cancels a strike keyed to wilderness). Bilbo, a scout,
taps and plays Concealment to cancel the attack. Orc-raiders is discarded.
That's 1 hazard down and potentially 4 to go.
Your opponent next plays Orc-warband (second hazard) and states it is keyed
to the border-land. It's a (4/-) hazard creature with 5 strikes that receives
+3 to prowess against a company that has faced an Orc attack. Even though
Bilbo canceled the Orc-raiders, the company is still considered to have
faced them, so the Orc-warband will be (7/-). There are 5 strikes and 5
characters, so each character will face one strike (no decisions on strike
allocation can be made). Bilbo elects to face his strike first. His opponent
plays Weariness of the Heart (third hazard) on Bilbo to give -1 to his prowess.
This modification to his prowess is in addition to the -1 Bilbo suffers
for being tapped. No other effects are played to affect the strike and Bilbo
rolls the dice. The result is a 5. Bilbo's prowess of -1 plus the dice roll
is less than the prowess of the Orc-warband's strike against Bilbo, so Bilbo
is wounded. Your opponent rolls the body check. It's a 7-Bilbo lives!
Beregond faces the next strike. Beregond taps and rolls a 10, defeating
his strike handily. Bofur chooses to face his strike next. He a special
+1 prowess bonus versus Orcs, and he chooses not to tap (-3 to his prowess).
He rolls a 5 which ties the prowess of the Orc-warband strike. The strike
is ineffectual.
Facing the next strike, Balin taps, and rolls a 7 to defeat it. Beretar
resolves the final strike, taps, and defeats it by rolling a 3. Orc-warband
is discarded.
Your opponent sees that one character, Bofur, is untapped. He plays Giant
(13/-) (a fourth hazard) and reasons that Bofur will have to take its one
vicious strike. (After all, if you give up the option of assigning the one
strike to your untapped character, namely Bofur, the opponent will be able
to choose from all 5 characters which will take the strike). Your opponent
does not see what Bofur sees. Before assigning the strike, Bofur taps and
uses his Healing Herbs to untap Beregond, who then announces he is taking
the strike. The Giant is keyed solely to double wilderness, so Beregond
taps his Elven Cloak to cancel its single strike. The Giant is discarded.
The opponent announces he will play no more hazards and the company breathes
a sigh of relief. Bilbo will be able to heal at the start of the next turn
since his company will be in Lórien, a Haven.
As characters adventure in Middle-earth, they are subject to temptations.
They run the risk of becoming corrupted and leaving the cause of the Free
Peoples (i.e., a corrupted character leaves play, a corrupted Wizard loses
the game). In The Lord of the Rings, Saruman was corrupted by power, Radagast
was corrupted by the lure of nature, Alatar and Pallando succumbed to unknown
corruption and disappeared into the East.
Each character has a corruption point total. This starts at zero, but certain
cards and activities will increase and decrease this total during play.
Most cards that affect a character's corruption are kept under the character's
card until they are discarded. Only one corruption card (a hazard card that
gives corruption points) may be played on a given character each turn.
Clarification: For these purposes, a "corruption
card" is a hazard card that gives a character corruption points. Cards
that force a corruption check but do not give corruption points (e.g., Weariness
of the Heart, Ren the Unclean, etc.) are not "corruption cards."
A character may have more than one corruption card, but only one may be
played on him each turn.
Certain corruption cards state: "Cannot be duplicated on a given character."
So, a given character may only have one of each such corruption card.
CORRUPTION
POINTS
A character's corruption point total can be determined at any time by summing
the corruption point values of: the corruption cards under his card and
any other cards he controls (e.g., usually items).
CORRUPTION CHECKS
When a card or other effect indicates that one of your characters must make
a corruption check, you must make a roll (2D6) and add any appropriate modifications.
One of the following results:
Clarification: A character discarded due to a corruption
check is not removed from play. He may be played again either by you (e.g.,
if you exhaust your play deck and draw that character) or by your opponent
(e.g., if he has that character in his hand). In this case, the character
stops working for the cause of the Free Peoples (at least for a while)-much
as Radagast was corrupted by the physical nature of Middle-earth (i.e.,
he went "native").
Clarification: A character eliminated due to a corruption check is
removed from play. He may not be played again by either you or by your opponent.
In this case, the character is permanently lost to the Free Peoples-much
as Saruman was corrupted in The Lord of the Rings.
CORRUPTION
CHECK MODIFIERS
Certain characters receive modifications to corruption checks, and certain
cards may give modifications to a corruption check. Modifications to corruption
checks are printed in the lower right of the appropriate card. A plus or
a minus sign indicates a modification to any corruption checks rather than
corruption points.
Clarification: There are two different values that affect corruption
checks:
Both values appear in the lower right of certain cards.
Example:
(CP = Corruption Points) Using the Middle-earth: The Wizards terms, lets
take a look at Frodo at several points during the action in The Lord of
the Rings between the Shire and Lórien. Frodo has a special ability:
he has a corruption check modifier of +4 (as provided in the bottom right
corner of his card).
When Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin flee the Shire, Frodo only has one item:
The One Ring (it gives Frodo 6 corruption points). Suppose Frodo has to
make a corruption check (roll 2D6) in this situation: if a 2 is rolled,
the modified roll is 6 (2 + 4 for his special ability) and Frodo is discarded.
Any other roll would have no effect on Frodo.
When Tom Bombadil rescues Frodo and company in the Barrow Downs, Frodo receives
a Dagger of Westernesse (1 CP). So Frodo's CP total becomes 7. He would
be discarded if he makes a corruption check roll of 2 or 3 (if there are
no other modifications).
On the way to Rivendell, Frodo is wounded by a Morgul-knife (4 CPs)-his
CP total is now 11. If forced to make a corruption check, he is discarded
on a roll of 6 or 7 and he is eliminated on a roll of 5 or less.
Finally, he reaches Rivendell and the Morgul-knife card is removed, dropping
his CP total back to 7. However, he is then affected by Lure of the Senses
(a hazard card giving 2 CPs and requiring a corruption check each untap
phase at a Haven). So during his next untap phase, he must make a corruption
check with a CP total of 9-he is discarded on a roll of 4 or 5 and is eliminated
on a roll of 2 or 3.
Next, Frodo gets rid of the Lure of the Senses (by rolling greater than
6) and he transfers his Dagger of Westernesse. In addition, Bilbo gives
him: Sting (1 CP) and The Mithril-coat (2 CPs). So Frodo's CP total is 9
(6+1+2). If forced to make a corruption check, he is discarded on a roll
of 4 or 5 and is eliminated on a roll of 2 or 3.
Fortunately, the Fellowship of the Ring is formed (see the company in the
example on page 21)-we will assume that two Fellowship cards (+1 to prowess
and corruption checks for all characters in the company) are played initially.
So Frodo leaves Rivendell with a CP total of 9 and corruption check modifiers
totaling +6 (+4 normal +2 for Fellowship). Thus, if forced to make a corruption
check (without other modifications), he will be discarded on a roll of 2
or 3.
You have a pool of general influence. Your characters and Wizard have
direct influence. These two forms of influence can control and affect characters
(see pages 18-20) and factions.
Your unused general influence is equal to 20 minus the sum of the mind attributes
of your non-follower characters in play (i.e., do not count your followers).
A character's unused direct influence is equal to his direct influence attribute
minus the sum of the mind attributes of his followers. All characters have
a direct influence attribute of at least zero, so any character has unused
direct influence of at least zero.
Note: In the Standard Game, direct influence can be
used to attempt to interfere with your opponent's control of his characters,
followers, factions, allies, and items (see pages 58-60).
BRINGING
AN ALLY INTO PLAY
You can automatically bring an ally into play by tapping one of your characters.
The character must be at the site indicated on the ally's card. Every ally
is controlled by the character that tapped to bring it into play; i.e.,
it must be placed under and remain with that character's card. An ally does
not count against its controlling character's direct influence or your general
influence.
BRINGING A FACTION INTO PLAY
In order to play a faction card, you must tap one of your characters that
is at the "site" indicated on the faction's card. Then you must
make an influence check. Make a roll (2D6), add your character's unused
direct influence, and add any appropriate modifications (any applicable
standard modifications from the faction card and from any other cards played).
All modification cards must be played before making the roll (2D6).
If the modified result is greater than the value required on the faction
card, you place the faction in your play area (it now counts towards your
marshalling point total). Otherwise, you discard the faction card. Once
a faction is brought into play, it is not controlled by any specific character
and it does not count against general or direct influence.
Clarification: Most faction cards list some "standard
modifications" to the influence check based only upon the race of the
character that was tapped to make the influence check. Similarly, certain
characters have special modifications to influence checks. Such a modification
only applies if it belongs to the character that was tapped to make the
influence check.
Example: Suppose, during your site phase,
you have the Knights of Dol Amroth in your hand and a company at Dol Amroth-the
company contains Imrahil. He has no followers, so his unused direct influence
is 2. You tap Imrahil to attempt to bring the Knights into play.
You make your influence check roll (2D6), and the result is 5. This roll
is modified by:
So the modified result is 10 (=5+2+2+1). Since this is greater than 8
(the number required by the faction card), the Knights of Dol Amroth are
successfully brought into play.
If you had rolled a 3, your modified result would have been 8 (=3+2+2+1),
and you would have had to discard the faction card.
You may only play hazard cards during your opponent's movement/hazard
phase. Except for resource long-events, you may play resource cards anytime
during your own turn unless specifically prohibited by the rules or the
cards themselves.
Unless stated otherwise, a card is playable only if its effect applies to
an existing situation, hazard, attack, etc. (i.e., you may not play a card
just to discard it).
Clarification: An automatic-attack at a company's new
site may be targeted by a hazard during the company's movement/hazard phase
(e.g., Arouse Minions, Dragon's Desolation, etc.). Playing such a hazard
does count against the hazard limit. Such a hazard may be played even if
the attack ultimately will not be faced (i.e., if the company decides not
to face the automatic-attack during the site phase).
During your
movement/hazard phase, both players draw cards when each company moves.
If a company moves to a non-Haven site, you may draw up to the number of
cards indicated by the site that it moved to (at least one card must be
drawn); your opponent does the same. If the company moves to a Haven site,
you may draw up to the number of cards indicated by the site that you moved
from (at least one card must be drawn); your opponent does the same.
THE HAZARD LIMIT
During your opponent's movement/hazard phase, the number of hazard cards
that you may play on one of your opponent's companies is that company's
hazard limit. The hazard limit is equal to two or the company's size, whichever
is greater. A company's size is equal to the number of characters in it,
with each Hobbit counting half (round up). For this purpose, Wizards and
followers do count as characters, but allies do not.
A hazard limit can be modified by the play of certain cards. Tapping a Nazgûl
permanent-event does count against the hazard limit.
Clarification: For the purposes of calculating hazard
limits, each company's size is determined for each company at the beginning
of the movement/hazard phase (e.g., it remains fixed). So, if a character
is eliminated during his company's portion of the movement/hazard phase,
his company's hazard limit does not change.
HAZARD CARDS
Hazard cards represent evil forces and natural dangers in Middle-earth.
You may play hazard cards only during your opponent's movement/hazard phase.
Creature Cards
You may use a creature card to directly attack one of your opponent's companies.
Such an attack can occur only if:
Clarification: Two wilderness symbols are required
in a site path to play a deep wilderness creature. However, the two symbols
need not be adjacent in the site path. For example, a deep wilderness creature
may be played keyed to the site path: w b b w. If a company travels with
two wilderness on its site path, the chance of encountering very dangerous
wilderness monsters has doubled, even if the two wildernesses are not adjacent.
If
a creature satisfies more than one of these conditions, you must choose
(when you play the creature) one of these conditions that the attack is
"keyed to." The effects of certain cards are based upon the region
or site type that a creature is keyed to.
Clarification: The player that plays a hazard creature
must specifically state the type of region or site that a creature is keyed
to-it can affect the use of other cards. For example, if a character with
an Elven Cloak faces a strike from a creature that has been played keyed
to wilderness, he can tap the cloak to cancel the strike. However, if such
a strike is keyed to border-lands, he cannot use his cloak against it.
The
region types that a company moves through during a given turn are determined
by the following criteria:
Standard Game Only: If the company played region cards, the
region types of the site path are indicated by the region cards (i.e., each
region card has a region type).
Example: Certain card combinations make a specific card more powerful
and allow it to be played more often. Ren the Unclean (a Nazgûl) has
one strike with a prowess of 15 and can only be played keyed to dark-domains
and dark-holds. However, if played in combination with a Fell Beast card,
Ren has two strikes with a prowess of 13 and can be played keyed to shadow-lands,
shadow-holds, dark-domains, and dark-holds.
If Ren is played in combination with a Fell Beast card and a Morgul-knife
card, he has two strikes with a prowess of 15 and can be played keyed to
shadow-lands, shadow-holds, dark-domains, and dark-holds. In addition, one
character wounded by his attack receives 4 corruption points due to the
Morgul-knife.
RESOURCE CARDS
Certain resource cards may only be played if specific required conditions
exist.
Clarification: Playing a faction card, ally card, information
card, or item card (unless stated otherwise on the card) requires an untapped
character and an untapped site. In addition, the company must face any automatic-attacks
located at the same site before such a card can be played. Playing another
type of resource card does not neccessarily require an untapped site. This
process may vary based upon specific card text.
Factions - If one of your characters is at the site specified
on a faction card, he may tap to attempt to play the faction card. If the
character successfully influences the faction as indicated on the faction's
card (see p. 39), the faction card is placed in your play area. After a
faction is successfully played at a site, the site card is tapped.
Clarification: Once a faction is brought into play,
it is not associated with any character. A faction plays no active role
after it is brought into play.
Items - If a character is
at an untapped site that indicates that a specific type of item card (gold
ring, minor, major, or greater) is "playable," he may tap to bring
an item of that type into play. The item card is placed under the character's
card. After an item is played at a site, the site card is tapped.
A character may only use the effects of one weapon at a time and one shield
at a time and one armor at a time.
If a character is eliminated by corruption, discard all of the items that
he controls. If a character is eliminated due to failing a body check, one
item can be immediately transferred to each unwounded character in his company;
but, the rest of his items are discarded.
Clarification: An item only taps when used if its text
states so. Thus, weapons and armor do not normally tap when used.
Clarification: A character may control (i.e., bear) any item, even
if he cannot use its abilities.
Clarification: A character may control (i.e., bear) more than one
weapon or more than one shield or more than one armor. However, only one
of each type may be used at any given time.
Minor Items - If a resource card that taps a site (e.g., ally,
faction, item, information, etc.) is successfully played at a site, one
additional character may tap to play a minor item. Such a minor item may
be played even if the site does not specifically state that a minor item
is playable at the site. For example, a minor item played when bringing
an ally into play would simulate a gift from the ally.
Example: Certain card combinations are required to bring certain
powerful items into play. Narsil was a mighty sword that was broken when
Elendil fell fighting Sauron. Narsil can be played and used as a greater
item (+1 direct influence, +1 prowess, 3 MPs, 2 CPs). However, a player
can attempt to reforge Narsil so that it becomes Andúril, the Flame
of the West (Aragorn II's weapon in The Lord of the Rings).
Two other cards are required. A Reforging card must be played at an "information
site" and stored at a Haven-this represents gathering the resources
required to reforge Narsil. Then, the Andúril card must be played
at an "information site" and stored at a Haven-this represents
gaining the knowledge of how to reforge Narsil.
Then, the Reforging card is discarded and the Andúril card is placed
with the Narsil card-giving a total of (+2 direct influence, +5 prowess,
7 MPs, 3 CPs) from the combination of the two cards.
Allies -
A character may tap to play an ally card if he is at the site specified
on the ally card and the character meets the requirements indicated on the
ally card. The ally card is placed under the character's card and that character
controls the ally. After an ally is played at a site, the site card is tapped.
An ally does not count as a character for any purposes other than combat
and the use of certain skills. Allies can not bear items.
An ally with a skill may take actions and play cards that require that skill.
For example, Treebeard has the sage skill, so he can tap to play a Dreams
of Lore card. Similarly, Gollum has the scout skill so he can tap to play
a Concealment card.
Clarification: Allies that are eliminated are placed
in the out-of-play pile (i.e., neither player may bring that ally back into
play). Allies are not affected by corruption.
EVENTS
There are both resource events and hazard events. Each event falls into
one of three classifications based upon how long it stays in play.
Short-event - A short-event's effects are immediately implemented.
Then the event card is discarded. The effects of some short-events last
for a specific period as stated on its card (e.g., many short-event effects
last "until the end of the turn").
Permanent-event - The effects of a resource permanent-event are immediately
implemented. Its effects last until the card is discarded. Certain effects
can cause a permanent-event to be discarded; these effects are given in
the text of specific cards.
Clarification: Hazard short-events and permanent-events
can be played only during an opponent's movement/hazard phase. Resource
short-events and permanent-events can be played at any time during your
turn-as limited by specific card text.
Long-event - The effects
of a long-event are immediately implemented when it is played. Long-events
last approximately two turns, one of yours and one of your opponent's.
You may only play a resource long-event during your long-event phase. Its
card and effects remain in play until your next long-event phase or until
otherwise discarded.
You may only play a hazard long-event during your opponent's movement/hazard
phase. Its card and effects remain in play until your opponent's next long-event
phase or until otherwise discarded.
Clarification: The effects of many long-events and
permanent-events affect both players because they can remain in effect during
both players' turns. So remember, when you play a long-event hazard on your
opponent during his turn, it will remain in effect during your next turn.
For example, Awaken Denizens (a long-event) increases the number of automatic-attack
strikes at Ruins & Lairs for one turn for each player.
Example:
One of Jason's companies with a hazard limit of six is moving from Rivendell
to Lórien; its site path is w w b w. Jessica plays Doors of Night
(a permanent-event) during Jason's movement/hazard phase. This causes all
resource environment cards in play to be discarded and their effects are
canceled. This card will remain in play until it is discarded due to the
play of a Gates of Morning, Twilight, or another card that targets the Doors
of Night.
Jessica then plays Choking Shadows (a short-event). She decides to use its
option of treating one wilderness [w] as a shadow-land [s] until the end
of the turn. This changes the site path for Jason's company from w w b w
to: w s b w. Choking Shadows is discarded, but its effects will remain until
the end of the turn (unless canceled before that).
Then, Jessica next plays Morgul Night (a long-event)-all wildernesses [w]
to be treated as shadow-lands [s] and all shadow-lands [s] to be treated
as dark-domains [d]. This changes the site path for Jason's company from
w s b w to: s d b s. Jessica can still play three more hazards and she can
key them to border-lands, shadow-lands, and/or dark-domains. Unless its
discard is forced by another card, Morgul Night and its effects will remain
in play until Jessica's next long-event phase (approximately two turns).
STORING
CARDS
During your organization phase, you may store any of your items that are
at a Haven site. The controlling character must make a corruption check
before an item can be stored.
A stored item is placed in your marshalling point pile and still counts
for marshalling points. Once an item is stored it may not be unstored and
brought back into play. The One Ring may not be stored.
Some items and resource cards state that they can be stored when at a specific
site (e.g., the Book of Mazarbul can be stored at a Dwarf-hold). Such an
item or resource card is still placed in the marshalling point pile and
cannot be brought back into play.
Clarification: Certain cards state that a character
bearing such a card cannot untap until the card is stored at a certain place.
After storing such a card, the character does not untap until the untap
phase of his player's next turn.
Clarification: Unless stated otherwise on the card, the marshalling
points for a card that can be stored apply regardless of whether or not
the card is stored.
TRANSFERRING ITEMS
During your organization phase, you may transfer items between characters
at the same site. The controlling character must make a corruption check
before an item can be transferred.
Clarification: A corruption check is required before
an item can be stored or transferred. A character that fails such a corruption
check has decided not to follow his Wizard's advice and influence concerning
the item's use (i.e., the item is discarded and the character is either
discarded or eliminated).
ACTIONS AND CARD PLAY
The various activities that you and your opponent can perform during play
are called actions. Typical actions include playing a card, tapping a card,
revealing a card, etc. The following general guidelines apply to resolving
actions; more detailed guidelines can be found on pages 61-63.
You should read and master the Starter Rules before tackling the Standard Rules.
1 · The Victory ConditionsThe Standard Rules victory conditions differ from those found in the
Starter Rules in two ways. First, the players can decide to play a longer
game, and/or second, certain modifications to the marshalling point totals
can be made at the Free Council.
THE LONGER GAMES
The Starter Game is also called the "1-deck game." For experienced
players with tuned decks, this game usually lasts 20-60 minutes. If you
want longer, more detailed play, there are 3 other games.
The 2-deck Game
In a "2-deck game" (the "short game"), the Council is
called when each play deck has been exhausted twice. You may call the Council
when your play deck has been exhausted twice, or when it has been exhausted
once and you have at least 25 marshalling points (MPs).
The 3-deck Game
In a "3-deck game" (the "long game"), the Council is
called when each play deck has been exhausted three times. You may call
the Council when your play deck has been exhausted three times, or when
it has been exhausted twice and you have at least 30 marshalling points.
Increase the sideboard size to 20 cards.
The 4-deck Game
In a "4-deck game" (i.e., the "campaign game"), the
Council is called when each play deck has been exhausted four times. You
may call the Council when your play deck has been exhausted four times,
or when it has been exhausted three times and you have at least 40 marshalling
points. Increase the sideboard size to 25 cards.
MARSHALLING POINT MODIFICATIONS
At the Free Council, you may reveal any unique marshalling point cards in
your hand that match unique cards that your opponent has in play. Each such
revealed card reduces your opponent's marshalling point total by one.
There are six different types of marshalling points; each is associated
with a specific shape:
These types of marshalling points can affect your marshalling point total in two ways:
Clarification: These marshalling point modifications
do not apply until the Free Council actually takes place. Specifically,
the modifications do not affect your marshalling point total when it is
used to determine if you can call the Free Council (i.e., you need 20 MPs
to call the Free Council before any of these modifications are made).
Example:
Let's look again at our example from page 11. Assume Jason failed to play
the Men of Northern Rhovanion (3 MPs) on his last turn. Assume none of the
characters failed a corruption check (i.e., they all come to the Free Council).
Jessica notices that Jason has no faction points (he blew his roll to get
the Men of Northern Rhovanion). So her faction points are doubled to 4.
Unfortunately, Jason's problems are not over. He failed to get the 3 MPs
from the Men of Northern Rhovanion; so his MP total is only 14-8 of them
are character points and only 6 are non-character points. Since you cannot
have more than half of your points from any one source, Jason only gets
6 MPs from his characters.
At this point, the marshalling points (MPs) break down as follows:
Jessica's MP Cards MPs - Modified MPs
Celeborn 2 - 2
Elladan 1 - 1
Elrohir 1 - 1
Gildor Inglorion 1 - 1
Legolas 2 - 2
Sword of Gondolin (item) 2 - 2
Men of Lebennin (faction) 2 - 4
Gwaihir (ally) 2 - 2
Dreams of Lore (misc) 2 - 2
Total 15 - 17
Jason's MP Cards MPs - Modified MPs
Beorn 2 - 2
Faramir 2 - 2
Imrahil 2 - 2
Théoden 2 - 0
Sword of Gondolin (item) 2 - 2
Great Shield of Rohan (item) 2 - 2
Quickbeam (ally) 2 - 2
Total 14 - 12
At this point, Jason reveals that he has cards for Gwaihir, Legolas, and
Elrohir in his hand (he was saving them for this). Since they duplicate
three of Jessica's unique MP cards, her MP total is reduced by one for each
of these cards. Thus, Jessica ends up with 14 MPs and Jason ends up with
12 MPs-Jessica wins. Jason curses his luck because he failed to bring the
Men of Northern Rhovanion into play on his last turn.
In addition to the normal location deck and play deck, you can have a
15 card "sideboard" deck. A sideboard can contain resource, hazard,
and character cards. However, the combined play deck and sideboard can only
contain one of each unique card and a maximum of three of any non-unique
card.
Using Your Sideboard When You Exhaust Your Deck
Whenever you exhaust your play deck, you may exchange (before reshuffling)
up to 5 cards between your sideboard and discard pile. Each such card taken
from your sideboard must be replaced by a card from your discard pile.
Using Your Sideboard When You Tap Your Wizard
During your organization phase, you may tap your Wizard to bring up to 5
resource and/or character cards from your sideboard into your discard pile.
Alternatively, if your play deck has at least 5 cards, you may tap your
Wizard to bring one resource card directly from your sideboard into your
play deck (reshuffle).
Using Your Sideboard When You Tap a Nazgûl
During your opponent's movement/hazard phase, you may tap one of your Nazgûl
permanent-events in play to bring up to 5 hazard cards from your sideboard
into your discard pile. The normal result of tapping a Nazgûl does
not apply. The Nazgûl is discarded. Tapping a Nazgûl in this
fashion does count against the hazard limit.
Alternatively, if your play deck has at least 5 cards, you may tap a Nazgûl
permanent-event to bring one hazard card directly from your sideboard into
your play deck (reshuffle).
Clarification: Your opponent may verify how many cards
move to and from your sideboard, but you do not have to reveal what those
cards are.
Clarification: Your combined play deck and sideboard cannot violate
the 1 unique card and 3 non-unique card limit. However, there is no restriction
on the mix of hazards, resources, and characters in your sideboard. That
is, for the purposes of your sideboard, you can ignore the play deck restrictions:
the limit of 10 characters and the 50/50 resource/hazard mix.
Add your region cards to your location deck. See pages 54-56 for more
information on how to use these cards.
Note: For play balance, we recommend both players have
access to approximately the same number of region cards. If this cannot
be achieved, region cards should not be used.
Untap Phase
Each of your characters may do one of the following:
Untap all of your other tapped non-site cards.
Organization Phase
The following actions may be taken in any order:
Each of your companies may do one of the following:
Standard Rules Only: Play a new site card and a series of up to four specific regions that connect the current site with the new site. (See pages 54-56.)
Long-event Phase
Movement/Hazard Phase
Follow this procedure for each of your companies. You decide which of your
companies goes first, second, etc.:
Note: Repeat steps 1-6 for each of your companies.
Site
Phase
In the order you decide (i.e., you decide which goes first, second, etc.),
each of your
companies at an untapped site may:
Standard Rules Only: One of your characters or your Wizard may attempt to influence away one of your opponent's characters, followers, allies, factions, or items (if it is at the same site).
End-of-Turn Phase
You may discard one card. Then you must draw or discard cards until your
hand has 8 cards. Your opponent does the same.
There are several Standard Rules changes involving characters and companies.
Splitting a Company at a Non-Haven Site
During the organization phase, a company at a non-haven site may split into
two or more companies. The following instructions apply:
Clarification: These restrictions mean that two
companies may not start at the same site and then move to the same site
separately (i.e., in such a situation the two companies would have to move
as one company).
Joining Two Companies at a Non-Haven Site
During the organization phase, two companies may move to the same site,
but one of the following cases must apply:
In both cases, the two companies must face hazards separately and are
then combined at the end of the movement/hazard phase.
Discarding Characters
Instead of bringing a new character/Wizard into play during your organization
phase, you may discard a character that is at a Haven or at his home site.
A Wizard may not be discarded.
You must take this action when you are forced to discard a character due
to a lack of available influence. In this case, the character(s) need not
be at a Haven.
Bringing Characters into Play
Before you play your Wizard, you may use general influence to bring a character
into play at any haven or at his home site. After revealing your Wizard,
you may use general influence to bring a character into play only if your
Wizard is at the site at which the character arrives (i.e., a Haven or the
character's home site).
There are two ways to move from one site to another. A company can use
the site path on a site card (see the Starter Rules) or it can use region
cards as its site path to a specific site card (i.e., region movement).
Clarification: Region movement is not necessary to
play this game. Region movement just gives you more options; i.e., with
region movement a company need not move to a Haven every other turn. Region
cards are not included in starter decks.
REGION MOVEMENT
To use region movement, play a new site card (face down) and a series of
up to four regions (face down) that connect the company's current site with
the new site (i.e., the company moves). A series of regions "connects"
two sites if:
A region is adjacent to another region if and only if each region lists
the other region on its card.
Clarification: To use region movement for a company,
the region cards played must include the region containing the company's
current site and the region containing the new site. If both the current
site and the new site are in the same region, only that region card need
be played.
Clarification: If two sites are separated by more than four regions,
a company may not travel directly between them in one turn (unless some
special resource card is used, e.g., Bridge, Shadowfax, etc.). The company
must first travel to interim sites (one per turn) until it reaches a site
that is within four regions of the destination site.
Clarification: Certain regions may appear to be adjacent on the maps,
but turn out not to be adjacent upon examination of the lists on their cards.
For example, Dagorlad and Rohan appear to be adjacent on the maps, but they
are really separated by the Anduin River.
Playing Hazards
For the purposes of playing hazards, the site path for a company using region
movement is defined by the region types of the region cards played. You
can use a creature hazard to directly attack one of your opponent's companies
if at least one of the region types on the creature's card matches that
region type of a region card played by the company (two are required for
creatures that require two symbols of the same type) .
Clarification: Region movement can be more dangerous
to use than normal movement-certain creatures can be played keyed to specific
region cards.
For example, suppose you decide to move a company from Lórien to
the Easterling Camp using the region cards: Wold & Foothills (w), Brown
Lands (s), Dagorlad (s), and Horse Plains (s). The region types traveled
through are the same as the site path used in normal movement between Lórien
and the Easterling Camp (as given on the Easterling Camp site card)-so the
same creatures may be played against the company based on region type. Adûnaphel
(a Nazgûl) card normally can only be played keyed to dark-holds and
dark-domains, but it also states that it can be played keyed to Dagorlad
(and the Brown Lands). Thus, Adûnaphel could be played on this company
as it moves through Dagorlad. Similarly, Indûr Dawndeath and Khamûl
the Easterling could also be played.
Example: Lets look
at our example for movement from the Starter Game (see page 26). Jessica's
company in Bree (in the Arthedain region) wants to move to Thranduil's Halls
(in the Woodland Realm region) in order to bring the Wood-elves faction
into play. If she does not use region movement, this takes three turns:
Bree to Rivendell, Rivendell to Lórien, and Lórien to Thranduil's
Halls. Using region movement, she can do it in 2 turns.
The shortest number of region cards required for this move is 5 and there
are two possible routes:
Jessica decides on the first, less dangerous route. However, it is more
than 4 regions long, so her company must first move to another site along
the way. Jessica looks at her hand and sees that she has a Precious Gold
Ring, so she decides move to Gladden Fields (in the Anduin Vales) to try
and get the ring on her way to Thranduil's Halls (why waste a turn).
On her first turn, she moves to the Gladden Fields by playing the Gladden
Fields site and the following regions: Arthedain w, Rhudaur w, High Pass
w, Anduin Vales b.
On her second turn, she moves to Thranduil's Halls by playing the Thranduil's
Halls site and the following regions: Anduin Vales b, Woodland Realm b.
An untapped character that is not the target of a strike may tap to support
a character in the same company that is the target of a strike. The target's
prowess is modified by +1 for each supporting character.
Clarification: If a character is assigned a strike
from an attack, he may not tap to support a character that is facing a strike
from the same attack.
An ally may tap to give a +1 prowess modification in this manner.
Example:
A Cave Drake (two strikes, 10/­p;) attacks your company which consists
of the untapped characters: Bilbo, Balin, Bofur, Beretar, and Beregond.
You opponent assigns the two strikes to Bilbo and Balin. You play a Halfling
Stealth to cancel the strike against Bilbo. Balin is carrying the Arkenstone,
so you really want to keep him alive. You tap Balin to face the attack,
and you tap Bofur and Beregond to support him. You would also like to tap
Bilbo for support, but you cannot-he was assigned a strike, so he is still
a target of this attack.
Balin has a prowess of 6 versus this attack: 4 (his own prowess) + 1 (Bofur's
support) + 1 (Beregond's support).
Before the roll is made for a corruption check, you may tap other characters
in the same company as the character making the check. The corruption check
is modified by +1 for each such character and/or Wizard tapped.
Clarification: If more than one character in a company
are forced to make corruption checks, the corruption checks are resolved
one at a time in an order chosen by the player controlling the characters.
Each character tapped may only give a +1 modification to one corruption
check, not to all of the corruption checks.
Clarification: When the Free Council is called, a character may only
tap to give a +1 corruption check modification to another character in the
same company.
Example: Your company consists of the untapped
characters: Bilbo, Balin, Bofur, Beretar, and Beregond. A Weariness of the
Heart is played on Balin, requiring him to make a corruption check.
Balin is carrying the Arkenstone (4 corruption points) and some Healing
Herbs (1 corruption point), so you tap Bilbo and Beregond to help him with
his corruption check. Balin has a corruption point total of 5, but his roll
is modified by +2 (+1 for Bilbo and +1 for Beregond). He will only fail
if he rolls 3 or less.
Influence is the only way that your characters can directly affect your
opponent's resources. During your site phase, one and only one of your characters
may tap to attempt to influence away one of your opponent's characters,
followers, allies, factions, or items. This may only take place if the influencing
character and the target of the influence are at the same site. If you successfully
influence the target, it is discarded. In some cases, you may reveal an
identical card and attempt to play it (i.e., he convinces the target to
join his side).
Such an influence attempt may not be made on the first turn, and a Wizard
may not make such an attempt on the turn he is revealed.
Influencing an Opponent's Character
To attempt to influence one of your opponent's non-Wizard characters you
must make an influence check. You make a roll (2D6) and:
If the modified result is greater than the target's mind attribute, the
target character card and all of the non-follower cards he controls are
discarded. Otherwise, nothing happens.
If you reveal an identical character card from your hand before making the
roll for the influence check, the target character's mind attribute is treated
as if it were zero. If the attempt is unsuccessful, you must discard the
character card you revealed. If such an influence check is successful, the
target character and his non-follower cards are discarded and the revealed
character card may be immediately played (appearing at the same site). In
order to play this character, you must have enough unused general influence
to control him or an influencing character at the same site must have enough
direct influence.
Clarification: If you reveal an identical character
in order to nullify the target character's mind attribute for an influence
check, you must discard that character if you do not play him.
Example:
Jessica and Jason each have one company organized as follows:
Jessica's General Influence (- ·20)
Influencing an Opponent's Follower
To influence an opponent's follower, you must make an influence check as
outlined above. However, the result is also modified by subtracting the
"unused direct influence" of the follower's controlling character.
Influencing an Opponent's Faction
To influence an opponent's faction, you must make an influence check as
outlined above. However, the following exceptions apply:
You may only influence an opponent's factions if the influencing character
is at the site where the faction was played.
Influencing an Opponent's Item
To influence an opponent's item, you must make an influence check as outlined
above. However, the following exceptions apply:
Clarification: The unused direct influence for an influence check
against an item is affected by any direct influence modification that the
target item gives its bearer.
There are several Standard Rules changes involving playing cards.
LIMITS ON DRAWING CARDS
During your turn, you may draw cards based on one of your moving companies
only if the company contains a Wizard or at least one character with a mind
attribute of three or more.
PLACING A CARD ON-GUARD [Old Rule]
During the movement/hazard phase of your opponent's turn, you may place
one card on-guard for each of your opponent's companies. This card is played
face down next to the company's new site or next to its current site if
it did not move. Any card can be placed on-guard (i.e., it does not have
to be a hazard, you can bluff). Such a card does count against the hazard
limit for the company it is placed on.
The card will remain on that site until one of the following occurs:
In the first two cases, the card is handled as if it had been played
during the movement-hazard phase (i.e., short-events are discarded, long-events
last until your opponent's next long-event phase, etc.).
PLACING A CARD ON-GUARD [Revised Rule]
An often confusing point is when and if certain hazards can be revealed as on-guard cards. There are two cases when a face down card may be revealed, and, thusly, affect an opponent's company: 1) when the company announces it will face a site's automatic-attacks (before the automatic-attack is itself faced), and 2) when the company plays a card keyed to the site.
For case #1, it is essential to realize that if the site has no automatic-attacks (like all normally occuring Free-holds), you cannot reveal an on-guard card according to this criterium. Additionally, an event that modifies the prowess of a character may not be revealed--only hazards that modify an automatic-attack itself can be. A creature revealed as an on-guard card is not considered an automatic-attack--it is considered a hazard creature attack.
For case #2, specifically, you may reveal an on-guard card in the same chain of effects in response to the play (declaration thereof) of any item, faction, ally, or other card that potentially taps the site. Successfully testing for and playing a ring special item does not count! You may reveal an on-guard card in response to the declaration of an influence attempt on a faction that only has an effect if the attempt would be successful (e.g., Lure of Power). Also, in the case of a faction, you may reveal an on-guard card that affects the actual influence attempt.
Additionally, the on-guard card may only be revealed if it affects the company or a character in the company that site phase--this clarification is actually looser than the rule printed on page page 61 of the METW Unlimited Rulesbook. This rule did state the on-guard card may only be revealed if it directly affected the company. Only declared or on-going cards and effects can be considered when determining the validy of revealing an on-guard card--cards in your hand, your opponent's hand, play deck, discard pile, etc. cannot be considered and potential effects that have not been triggered cannot be considered. An on-guard card may not be revealed if it has an effect that is meaningless during a company's site phase.
Example
As an example of how this requirement is looser now, Balance of Things may be revealed as an on-guard card so long as at least one character in the company, during whose site phase Balance of Things is revealed, carries at least one corruption source.
Example
Balrog of Moria could be revealed when a company chooses to face the automatic-attacks at Moria (Balrog modifies Moria's automatic-attacks). However, it could not be revealed in response to the play of an item at Moria because Balrog in no way can affect the company for the rest of the site phase (unless for some reason the company is fated to face the automatic-attacks again).
A corruption card can be revealed as an on-guard card (so long as it otherwise is legal)--because a character in the company is affected. A card that changes the company's site type cannot be revealed unless this has some obvious effect on the company that site phase.
1) A card cannot be revealed that returns a company to its site of origin.
2) A card cannot be revealed that taps a company's site.
3) A card cannot be revealed that potentially removes a character from a company.
4) A card cannot be revealed that forces a company to do nothing during its site phase.
5) A card that potentially removes an ally from the company can be revealed (so long as it otherwise is legal).
6) Traitor cannot be revealed.
7) Troll-purse (from Middle-earth: Dark Minions) can be revealed.
The spirit of the on-guard card is to represent a hazard threat that existed during a company's movement/hazard phase, but of which the company was not aware. The actual rule that portrays this spirit is: an on-guard may only be revealed if it could have also been played during the movement/hazard phase--this is a slight modification from the rule printed on page page 61 of the METW Unlimited Rulesbook. Practically, this means all targets of the card must have existed during the movement/hazard phase in order for the card to be revealed.
IMPORTANT: A revealed on-guard card retroactively takes effect as though it were both declared and resolved immediately prior to the chain of effects during which it was revealed. For example, if a Greed is played in reponse to the play of an item, it is considered to be in effect immediately prior to the play of item. Thus, Greed would cause corruption checks following the play of the item.
Example
As a final, encompassing example of the NEW on-guard rules, Muster Disperses cannot be revealed as an on-guard card for three reasons.
1) Muster Disperses cannot target a faction played during the site phase during which it would be revealed because this target did not exist during the movement/hazard phase.
2) Muster Disperses cannot target a faction already in play at the start of the site phase because it would not affect a company or a character in the company.
3) Muster Disperses cannot target a faction played during the site phase
during which it would be revealed because this target does not exist when
Muster Disperses would be revealed. A card can only be revealed in the same
chain of effects as the play of a resource that potentially taps the site,
and this resource actually is not resolved and cannot be targetted at that
point.
Example: After visiting Thranduil's Halls, Jessica's company
moves to The Lonely Mountain. During her movement/hazard phase, Jason places
a card on-guard. The card is Awaken Denizens, but Jessica does not know
that. This card doubles the # of strikes for an automatic-attack at a Ruins
& Lairs site.
During her site phase, Jessica states that her company will face The Lonely
Mountain's automatic-attack (a Dragon, 1 strike with a prowess of 14). Jason
reveals his on-guard card and the automatic-attack becomes 2 strikes with
a prowess of 14 each. Jessica's company must face this attack (it may be
canceled.
Suppose Jason had placed a Cave Drake on-guard. Then Jessica's company would
have to face the automatic-attack and then the Cave Drake.
Suppose Jason had placed a Weariness of the Heart on-guard. Then, if Jessica's
company successfully faced the automatic-attack and played an item, Jason
could reveal the Weariness of the Heart to force any one character in the
company to make a corruption check.
Dice Roll Timing
Before a roll is made for combat or a check, cards may be played that will
modify the result of the roll. However, once the roll is actually made,
no further cards may be played that modify the dice roll result. This modified
result is used to determine effects of the combat or check before any other
actions are taken. When the effects of a dice roll require other actions
(e.g., a successful strike requires a body check) those actions become the
initial actions (any further rolls come first) in the next chain of effects
after the roll.
Timing Rules
You and your opponent may both want to perform actions at the same time
or actions that are sequenced with respect to other actions. This can happen
during your movement/hazard phase (or during your site phase if your opponent
has a card on-guard). Such actions almost always include playing a card,
tapping a card already in play, and revealing an on-guard card.
Your opponent may always declare an action in response before your action
is resolved. Then, you may respond to his action, and he can respond to
your second action, and so on until neither player can (or wants to) perform
an action.
You must give your opponent a chance to respond to every action, and vice
versa. If you perform an action and move on to another action without giving
your opponent a chance to respond, you must "backup" if he indicates
that he wants to respond.
Such a series of declared actions is called a chain of effects. You always
have the option of declaring the first action in a chain of effects during
your turn. The actions in a chain of effects are resolved one at a time
from last declared to first declared (i.e., the last declared action is
resolved first, then the second to the last, etc.).
You may follow one of your declared actions with another of your declared
actions in the same chain of effects, so long as you give your opponent
a chance to respond to first action.
An action in a chain of effects is negated if the conditions required to
perform it are negated by another action that is resolved before it in the
chain of effects.
Timing Example: You play Weariness of the Heart on Bilbo to force
him to make a corruption check. Your opponent taps Frodo (2nd action in
this chain of effects) to give Bilbo +1 to this check. You play Call of
Home on Bilbo (3rd action), which forces Bilbo to make a successful roll
or return to his owner's hand. Finally, your opponent plays Tookish Blood
on Bilbo. This cancels any effect for the rest of the turn which would discard
Bilbo or send him to his owner's hand. Now you resolve actions from last
to first:
If your opponent had played Tookish Blood on Bilbo after his dice roll,
i.e. after this chain of effects was resolved, it would not have affected
your Call of Home nor Bilbo's corruption check. Tookish Blood only cancels
those actions that occur during the rest of the turn, and not prior actions.
Consider if Tookish Blood had not been played and if you played Call of
Home on Frodo. First Frodo rolls for Call of Home when resolving the chain.
If he fails this check, Frodo goes back to your opponent's hand. The 2nd
action in the chain would then be negated because the conditions required
to perform it, namely Frodo being in Bilbo's company, were negated by your
Call of Home.