The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Nightmare Decks: The Black Riders
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Nightmare Decks: The Black Riders Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
A Knife in the Dark
You are playing Nightmare mode.
While Bill Ferny is in the staging area, he gains: "Immune to player card effects."
Setup: A Knife in the Dark
Begin with the standard quest deck and encounter deck for the A Knife in the Dark scenario.
Remove the following cards, in the specified quantities, from the standard encounter deck:
4x Shady Bree-lander 3x Weather Hills 1x Unwanted Attention 3x Pathless Country 1x Weathertop
Then, shuffle the encounter cards in this Nightmare Deck into the remainder of the standard A Knife in the Dark encounter deck.
Finally, flip this setup card over and place it next to the quest deck. Its effects remain active throughout the game, which is now ready to begin.
Encounter Cards: A Knife in the Dark
Blade Tip (Treachery; ×2) Morgul. Surge. Doomed 1. Shadow: If the defending character is damaged by this attack, attach Blade Tip to that character. (Counts as a Condition attachment with the text: "Forced: At the end of the refresh phase, raise your threat by 2.")
Forsaken Inn (Location; ×2)
Stat line as printed: X · ( 4 )
Inn.
X is the number of characters the first player controls.
Travel: The first player searches the encounter deck and discard pile for a Spy enemy, reveals it, and adds it to the staging area. Shuffle the encounter deck.
Menacing Wraith (Enemy; ×2)
Stat line as printed: ( 40 ) · 4 · 5 · 4 · 6
Nazgûl.
Cannot have non-Morgul attachments.
Forced: After The One Ring is exhausted, Menacing Wraith engages the first player and makes an immediate attack.
Southern Spy (Enemy; ×4)
Stat line as printed: ( 25 ) · 3 · 4 · 2 · 4
Spy.
When Revealed: Either shuffle an out of play Ringwraith into the encounter deck, or Southern Spy makes an immediate attack against you.
Shadow: Defending character gets -1 (-3 instead if The One Ring is exhausted).
The Old Road (Location; ×3)
Stat line as printed: 2 · ( 8 )
Road.
The Old Road enters play with 3 resource tokens on it.
Forced: At the end of the round, discard 1 resource token here. Then, if there are no resource tokens here, shuffle 1 out of play Ringwraith into the encounter deck.
The Ring's Will (Treachery; ×2) When Revealed: Raise each player's threat by 5. This effect cannot be canceled by the Ring-bearer's effect, or if The One Ring is exhausted. Shadow: After this attack, attacking enemy engages the next player then makes an immediate attack.
Weather Hills (Location; ×3)
Stat line as printed: 3 · ( 5 )
Hills.
While the players are at stage 1, progress cannot be placed here.
While The One Ring is exhausted, Weather Hills gets +2.
Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +2.
Weathertop (Location; ×1)
Stat line as printed: 4 · ( 6 )
Hills.
Ruins.
Immune to player card effects.
The Witch-king cannot be damaged.
Forced: After Weathertop becomes the active location, exhaust The One Ring. The One Ring cannot ready while Weathertop is the active location.
Victory 3
A Shadow of the Past
You are playing Nightmare mode.
Forced: When stage 3A is revealed, if Khamûl the Easterling is not in play, the first player searches the encounter deck, discard pile, and victory display for Khamûl the Easterling and adds it to the staging area. Shuffle the encounter deck.
Setup: A Shadow of the Past
Begin with the standard quest deck and encounter deck for the A Shadow of the Past scenario.
Remove the following cards, in the specified quantities, from the standard encounter deck:
3x Evil Crow 1x Woody End 1x Bamfurlong 1x Stock-brook 3x Green Hill Country 3x Pathless Country 2x Rode Like a Gale
Then, shuffle the encounter cards in this Nightmare Deck into the remainder of the standard A Shadow of the Past encounter deck.
Finally, flip this setup card over and place it next to the quest deck. Its effects remain active throughout the game, which is now ready to begin.
Encounter Cards: A Shadow of the Past
Dark Horseman (Enemy; ×2)
Stat line as printed: ( 25 ) · 3 · 3 · 4 · 6
Nazgûl.
Peril. Hide 2.
Cannot have non-Morgul attachments.
While Dark Horseman is engaged with you, characters you control get -1 during Hide tests.
Eastfarthing (Location; ×3)
Stat line as printed: 2 · ( 9 )
Shire.
Eastfarthing gets +2 for each resource token on it.
Forced: After a player fails a Hide test, place 1 resource token here.
Followed by Shadows (Treachery; ×3) When Revealed: Starting with the first player, each player makes a Hide 2 test. Each player who fails this Hide test raises his threat by 5. Shadow: If the defending player has failed a Hide test this round, this attack is considered undefended.
Green Hill Country (Location; ×3)
Stat line as printed: 3 · ( 4 )
Forest.
While Green Hill Country is in the staging area, add 1 to each Hide X value.
Travel: The first player makes a Hide 1 test.
Shadow: After this attack, attacking enemy engages the next player then makes an immediate attack.
In the Name of Mordor! (Treachery; ×2) Mordor. Surge. When Revealed: Attach to the current quest. (Counts as a Condition attachment with the text: "Forced: After a player fails a Hide test, he discards a random card from his hand.")
Khamûl the Easterling (Enemy; ×1)
Stat line as printed: ( 40 ) · 5 · 6 · 4 · 8
Nazgûl.
Cannot have non-Morgul attachments.
Khamûl the Easterling gets -30 engagement cost while The One Ring is exhausted.
Forced: At the beginning of the refresh phase, the engaged player makes a Hide 2 test. If the engaged player fails the hide test, Khamûl the Easterling makes an immediate attack.
Sniffing and Hissing (Treachery; ×2) Doomed 2. When Revealed: The first player must either exhaust the One Ring and reveal an encounter card, or make a Hide 3 test. Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +2. If this attack destroys a character, raise your threat by 3.
Stock Woods (Location; ×3)
Stat line as printed: 4 · ( 5 )
Forest.
While Stock Woods is in the staging area, players cannot commit more than 2 characters to a Hide test.
Travel: The first player makes a Hide 1 test.
Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +2 (+3 instead if you have failed a Hide test this round).
Flight to the Ford
You are playing Nightmare mode.
The players cannot win while Ford of Bruinen is in play.
Setup: Flight to the Ford
Begin with the standard quest deck and encounter deck for the Flight to the Ford scenario.
Remove the following cards, in the specified quantities, from the standard encounter deck:
4x Fell Rider 1x Ford of Bruinen 1x The Troll's Camp 3x Ettenmoors 3x Pain Assailed Him 3x The Old Road 3x Pathless Country 3x Striken Dumb 2x Rode Like a Gale
Then, shuffle the encounter cards in this Nightmare Deck into the remainder of the standard Flight to the Ford encounter deck.
Finally, flip this setup card over and place it next to the quest deck. Its effects remain active throughout the game, which is now ready to begin.
Encounter Cards: Flight to the Ford
Come Back! (Treachery; ×2) Enchantment. Peril. Doomed 1. When Revealed: Reduce the Ring-bearer's life by 1 and remove all progress from the current quest. Shadow: Either reduce the Ring-bearer's life by 1, or this attack is considered undefended.
Ettendales (Location; ×2)
Stat line as printed: 5 · ( 3 )
Forest.
Hills.
Forced: When Ettendales is explored, shuffle the top card of the burden deck into the encounter deck.
Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +2 If this attack destroys a character, reduce the Ring-bearer's life by 1.
Fell Rider (Enemy; ×4)
Stat line as printed: ( 30 ) · 3 · 5 · 4 · 6
Nazgûl.
Cannot have non-Morgul attachments.
Forced: After Fell Rider attacks and destroys a character, reduce the Ring-bearer's life by 1.
Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +1 (+2 instead if The One Ring is exhausted).
Ford of Bruinen (Location; ×1)
Stat line as printed: 3 · ( 3 )
River.
Immune to player card effects.
Travel: Each player searches the encounter deck and discard pile for a Nazgûl enemy and puts it into play engaged with him. Shuffle the encounter deck.
Great East Road (Location; ×3)
Stat line as printed: X · ( 5 )
Road.
X is 1 plus the number of Nazgûl enemies in play.
While Great East Road is in the staging area, each Nazgûl enemy gets -5 engagement cost.
Shadow: After this attack, attacking enemy engages the next player then makes an immediate attack.
Pathless Wilderness (Location; ×2)
Stat line as printed: 2 · ( 6 )
Forest.
Hills.
Pathless Wilderness enters play with 3 resource tokens on it.
Forced: At the end of the round, discard 1 resource token here. Then, if there are no resource tokens here, reduce the Ring-bearer's life by 3.
The Twilight World (Treachery; ×2) Morgul. Doomed 2. When Revealed: Attach to the Ring-bearer. Limit 1 per hero. (Counts as a Condition attachment with the text: "Forced: At the beginning of the planning phase, either exhaust The One Ring, or reduce the Ring-bearer's life by 1.")
Trollshaw Forest (Location; ×3)
Stat line as printed: 3 · ( 5 )
Forest.
While Trollshaw Forest is in the staging area, it gains: "Forced: After a 'when revealed' effect is canceled, reduce the Ring-bearer's life by 1."
Travel: Reduce the Ring-bearer's life by 1 to travel here.
Transcription Notes
The following corrections and judgment calls were made against the source text. Each is a fix of an obvious database artifact, not a change to the rules.
- "Menacing Weath" in the Menacing Wraith text is corrected to "Menacing Wraith".
- "Kham–l the Easterling" in the A Shadow of the Past setup text and the Khamûl the Easterling card text is corrected to "Khamûl the Easterling", matching the card name.
- The source's Italian and French type labels "Luogo" and "Lieu" are rendered as "Location". The source's trait labels "Colline" and "Collines" are rendered as "Hills".
- Stray spacing in the source ("Ring-bearer 's", "non- Morgul") is closed up to "Ring-bearer's" and "non-Morgul".
- The source spells the card "Striken Dumb" in the Flight to the Ford removal list. It is kept as printed and may be a typo for "Stricken Dumb".
- The source does not label the numbers on the enemy and location cards. They are reproduced in the order the source lists them, in a "Stat line as printed" line, and not assigned labels.
- The source gives each encounter card's deck membership and quantity. Those quantities are reproduced as "×N" after each card name.