The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Set Up
• Game Play
  • Turn Overview
  • Turn Details
• Mordor Cards and Counterattacks
• Ending the Game
• Descriptions of the Special Abilities

Contents

66 cards:

• 43 Ring Cards (card backs show the One Ring): 31 Companion Cards and 12 Mordor Cards
• 21 Enemy Cards (card backs show Sauron's eye)
• 2 Guide Cards

A Companion Card shows a symbol, a name and a special ability. A Mordor Card shows a possible effect. An Enemy Card shows victory points, symbols and a name.

Set Up

• The 21 Enemy Cards are shuffled and placed face down to form the Enemy Deck. 3 Enemy Cards from the Enemy Deck are then placed face up next to the Enemy Deck. These cards are placed on the table from left to right.

  The card on the left is in the "first position," the card in the middle is in the "second position" and the card on the right is in the "third position." Each position is made up of the Enemy Card and the Mordor Card that will eventually be placed below it (see Mordor Cards and Counterattacks, below).

• The 31 Companion Cards are shuffled and each player is dealt 3 of these cards. The 12 Mordor Cards are then shuffled with the remaining Companion Cards (after each player has received 3 cards) and those cards are laid out face down as the Ring Deck.

Layout: the Enemy Deck with a Dead Card Pile (for Enemy Cards and used Mordor Cards) beside it; the 3 face up Enemy Cards; below them the Ring Deck with a Discard Pile (for Ring Cards) beside it, and spaces for Mordor Cards below the Enemy Cards.

Game Play

The game is played in a clockwise direction, starting with the youngest player. During a turn, you have the following options:

Turn Overview

On your turn, you must:

1. Take one Companion Card from your hand and place it on the table in front of you to start a new Fellowship or add to one of your existing Fellowships.

Optional: You may also send one of your Fellowships into battle.

OR

2. Pick up one card from the Ring Deck and add that card to your hand.

Turn Details

1. Take one Companion Card from your hand and place it on the table in front of you to start a new Fellowship or add to one of your existing Fellowships.

You form Fellowships with Companion Cards placed in front of you throughout the game. You may have as many separate Fellowships as you would like.

When placing a card from your hand, you may either start a new Fellowship or add to an existing one. There is no limit to the number of cards in a Fellowship, or the number of Fellowships you may have. To create or add to a Fellowship, lay the Companion Cards side by side, making sure that the different symbols are visible.

Please note that once a Companion Card has been added to a Fellowship, it cannot be moved to another Fellowship.

Example for adding a Companion Card to a Fellowship: The player already has 2 Fellowships. Fellowship A contains 3 Companion Cards and Fellowship B contains 1 Companion Card. On their turn, a player may add 1 card from their hand to expand either of these Fellowships, or the player may start a new (third) Fellowship.

Optional: You may also send one of your Fellowships into battle.

After adding a Companion Card, you have the option, if possible, to send any one of your Fellowships into battle. When the symbols on the Companion Cards in a Fellowship match the symbols of one or more Enemy Cards, you may lead this Fellowship into battle and attack that Enemy or Enemies. You will then take the defeated Enemy Card(s) and put them face down in front of you. The victory points on all of your collected Enemy Cards will go towards your final score. All players count the victory points on their defeated Enemy Cards at the end of the game (See Ending the Game, below).

Only one Fellowship may be used per turn to attack. However, one Fellowship may be used to attack multiple Enemy Cards, provided the Fellowship displays enough of each colored symbol necessary.

Symbols: There are 6 different colored Symbols: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple. There is one wild symbol. This wild symbol counts as any one colored symbol during an attack. If the Companion Card includes a special ability, it may be possible to have the card count as 2 wild symbols (see Descriptions of the Special Abilities, below).

Each Enemy Card has between 1 and 4 symbols on it, which must be matched in an attack. Each Companion Card has either 1 or 2 symbols on it.

Unused symbols on the Companion Cards that are not needed during an attack are wasted and may not be used later. Some Companion Cards also have an action on them. Those actions may be used, but are not a requirement (see Descriptions of the Special Abilities, below).

After an attack, the player must discard all the cards of the Fellowship into the Ring Card Discard Pile. The remaining Enemy Card(s) are then moved to the right and the vacated spaces are immediately filled with new Enemy Cards from the Enemy Deck, so that there are always 3 Enemy Cards lying face up. Only at the end of the game when the Enemy Deck is depleted, are there fewer enemies on the table (see Ending the Game, below).

Example for leading a Fellowship into battle:

1. The player sends Fellowship A into battle. The symbols in the Fellowship match the symbols of the Witch-king of Angmar and the Orc Patrol. The second green symbol is unused and wasted.
2. The player places the two defeated Enemy Cards face down in front of him.
3. All cards of the Fellowship involved in the battle are put onto the Ring Card Discard Pile.
4. The remaining Enemy Card is pushed to the right and the two free spaces will be filled with new enemies from the Enemy Deck.

2. Pick up one card from the Ring Deck and add that card to your hand.

On your turn, you may draw one card from the Ring Deck and add that card into your hand. But, you may only do this if you have less than 5 cards in your hand. At no time may any player have more than 5 cards in their hand.

If the card drawn is a Companion Card, you must put that card into your hand and your turn is immediately over. If the card drawn is a Mordor Card, take the actions outlined below (See Mordor Cards and Counterattacks, below) and then draw another card from the Ring Deck. Continue doing this until you draw a Companion Card. If the Ring Deck Draw Pile runs out of cards, the Ring Card Discard Pile is shuffled to form a new Ring Deck Draw Pile.

Mordor Cards and Counterattacks

If you draw a Mordor Card from the Ring Deck, it must be immediately placed on the table, face up, just below the Enemy Card on the left (in the first position). When the next Mordor Card is revealed, the previously placed Mordor Card gets moved over to the right below the middle Enemy Card (in the second position) and the Mordor Card that was just drawn is now placed below the Enemy Card on the left (in the first position).

The first Mordor Card revealed moves from the space below the Enemy Card on the left (first position) to the space below the Enemy Card in the middle (second position) and then finally to the space below the Enemy Card on the right (third position).

Example for laying down Mordor Cards:

1. The first Mordor Card is drawn and placed into the first position, below the Troll.
2. The second Mordor Card is drawn and placed into the first position, while the first Mordor Card is moved into the second position, under the Haradrim.
3. The third Mordor Card is drawn and placed into the first position, while the first and second Mordor Cards are moved into the second and third positions, respectively. Now a Counterattack will occur.

Important: Please note that a Counterattack only takes place once all three enemies have a Mordor Card placed below them. At that point only the Mordor Card now in the third position takes effect. Mordor cards are only activated once they are in the third position, so that players have the opportunity to plan ahead. Counterattacks may take place even if an attack does not occur first.

The Enemy card on the far right above the Mordor Card has now Counterattacked the players and ALL of the players must follow the instructions on the Mordor Card below it, if they have the cards possible to do so. The possible Counterattacks are as follows:

• A. Each player must discard a card from a Fellowship - A player must choose one Companion Card that has already been placed down in one of their own Fellowships on the table and discard it in the Ring Deck Discard Pile.
• B. Each player must discard a card from their hand - A player must choose one Companion Card from their hand and discard it in the Ring Deck Discard Pile.
• C. Each player must discard an Enemy Card - A player must choose one Enemy Card that they have collected and discard it into the Dead Card Pile.

After all players have followed the instructions from the Mordor Card, if possible, the Counterattack is over. If a player doesn't have a card that applies to the rule, that player does not have to discard a card.

The Mordor Card that was used in the Counterattack (from the third position) is placed in the Dead Card Pile. The 2 Mordor Cards (from the first and second positions) are put into the Ring Card Discard Pile (to be later shuffled back into the game). The Enemy Card that was used in the Counterattack (above the Mordor Card in the third position) is also placed in the Dead Card Pile. The 2 remaining Enemy Cards (from the first and second positions) are then moved/slid over to the right (into the second and third positions, respectively) and a new Enemy Card is flipped over from the Draw Pile and placed in the recently vacated first position.

After the Counterattack, the player still gets to draw another card from the Ring Deck. The player continues to draw (following the Mordor Card rules if necessary) until a Companion Card is drawn and placed into their hand. A player may not choose to place a card down into a Fellowship after they have already begun drawing from the Ring Deck on their turn.

Example of a Counterattack: The player draws the third Mordor Card and places it under the Troll (first position), sliding the other cards into the second and third positions (under Haradrim and Grishnákh, respectively). The text on the Mordor Card which is now in the third position is carried out immediately. After that, Grishnákh is put into the Dead Card Pile. The 2 unused Mordor Cards are put into the Ring Deck Discard Pile and the used Mordor Card is put into the Dead Card Pile - it is not placed into the Ring Deck Discard Pile. The active player draws another card from the Ring Deck to finish their turn.

Ending the Game

The game ends when there are no more Enemy Cards displayed. This happens either because the last enemy was defeated or the last Enemy Card was removed after a Counterattack.

Important: Please note that the Counterattack is still carried out at the end of the game.

The players add up the points of their defeated enemies plus any victory points from Special Abilities listed on Companion Cards (Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin) that they have received throughout the game. The player who has collected the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the player who has conquered more enemies wins the game. If there is still a tie, then there are multiple winners.

Descriptions of the Special Abilities

Special abilities on cards are additional benefits that players may choose to use.

Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin: During an attack the player may choose to use (only once) the symbols of a card in the Fellowship of another player. The card belonging to the other player remains with that player. After the battle the other player receives the card used by the current player (Frodo, Sam, Merry or Pippin), and places it face down in front of them. This card is worth one victory point for the other player at the end of the game. However, if the player chooses not to use this special ability, no victory point is earned.

Théoden, Faramir, Boromir, Éomer: Any 1 symbol already contained in the Fellowship can be doubled in battle.

Gimli: Gimli cannot be acquired by Gandalf or be removed by a Counterattack, however, the hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry or Pippin) can use Gimli with their special ability.

Legolas: After a battle, Legolas stays in front of the player and is the first card in a new Fellowship. Legolas is not discarded after an attack, but may be forced to be discarded by a Counterattack.

Gandalf: The player may take a card from a Fellowship of another player and add it to one of their own Fellowships. Gandalf must be given to that player, and placed face down in front of them. Gandalf is worth two victory points at the end of the game. However, if the original player chooses not to use this special ability, no victory point is earned.

Tom Bombadil: Bombadil may change Fellowships during the turn of the player who has Bombadil already placed in his Fellowship. This can be done before an attack or after taking a card from the Ring Card Deck.

Aragorn: After the card has been placed into a Fellowship, the player may also place another card from their hand into any Fellowship.

Glorfindel: When attacking an Enemy that has more than 2 symbols, an additional wild symbol may be used (totaling 2 wild symbols). Only 1 additional wild symbol is gained regardless of the number of enemies attacked. The extra wild symbol can only be used against the enemy that has more than 2 symbols.

Treebeard: When attacking an Enemy who is labeled as a "Captain," an additional wild symbol may be used (totaling 2 wild symbols). Only 1 additional wild symbol is gained regardless of the number of Captains attacked. The extra wild symbol can only be used against the Captain.

Angbor: After the card has been played, the player may immediately take another card from the Ring Card Deck, if they don't have 5 or more cards in their hand already.