The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
76 Game Cards:
- 60 Main Deck Cards
- 2 Smaug Archenemy Cards
- 2 "Impossible Mode" Smaug Archenemy Cards (see Impossible Mode)
- 4 Loot Cards
- 5 Corruption (Hoarding) Cards
- 3 Replacement Cards (see Important Notes)
8 Oversized Heroes
1 Rulebook
Object of the Game
Defeat Smaug before time runs out! The player finishing with the most Victory Points wins. The game ends immediately when either of the following two conditions is met:
- The final Archenemy, Smaug the Terrible, is defeated.
- You are unable to refill all five slots of the Path.
Expanding Your Game
Instead of shuffling all these new cards into the first game's main deck, the integrity of the storyline sequence is kept intact. Set-up for a game of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as usual, but with the following changes:
- Use only two random Level 1 Loot cards under The Trolls.
- Use only two random Level 2 Loot cards under Great Goblin (add The One Ring to the stack as usual).
That's it. Now, play the game as usual.
At the end of the turn in which Azog was defeated:
- Destroy all cards in the main deck.
- Destroy all cards in the Path.
- Place the five new Corruption (Hoarding) cards on the bottom of the Corruption stack.
- Shuffle The Desolation of Smaug 60-card main deck and put it in the old main deck's place.
- Refill the Path with five cards from the new main deck.
- Resolve any Ambushes that appeared in Step 5 as if they were Group Ambushes.
- Place Smaug the Terrible face-up in The Stacks area to start the new Archenemy stack.
- Shuffle and then place all four Level 4 Loot cards face-down on top of him.
- Finally, place Smaug the Magnificent face up on top of the Archenemy stack.
The player to the left of the player who defeated Azog takes the first turn with the new main deck. The first player to act will also choose the order in which to resolve the Ambushes, should there be more than one. Fully resolve an Ambush for all players before moving on to the next Ambush. They do not Ambush this first player again at the start of his turn.
Play order does not change. Players keep the same Hero card they started with in An Unexpected Journey. If you wish to play one of the new Heroes, you must choose it at the very beginning of the journey.
New Keywords
Stack Ongoing
This term is found on some Archenemy cards. If a card with a Stack Ongoing ability is played, the Ongoing ability does not happen. The text is only live while the card is on the Archenemy stack.
Stash
"Stash" is both a keyword and a game zone. Your Stash is underneath your oversized Hero card. Any cards that wind up there are returned to your deck at the end of the game. Their Victory Point values are added to the cards in your deck. They help your Quest cards as well. Corruptions that end up there still penalize you at end of game.
"Stashing a card" means placing it underneath your oversized Hero card. Other players are allowed to look at cards that you Stash, but they don't get to look at these cards after they have been Stashed. You may look at your own Stash, but be sure not to mix them with your hand, deck, or discard pile. Stashed cards lose all game text, but gain it back at end of game.
Cards in your Stash cannot be gained, stolen, or moved unless a card specifically mentions that it can be acquired from your Stash. Hide and Seek and Fimbul the Hunter are currently the only cards that can access cards from your Stash.
Important Notes
Magic
In this set, you will find three copies of this Maneuver card. It was misprinted in An Unexpected Journey. Replace your old copies with these new ones. The old Magic Maneuver cards should not be used in any configuration of the game. Some text was accidently left off the card that made it confusing and too powerful for its cost.
Riddle Game
During The Desolation of Smaug or The Battle of the Five Armies, if this card is in your hand during your turn, Stash it and draw a card. If a card effect won't allow you to Stash it, then you may play it.
Azog
When continuing the game, you will have Azog in your deck. His Ongoing ability only works while he is on the Archenemy stack. Therefore, playing him has no effect other than having played an Enemy card. Try to Stash him as soon as possible!
The Destroyed Pile
A lot of cards might end up in the destroyed pile, and there are ways to interact with them there. It's best to keep destroyed cards from An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug separate from each other. That way you can more easily rebuild both main decks after the game is over.
Specific Card Clarifications
The Barge: If multiple cards with the lowest cost are in the Path and you wish to destroy a card, you choose one of them to destroy.
Barrel of Fun: This card gives +2 Power whether it's the first time you have played it or it was already in play and you played it this turn. When you use it during your turn, this counts as "playing" it.
The Burglar: If you steal a card from under Smaug, his Group Ambush does not happen. You may also defeat Smaug in the same turn in which you steal from him. Cards under Smaug are considered Loot cards.
Bolg: Each player Stashes their card under their own Hero card. If your top card has cost 0, leave it on top of your deck.
Corruption (Hoarding): This is a Corruption card. "Hoarding" is just for ease of referring to it in these rules. They are treated just like regular Corruption cards, but their end of game text is different.
Durin's Line Tapestry: If a card you reveal/draw has the same cost as the last card you drew, you draw again. Example: Here is a legal sequence of reveals/draws: 3, 3, 6, 7, 4. Drawing the 4-cost card stops the chain as it has a cost lower than 7, the previous card you drew. But you do draw the 4, so you ended up drawing five cards in this case.
Escape the Flames: If multiple cards are tied for highest cost, choose only one to be placed face-down under the current Smaug card on the Archenemy stack. Don't just place it at the bottom of the stack.
If this Ambush hits with Smaug the Terrible on top of the Archenemy stack, the card is placed under Smaug's card, even though he normally doesn't have any Loot cards under him. Defeating Smaug then earns you a "Loot" card instead of the Smaug the Terrible card. When all of the "Loot" cards under Smaug have been acquired, you can then beat the final Archenemy and end this chapter of the game.
Lake-town Ballista: If you don't have one or the other card types in your discard pile, just return what you can. If you return even one card, you don't get the +2 Power.
Lake-town Guards: This is not an Attack. Each player (including you) discards the top card of his deck. When you choose a player, you may choose yourself. You choose the card in their discard pile to Stash under their Hero card.
Orc Archer, Thranduil, Giant Spiders: You must choose before any player tries to play a Defense card.
Re-Lighting the Forge, Master of Lake-town: Count the cards in your Stash at end of game before combining your Stash and deck.
River Barrels: You may choose one Ally and one Enemy if you wish.
A Small Cup: If the card you play is destroyed during your turn, it will still become Stashed at the end of your turn, no matter where it is.
A Warm Send-Off: You cannot Stash this card with its own effect. If you buy or gain another A Warm Send-Off, you may Stash one you already had.
Smaug
Smaug the Magnificent: Stash the random card under your own Hero card.
Smaug the Terrible: The card you place into the Path will not be destroyed this way, as it only destroys cards with cost lower than the card you placed into the Path. If you defeat Smaug the Terrible while he has a Loot card under him, you earn the Loot card instead of this card. If there are no Loot cards under him when you defeat Smaug the Terrible, you gain this card.
Impossible Mode Spoilers
Impossible Smaug the Magnificent: If you avoid this Group Ambush, you do not gain a Corruption. Only players who do not avoid it and then don't put a card into Smaug's Loot pile gain a Corruption.
Whenever you would gain a card from Smaug's Loot stack, shuffle them first and then take one at random. Cards placed into Smaug's Loot stack are considered Loot only while in this stack. Once they leave the stack, non-Loot cards are no longer Loot cards.
Impossible Smaug the Terrible: With this Stack Ongoing, if you put a 6-cost card into the Path at the start of your turn, destroy all non-6-cost cards in the Path. If you defeat Smaug the Terrible while he has a Loot card under him, you earn the Loot card instead of this card. If no Loot cards are under him when you defeat Smaug the Terrible, you gain this card.
Oversized Hero Cards
Bombur the Dwarf: A Location that allows you to draw an extra card at the end of your turn does not trigger his Hero ability. His ability only triggers off of cards you play during your turn. You refill your hand after your turn has already ended. Note that an Ambush that would have you draw cards is not a card that you "play," so it does not trigger his ability either.
Defeating an Archenemy and gaining a Loot card with cost 6 or greater counts as buying or gaining just one card.
Tauriel: Note that her ability does not work against Attacks, just Ambushes.
Ending Your Turn
- Declare that you are done with your turn. Your turn is now over.
- Put any cards remaining in your hand into your discard pile.
- Resolve any "at the end of your turn" effects.
- Discard all cards you played this turn. Any unspent Power from cards played during the turn is lost.
- Draw five cards.
- If any of the slots in the Path are empty, draw cards off the main deck and add them to the Path. Do not replace empty slots as soon as you buy or gain a card from the Path.
- Resolve the Group Ambush of the current Archenemy if applicable. It is resolved in turn order, starting with the player who is about to take his turn.
- If you defeated an Archenemy worth no VPs during your turn, and there are no Loot cards immediately under it, remove that Archenemy card from the game.
- The player to your left now starts his turn and is hit by any Ambushes that appeared in the Path during Step 6.
Impossible Mode
When you are ready for a challenge that you might not come back from, break out the Impossible Mode Archenemies. You should use Impossible Mode from the very start and not just for The Desolation of Smaug chapter of the game.
Note this one modification to set-up Step 3 when you start this chapter:
- Place the five new Corruption (Hoarding) cards on top of the Corruption stack instead of on the bottom.
When a Corruption card is destroyed in Impossible Mode, place it back on top of the Corruption stack.
If you are unable to refill the Path during an Impossible Mode game, The Company loses the game and Smaug wins!
Impossible Mode can be very difficult in 4 and 5-player games. If you're playing with a larger group, it is suggested that you play co-operatively. Hold back on those Attacks! If your group can take down Smaug the Terrible, everyone wins. No need to count VPs.