The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Grey Havens
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Grey Havens Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Component Overview
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Grey Havens expansion includes the following components:
- This rules insert
- 165 cards, consisting of:
- 2 Hero Cards
- 39 Player Cards
- 113 Encounter Cards (13 are double-sided)
- 10 Quest Cards
- 1 Heading Card
Web Resources
There is an online tutorial for the game available at www.fantasyflightgames.com/lotr-tutorial
You can enter and track your plays and scores of these scenarios and others online through The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game Quest Log at www.fantasyflightgames.com/lotr-questlog
Expansion Symbol
The cards in The Grey Havens expansion can be identified by this symbol before each card's collector number: an anchor.
New Scenario Rules
Many of the new rules introduced in each of the scenarios in The Grey Havens only pertain to a single scenario in this expansion, and are therefore addressed under the heading for that scenario. However, many of these rules will pertain to various scenarios within the upcoming "Dream-chaser" cycle, as well.
Rules & New Terms
"Immune to player card effects"
Cards with the text "Immune to player card effects" ignore the effects of all player cards. Additionally, cards that are immune to player card effects cannot be chosen as targets of player card effects.
"Last Player"
Some cards refer to the "last player." The last player is considered to be the player sitting directly to the right of the first player. If there is only one player in the game, then that player is considered to be both the first and last player.
Archery X
While a card with the archery keyword is in play, players must deal damage to character cards in play equal to the specified archery value at the beginning of each combat phase. This damage can be dealt to characters under any player's control, and it can be divided among the players as they see fit. If there is disagreement as to where to assign archery damage, the first player makes the final decision. If multiple cards with the archery keyword are in play, the effects are cumulative. Remember that defense does not block archery damage.
Voyage Across Belegaer
Difficulty level = 5.
The Voyage Across Belegaer encounter deck is built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: Voyage Across Belegaer, Vast Oceans, Stormy Weather, Umbar Fleet, Corsair Pirates, and The Dream-chaser's Fleet. These sets are indicated by the set icons shown in the rulebook.
Ships
Ships are a new card type in The Grey Havens expansion. There are two kinds of ship cards: Ship-Enemies and Ship-Objectives. Both ship-enemies and ship-objectives count as ship cards, but have different rules associated with them.
Ship-Enemies
Ship-enemies function in the same way as enemies and are considered to be enemies for all purposes, with the following exceptions:
- Attacks made by ship-enemies can only be defended by ship-objectives. Non-ship cards cannot defend against a ship-enemy.
- If an attack made by a ship-enemy is left undefended, damage from that attack must be assigned to a ship-objective you control, instead of to a hero you control.
Ship-Objectives
The Grey Havens expansion includes four unique ship-objectives, which can be found in The Dream-chaser's Fleet encounter set. Ship-objectives function in the same way as objective-allies and are considered to be allies (and characters) for all purposes, with the following exceptions:
- Ship-objectives can only attack ship-enemies. Non-ship enemies cannot be attacked by a ship-objective.
- Ship-objectives can only defend against attacks made by ship-enemies. Ship-objectives cannot defend against attacks made by non-ship enemies.
Important: Generally, ships can only attack or defend against other ships. The only exception is that ship-enemies can be attacked by both your ship-objectives and your non-ship characters.
The Corsair Deck
The Corsair Deck is a separate deck made up of only non-ship enemies, and represents the sailors, pirates and raiders players may encounter on Corsair ships in the encounter deck.
When ships are included in a scenario's encounter deck, that scenario's Setup will instruct the players to "prepare the Corsair Deck." This is done by removing all non-ship enemies from the encounter deck, placing them in a separate pile, and shuffling it. This pile is referred to as the Corsair Deck. Ship-enemies remain in the standard encounter deck.
The enemies in the Corsair Deck are only revealed through card abilities, such as the Boarding keyword (see below).
The Corsair Deck has its own discard pile. Whenever a non-ship enemy would be placed in the discard pile, place it in the Corsair discard pile instead. When the Corsair Deck runs out of cards, immediately shuffle the Corsair discard pile back into the Corsair Deck.
Boarding X
Boarding is a new keyword that appears on many ship-enemies. When a ship-enemy with the Boarding keyword engages a player from the staging area, reveal the top X cards from the Corsair Deck and put the revealed enemies into play, engaged with that player. Note that the Boarding keyword does not resolve if the ship-enemy engages a player from another player's play area, or from the encounter deck or discard pile.
Preparing Your Fleet
When ships are included in a scenario's encounter deck, that scenario's Setup will instruct the players to "prepare their fleet." To prepare their fleet, each player chooses and takes control of one of the four unique ship-objectives included in The Dream-chaser's Fleet encounter set: the Dream-chaser, the Dawn Star, the Nárelenya, or the Silver Wing. One of the players must choose the Dream-chaser. In a game with only one player, that player takes control of the Dream-chaser and one other ship-objective of his or her choice. Each ship-objective that is not used is then removed from the game.
Finally, the player who controls the Dream-chaser attaches the Heading card to the Dream-chaser and sets it to the sun.
Heading
The Heading card attached to the Dream-chaser represents the fleet's current ability to navigate their ships with the wind and through the many hazards that may appear at sea. A bad heading represents sailing poorly, into hazards such as enemies or foul weather.
The symbol shown on the Heading card is called "your current heading." All players share the same heading. Some cards will have additional or different effects depending on the current heading. The possible headings are described below:
- Sun (on-course): This is the only heading that is considered to be "on-course," and is the best possible setting. Your heading cannot shift any further on-course than this. You are traveling windward, with maximum maneuverability.
- Cloud and rain (off-course): These headings are considered "off-course." You are struggling against the elements and are not navigating properly.
- Lightning (off-course): This heading is considered "off-course," and is the worst possible setting. Your heading cannot shift any further off-course than this. You are traveling against the wind, and are completely at the mercy of the sea.
If you are instructed to shift your heading on-course, you must rotate the Heading card 90º clockwise so that your current Heading is one step closer to on-course (sun). If it is already at on-course (sun), it cannot shift on-course.
Note: When you are instructed to shift your heading on-course, it does not shift all the way to the on-course (sun) setting; it only shifts one step closer to the on-course (sun) setting.
If you are instructed to shift your heading off-course, you must rotate the Heading card 90º counterclockwise so that your current Heading is one step closer to the worst setting (lightning). If it is already at the worst setting (lightning), it cannot shift off-course.
Sailing
Sailing is a new keyword that appears on some quest stages in The Grey Havens expansion, and represents that the players are currently traveling across the sea on their ships. At the beginning of each quest phase (before committing characters to the quest), if the main quest has the Sailing keyword, the first player must perform a Sailing test.
Sailing Tests
Sailing tests represent the players' ability to change their course or alter their sails and riggings in such a way as to adapt to the changing winds.
In order to perform a Sailing test, you must first shift your heading off-course. This represents the shifting of the winds, and the difficulty of navigating at sea. (If it is already at lightning, it does not change.)
Then, the player performing the Sailing test exhausts any number of characters he controls, committing them to the Sailing test. After choosing which characters to commit to the Sailing test, that player looks at a number of cards from the top of the encounter deck equal to the total number of characters committed to the Sailing test. If the encounter deck does not contain enough cards to look at, shuffle the encounter discard pile back into the encounter deck first.
Some encounter cards have a sailing symbol on the bottom left corner of their text box. This symbol represents a success when performing a Sailing test. For each sailing symbol found on the looked-at encounter cards, you may shift your heading on-course. If no sailing symbols are found, your heading stays the same. Then, discard all of the looked-at cards.
Sailing symbols have no effect other than representing success during a Sailing test.
Players have the opportunity to use Action effects before and after a Sailing test, but not during.
Example: Brandon and Brian are playing a scenario and the main quest has the Sailing keyword. Their heading is not looking too good (cloud), but a good Sailing test could get it back on-course (sun).
- At the beginning of the quest phase, the first player, Brandon, must perform a Sailing test. First, he shifts his heading off-course by rotating the Heading card 90 degrees counter-clockwise. This sets their heading to rain.
- He then commits Círdan the Shipwright and 2 Sailors of Lune to the Sailing test. Since he committed 3 characters to the Sailing test, he looks at the top 3 cards of the encounter deck and counts the number of sailing symbols found on those cards.
- Brandon spots no sailing symbols on the first card, but one on each of the other two cards. He therefore shifts his heading two steps towards on-course by rotating the Heading card 90 degrees clockwise twice. This puts the fleet back on-course (sun)!
The Fate of Númenor
Difficulty level = 5.
The Fate of Númenor encounter deck is built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: The Fate of Númenor, Drowned Dead, and Ruins of Númenor. These sets are indicated by the set icons shown in the rulebook.
Uncharted
Uncharted is a new keyword that appears on some locations in The Grey Havens expansion. Uncharted locations represent unknown areas of Middle-earth, untouched and unexplored during this age of the world. As such, the players do not know what to expect when traveling to them.
These locations are double-sided. One side is called "Lost Island," and has the Uncharted keyword. Uncharted locations are always added to the staging area with the "Lost Island" side faceup, without looking at the other side of the card. Locations with the Uncharted keyword do not have quest points and cannot be explored by placing progress on them, although progress may still be placed on them (in order to trigger their Action ability).
Each copy of Lost Island has the following text: "Forced: After Lost Island becomes the active location, flip it over." Thus, by traveling to an Uncharted location, the players can discover what kind of location it really is, flipping it over to its other side. Flipping over an Uncharted location removes all progress from it. Once flipped, it functions as a normal location, with the following exceptions: Double-sided locations cannot enter the encounter deck. If a double-sided location would enter the discard pile, it is instead shuffled back into the Uncharted deck, Lost Island side faceup.
Each copy of Lost Island also has the following text: "Action: Remove 4 progress from Lost Island to look at its facedown side." Thus, by placing progress on a Lost Island card in the staging area, the players may look at its facedown side in order to gain information about where to travel.
Many locations on the other side of an Uncharted location have Forced effects that trigger after they are flipped. After flipping an Uncharted location, make sure to check the newly flipped location for any such effects. Note that "looking" at the facedown side of an Uncharted location does not trigger any of these effects.
Note that all copies of Lost Island have the Ruins of Númenor encounter set icon on their Lost Island side, even though some of these cards may actually belong to different encounter sets.
Preparing the Uncharted Deck
When Uncharted locations are included in a scenario's encounter deck, that scenario's Setup may instruct the players to "prepare the Uncharted deck." This is done by shuffling all of the double-sided locations with the Uncharted keyword into a separate pile. This pile is referred to as the Uncharted deck. When preparing the Uncharted deck, each card in that deck should be Lost Island side faceup, so that players do not know which location is on the facedown side.
Raid on the Grey Havens
Difficulty level = 6.
The Raid on the Grey Havens encounter deck is built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: Raid on the Grey Havens, Corsair Raiders, and The Stormcaller Elite. These sets are indicated by the set icons shown in the rulebook.
Aflame X
Many of the locations in this scenario have the Aflame X keyword. This represents ships in the Elven fleet and piers in the Grey Havens which are under attack by Corsairs and are being set on fire.
At the end of each round, the players must place 1 damage token on each Aflame location in the staging area. Many encounter card effects can also cause damage tokens to be placed on Aflame locations.
If at any point an Aflame location has damage tokens on it equal to its Aflame X value, it is destroyed, and must be placed facedown underneath The Havens Burn objective card. Cards facedown underneath The Havens Burn are considered to be out of play.
If an Aflame location is explored, it is placed in the discard pile as normal, and all damage tokens on it are also discarded.
The Stormcaller Elite
The Stormcaller Elite is an encounter set consisting of two double-sided cards: Captain Sahír and Na'asiyah. Each of these cards has an enemy side and an objective ally side. When this encounter set is included in a scenario, the scenario will instruct the players which of these two sides should be used in that scenario. (None of the scenarios in The Grey Havens expansion use the objective ally sides, so you may ignore those sides for the time being.)
Because these cards do not have encounter card backs, they can never be added to or shuffled into the encounter deck or discard pile. If one of them leaves play as an enemy, it is added to the victory display. If one of them leaves play as an objective ally, it is simply removed from the game.
Game Modes
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is intended for both casual players and dedicated enthusiasts. To accommodate different play styles, three modes of play are available: Easy, Standard, and Nightmare.
Easy Mode
Easy mode is ideal for new players and for players who prefer the narrative and cooperative aspects of the game with less challenge. To play a scenario in Easy mode, simply take the following steps during setup of any scenario:
- Add one resource to each hero's resource pool.
- Remove any card with the "difficulty" indicator around its encounter set icon (a gold border) from the current scenario's encounter deck.
Some older scenarios (including those in early printings of the core game) do not have the "difficulty" indicator icon on relevant cards their encounter decks. Please visit www.fantasyflightgames.com to see which cards should be removed in those scenarios.
Standard Mode
To play a scenario in Standard mode, simply follow the normal setup instructions for that scenario.
Nightmare Mode
Players who desire a truly difficult challenge, should consider using the supplemental "Nightmare Decks" (sold separately) for each scenario. More information about Nightmare Decks for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game can be found at www.fantasyflightgames.com.