Unofficial Rulebook Rewrite v1.

1 by Dean Ray Johnson

A Game By
Roberto Di Meglio,
Marco Maggi &
Francesco Nepitello
2 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

Components Summary

Event Cards (96) Basic Components

Game board (2 sections)

24 Free Peoples 24 Free Peoples 24 Shadow 24 Shadow

Character Cards Strategy Cards Character Cards Strategy Cards Rulebook 2 Player Aids

Character Cards (14) Dice (21)

6 blue Free Peoples 10 red Shadow

Action Dice Action Dice

10 Companion Cards Gollum Card 3 Minion Cards 5 white Combat Dice

Cardboard Tokens (76)

6 Army Counters — 24 Hunt Tiles — 16 Standard

3 Free Peoples, 3 Shadow 8 Political Counters (beige), 8 Special (blue or red)

9 Companion Counters 20 Settlement Control Counters 3 Elven Rings Counters

(double-sided)

Corruption Counter Fellowship Progress 2 Victory Point 2 Leading Player

Counter Markers Tokens
 Components Summary • 3

Figures Summary

Companions (7)

Boromir Gandalf Gimli Legolas Meriadoc Peregrin Strider/Aragorn

Free Peoples (2) Minions (3) Ringwraiths (8)

Ring-bearers Gollum Saruman The Witch-king The Mouth of Sauron Nazgûl (8)

Dwarves (14) Elves (19) Gondor (24)

Regular (5), Elite (5), Leaders (4) Regular (5), Elite (10), Leaders (4) Regular (15), Elite (5), Leaders (4)

The North (19) Rohan (19)

Regular (10), Elite (5), Leaders (4) Regular (10), Elite (5), Leaders (4)

Isengard (18) Sauron (42) Southrons & Easterlings (30)

Regular (12), Elite (6) Regular (36), Elite (6) Regular (24), Elite (6)
4 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

Everywhere he looked he saw the signs

of war. The Misty Mountains were

crawling like anthills: Orcs were

issuing out of a thousand holes.

Under the boughs of Mirkwood

there was deadly strife of

Elves and Men and fell beasts.

The land of the Beornings was

aflame; a cloud was over Moria;

smoke rose on the borders of

Lórien. Horsemen were galloping

on the grass of Rohan; wolves

poured from Isengard. From the

havens of Harad ships of war

put out to sea; and out of the

East Men were moving endlessly:

swordsmen, spearmen, bowmen upon

horses, chariots of chieftains and laden

wains. All the power of the Dark Lord was

in motion.

The Fellowship

of the Ring

by J.R.R. Tolkien,

Book II, Chapter 10.

 Chapter I: Introduction • 5

Chapter I:
A dark green border The Folde
Introduction surrounds these
6 regions, forming the
region has a
Town, a small
Nation of Rohan. Settlement
ar of the Ring recreates the battles and drama of with no strong

W J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings™ trilogy.

In a 2-player game, each player controls one side
of the conflict that consumes Middle-earth.
defense.

One player plays the Shadow faction, led by Sauron, who

is secretly building an invasion force of Orcs and Trolls.
Sauron has sensed the return of the One Ring, and he
has alerted his allies in Isenguard and the Southrons &
Easterlings regions to mobilize for war.
The other player plays the Free Peoples faction, a coalition
of Elves, Dwarves, and men from Gondor, Rohan, and
The North. This alliance is fragile — the free nations are
peaceful and do not see the storm on the horizon. They
must be roused to unite against Sauron’s invastion.
While armies clash, nine heroes have pledged their lives to
the Fellowship of the Ring. The Companions plan to sneak
into Mount Doom, the very heart of Sauron’s domain, to
destroy the One Ring in the Mountain of Fire. But the Eye Edors has a City, which
of Barad-dûr is upon them, and the Minions of Shadow are provides a defense
Helm’s Deep has a bonus during the first
on the hunt... Stronghold, a position round of an attack.
There are two paths of destiny for this tale — one path that’s difficult to
in war, and another with the Ring. Either faction can win capture with a single
by capturing their enemy’s Cities and Strongholds. The attack.
war also ends if the Fellowship sneaks into Mordor and
destroys the Ring — or if Sauron reclaims the Ring by
corrupting the Fellowship.

Nations, Regions, & Settlements

The game takes places on a map of Middle-earth. The map
is divided into named regions. Taking Actions
―― Many regions contain Settlements — Towns, Cities, The game plays over a series of turns. Players make most
or Strongholds. of their choices during the Action Resolution Phase of each
―― Regions grouped inside a colored border are a turn.
Nation. Each Nation has its own units, which you ―― At the start of this phase, both players roll their
can recruit at a Settlement in its borders. Action Dice, which show an action icon on each
You score VP (Victory Points) for capturing enemy face.
Settlements — 1 VP per enemy City and 2 VP per enemy ―― The players then alternate taking actions. To take an
Stronghold captured. action, you set aside one of your Action Dice and
take an action matching that die’s face.
―― The phase ends when both players have used all of
See p35 for a Summary of this rulebook’s their Action Dice.
chapters and sections.
6 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

The Free Peoples player An Army of 5 Sauron units attacks the 3 Gondor
rolls blue Action Dice, units in the adjacent region of Dol Amroth. The
and the Shadow player Shadow player would roll 5 Combat Dice, and the
rolls red Action Dice. Free Peoples would roll 3 Combat Dice.

Use an Army die to

move or attack with
your units on the map.
Use a Muster die to
recruit units or advance
on a Political Track.

Use an Event die to

play an Event Card,
which provides a The Gondor Army avoids the battle and retreats
unique effect from the into the Stronghold in its region. The Sauron
Lord of the Rings story. Army advances to occupy the region outside
of the Stronghold. This begins a siege, where
the Gondor Army can’t escape the region, but
the Sauron Army must pay a penalty to make
extended attacks.
Armies & Battle
Units are single figures that could each represent hundreds
of trained warriors, thousands of fledgling orcs, or dozens
of powerful monsters. The units in a single region form an
Army.
A region can’t hold both a Free Peoples Army and a
Shadow Army. You must take an attack action to move an
Army into an enemy Army’s region.
―― In battle, you roll a Combat Die (a 1–6 die) for each
unit in your Army. A die that rolls 5 or 6 usually hits
and damages an enemy unit.
―― Free Peoples Leaders and Shadow Nazgûl can join Politics
Armies. They let you reroll Combat Dice that fail to
At the start of the game, no Nation is truly prepared for
hit.
war. The Political Track shows each Nation’s level of
―― Characters are Companions, like Gandalf or Strider, mobilization.
or Minions, like Saruman or the Witch-king. They
―― Each Nation has a Political Counter on the Political
can join an Army to act as Leaders and provide
Track. You can take a Muster Action to advance a
the abilities on their Character Cards. Characters
Political Counter. A Nation’s counter also advances
can’t be attacked when they’re alone, but joining an
when an enemy attacks it.
Army makes them vulnerable to attack.
―― A Nation’s units can’t attack or cross another
―― Battles can last several Combat Rounds, rolling
Nation’s borders unless that Nation is At War, when
Combat Dice over and over until one side retreats or
its counter reaches the end of the Political Track.
is eliminated.
―― Most of the Free Peoples Nations begin the game in
a passive state, refusing to believe that Sauron is a
threat. These Nations can’t advance to At War until
they’re activated, when a Companion visits to warn
them of the threat or when an enemy attacks and
makes the threat immediately clear.
 Chapter I: Introduction • 7

Victory
At the start of the game, the Shadow There are four ways to end the game.
Nations’ Political Counters are
―― If the Fellowship takes 12 Corruption damage, then
closer to At War than the Free
Sauron’s forces recover the Ring, and the Shadow
Peoples Nations’ counters. If the
wins.
Free Peoples’ player hopes to
counterattack Sauron, they must ―― If the Ring-bearers reach the end of the Mordor
quickly activate and advance their Track, then they throw the Ring into the great fire,
counters. and the Free Peoples wins.
―― If the Shadow captures 10 VP of Settlements, then
the Free Peoples are too far conquered to be saved,
and the Shadow wins.
―― If the Free Peoples captures 4 VP of Settlements,
then the Shadow is thrown into disarray. Sauron
becomes too distracted to stop the Fellowship from
reaching Mount Doom, and the Free Peoples wins.

Multiplayer Games
Most of this rulebook refers to a 2-player game. With 3 or
4 players, you may have two players controlling different
Nations of the Shadow or Free Peoples factions. Each
The Fellowship faction’s players work together to advance their cause, but
The Ring-bearers figure can’t join Armies. It the single player who contributes most to their faction’s
represents the Fellowship as it moves in secret victory wins the game. This is described on p33.
toward Sauron’s lands.
―― As the Free Peoples player, when you take an action
to move the Fellowship, you don’t move the Ring- Changes for 2nd Edition
bearers figure. Instead, you advance the Fellowship If you’ve played War of the Ring 1st edition, please note
Progress Marker one space on the Fellowship Track. these changes for the new edition:
―― On a later turn, you can declare the Fellowship’s ―― Character Abilities: Gandalf the Grey, Gollum,
position, immediately moving the Ring-bearers Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, and The
Witch-king have modified abilities on their
a number of regions as shown by the Fellowship
Character Cards. Take special note of Gandalf’s
Progress Marker. Guide Ability and the Witch-king’s Sorcerer
―― The seven Companions begin the game with ability and recruiting requirements.
the Fellowship. One Companion acts as the ―― Event Cards: The Ents Awake, Paths of the
Fellowship’s Guide, providing it with a bonus Woses, and The Last Battle cards have modified
ability. You can separate Companions from the effects. Other cards are improved or simplified.
Fellowship to join Armies or activate Nations. ―― Army Setup: The Dwarves have modified unit
setup (p10).
―― The Shadow player can assign Action Dice to
―― Hunt Box Dice: The Shadow player must allocate
Hunt the Fellowship. When the Fellowship moves,
at least one red Action Die to the Hunt Box if the
the Shadow player rolls Combat Dice equal to Hunt Box contained any blue Action Dice on the
the assigned Action Dice. With a successful roll, previous turn (p13).
they draw a Hunt Tile, which may deal Corruption ―― Combat Cards: The sequence for playing
damage to the Fellowship or reveal its position. Combat Cards during battle has changed (p24).
When the Ring-bearers reach Sauron’s borders, they ―― The Hunt: Hunt resolution has changed to
can enter the Mordor Track. The Shadow can no longer simplify the Hunts of some Event Cards and
hunt them, as Sauron would never think to look for the Special Abilities (p28).
Ring within his own borders. But the Ring-bearers take ―― Entering Mordor: The Ring-bearers can enter
Corruption damage as they climb the volcano and the Ring Mordor from Minas Morgul or Morannon without
tempts them to abandon their quest. hiding or declaring them (p32).
8 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

C h a p t e r II :
Game Setup
Board Setup
egin a 2-player game by choosing which player

B controls the Free Peoples faction. The other player

controls the Shadow faction. Note that Free Peoples
components are blue and Shadow components are red.
Place the game board on the table. The Free Peoples player
sits north of the board, and the Shadow player sits south.
Place components on the board as described here.

I. Free Peoples Elven Rings Box:

Place all 3 Elven Ring counters
here with the blue Ring side up.

II. Free Peoples

Character Event
Cards: Shuffle all of
these cards face‑down
into a deck.

III. Free Peoples

Strategy Event
Cards: Shuffle all of
these cards face‑down
into a deck.

IV. Stronghold Boxes: Begins empty.

Place armies here when under siege in a
stronghold.

V. Army Boxes: Place one

matching blue and red Army
Counter on each gray box.

VI. Hunt Box: Begins empty. The Shadow

places Action Dice here to Hunt the
Fellowship.
VII. Victory Point Track: Place both
Victory Point Markers at zero.
 Chapter II: Setup • 9

VIII. Fellowship Track: Place the X. Fellowship Box: Place

Fellowship Progress Counter at zero the 7 basic Companion
with Hidden (Ring) side up. Counters here.
Also place the Corruption Counter at Don’t place the Aragorn —
zero. (Stack it on the other counter.) Heir to Isildur or Gandalf
the White counters here. Set
them aside.

IX. Rivendell Region: Place the

Ring-bearers figure here.
XI. Guide Box: Place the
7 basic Companion Cards here,
with the Gandalf the Grey card
face-up on top. You don’t need
to shuffle this deck.
Set the Aragorn — Heir to
Isildur, Gandalf the White, and
Gollum cards aside.

XII. Political Track: Place

each of the 8 Political
Counters on the space
containing its icon.
Place the Dwarves, Gondor,
Rohan, and The North
counters with passive (gray)
side up.
The Elves counter is always
active (blue).

XIII. Shadow
Character Event
Cards: Shuffle all of
these cards face‑down
into a deck.

XIV. Shadow Strategy

Event Cards: Shuffle
all of these cards
face‑down into a deck.

XV. Shadow Elven Rings Box: Begins empty. Place

Elven Rings here after the Free Peoples player uses them.
10 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

army and Reinforcements Setup

Each Regular unit, Elite unit, and Leader belongs to one of
the 8 Nations. Sort these figures by their Nations and place
some of them on regions as shown.
Set the other figures aside as your reinforcements. Also Dwarves
leave space for a casualties pool for figures eliminated in Regular Elite Leader
battle.
D1 Ered Luln (D3) 1
D2 Erebor (B18) 1 2 1
D3 Iron Hills (B20) 1
Reinforcements 2 3 3

Elves
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Regular Elite Leader
E1 Grey Havens (F3) 1 1 1 A
E2 Rivendell (D11) 2 1 S1
B
E3 Lórien (H13) 1 2 1
E4 Woodland Realm (D16) 1 1 1 C N2
Reinforcements 2 4
D D1 E2
N3
E
N1
F E1
S2
G
Gondor
H
Regular Elite Leader I1
G1 Dol Amroth (Q12) 3 I
G2 Pelargir (Q15) 1 J I2
G3 Minas Tirith (N16) 3 1 1
G4 Osgiliath (O17) 2 K
Reinforcements 6 4 3 I3
L R1

M
R2
N

The North
P
Regular Elite Leader
Q
N1 The Shire (E5) 1
N2 North Downs (C7) 1 R
N3 Bree (D8) 1 S
N4 Carrock (D14) 1
N5 Dale (E18) 1 1 T
Reinforcements 6 4 3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
 Chapter II: Setup • 11

Rohan
Regular Elite Leader
R1 Fords of Isen (L11) 2 1 Isengard
R2 Helm’s Deep (M11) 1
Regular Elite
R3 Edoras (M13) 1 1
Reinforcements 6 4 3 I 1 North Dunland (H10) 1
I 2 South Dunland (I10) 1
I 3 Orthanc (K10) 4 1
Reinforcements 6 5
2 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

B
D2 D3
C

N4 Sauron
E4
D Regular Elite Nazgûl
N5 S1 Mount Gundabad (B11) 2
E
S2 Moria (G12) 2
F S3 Dol Guldur (H16) 5 1 1
X1
G S4 Morannon (L19) 5 1
S5 Barad-Dûr (M21) 4 1 1
S3 H S6 Minas Morgul (N19) 5 1
E3
S7 Gorgoroth (O20) 3
I
S8 Nurn (Q20) 2
J Reinforcements 8 4 4
X2
K

L
S4 S5 M
R3
N Southrons &
Easterlings
G3 O Regular Elite
S6
G4 X1 North Rhûn (F21) 2
S7 P X2 South Rhûn (J22) 3 1
G1
G2 S8 Q X3 Umbar (T14) 3
X4 Near Harad (T17) 3 1
R X5 Far Harad (S20) 3 1
Reinforcements 10 3
S
X5
X4
X3 T

2 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
12 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

Other Components Setup

Place these components beside the board.
―― Special Hunt Tiles
Place the Standard (beige) Hunt Tiles (red or blue): Some
in a container or bag (or shuffle them Event Cards add these
face-down). This container is called tiles to the Hunt Pool.
the Hunt Pool.
―― Combat Dice: Both
players use these dice
for combat.
Place the Aragorn — Heir to ―― Action Dice: The Free
Isildur, Gandalf the White, and Peoples uses the 6 blue
Gollum Character Cards beside dice, and the Shadow
the Free Peoples player. Place uses the 10 red dice.
the Gollum figure and the two
―― Settlement Control
improved Companion Counters
Markers: Use these
with these cards.
when you capture an
―― The Free Peoples player enemy’s Settlement.
can replace the Strider
and Gandalf the Grey
Companions with their
improved cards. Return the Leading Player Tokens
―― Gollums joins the to the box unless playing with 3 or
Fellowship when all of 4 players.
the Companions leave it.

Place the Saruman, The

Witch‑king, and The Mouth of
Sauron Character Cards and
figures beside the Shadow
player.
―― The Shadow player can
take an action to put these
Characters into play.
 Chapter III: The Game Turn • 13

Second, the Free Nations player may change the Guide of

C h a p t e r III : the Fellowship.

The Game Turn ―― The Guide is the Companion Card on top of the
cards in the Guide Box. That card provides its
Guide ability.
he game takes place over a series of turns. Each turn ―― To change the Guide, place a different card on top

T has six phases. of the deck. It must be one of the highest-level cards
in the Guide Deck.
◊ The Guide doesn’t provide any of its non-Guide abilities.
Phase 1) Recover Action Dice and Draw Event Cards Those apply when the Companion leaves the Fellowship.
Remove all Action Dice from the Hunt Box.
Each player creates a dice pool. The Free Peoples player
takes 4 blue Action Dice, and the Shadow player takes
7 red Action Dice.
―― For each improved Companion (Aragorn — Heir to
Isildur and Gandalf the White) or Minion that you
control, add 1 more Action Die to your dice pool.
Each player draws 1 Character Event Card and 1 Strategy
Event Card from their faction’s decks and adds these cards Level 3
to their hands.
―― Your maximum hand size is 6 cards. If you
ever have more than 6 cards in hand, you must
immediately choose and discard cards until you The game starts with Gandalf the Grey as the
have 6 cards. Discard these cards face-down beside Guide. His Guide ability lets you draw an Event
their deck. Card when you use an Event Action Die.
◊ When an improved Companion or Minion appears or is
The Strider Companion Card is level 3, the
eliminated, it doesn’t affect your dice pool until the next turn.
same as Gandalf, so you could change the Guide
◊ You never reshuffle Event Cards. If an Event Deck is empty,
to Strider in the first turn. As long as Gandalf
then you skip any draws that you would take from that deck.
or Strider are in the Fellowship, then you
can’t change the Guide to a level 2 or level 1
Phase 2) Fellowship Phase
Companion.
The Free Nations player may make two choices during this
phase. First, they may declare the Fellowship’s position,
moving the Ring-bearers a number of regions as shown by
the Fellowship Progress Counter. Phase 3) Hunt Allocation
―― This may activate Nations or heal Corruption. This The Shadow player may move red Action Dice from their
is fully explained on p28. dice pool to the Hunt Box. This improves your chance to
Hunt the Fellowship when it moves.
◊ If you don’t declare the Fellowship, the Ring-bearers and
Fellowship Progress Counter remain where they are. ―― If the Hunt Box contained any blue Action Dice at
the start of this turn, then you must assign at least
one die this way.
―― You can’t assign more dice this way than the
number of Character Cards in the Guide Box.
◊ You don’t roll Hunt Box dice for actions. When the
Fellowship moves, you roll Combat Dice equal to the red
With the Fellowship Action Dice in the Hunt Box (see p28).
Progress Counter at 3, ◊ Hint: You can’t roll more than 5 Combat Dice during a Hunt,
you could declare the so you usually shouldn’t move more than 5 dice to the Hunt
Ring‑bearers’ position to Box.
move it 3 regions. ◊ The Hunt Box contains blue Action Dice if the Fellowship
moved last turn.
(continued next page)
14 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

◊ The number of cards in the Guide Box equals the number of

Companions remaining in the Fellowship, or one card when
Gollum leads the Fellowship. The Ring-bearers themselves
don’t count toward this limit. Event
◊ There are no limits to adding dice to the Hunt Box after this
phase.
Draw an Event Card: Draw one card from your
faction’s Character Event Deck or Strategy Event
Deck.
Play Any Event Card: Play any one card from
your hand (p16).

Assign Action Dice to the Hunt Box to roll more

Muster
Combat Dice during a Hunt.
Recruit Reinforcements: Add one figure to one or
two regions in At War Nations (p21).
Phase 4) Roll Action Dice Minion Appears (Shadow): Place a Minion on the
Both players roll the dice in their dice pools. map, following the requirements on its Character
Card.
―― If a red Action Die rolls a Special (Eye) face,
immediately move it to the Hunt Box. Diplomacy: Advance a friendly Nation’s Political
Counter one space (p17).
Phase 5) Action Resolution Play a Muster Event Card: Play a card with the
Players alternate taking actions during this phase, Muster icon from your hand (p16).
beginning with the Free Peoples player.
―― On your action, set aside one Action Die in your
dice pool and take an action matching its face.
―― You may skip your action by setting aside any one
Action Die with no effect. Army
When your dice pool is empty, you take no more actions
this turn, and your opponent continues taking actions with Army Move: Move one or two Armies to adjacent
their remaining dice. This phase ends when both players' regions (p22).
dice pools are empty. Army Attack: Attack an adjacent region with one
Army (p24).
Phase 6) Victory Check
Play an Army Event Card: Play a card with the
The game ends if either player controls enough Victory Army icon from your hand (p16).
Points to win. Otherwise, begin the next turn.

Actions
Use an Action Die to take one of the actions described Muster - Army
here.
You can take an action multiple times in a turn, including Use this die as an Army die or a Muster die.
moving the same figure multiple times or attacking with
the same Army multiple times, by using a different die for ―― Blue Action Dice don’t have an Army
each action. face. The Army icon only appears on the
Muster‑Army face.
 Chapter II & III: Setup & The Game Turn • 15

Elven Rings
The three Elven Ring Counters let you
Character change an Action Die in your dice pool to
any face just before you take an action.
―― Blue Action Dice have two Character faces. These counters begin in the Free Peoples’ Elven Ring Box.
Leader Army Move: Move an Army with a Leader The Free Peoples player may change a die by flipping one
(including a Nazgûl or Character) to an adjacent counter to its Eye side and moving it to the Shadow Elven
region (p22). Ring Box.

Leader Army Attack: Attack an adjacent region The Shadow player may change a die by removing a
with an Army with a Leader (p24). counter from the Shadow Elven Ring Box and setting it
aside.
Move Individuals: The Free Nations player can
move Companions separated from the Fellowship ―― Each player can’t use more than one Elven Ring
(p22). The Shadow player can move Nazgûl, the Counter each turn.
Witch‑king, and the Mouth of Sauron (p23). A ―― The Free Peoples player can’t change a die to a
single Action Die lets you move each eligible figure Special (Will of the West) face this way.
once.
―― The Shadow player can change a die to a Special
Separate Companions (Free Peoples): Separate (Eye) face this way. Immediately move that die
and move one or more Companions from the to the Hunt Box, and the Shadow player may
Fellowship (p30). immediately take an action with a different die.
Hide the Fellowship (Free Peoples): Flip the ◊ You can’t change your opponent’s dice or dice in the Hunt
Fellowship Progress Counter from Revealed (Eye) Box this way.
to Hidden (Ring). ◊ These counters never return to the board. Each Elven Ring
may thus be used once by each player.
Move Fellowship (Free Peoples): Advance the
◊ You’re not required to immediately take an action with the
Fellowship Progress Counter by 1, then resolve a
die that you just changed.
Hunt. The Fellowship must be Hidden (p28).
―― After this action, place this blue Action Die
in the Hunt Box. Victory
Play a Character Event Card: Play a card with There are four conditions that can end the game.
the Character icon from your hand (p16).
1. Corruption of the Ring-bearers: The Shadow
wins immediately when the Fellowship has 12 or more
Corruption.
2. Destroying the Ring: The Free Peoples wins
Special immediately when the Fellowship reaches The Crack of
will of the west Doom on the Mordor Track.

Free Will (Free Peoples): You may use this die as 3. Shadow Conquers Middle-earth: In the Victory Check
if it were any other die face. Phase, the Shadow wins if they control 10 VP of Free
Peoples Settlements.
Improve Companion (Free Peoples): Follow the
requirements on the Aragorn — Heir to Isildur 4. Sauron is Banished: In the Victory Check Phase,
or Gandalf the White Character Cards to replace the Free Peoples wins if they control 4 VP of Shadow
Strider or Gandalf the Grey (p18). Settlements.
The lowest-numbered conditions take precedence. If the
Fellowship has 12 Corruption when it enters The Crack of
Doom, or if both players control enough VP to win during
the Victory Check Phase, then the Shadow wins either tie.
Special
Eye of Sauron

Hunt (Shadow): Immediately place this die in the

Hunt Box. You don’t use it for actions.
16 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

Partial Effects: You may play a card that you can’t fully
Chapter IV: resolve, but you must resolve as much of it as possible.
For example, if a card lets you recruit one Leader and
Ev e n t Card s one Elite unit, but you don’t have any Leaders in your
reinforcements, then you may still play the card to recruit
an Elite unit.
vent Cards represent a fortunate or unfortunate event

E from The Lord of the Rings. Strategy Event Cards

usually provide military or political opportunities,
and Character Event Cards usually affect the Fellowship,
Recruiting: An event that recruits a specific Nation’s units
may do so even if that Nation isn’t At War. If the card
recruits into a Stronghold region, you may recruit units
directly into a Stronghold under siege. You must otherwise
Companions, or Minions. follow normal recruiting rules (see p21).
When you play an Event Card, you usually resolve its text Special Hunt Tiles: When you put a blue or red Hunt Tile
immediately, then discard the card face-down beside its into play, keep that tile in front of you until the Fellowship
deck. enters Mordor (see p32). If the Fellowship is already in
Mordor, immediately add the tile to the Hunt Pool.
◊ Event Cards follow all normal rules unless the event
Event Effects specifically lets you ignore or change a rule.
Improved Action: Some events let you move, attack, ◊ Your maximum hand size is 6 cards. If you ever have more
recruit units, or take other actions with unique bonuses. than 6 cards in your hand, you must immediately choose and
The event follows the normal rules for these actions unless discard cards face-down until you have 6 cards.
otherwise specified. ◊ Event Cards are never reshuffled. If an Event Deck is empty,
On the Table: If a card plays on the table, place it then you skip any draws that you would take from that deck.
face‑up in front of you. It remains until you use its effect,
its discard condition occurs, or you no longer meet its
requirement. If a discard condition lets an opponent discard
the card with an Action Die, that requires an action.

Card Type: You can play this card using an Action Die matching
this icon (or use an Event Action Die to play any Event Card).

Army Type Character Type Muster Type

Requirement: You can’t play this card if you can’t satisfy this
requirement.

Event: When you play this card, resolve this text immediately.

Discard Condition: A card played on the table remains until this

condition occurs. (Resolve and discard the card if it doesn’t have
this text.)

Multiplayer Icon: This only affects games with 3 or 4 players

(see p33).

Combat Event: You can play this card during battle for this effect
(see p24).
 Chapter IV & V: Event Cards & Politics • 17

Chapter V: Activating Nations

A passive (gray) Political Counter can’t enter the At War
Politics space.
You activate a Nation’s counter, flipping it to the blue side,
when:
Nation is At War when its Political Counter

A reaches the last space of the Political Track.

――
――
A Shadow unit enters any region in the Nation.
The Shadow attacks any of the Nation’s units
(which also advances that Political Counter).
―― The Fellowship declares its position at one of the
Movement Restrictions Nation’s Cities or Strongholds (see p29).
While a Nation is not At War, its units and Leaders: ―― A Companion ends its movement at one of the
―― Can’t cross another Nation’s borders, even friendly Nation’s Cities or Strongholds. The Nation’s icon
Nations’ borders. must appear on that Companion’s Character Card:
―― Can’t attack enemy Armies. ―― Boromir: Gondor
―― Can’t be recruited with a Muster Action. ―― Gimli: Dwarves
These figures may leave their Nation’s borders to enter ―― Legolas: Elves (always active)
unaligned regions, and they defend normally against ―― Strider: The North
attacks.
―― Aragorn, Gandalf (Grey or White), Meriadoc,
Nazgûl, Minions, and Companions are always considered Peregrin: Any Nation (Free Nations icon)
At War. For example, the Nazgûl are Sauron’s Leaders, but
◊ A Companion can activate a Nation on the action that it
they could join an Army, cross enemy borders, and join an
separates from the Fellowship.
attack before the Sauron Nation is At War.
◊ Figures may cross another Nation’s border when retreating
(see p25). The next time that figure moves, if it’s still not
At War, then it must leave that Nation.

Advancing Political Counters Dwarves The North

Advance a Nation’s Political Counter one space on the
Political Track when:
―― A player uses a diplomacy Muster Action for that
Nation. Elves Rohan
―― An enemy attacks an Army containing any of the
Nation’s units.
―― An enemy captures a Settlement in that Nation.
◊ You can use a Muster Action on a Nation’s Political Counter
Southrons &
Gondor
even if you haven’t visited that Nation. Easterlings
◊ A Political Counter advances twice if an enemy attacks a
Nation’s units and captures its Settlement in a single action.
◊ Leaders aren’t units. If you attacked an Army with Elf
units and a Rohan Leader, that advances the Elves Political Isengard Sauron
Counter but not the Rohan counter.
◊ Each attack action counts as a single attack, no matter how
long the battle lasts. Multiple attack actions on the same
region may each advance a Political Counter.
◊ Once a Political Counter reaches At War, it can’t advance any
farther.
◊ An Event Card that begins an attack can activate and advance
Political Counters. The attacks of The Ents Awake and Dead
Men of Dunharrow affect the targets’ Political Counters.
18 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

Chapter VI: Leaders

Leaders are individuals that can’t fight on their own. When
Figures & they join an Army, they let the Army reroll Combat Dice.
Free Peoples Leaders require unit support. These Leaders
Regions are immediately eliminated if they are ever in a region that
contains no friendly units.
The Nazgûl are Sauron’s Leaders. They act the same as
ost of the game’s figures fit into one of three Free Peoples Leaders, but they can move without an Army.

M categories: Army units, Leaders, or Characters.

The only exceptions are the Ring-bearers and
Gollum, which represent the Fellowship.
◊ An Army may contain any number of Leaders. They don’t
affect the 10-unit limit.
◊ A Nation’s Leaders can join any friendly Nation’s Army.

Army Units & Limits Characters

An Army is all of the units in a single region of the map. Characters are important figures from The Lord of the
A single Army may hold up to 10 units. If an Army ever Rings. Each Character's abilities are described on its own
holds more than 10 units, then you must return the excess Character Card.
units to your reinforcements. (They aren’t eliminated.) Characters can move on the map without units. When they
If a large Army doesn’t fit in its region, you may replace join an Army, they provide Leader re-rolls and the bonuses
it with an Army Counter. Place the Army in an Army on their Character Cards.
Box, and move the matching Army Counter on the map as The Companions are Free Peoples Characters who enter
though it were the Army. the map when they separate from the Fellowship.
◊ The main difference between Regular and Elite units is that
one hit eliminates a Regular unit and two hits eliminates an
―― To improve Gandalf the Grey into Gandalf the
Elite unit. White or Strider into Aragorn — Heir to Isildur,
take a Special Action and follow the rules on
◊ You may combine different friendly Nations’ units into a
single Army. the improved Companions’ Character Cards.
Place the improved Companion Token under that
◊ An Army under siege in a Stronghold can only hold 5 units.
Companion’s figure to note the improvement.
◊ An Army Counter still obeys the 10-unit limit. For example,
if an Army Counter represents a 10-unit Army, and it moves The three Minions — Saruman, The Witch-king, and The
into a region with 2 friendly units, then you must return Mouth of Sauron — are Shadow Characters. The Shadow
2 units in that region to your reinforcements. player can place them on the map with a Muster Action,
following the requirements on their Character Cards.
―― The Witch-king is both a Nazgûl and a Minion.
He is affected by any event that affects Nazgûl or
Minions.

The Shadow amasses a 7-unit Isengard Army in

the Orthanc region. They put these units into the
1st Army Box and use the red 1st Army Counter
to represent it.
When you replace Gandalf the Grey with
Gandalf the White, place the Gandalf the White
Companion Token under the Gandalf figure to
show the improvement.
 Chapter VI: Figures & Regions • 19

Borders, Settlements, &

Fortifications Settlements: You can recruit units and Leaders in
These features appear on regions on the map. a region that has one of these three Settlements.
Free Peoples Settlements are blue, and Shadow
Settlements are red.

Towns: Simple
Simple Border (gray): A Settlements with no
border that any figure can cross. bonuses.

River Border (blue-gray): Cities: Settlements with

Functions the same as a simple basic walls and standing
border. troops. They provide a
defense bonus during the
first Combat Round of a
Impassable (thick black): A battle.
mountain border that can’t be
crossed by any figure.

Water: No figure can enter the

Rhûn lake or the western ocean. Strongholds: Settlements
Some Event Cards affect coastal with reinforced fortresses,
regions, regions bordering the hidden Elven homes, or
western ocean. great capital cities. They
provide a defense bonus
National Border (colored): throughout combat and
Encloses a Nation’s regions. penalize the attacker for
This image shows two adjacent extended attacks.
Nations. A region with no
National border is unaligned.

This impassable border also

separates the borders of two
Nations.

An Army in a Stronghold
region camps in the
surrounding region.
Fortifications: This represents
the abandoned ruins in
Osgiliath or the high river
banks in Fords of Isen. When an Army retreats
Fortifications aren’t Settlements into a Stronghold,
and can’t recruit units, but they place it in the matching
provide a defense bonus in the Stronghold Box. A
first Combat Round of combat. Shadow Army can
move to either of the
two Shadow Stronghold
Boxes.
20 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

Friendly and Captured Settlements Free Regions

A friendly Settlement’s color matches your faction’s color A region is free to you if it contains:
(blue or red). ―― No enemy units.
An Army captures and takes control of an enemy ―― No enemy-controlled Towns or Cities (even if
Settlement when entering its region. undefended).
―― Place a Settlement Control Marker of your color on ―― No enemy-controlled Strongholds — unless you
a captured region. If enemy units enter the region, have that Stronghold under siege.
they recapture it and remove your marker.
◊ A free region may contain non-unit enemies, including
―― You score 1 VP for each captured City and 2 VP for Nazgûl, Characters, or the Ring-bearers.
each captured Stronghold. Advance your Victory ◊ A region is free for the purpose of Army movement if your
Point Marker to record this. You lose these VP when units can enter it without a battle. This includes all free
the enemy recaptures the Settlement. regions and regions with undefended enemy-controlled
―― You don’t capture a region with a Stronghold while Settlements. You’re not free to move into a friendly
Stronghold that’s under siege.
the Stronghold contains any enemy units.

A Free Nations Army attacks a Shadow Army

and eliminates most of its units. The Shadow can
retreat their surviving unit to an adjacent free
region.

This empty region is free.

Shadow units attack the City region of Bree and

eliminate the unit there. This is now a Shadow-
controlled City (but it’s still a Free Peoples City).

The Shadow places a red Settlement Control This region isn’t free to
Marker on the region and scores 1 VP. This Shadow, since the Free Nations
marker remains when the Shadow units leave to controls it.
fight another battle, representing a regiment left
behind to police the region. This region isn’t free to Shadow, since it has Free
Nations units. (The Free Nations doesn’t control
the region because the Stronghold contains
Shadow units under siege.)

Free Peoples units move into the undefended

region. They remove the Settlement Control
Marker and take 1 VP away from Shadow.
 Chapter VI: Figures & Regions • 21

Recruiting
You can take a Muster Action to add figures to the board,
with these three steps.
R iders of
1. Choose one or two Settlement regions that are: ’
T heoden
―― Friendly (your faction’s color)
Recruit one Rohan unit (Regular
―― Free (contain no enemy units or enemy-controlled or Elite) and one Leader in either
Settlements) Edoras or any Rohan region
containing a Companion.
―― At War (in a Nation whose Political Counter is at
the end of the Political Track) This Event Card recruits Rohan units into Edoras
2. Find the reinforcements matching those Settlements’ or any Rohan region that contains a Companion.
Nations. ―― You could play this even if Rohan isn’t
―― For example, the Town region of Ered Luin is in the At War.
Dwarves Nation, so you can only recruit Dwarves ―― You could play this at Helm’s Deep
figures there. (Rohan Stronghold) if it contains a
3. Move a Regular unit or a Leader from your Companion, even if the Stronghold is
reinforcements to each region. under siege.

―― You may instead recruit an Elite unit if you only ―― This must follow all other recruiting rules.
recruit in one region. You couldn’t play this card at Edoras
(Rohan City) if that region is Shadow-
―― The Shadow may only recruit Nazgûl at Sauron controlled.
Strongholds (as a Sauron Leader).
◊ You may recruit into two different Nations’ regions with one
action. Each region recruits its own Nation’s figures.
◊ A Nation can’t recruit a figure that isn’t in your
reinforcements. For example, you can’t recruit any figures
into a Dwarven Settlement if all of your Dwarven units and
Leaders are on the map or eliminated.

Recruiting Event Cards

When an Event Card lets you recruit figures, it follows all
normal recruiting rules, with two exceptions:
―― If an event recruits from a specific Nation, that
Nation doesn’t need to be At War.
―― If an event recruits into a Stronghold region, that
Stronghold may be under siege. The new units
arrive inside the Stronghold.
22 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

◊ Different Nations’ units and Leaders may move together in

C h a p t e r V II : an Army.
◊ The Ring-bearers can’t join or move with an Army.
Movement ◊ You may move Armies multiple times in a turn. For example,
you could use three Army Action Dice to move the same two
Armies three times in a turn.
ach time you move a figure on the map, it crosses a ◊ Merging Armies doesn’t let you move figures twice in the

E border into an adjacent region. This section describes

moving any figure except for the Ring-bearers.
same action. For example, if you take an Army Action to
move two Armies, and you move the 1st Army into the
2nd Army’s region, then the 2nd Army can’t take any figures
from the 1st Army as it moves.
Moving Armies ◊ If you split an Army with a Character Action, at least one
of its Leaders must move, but any other Leaders may stay
When you move an Army, you can move all of the units, behind.
Leaders, and Characters in its region with one action. ◊ You can’t move an Army into a friendly Stronghold under
―― You may leave any figures in the Army behind, siege. The enemies in the field block your path.
splitting the Army. ◊ A Level 0 Character can never move, even with an Army.
This mainly affects Saruman.
―― You can merge two Armies by moving one friendly
Army into another. (Return excess units to your
reinforcements if the Army then contains more than
Multiple-region Moves
10 units.)
Some Event Cards let you move an Army multiple regions
―― Units and Free Peoples Leaders that aren’t At War
in a single action. With these moves:
can’t cross any National borders except their own.
―― You can’t pick up or drop off figures in the regions
There are two actions that move Armies.
that you move through.
―― Take an Army Action to move any one or two
―― Only check the 10-unit limit after all movement is
Armies by one region. No single figure can move
finished.
twice this way.
―― You capture any empty Settlements in the regions
―― Take a Character Action to move one Army
that you move through.
containing a Leader (a Free Peoples Leader, Nazgûl,
Companion, or Minion).
An Army can move into any region containing no enemy Moving Companions
units, including a region with friendly units laying siege to
The Free Peoples can take a Character Action to move
a Stronghold.
each Companion on the map once. Each Companion may
You capture a Settlement region when your Army enters it. move a number of regions equal to its Level.
Place or remove a Settlement Control Marker and adjust
―― Companions in the same region may move as a
VP.
group. They move regions equal to the highest
Level in the group and must all end in the same
region.
Companions may enter any region, even regions with
enemy units, with two exceptions:
―― They must stop moving if they enter a region with a
Shadow-controlled Stronghold. (They may leave on
their next move.)
―― They can’t enter or leave a region with a friendly
Stronghold under siege.
The Shadow moves an Army out of Dol Guldur, ◊ Companions in a region may split into any number of groups
leaving some units behind. If the Shadow uses before moving.
a Character Action to move, then at least one ◊ When a Companion moves with an Army, it can only move
Leader (a Nazgûl) must move with the Army. one region and must follow the Army’s movement rules.
 Chapter VII: Movement • 23

The Free Nations takes a Character Action to

move every Companion on the map.
―― Gimli (Level 2) moves 2 regions west.
―― Strider (Level 3) and Legolas (Level 2)
move as a group and move 3 regions east.

Moving Shadow Leaders

The Shadow can take a Character Action to move each
Nazgûl and Minion on the map once. These figures move
differently.
―― The Nazgûl teleport to any region on the map. They
may even teleport into regions with enemy units or
into a friendly Stronghold under siege.
―― The Witch-king is both a Nazgûl and a Minion. He
teleports like a Nazgûl when he moves.
―― Saruman can never move. He is bound to Orthanc.
―― The Mouth of Sauron moves up to 3 regions.
He can’t enter or leave a region with a friendly
Stronghold under siege by enemy units.
None of these figures may enter a region with a
Free Peoples-controlled Stronghold unless it’s under siege.
◊ Nazgûl ignore all borders and may travel across prohibited
regions while moving this way.
◊ The Witch-king is affected by any Event Card that references
Nazgûl or Minions.
◊ When a Shadow Army attacks from Orthanc, Saruman can
join the attack, but if the Army advances, he can’t advance
with them.
◊ When a Nazgûl or Minion moves with an Army, it can only
move one region and must follow the Army’s movement
rules.
24 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

Both players reveal their cards (if any) and resolve their
C h a p t e r V III : Combat Events at the same time. Discard these cards at the
end of this Combat Round.
Battle ◊ Before the defender chooses a card, they may see whether
the attacker played a Character Event Card, Strategy Event
Card, or no card, but they can’t see the card’s text.
n attack action lets an Army attack an adjacent

A
◊ A Combat Card only affects the current Combat Round.
region that it could move into. Battle follows these
steps.
Combat Event Title
Choose Attackers
Requirement: You can’t play
You don’t need to attack with every figure in an Army. You this card if you can’t satisfy this
may split a region’s Army into an attacking Army and a requirement.
rearguard.
―― The rearguard takes no part in the battle. It can’t
take any hits, affect Combat Cards, or advance to
the defending region.
―― The attacking Army must contain a Leader
(including a Nazgûl or Character) if you attack with
a Character Action.
―― Attacking units and Leaders must belong to Nations
At War. Figures not At War must join the rearguard.
You can’t split the defending Army. All units, Leaders, and
Characters in the defending region join the battle. Text: Resolve this text.
◊ An attacking Army must contain at least one unit.
Initiative Number: If one player’s Combat Event
◊ An attacking Army doesn’t enter the defending region until
the battle ends. could affect the other player’s Event, resolve the
lowest-numbered card first. If tied, resolve the
defender’s card first.
Combat Round
Combat takes place over a series of Combat Rounds. Each
round has five steps.
Combat Event Card Effects
1. Combat Cards: Each player may play one Event Card
Dual Initiative: If a card has two initiative numbers, it
as a Combat Card.
has two effects with different timing.
2. Combat Roll: Both players roll Combat Dice. Forfeit Leadership: If you forfeit Leadership for a
3. Leader Re-roll: Both players may use Leadership to card’s requirements, it reduces your total Leadership
for the Combat Round, possibly reducing your Leader
re-roll dice.
Re‑roll Step. You can’t forfeit Leadership that was
4. Casualties: Eliminate units for successful die rolls. cancelled for any reason.
5. Cease or Retreat: Either player may end the battle. Early or Late Attacks: Some cards grant an attack
before the Combat Roll Step or after the Casualties
When attacking a Stronghold region, the defender may Step of the Combat Round. Resolve these attacks with a
retreat into a friendly Stronghold before the first Combat normal Combat Roll, with these exceptions:
Cards Step, beginning a siege (see p27). If they don’t, ―― Use the same hit number (5–6 or 6) that applied to
then you fight a Field Battle outside of the Stronghold. your Combat Roll Step this round.
―― You can’t re-roll these dice with Leadership.
1) Combat Cards Step ―― The enemy’s Combat Event can’t modify this roll.
The attacker first chooses whether to play an Event Card ―― Immediately resolve hits and eliminate units. The
from hand. If so, they place the card face-down on the enemy’s Combat Event can’t affect these hits.
table. The defender then does the same.
 Chapter VIII: Combat • 25

2) Combat Roll Step 4) Casualties Step

Each Army’s Combat Strength equals its number of units. Armies suffer casualties equal to the hits rolled by their
Both players roll Combat Dice equal to their Army’s opponent. You choose how to divide the hits to your Army.
Combat Strength, to a maximum of 5 dice. The attacker chooses all of their casualties first, then the
defender chooses.
A die hits if it rolls a 5 or 6.
―― Eliminate one Regular unit as 1 hit.
―― When attacking a City or Fortification region,
during the first Combat Round, the attacker must ―― Eliminate one Elite unit as 2 hits.
roll a 6 to hit. ―― Replace an Elite unit with a Regular unit as 1 hit.
―― Combat Events may affect your rolls. For example, Eliminate the Elite unit and take a Regular unit
if you can only hit on a 6, but a Combat Event adds from your casualties if possible. Otherwise, take it
1 to your dice, then your dice hit with a 5 or 6. from your reinforcements.
―― A die that rolls an unmodified 6 always hits. A die Place eliminated Free Peoples units in the casualties pool.
that rolls an unmodified 1 always misses. Return eliminated Shadow units to the reinforcements.
◊ A Stronghold provides no defense bonus to Field Battles. The If all of an Army’s units are eliminated, then all Leaders
defender must retreat into the Stronghold to gain its bonus. in the Army are also eliminated. Return Nazgûl to
◊ Elite units have the same Combat Strength as Regular units. the reinforcements. Move all Free Peoples Leaders,
◊ You can never roll more than 5 Combat Dice, even when Companions, and Minions to the casualties pool.
an Event Card temporarily increases your Combat Strength. ◊ You can’t assign hits to Leaders or Characters.
You may still want an Army with more than 5 units to fight a
battle over many Combat Rounds. ◊ You can’t attack and eliminate a Nazgûl or Character that’s
not part of an Army, though some Event Cards give you other
◊ If a die rolls more than 6 with bonuses, treat it as a 6. methods of eliminating these figures.
◊ All dice modifiers are cumulative. For example, if your ◊ Elite units must be replaced with Regular units of the same
Combat Event adds +2 to your dice, and the enemy’s card Nation. You can’t replace an Elite unit if you don’t have
applies -1 to your dice, then the combination adds +1 to your any Regular units of its Nation in your reinforcements or
dice. casualties. One hit may eliminate an Elite unit in this case.
◊ Some Combat Events only affect your Combat Roll, only ◊ The Ents Awake and Dead Men of Dunharrow Event Cards
affect your Leader Re-rolls, or affect dice in both rolls. are not true battles. If these events eliminate all of the units
in a region, they don’t also eliminate Characters or Leaders
3) Leader Re-roll Step in that region unless otherwise noted.
An Army’s Leadership is equal to the sum of all of its
Characters’ Leadership values, plus 1 for each Free 5) Cease or Retreat Step
Peoples Leader or Nazgûl. The attacker may now choose to cease the attack. If they
You may re-roll a number of missed Combat Dice equal don’t, then the defender may choose to retreat. If they
to your Army’s Leadership, to a maximum of 5 dice. Both don’t, then begin the next Combat Round.
players do this simultaneously. ―― To cease the attack, leave your attacking Army in its
◊ Re-rolls hit on 5–6 or 6 the same as the Combat Roll. A current region.
re-roll always hits with an unmodified 6 and misses with an ―― To retreat, move your defending Army to an
unmodified 1.
adjacent free region (no enemy units or enemy-
◊ You can’t re-roll the same Combat Die more than once, and controlled Settlements).
you can never re-roll more than 5 Combat Dice.
―― When defending a region with a friendly
Stronghold, you may retreat into the Stronghold or
into an adjacent free region.
The Witch-King has You can’t retreat if you’re inside a Stronghold under siege
2 Leadership, granting or if you can’t move into a free region or Stronghold.
2 re‑rolls to its Army. Figures that aren’t At War may retreat across another
Nation’s border. The next time those figures move, if
they’re still not At War, then they must leave that Nation.
Leadership 2 ◊ You can’t split a retreating Army.
◊ A Level 0 Character can retreat into a Stronghold but not
to an adjacent region. If an Army in Orthanc retreats to an
adjacent region, it must leave Saruman behind, but this does
not eliminate him.
26 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

The Shadow has captured the City region of Bree

with 2 Regular units, 2 Elite units, and a Nazgûl.
A Free Peoples Elves Army attacks Bree from
Woodland Realm. Their Army contains 3 Regular 3. Leader Re-roll Step: Gandalf the Grey, Elven
units, 1 Elite unit, 1 Leader, and the Gandalf the Leaders, and Nazgûl all provide 1 Leadership.
Grey Companion. The Free Peoples re‑rolls 2 dice, and the Shadow
The Free Peoples doesn’t leave any figures behind re-rolls 1 die.
as a rearguard. The entire Army moves to attack. The Free Peoples’ Combat Card only improved
their Combat Roll, so they need a 6 to hit with
re-rolls.
Both players re-roll their dice, and the Free
Peoples rolls a 6 for 1 additional hit.

1. Combat Cards Step: The Free Peoples is the

attacker and chooses Combat Cards first. They 4. Casualties Step: The Free Peoples chooses
play and hide an Event Card. Seeing this, the casualties first, applying 1 hit to its Elves Elite
Shadow player chooses to not play a card. unit, which replaces it with an Elves Regular unit
from the casualties pool. The Shadow then applies
The Free Peoples reveals the card, which adds +1
2 hits to its Elite unit, eliminating it.
to their Combat Roll.

5. Cease or Retreat Step: The Free Peoples

chooses to not cease the attack, threatening
another Combat Round. The Shadow player
doesn’t want to risk losing a Nazgûl, so they
2. Combat Roll Step: The Shadow rolls 3 dice retreat all figures to an adjacent free region.
for 3 units. They hit on a 5–6.
The Elven Army advances, removing the
The Free Peoples rolls 4 dice for 4 units. They Shadow’s Settlement Control Marker and
only hit on a 6, since it’s the first Combat Round reducing the Shadow’s VP by 1. They leave a unit
attacking a City, but their Combat Card adds +1 behind in Woodland Realm to defend it.
to their Combat Roll, so they hit on 5–6.
Both players roll their dice and roll 1 hit each.
 Chapter VIII: Combat • 27

End of Combat
Combat ends when the attacker ceases, the defender
retreats, or one or both Armies are eliminated.
If the defender retreats or is eliminated, the attacker may
advance, moving the attacking Army’s figures into the
defending region.
―― The rearguard can’t advance, and the attacking
Army may leave any figures behind.
―― If the defender retreats into a Stronghold, the
advancing Army enters the Stronghold region and
begins a siege. A Shadow Army attacks Helm’s Deep. Before
the first Combat Round, the Free Peoples Army
there retreats into the Stronghold, moving to the
Siege Stronghold Box with the matching art.
A Stronghold is under siege when it contains friendly units
inside, while enemy units occupy its region.
―― The defender can retreat into a Stronghold before
the first Combat Step of a battle.
―― A Stronghold can only hold 5 units (and any
number of Leaders). If you retreat more than 5 units
into a Stronghold, you must return excess units to
your reinforcements.
The Shadow Army advances into Helm’s Deep,
A Siege Battle is a normal battle with these changes. ending combat and laying siege. They don’t
―― The attacker’s Combat Dice only hit on a 6, in any capture the region until the Stronghold is empty.
Combat Round.
―― In the Cease or Retreat Step, the attacker may
replace an Elite unit with a Regular unit (as though Sortie
it had taken 1 hit). If they do not, then they must While your Army is under siege, you can take an attack
cease the attack. action to have it attack the sieging Army. This is called a
―― The attacker captures the Stronghold’s region when Sortie.
it contains no defenders. ―― You don’t need to attack with the entire Army. You
A siege ends if the attacking Army moves out of the region may leave a rearguard in the Stronghold.
or is eliminated. Immedately move the defending Army ―― This is a Field Battle. Neither Army gains a defense
back to the region. bonus.
◊ You can’t retreat units into an enemy’s Stronghold. For
example, a Shadow Army in the Free Peoples region of
―― If you cease the attack, your Army returns to the
Helm’s Deep couldn’t retreat into its Stronghold when Stronghold.
attacked. ―― The defending Army may retreat into an adjacent
◊ You can only lay siege to a Stronghold from its own region. free region. This returns all figures in the
An Army in an adjacent region must first move into the Stronghold to the region and ends the siege.
Stronghold’s region.
◊ While your Army lays siege to a Stronghold, you may move
another Army into its region. This merges the two Armies
and doesn’t immediately attack the Stronghold.
◊ A Siege Battle may last any number of Combat Rounds, but
the attacker must replace an Elite unit each round.
◊ While your Army is under siege, you can attack the
Stronghold region with a different Army. This starts a Field
Battle with the sieging Army. The attacking Army can’t enter
the Stronghold under siege. It must force the sieging enemy
out of the region before it can merge with your other Army.
28 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

2. Hunt Re-rolls: Check whether the Ring-bearers’ region

Chapter IX: contains:

T h e F e l l o ws h i p ―― A Shadow-controlled Stronghold
―― At least one Shadow Regular or Elite unit
―― At least one Nazgûl
rodo and Sam appear on the map as the Ring-bearers,

F the two Hobbits destined to destroy the One Ring

in the fires of Mount Doom. They begin with seven
Companions, who may leave the Fellowship to accomplish
For each of these that is true, you may re-roll one Combat
Die that wasn’t a success. Add the +1 bonuses for blue
Action Dice to these rolls.
other tasks or sacrifice themselves to protect the Ring- 3. Hunt Success: If no Combat Dice roll a success, the
bearers. Hunt fails and ends here. The Hunt succeeds if at least one
die rolls a success.
4. Hunt Tile: Draw one Hunt Tile from the Hunt Pool. The
Moving the Fellowship Fellowship takes Hunt Damage equal to the tile’s number.
The Free Peoples player can take a Character Action to ―― An Eye tile deals Hunt Damage equal to the number
move the Fellowship, with these steps: of Combat Die successes.
1. Must Be Hidden: The Fellowship can’t move unless the 5. Responses: The Free Peoples player may use and
Fellowship Progress Counter is Hidden (ring) side up. discard one Event Card on the table that affects a Hunt.
―― You can take a Character Action to flip the counter They may then use the Guide Companion’s Guide ability,
to its Hidden side. if applicable.
2. Advance Fellowship Progress Counter: Move the 6. Casualty: The Free Peoples player may take a casualty
counter forward 1 space. to reduce Hunt Damage to the Fellowship.
3. Hunt the Ring: The Shadow player performs a Hunt ―― That player chooses to eliminate their Guide or
(described below).0 to eliminate a random Companion. For a random
Companion, shuffle all Companion Cards in the
4. Place Action Die in Hunt Box: Whether the Hunt was
Guide Box (including the Guide), and the Shadow
successful or not, place the blue Action Die used for this
player chooses a random card.
action in the Hunt Box.
―― Reduce the Hunt Damage by that Companion’s
―― When you move the Fellowship with an Event Card,
Level.
you don’t place the Action Die in the Hunt Box, but
you follow all other rules here, including a Hunt. ―― The Companion is eliminated. Remove their
◊ When you take an action to hide the Fellowship, you don’t Companion Card and Companion Counter from the
get to move the Fellowship in the same action, and you don’t board and set them aside.
add that Action Die to the Hunt Box. ―― Immediately choose a new Guide if you eliminate
◊ When an Event Card or effect refers to the Fellowship’s the Guide. (Place the new Guide’s card on top of the
current location, it refers to the Ring-bearers figure’s deck. It must have the highest Level remaining in
location, even if they’ve hidden and moved since they last the Companion Deck.)
declared their position.
―― You may immediately use the new Guide’s Guide
ability if it affects the Hunt.
Hunting the Fellowship 7. Use the Ring: The Ring-bearers take Corruption equal
Each time the Fellowship moves, the Shadow senses the to the remaining Hunt Damage (advance the Corruption
Ring’s movement and attempts to find it. A Hunt has these Counter on the Fellowship Track), as they use the Ring to
steps. avoid the Hunt.
1. Hunt Roll: The Hunt Level equals the number of red 8. Reveal: If the Hunt Tile had a Reveal icon, the
Action Dice in the Hunt Box. Roll a number of Combat Fellowship is revealed (described on the next page).
Dice equal to the Hunt Level, to a maximum of 5 dice. ◊ You can’t use more than one Event Card on the same Hunt,
and you can’t use cards that are still in your hand.
―― For every blue Action Die in the Hunt Box, add +1
to each Combat Die’s roll. ◊ If the Guide changes at any time during a Hunt, you can
immediately use the new Guide’s Guide ability. This includes
―― Each die that rolls 6 or higher is a success. A die using Meriadoc’s or Peregrin’s Guide ability.
that rolls an unmodified 1 always fails. (continued)
 Chapter IX: The Fellowship • 29

◊ A Companion can’t be wounded by Hunt Damage. If the

Hunt Damage is less than the casualty Companion’s Level,
that Companion is still eliminated.
◊ If the Hunt Pool ever contains no tiles, return all Standard
(beige) Hunt Tiles to the pool. Don’t return any Special (red
or blue) Tiles or any tiles that were removed from the game
by an Event Card.

Level 1

The Free Peoples player decides to take a random

casualty. They shuffle all Companion Cards in the
The Fellowship Progress Counter is at 1 on the Guide Box and draw Peregrin Took, a Level 1
Fellowship Track. The Free Peoples takes a Companion. This reduces the Hunt Damage by 1
Character Action to move the Fellowship and and removes Peregrin Took from the Guide Box.
advance the counter to 2.

The Ring-bearers use the Ring to avoid 1 Hunt

Damage, taking 1 Corruption.

The Hunt Box contains 3 red dice and 1 blue

die. The Shadow rolls 3 Combat Dice with a Declaring or Revealing the
+1 bonus. One die rolls a 6 for a success. Fellowship
The Free Peoples player can declare the Fellowship’s
position during the Fellowship Phase. A Hunt or Event
Card may instead reveal the Fellowship. These two effects
have similar steps:
1. Move the Ring-bearers: The Free Nations player
moves the Ring-bearers figure a number of regions equal to
or less than the Fellowship Progress Counter’s space.
The Ring-bearers are in Moria, with a Shadow-
―― When revealing the Ring-bearers, they can’t end
controlled Stronghold and at least 1 Shadow unit.
movement in any Free Peoples-controlled City or
The Shadow re-rolls two Combat Dice and rolls
Stronghold.
another success (a 5 with a +1 bonus).
―― The Ring-bearers may cross any Nation’s border but
not impassable borders.
2. Reset the Fellowship Progress Counter: Move the
Reveal counter back to zero.
―― When revealing the Ring-bearers, flip the counter to
With at least 1 success, the Hunt succeeds. The its Revealed (eye) side.
Shadow player draws a Hunt Tile from the Hunt ―― When declaring the Fellowship, the Ring-bearers
Pool — an Eye tile, which deals 2 Hunt Damage remain hidden.
to the Fellowship (1 damage per die success).
3. Check Shadow Strongholds: When revealing the Ring-
This tile also has the Reveal symbol, so the bearers, they risk discovery if they travel past a Shadow
Ring‑bearers are revealed at the end of the action. Stronghold. Skip this step when Declaring the Fellowship.
(continued)
30 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

―― Count the number of Shadow-controlled regions Separating Companions

with a Shadow Stronghold in the Ring-bearers’
movement (including moving into, out of, or Companions in the Fellowship have no effect on the game,
remaining in those regions). except for the Guide’s Guide ability. The Free Peoples
player can use a Character Action to separate Companions
―― Draw one Hunt Tile from the Hunt Pool for each of from the Fellowship with these steps.
those Strongholds.
1. Choose Companions: Choose any number of
―― Resolve each Hunt Tile separately, as you would Companions to separate as a group. Place their figures on
during a Hunt. The Free Peoples player may apply the map, in the Ring-bearers’ current region.
one Event Card on the table, use their Guide ability,
and take a casualty for each tile. 2. Companion Cards: Remove those Companions’
Character Cards from the Guide Box. Place them face-up
―― An Eye Hunt Tile deals 0 Hunt Damage, since you on the table.
rolled no Combat Dice.
―― Each Companion can now use the non-Guide
4. Healing and Politics: When you declare the Fellowship abilities on its card.
in a Free Peoples-controlled region with a Free Peoples
City or Stronghold, then the Fellowship heals 1 Corruption ―― Remove those Companions’ Companion Counters
(move the Corruption Counter one space back, to a from the Fellowship Box and set them aside.
minimum of zero). ―― Immediately choose a new Guide if you separate the
The Ring-bearers activate a Nation’s Political Counter if current Guide.
they end movement in one of its Cities or Strongholds. 3. Move Companions: Add the Level of the highest-Level
◊ You may draw multiple Hunt Tiles during an action if the Companion in the group to the the Fellowship Progress
first tile reveals the Fellowship and the Ring-bearers figure Counter’s space. Move the separated Companions a
then moves past a Shadow Stronghold. number of regions up to this number.
◊ When declared or revealed, you may always leave the ―― All of these Companions must move to the same
Ring‑bearers in its current region. You may even declare region.
the Fellowship’s position when the Fellowship Progress
Counter is at zero, perhaps to continue healing at a friendly ―― If the Ring-bearers’ region has a Free Peoples Army
Settlement. under siege in a Stronghold, then these Companions
◊ If the Fellowship isn’t hidden, you can’t take any action to enter the Stronghold and can’t leave the region.
move it, even to move zero regions.
―― Companions must stop moving if they enter a
region with a Shadow-controlled Stronghold.
◊ The Companions can’t add other Companions or other
figures to their group while moving this way.
◊ A separated Companion can’t use its Guide ability.
◊ Once a Companion separates from the Fellowship, it can
never rejoin.

In the previous example, a Hunt Tile revealed

the Fellowship when it moved. This flips the
Fellowship Progress Counter to Revealed and
resets it to zero, and the Ring-bearers may now Strider is Level 3, and the Fellowship Progress
move up to two regions. Counter is at 2. If Strider and Boromir separate
from the Fellowship together, they can move up
Since they were Revealed, the Ring-bearers can’t to 5 regions.
end in a Free Peoples-controlled Stronghold
region, and they draw a Hunt Tile for moving out
of a Shadow Stronghold region.
 Chapter IX: The Fellowship • 31

Gollum ―― Place Gollum’s figure in the Ring-bearers’ region.

This figure has no effect but shows that Gollum has
Gollum always trails the Fellowship, but he doesn’t revealed himself.
approach until the Ring-bearers are alone.
―― Gollum isn’t a Companion. He can’t be a casualty
When there are no Companion Cards in the Guide Box, to reduce Hunt Damage, and anything that affects
immediately place Gollum’s Character Card in the Guide Companions doesn’t affect him.
Box.
―― Gollum becomes the Guide and provides his Guide
ability.
32 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

Chapter X:
I n M o rd o r
nce the Ring reaches the borders of Mordor,

O Sauron no longer Hunts for it. The final struggle

lies between the will of the Ring to return to its
Master and the determination of the Ring-bearers to pursue
their mission to its bitter end. When the Ring-bearers enter Mordor, put them
on the first space of the Mordor Track. The Free
Peoples win if the Ring-bearers advance to The
Declaring in Mordor Crack of Doom.
At the end of the Fellowship Phase, if the Ring-bearers are
in Minas Morgul or Morannon, the Free Peoples player
may choose to send them into Mordor.
The Phial of Galadriel Event Card
―― Place the Ring-bearers on the zero space of the
puts this -2 Special Hunt Tile into play.
Mordor Track.
When you draw this tile, the Fellowship
―― Return all of the discarded Standard (beige) Hunt heals 2 Corruption.
Tiles with an Eye icon to the Hunt Pool.
―― Add all Special Hunt Tiles in play to the Hunt Pool. The Give it to Uss! Event Card puts
(Some Event Cards put these tiles into play.) this Special Hunt Tile into play. It
deals 1 Hunt Damage, Reveals the
◊ Don’t return Hunt Tiles to the Hunt Pool that were removed Fellowship, and stops the Fellowship
from the game by Event Cards.
from moving.
◊ While in Mordor, the Ring-bearers are not in Gorgoroth or
Stop
any other region. They have left the map.

Moving in Mordor Other Rules in Mordor

While in Mordor, you can’t move the Fellowship Progress At the end of each Action Resolution Phase, if the
Counter. Instead, each time you move the Fellowship (with Free Peoples player hasn’t attempted to move or hide
a Move Fellowship action or any other effect), you try to the Fellowship that turn, then the Fellowship takes
advance on the Mordor Track. 1 Corruption.
―― First, draw a Hunt Tile from the Hunt Pool. Resolve You can no longer take actions to separate Companions
it as you would during a Hunt. from the Fellowship. If any Event Card or other effect
―― An Eye tile deals Hunt Damage equal to the number separates a Companion, set aside its Companion Card and
of dice in the Hunt Box, including blue dice. Companion Counter. This doesn’t count as a casualty or
elimination.
―― A negative-number tile heals Corruption equal to its
number.
―― Move the Ring-bearers forward one space on the
track unless the Hunt Tile has a Stop icon.
◊ The Fellowship must still be Hidden to move. You can still
take a Character Action to hide the Fellowship.
 Chapter X & XI: In Mordor & Multiplayer • 33

Chapter XI:
Only the Saruman
Multiplayer player may play this
Event Card.
If a Shadow Event
n a 4-player game, each player controls up to three Card has no icon here,

I
――
Nations of one faction:

Gondor: Gondor and Elves Nations

then either Shadow
player may play it.

―― Rohan: Rohan, The North, and Dwarves Nations

―― The Witch-King: Sauron Nation
―― Saruman: Isengard and Southrons & Easterlings
Nations
While the two players of each faction may work together,
Other Phases
only one player wins the game, as the key figure in their
faction’s victory. The Free Peoples Leading Player makes all choices for
the Fellowship Phase: whether to Declare the Fellowship,
where to move it, who will Guide it, and whether to enter
Leading Players Mordor.
During setup, give the Gondor and Witch-king players a The Shadow Leading Player decides how many Action
Leading Player Token. Dice to assign to the Hunt Box.
At the end of each turn, each Leading Player gives this Both Leading Players roll their faction’s Action Dice.
token to their teammate.

Action Resolution Phase

Recover Action Dice and Draw Players alternate actions in the following order:
Event Cards Phase ―― 1. Non-Leading Free Peoples
On the 1st turn, each player draws one card from both of ―― 2. Non-Leading Shadow
their faction’s Event Decks during this phase.
―― 3. Leading Free Peoples
Each turn after, each player draws only one card from the
Event Deck of their choice. ―― 4. Leading Shadow

Both teammates have a hand limit of 4 cards (instead of 6). On your action, you use one of your faction’s Action Dice
and set it aside. You can’t use a die that your teammate
After drawing cards and discarding to your hand limit, used.
you and your teammate may trade one card with each
other. You may not reveal your card or discuss it with your ◊ If you skip an action, you are not removed from the turn
order. You still set any Action Die aside, and you take your
teammate. You each trade a hidden card only if you both
next turn normally.
agree to trade.
You can’t play an Event Card that has your teammate’s
multiplayer icon on it. Either player may play a card with Nation Control
no multiplayer icon.
On your turn, your actions and Event Cards can only affect
the Nations that you control.
―― You can only recruit, move, or fight with Armies
Gondor Rohan Witch-king Saruman from your Nations (except with mixed Armies as
described below).
―― You can’t take a Muster Action to advance your
teammate’s Nations’ Political Counters.
(continued)
34 • War of the Ring — Second Edition

―― The Ring-bearers and Companions belong to no Victory

Nation. Either Free Peoples player may move or
hide the Fellowship, move Companions, or separate The game ends normally, with both teammates’ controlled
Companions. regions contributing to their faction’s Victory Points, but
only one teammate wins the game.
―― The Free Peoples Leading Player makes all choices
for the Fellowship during a Hunt. ―― If the Free Peoples wins, each Free Peoples player
counts the VP of Settlements in their Nations
―― Shadow players control the Minions of their controlled by the Shadow. The Free Peoples player
Nations. The Witch-king player controls the with the lowest total wins.
Witch‑king and the Mouth of Sauron. The Saruman
player controls Saruman. ―― Each time a Shadow Army captures a Settlement,
record which player captured it. If the Shadow wins,
―― Either Shadow player may move or attack with each Shadow player counts the VP of Free Peoples
Nazgûl, but only the Witch-king may recruit them. Settlements that they captured, minus the VP of
―― Either Shadow player may Hunt the Fellowship their Settlements controlled by the Free Peoples.
when a move or Event Card allows it. The Shadow player with the highest total wins.
―― When Saruman is in play, his Servants of the White ―― In case of a tie, both teammates share victory.
Hand ability also affects Southrons & Easterlings
Elite units, letting the Saruman player treat them as
Leaders. Three-player Game
In a 3-player game, two players split the Shadow faction,
as in a 4-player game. The third player controls the entire
Mixed Armies Free Peoples faction.
When a region contains different teammates’ units and As the Free Peoples player, your rules are similar to
Leaders, they create two separate Armies. You may the Free Peoples player in a 2-player game, with these
combine them into a mixed Army if both teammates agree changes:
to it.
―― You can’t take two consecutive actions on the same
―― When a region is attacked, any separate Armies Nation. For example, if you recruit a Dwarven
there must combine into a mixed Army to defend. unit and a Gondor unit with one action, you can’t
The teammate who owns the most units in an Army use your next action to move units, recruit units,
controls it. or move Political Counters for either of those two
Nations.
―― Ties are won by the player who owns the most
Elite units in the Army. Further ties are won by the ―― You may take consecutive actions on mixed
Leading Player. Armies, but not on the same Army. For example,
you could move a Gondor Army, then move a
―― Control immediately changes when the units in the
mixed Gondor/Rohan Army, but you can’t move
Army change.
the same Gondor/Rohan Army twice in a row.
Only the controlling teammate may move or attack with a
―― Passing is not an action. If you move a Gondor
mixed Army. The other player may move their units out of
Army, then pass your next action, then the action
the Army.
after that still can’t affect a Gondor Army.
◊ If any units in a mixed Army aren’t At War, then it affects
the entire Army. For example, if Gondor isn’t At War, then a ―― In the Action Resolution Phase, alternate taking
mixed Army with Gondor units can’t enter any other Nation’s actions as in a 4-player game. You take both the
borders. Leading and non-Leading actions for the Free
◊ When a region has more than 10 units (or 5 units in Peoples.
a Stronghold), players alternate removing units to ―― Your hand limit is 6 Event Cards, and you can
reinforcements, beginning with the non-Leading Player, until play any Free Peoples Event Card normally. (Both
the limit is reached.
Shadow players have a hand limit of 4 cards.)
 Chapter XI & XII: Multiplayer & Summary • 35

C h a p t e r X II : Politics — 17 Battle — 24
Movement Restrictions — 17 Choose Attackers — 24
Advancing Political Counters — 17 Combat Round — 24
S u m m ar y Activating Nations — 17 Combat Event Effects — 24
Combat Example — 26
Figures & Regions — 18 Siege & Sortie — 27
Army Units & Limits — 18
Introduction — 5 Leaders — 18 The Fellowship — 28
Changes for 2nd Edition — 7 Characters — 18 Moving the Fellowship — 28
Borders, Settlements, & Hunting the Fellowship — 28
Game Setup — 8 Fortifications — 19 Declaring or Revealing the
Board Setup — 8 Friendly and Captured Settlements Fellowship — 29
Army and Reinforcements Setup — — 20 Separating Companions — 30
10 Free Regions — 20 Gollum — 31
Other Components Setup — 12 Recruiting — 21
Recruiting Event Cards — 21 In Mordor — 32
The Game Turn — 13
Phases — 13 Movement — 22 Multiplayer — 33
Actions — 14 Moving Armies — 22
Elven Rings — 15 Multiple-Region Moves — 22
Victory — 15 Moving Companions — 22
Moving Shadow Leaders — 23
Event Cards — 16
 A game by Roberto di Meglio, Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello

Game Design Roberto di Meglio, Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello

Art John Howe
Art Direction & Graphic Design Fabio Maiorana
Sculptures Bob Naismith
Sculpture Design John Howe and Matteo Macchi
Photos Christoph Cianci
Production Roberto Di Meglio and Fabrizio Rolla

Contributing Playtesters: Doug Adams, Kristofer Bengtsson, Kevin Chapman, Derek Coon, Andy Daglish, Caleb Diffell, Ugo Di Meglio, David Fristrom,
Sergio Guerri, Kris Hall, Michael Hall, Mike Helba, Steve Hope, Christian Hrdlicka, Sean McCarthy, Marco Molin, Don Moody, Paolo Morescalchi,
Steve Owen, Christian Petersen, Dan Raspler, Alex Rockwell, Steve Sanders, Douglas Silfen, Matthias Staber, Marcello Taglioli, Renaud Verlaque
Second Edition Playtesters: Amado Angulo, Melanie Chapman, David Fortner, Tom Hanks, Peter Majek, David Morse, Luigi Pioto, Andrew Poulter,
Craig Rose, Ralf Schemmann, Glenn ‘Magic Geek’ Shanley, Alija Villa, Wes Wagner, Kevin Warrender, Kevin Wojtaszczyk, Chris Young
Special Thanks to Kristofer Bengtsson, Kevin Chapman, and Andrew Poulter for their continuous support to the clarification of the
War of the Ring rules and their precious feedback, incorporated into this new editon.

A Game Created, Published and Distributed Worldwide by Ares Games SRL

Via dei Metalmeccanici 16, 55041, Capezzano Pianore (LU), Italy

Tel. +39 0584 968696, Fax +39 0584 325968
www.aresgames.eu

Middle-earth, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The War of the Ring, and the characters, items, events, and places therein are trademarks or registered
trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises and are used under license by Sophisticated Games Ltd and their respective
licensees. War of the Ring Boardgame © 2012 Ares Games Srl. © 2012 Sophisticated Games Ltd.
Warning: Not suitable for children under three years. Small parts. Choking hazard. Made in China. Retain this information for your records.

Unofficial Rulebook Rewrite v1.1: Edited and formatted by Dean Ray Johnson / dreamshade @ BoardGameGeek.com. This document
contains text and graphics from the original rulebook version 2.1 by Ares Games. Special thanks to Pierce Ostrander / fubar awol @ BGG for his
War of the Ring 2nd ed Rules Summary / Reference and Craig Rose / tsugo @ BGG for his WotR CE Cardstock Event Cards Reference, both of
which were invaluable for researching this project. All text and graphics copied in this document are assumed to fall under fair-use purposes for
non‑profit works.