War of the Ring: Scenario – The Breaking of the Fellowship Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Designer's Notes
• Setting Up the Game
  • Units
  • Reinforcements
  • Political Track
  • Setting Up the Fellowship and Shadow Minions
  • Free Peoples and Shadow Armies
  • The Fellowship
  • The Guide
  • Action Dice
  • Hunt Tiles
  • Event Decks
  • Event Card Drawing
• Multiplayer Game
• Playing the Game
• Variant: 1st Edition Rules with the Twilight of the Third Age Expansion
  • Scenario
  • Setting Up the Game
  • Hunt Tiles
  • Event Decks

Designer's Notes

This scenario is intended to provide you, the War of the Ring players, with an alternate setup and make you re-evaluate the strategies available to you. As you set up the game, pay close attention to the new starting positions of both Armies and Characters, as well as the Event cards that begin the game in play on the table and how they will affect, and be affected by, your actions. These new starting conditions will create new narratives in the world of Middle Earth and your ability to master those conditions will decide the outcome of the War of the Ring.

Setting Up the Game

Units

Place the army units and leaders of each Nation as listed below.

Dwarves

• Erebor: 1 Regular, 2 Elite, 1 Leader.
• Ered Luin: 1 Regular.
• Iron Hills: 1 Regular.
• Reinforcements: 2 Regular, 3 Elite, 3 Leader.

Elves

• Grey Havens: 1 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Leader.
• Rivendell: 3 Elite, 1 Leader.
• Woodland Realm: 1 Regular, 2 Elite, 1 Leader.
• Lórien: 1 Regular, 2 Elite, 1 Leader.
• Reinforcements: 2 Regular, 2 Elite.

Gondor

• Minas Tirith: 3 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Leader.
• Dol Amroth: 3 Regular.
• Osgiliath: 2 Regular.
• Pelargir: 1 Regular.
• Reinforcements: 6 Regular, 4 Elite, 3 Leader.

The North

• Bree: 1 Regular.
• Carrock: 1 Regular.
• Dale: 1 Regular, 1 Leader.
• North Downs: 1 Elite.
• The Shire: 1 Regular.
• Reinforcements: 6 Regular, 4 Elite, 3 Leader.

Rohan

• Edoras: 1 Regular, 1 Elite.
• Fords of Isen: 2 Regular, 1 Leader.
• Helm’s Deep: 1 Regular.
• Westemnet: 1 Elite, 1 Leader.
• Reinforcements: 6 Regular, 3 Elite, 2 Leader.

Isengard

• Orthanc: 4 Regular, 1 Elite, Saruman.
• Gap of Rohan: 6 Regular.
• Reinforcements: 2 Regular, 5 Elite.

Sauron

• Dol Guldur: 5 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Nazgûl.
• Eastemnet: 1 Nazgûl.
• Gorgoroth: 4 Regular.
• Minas Morgul: 5 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Nazgûl.
• Moria: 2 Regular, 1 Elite.
• Mount Gundabad: 4 Regular.
• Morannon: 1 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Nazgûl.
• North Ithilien: 5 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Nazgûl.
• Reinforcements: 10 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Nazgûl.

Southrons & Easterlings

• Dagorlad: 5 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Nazgûl.
• North Rhûn: 4 Regular, 1 Elite, 1 Nazgûl.
• South Ithilien: 3 Regular, 1 Elite.
• Umbar: 5 Regular, 1 Elite.
• West Harondor: 3 Regular, 1 Elite.
• Reinforcements: 4 Regular, 1 Elite.

Reinforcements

All army units not placed on the board during the setup are available as reinforcements at the beginning of the scenario (no casualties have been inflicted yet).

Political Track

Place the Nations’ Political Counters on the Political Track as instructed by the image on the scenario sheet. All Shadow Nations and the Elven Nation counters should have their active side facing up, while the North, Dwarves, Rohan, and Gondor counters should have their passive side facing up.

Setting Up the Fellowship and Shadow Minions

Place the Ring-bearers, Companions and Minions as instructed.

Free Peoples player

1. Place the Ring-bearers in Eastemnet.
2. Boromir is dead, and is to be removed from the game during setup.
3. Gandalf begins the game as Gandalf the White and is placed in Lórien.
4. Place Strider, Legolas, and Gimli in Eastemnet.
5. Place Meriadoc and Peregrin in Fangorn.

Shadow player

1. Saruman begins the game in play and is placed in the Orthanc region.
2. The Witch-king has not been brought into play and can be done so by following the normal rules.
3. The Mouth of Sauron has not been brought into play and can be done so by following the normal rules.

Free Peoples and Shadow Armies

Free Peoples

• Action dice Pool: 5
• The Ring-bearers: Eastemnet
• Gandalf the White: Lórien
• Meriadoc, Peregrin: Fangorn
• Strider, Legolas, Gimli: Eastemnet
• Corruption Track: 3
• Fellowship Track: 0/Revealed
• Boromir is dead

Shadow Armies

• Action dice Pool: 8
• Saruman: Orthanc
• The Witch-king: not in play
• The Mouth of Sauron: not in play

The Fellowship

The scenario begins with the Fellowship "Revealed", so you should place the Fellowship Progress Counter on the step marked "0" on the Fellowship Track, with the "Revealed" side up. The Corruption of the Ring-bearer is at three, so place the Corruption Counter on the step marked with the number three.

The Guide

As all Companions have left the Fellowship, Gollum is the Guide of the Fellowship.

Action Dice

The Shadow player starts the game with eight Action Dice (due to Saruman being in play) in his pool, and the Free Peoples player starts the game with five Action Dice (due to Gandalf the White being in play) in his pool.

Hunt Tiles

The following Hunt tiles should be removed from the Hunt Pool (they are considered used, and any Eye tiles should be reinserted into the Hunt Pool once the Fellowship is placed on the Mordor Track):

• One "EYE" tile
• One "1" tile
• Two "2" tiles
• Two "Zero/Reveal" tiles

Remove but hunt tile in play

Please note that some of the Free Peoples cards that put the Special Hunt tiles in play have been used, and their corresponding Hunt tiles have to be inserted into the Hunt Pool once the Fellowship is placed on the Mordor Track.

• Free Peoples Character Cards
  • Elven Cloaks (#1)
  • Elven Rope (#2)
  • Phial of Galadriel (#3)

Event Decks

When creating the Event Card decks for this scenario, some cards have to be removed from the game (they have already happened) and some will start the game in play and on the table. Consult this chart for creating the Event Card decks for this scenario:

Remove

• Free Peoples Character Cards
  • Mithril Coat and Sting (#5)
  • Mirror of Galadriel (#13)
• Free Peoples Strategy Cards
  • A Power Too Great (#2)
  • Kindred of Glorfindel (#21)
  • Éomer, Son of Éomund (#23)
• Shadow Character Cards
  • Foul Thing from the Deep (#7)
  • Cruel Weather (#10)
  • Lure of the Ring (#13)
  • The Breaking of the Fellowship (#14)
  • Worn With Sorrow and Toil (#15)
  • Flocks of Crebain (#16)
  • Balrog of Moria (#17)
• Shadow Strategy Cards
  • Return to Valinor (#1)
  • Rage of the Dunlendings (#11)

In play on the table

• Shadow Character Cards
  • The Palantír of Orthanc (#21)
  • Wormtongue (#22)
• Shadow Strategy Cards
  • Threats and Promises (#5)

Event Card Drawing

In the first Recover Action Dice and Draw Event Cards phase:

• The Free Peoples player draws four Event Cards. The only restrictions that apply to these draws are that at least one card must be drawn from each deck and all cards must be drawn before looking at them.
• The Shadow player draws six Event Cards. The only restrictions that apply to these draws are that at least one card must be drawn from each deck and all cards must be drawn before looking at them.

In all the following Recover Action Dice and Draw Event Cards phases the normal rules are followed, and the hand limit is the same as in the normal game.

Multiplayer Game

All normal multiplayer rules apply to this scenario with the following addition.

In the first Recover Action Dice and Draw Event Cards phase:

• The Free Peoples players draw two Event cards each. The only restrictions that apply to these draws are that at least one card, out of the total four, must be drawn from each deck and all cards must be drawn before looking at them.
• The Shadow players draw three Event cards each. The only restrictions that apply to these draws are that at least one card, out of the total six, must be drawn from each deck and all cards must be drawn before looking at them.

In all the following Recover Action Dice and Draw Event Cards phases the normal rules are followed, and the hand limit is the same as in the normal multiplayer game.

Playing the Game

Once the game has been set up and the first Recover Action Dice and Draw Event Cards phase has been completed, the game is played exactly in the same way as the normal game.

Variant: 1st Edition Rules with the Twilight of the Third Age Expansion

Scenario

It is possible to play The Breaking of the Fellowship using 1st Edition Rules and the Twilight of the Third Age expansion (included in the Battles of the Third Age expansion set and as part of the Collector's Edition).

In order to play The Breaking of the Fellowship with 1st Edition Rules you need to apply the following changes.

Setting Up the Game

The Setup is the same described on pages 4 and 5, with the following exceptions:

Isengard

• Place 2 Regular and 8 Hillmen (instead of 6 Regular units) in Gap of Rohan.
• 10 Regular units are available as reinforcements.

Fellowship, Companions and Shadow Minions

• Galadriel is not in play and can be brought into the game later, by following the normal rules.
• The Balrog is dead and is to be removed from the game during setup.

The Factions

The Hillmen of Dunland faction begins the game in play, while the Ents of Fangorn and Corsairs of Umbar factions can be brought into the game following the normal rules.

Hunt Tiles

As Gollum is the Guide, the Sméagol tiles can be left out of the Hunt Pool.

Event Decks

Add the Expansion Event cards and replace some of the base game cards in the Event decks as usual. Cards used or in play are the same as listed on page 8, except:

• A Balrog is Come! (17E) is to be removed.
• Rage of the Dunlendings (11E) is to be removed.