War of the Ring: The Card Game – Fire and Swords Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• What's New
  • New Factions
  • New Battlegrounds
  • New Paths
  • Skirmishes
• Additional Rules
  • Setup
  • Location Step
  • Action Step
  • Skirmish Combat
  • Combat Step
  • Effects on Accompanying Battlegrounds
  • Barad-dûr
  • Timing of Overlapping Effects
  • Using Solo / Coop Faction Cards
• Scenarios
  • Expanded Trilogy
    • Starting Player and Turn Order
    • Setup, Draw Step, Ring Tokens
    • Battlegrounds, Skirmishes, and Paths
    • Playing the Expanded Trilogy Scenario with Fewer than 6 People
  • War in the North
    • Starting Player and Turn Order
    • Setup, Draw Step, Ring Tokens
    • Battlegrounds and Skirmishes
    • Paths
    • Special Rules
• Player Aid
  • The Game Round
  • Ring Token
  • Actions

Components

• 60 Faction cards: 30 Free Peoples, 30 Shadow.
• 31 Location cards: 15 Free Peoples (5 Battlegrounds and 10 Skirmishes), 7 Shadow (4 Battlegrounds and 3 Skirmishes), 9 Paths.
• 32 Solo/Coop cards*: 30 Shadow Bot Faction cards, 2 replacement Location cards.
• Other components: 6 Corruption and 2 Ring tokens, 1 Turn order tracker, 6 Player aids, this Rulebook.

* For use with the Against the Shadow expansion, marked with the Against the Shadow icon at the bottom of the card.

What's New

New Factions

Fire and Swords adds three new factions to the game: Northmen (Free Peoples), Easterling and Ruffian (Shadow). The new faction icons, as well two new "generic" icons, are shown below.

• Free Peoples: Northmen icon; Any Free Peoples faction icon.
• Shadow: Easterling icon; Ruffian icon; Any Shadow faction icon.

New Battlegrounds

Five new Free Peoples battlegrounds and four new Shadow battlegrounds are included in this expansion. Add these new battlegrounds to the appropriate deck as indicated by the scenario you play (see the Scenarios section).

New Paths

Each path number now has four paths. Unless the scenario indicates otherwise, just add each new card to the set of paths you play with to use them.

Skirmishes

Skirmishes are new locations that are added to the two battleground decks, to represent additional locations of Middle-earth where battles were fought, or could have been fought.

Skirmishes work similarly, but not identically, to battlegrounds. Note that skirmishes do not have an activation text.

The skirmish card anatomy:

1. Defending faction icon(s).
2. Title.
3. Accompanying battlegrounds: The battlegrounds that might be activated by this skirmish.
4. Resolution text (defender wins): Resolve the effect of this text after combat on this skirmish is resolved, if the defender wins.
5. Resolution text (attacker wins): Resolve the effect of this text after combat on this skirmish is resolved, if the attacker wins.
6. Attacking faction icon(s).
7. Card artist: No game effect.
8. Card ID: No game effect.

Additional Rules

Setup

Skirmishes are shuffled into their respective battleground decks.

Location Step

If a skirmish is drawn during the Location step, place the skirmish in the middle of the table, like a battleground.

Then, activate the first accompanying battleground listed on the skirmish, if it is still in a battleground deck. If not, activate the second accompanying battleground.

If neither of the listed accompanying battlegrounds are in a battleground deck, the starting player draws again from the battleground deck to which the skirmish belongs, repeating this entire process until a battleground is activated. All skirmishes drawn are still activated, and can be resolved normally, although they might not have an interesting effect.

Example: The starting player is the Frodo player, and Cair Andros is drawn from the Free Peoples battleground deck. Its accompanying battlegrounds, Minas Tirith and Edoras, are both already in a scoring area, so another card must be drawn. This time, it is Bree, whose accompanying battlegrounds are The Shire and Dunland. The Shire is already in a scoring area, so Dunland is activated, along with Cair Andros and Bree. If the second drawn card had been a battleground instead, it would have been activated along with Cair Andros.

Note that some skirmishes activate battlegrounds from the other team's battleground deck!

Card text that refers to a battleground may be used to affect a skirmish, except a skirmish cannot be activated or reactivated by card text that activates or reactivates a battleground.

Example: the Isengard player could not use Threats and Promises to activate Westemnet, but the Elf player could use Nenya, Ring of Adamant to add a defense icon there.

Action Step

During the Action step, players can play or move characters and armies to a skirmish as if it were a battleground.

If you have a card on a skirmish, you may use an action to resolve combat on that skirmish (only one skirmish may be resolved per action). Note that the new player aid included in this expansion lists Resolve a skirmish as an action type.

Skirmish Combat

Once a player has declared their intention to use an action to resolve a skirmish, combat is resolved in the same manner as with a battleground. However, after the winner is determined, the skirmish does not go into a scoring area; instead, resolve the skirmish's resolution text, then remove the skirmish from the game — a skirmish can never be reactivated.

Combat Step

If no cards are on a skirmish during the Combat step, shuffle it back into the appropriate battleground deck.

If there are cards on a skirmish that was not resolved during the Action step, combat on the skirmish is resolved as usual, but the resolution text is not resolved.

Hint: If you're winning a skirmish and you have a card on it, it's usually a good idea to resolve it before the end of the round.

Effects on Accompanying Battlegrounds

• Resolution text that specifies "to an accompanying battleground" may affect either one of the battlegrounds listed on the skirmish. It is not limited only to the battleground activated by the skirmish during the Location step, but can also affect the other battleground, if it was activated later in the round.
• A skirmish that adds a combat token to an accompanying battleground does not add tokens to both battlegrounds. If both are in play, one must be chosen by the winning player.

Example: During the Location step, Cair Andros is activated. Minas Tirith is already in a scoring area, hence Edoras is activated. If the Mordor player were to reactivate Minas Tirith with The Black Captain, the winner of the Cair Andros skirmish could add the appropriate token to either Edoras or Minas Tirith.

Barad-dûr

Barad-dûr is Sauron's fortress deep within Mordor. Because of the geography of Middle-earth, Barad-dûr cannot be activated or reactivated by any means unless Minas Morgul or Morannon has been conquered by the Free Peoples.

If Barad-dûr is drawn during the Location step, and neither of those battlegrounds is in the Free Peoples scoring area, draw another card from the Shadow battleground deck; if the Shadow battleground deck is empty, draw from the Free Peoples battleground deck. Then, shuffle Barad-dûr back into the Shadow battleground deck.

Timing of Overlapping Effects

Whenever the timing of two (or more) card effects are identical, resolve any mandatory effects before any optional effects. Aside from this requirement, the acting player decides the order in which the effects are resolved. As always, the effects are resolved one at a time.

Example: if Faramir is wielding Horn of Gondor, the Dúnedain player can choose to resolve Horn of Gondor's game text prior to using Faramir's game text to activate a new path — but not in reverse order, since Faramir would no longer be in play after activating a new path.

Using Solo / Coop Faction Cards

For those of you who own Against the Shadow (the War of the Ring — The Card Game solo and cooperative play expansion), 30 Shadow replacement cards have been included, which will allow you to play the scenarios included herein using the Solo and Cooperative rules. This also allows 3 friends to play cooperatively together!

When playing the solo/cooperative version, do not use skirmishes. Replace the Dunland and Rhûn battlegrounds, if the scenario uses them, with the matching replacement cards.

Scenarios

Three different scenarios are included, to allow you to experience the new content of this expansion in different ways and with different player counts, from 2 to 6 people.

Expanded Trilogy

This 2–6 player scenario encompasses the complete War of the Ring and uses all the cards in the base game and this expansion.

Starting Player and Turn Order

The Frodo player begins the game with the starting player token.

1. FRODO — FREE PEOPLES: Dwarf, Hobbit, and Rohan
2. THE WITCH-KING — SHADOW: Mordor
3. GANDALF — FREE PEOPLES: Elf and Wizard
4. SARUMAN — SHADOW: Isengard and Monstrous
5. ARAGORN — FREE PEOPLES: Dúnedain and Northmen
6. BILL FERNY — SHADOW: Easterling, Ruffian, and Southron

Setup, Draw Step, Ring Tokens

The Setup, Draw step, and Ring token rules are identical to those of the base game Trilogy scenario.

Battlegrounds, Skirmishes, and Paths

All battlegrounds, skirmishes, and paths are used.

Playing the Expanded Trilogy Scenario with Fewer than 6 People

Like the 4-player Trilogy scenario from the base game, the Expanded Trilogy can be played by fewer than 6 players — some players will control more than one deck. See the base game Trilogy rules for more information on playing more than one deck.

War in the North

The military struggle presented in Tolkien's main narrative focuses on the events in Gondor and Rohan. However, great battles were also fought in the North, in Dale, Erebor, and elsewhere. Even the Hobbits were forced to defend the Shire!

This scenario can be played by 2, 3, or 4 players. Note that each deck has 28 cards.

Like the base game Trilogy scenario, this scenario can be played by 2 or 3 players, where one or both people play 2 decks. See the base game Trilogy scenario rules for information on playing more than one deck at a time.

This scenario may also be played using the Two-Player (and Three-Player) Duel scenario rules presented in the base game.

This scenario follows the Fellowship through to Path 9, like the Trilogy scenario, but omits the battlegrounds of the South. Because of this, you'll find most of the new cards are included, and most of the cards not included are from the base set. It's a great way to experience what's in this expansion if you have fewer players.

Starting Player and Turn Order

The Frodo player begins the game with the starting player token.

1. FRODO — FREE PEOPLES
   • Dwarf (all 6): Army of the Blue Mountains, Book of Mazarbul, Dáin Ironfoot, Dwarven Axe, Erebor Guard, Gimli.
   • Hobbit (all 15): A Hundred Sturdy Hobbits, Bilbo Baggins, Disguised as Orcs, Farmer Maggot, Fatty Bolger, Frodo Baggins, Herbs and Stewed Rabbit, Merry Brandybuck, Mithril Coat, Party Invitation, Pippin Took, Rosie Cotton, Sam Gamgee, Sting, There Is Another Way.
   • Northmen (all 7): Barliman Butterbur, Bill the Pony, Grimbeorn the Old, King Brand, Northmen Militia (2), Woodmen of the Anduin.
2. THE WITCH-KING — SHADOW
   • Easterling (all 11): Allies of Sauron, Easterling Axe-men, Easterling Commander, Easterling Garrison, Horde from the East, Many Kings to the Service of Mordor, Mirkwood Skirmishers, Musterings of Long-planned War, The Red Bannerman, Variags of Khand, Wainriders.
   • Mordor (17): The Beguiler, The Black Easterling, Black Rider's Mount, Black Uruks, The Commander, The Destroyer, The Hunter, The Lidless Eye, The Messenger, Mordor Orcs (2), Morgul Blade, Nazgûl's Mantle, The Reaver, The Ringwraiths Are Abroad, The Warrior, The Witch-king.
3. STRIDER — FREE PEOPLES
   • Dúnedain (5): Athelas, Blade of Westernesse, Boromir, Horn of Gondor, Strider.
   • Elf (all 18): Arwen, Bow of the Galadhrim, Celeborn, Círdan the Shipwright, Elrond, Elven Cloak, Galadriel, Glorfindel, High Elves (2), Legolas, Lembas, Mirror of Galadriel, Nenya, Ring of Adamant, Phial of Galadriel, Thranduil, Vilya, Ring of Air, Silvan Elves.
   • Wizard (5): Gandalf the Grey, Narya, Ring of Fire, Radagast the Brown, Sméagol, Tom Bombadil.
4. THE BALROG OF MORIA — SHADOW
   • Isengard (2): A Little Mischief in a Mean Way, Saruman.
   • Monstrous (all 16): Balrog of Moria, Barrow-wights, Candles of Corpses, Caradhras the Cruel, Cave-troll, Flocks of Crebain, Goblins of the Misty Mountains (3), Gollum, Hill-troll, Orc-chieftain, Shelob, Spiders of Mirkwood, Watcher in the Water, Wolves.

Setup, Draw Step, Ring Tokens

The Setup, Draw step, and Ring token rules are identical to those of the base game scenario rules you have chosen to use, except that only the following location cards are used:

Battlegrounds and Skirmishes

• Free Peoples: Bree*, Carrock*, Dale, Erebor, Ered Luin*, Grey Havens, Iron Hills*, Lórien, Rivendell, The Shire, Woodland Realm.
• Shadow: Angmar*, Dol Guldur, Dunland, Moria, Mount Gundabad, Rhûn.

* Denotes a skirmish.

Paths

All paths are used.

Special Rules

If the Shadow wins the combat on a Free Peoples battleground (not a skirmish), in addition to taking control of the battleground and placing it in their scoring area, add 1 corruption token to the scoring area. This also applies if a battleground is reactivated and the Shadow wins the combat on it again.

Epic Duel

This scenario is for two players who do not mind a longer game (it takes about twice the time of a normal Trilogy game) and want to experience it all in a unique format.

Starting Player and Turn Order

The Gandalf player begins the game with the starting player token.

The faction decks are divided into three sections. The cards in each deck should be separated accordingly. See Setup and Special Rules for more information.

1. GANDALF — THE FREE PEOPLES

   Section 1

   • Dúnedain (7): Athelas, Blade of Westernesse, Boromir, Halbarad, Horn of Gondor, Strider, We Prove the Swifter!
   • Dwarf (3): Book of Mazarbul, Dwarven Axe, Gimli.
   • Elf (15): Arwen, Bow of the Galadhrim, Celeborn, Círdan the Shipwright, Elrond, Galadriel, Glorfindel, High Elves (2), Legolas, Mirror of Galadriel, Nenya, Ring of Adamant, Silvan Elves, Thranduil, Vilya, Ring of Air.
   • Hobbit (11): Bilbo Baggins, Farmer Maggot, Fatty Bolger, Frodo Baggins, Merry Brandybuck, Mithril Coat, Party Invitation, Pippin Took, Rosie Cotton, Sam Gamgee, Sting.
   • Northmen (3): Barliman Butterbur, Bill the Pony, Grimbeorn the Old.
   • Wizard (6): Gandalf the Grey, Gandalf's Staff, Glamdring, Narya, Ring of Fire, Radagast the Brown, Tom Bombadil.

   Section 2

   • Dúnedain (6): Aragorn, Faramir, The Grey Company, Knights of Dol Amroth, Prince Imrahil, The Three Hunters.
   • Elf (3): Elven Cloak, Lembas, Phial of Galadriel.
   • Hobbit (2): Herbs and Stewed Rabbit, There Is Another Way.
   • Rohan (8): Éomer, Éowyn, Riders of Rohan (2), Shadowfax, Théoden, Théodred, Village Militia.
   • Wizard (6): Ent-draught, Gandalf the White, Gwaihir the Windlord, Quickbeam, Sméagol, Treebeard.

   Section 3

   • Dúnedain (10): Andúril, Challenge of the King, Dead Men of Dunharrow, Denethor, Guards of the Citadel, Paths of the Dead, Soldiers of Gondor, Stout Staves, The Great Gate, The Red Arrow.

Setup

Each player places their section 1 faction cards in their draw deck and their section 2 cards in their cycle pile. Section 3 cards are set aside for now.

Each player draws 7 cards. The Free Peoples player then must cycle 2 of the cards drawn, but the Shadow player does not cycle any cards.

Only the location cards listed below are used.

The battleground decks are divided into 3 sections. The section 1 battlegrounds are the starting battleground decks. The section 2 and 3 battlegrounds are set aside for now.

Each path number is divided into 2 parts ("A" and "B"). Assemble the path deck normally, but place all part A paths before all part B paths with the same path number.

See Special Rules for more information on how each deck is used as the game progresses.

Free Peoples battlegrounds and skirmishes

• Section 1: Grey Havens, Rivendell, Woodland Realm.
• Section 2: Carrock*, Dol Amroth, Edoras, Fords of Isen*, Helm's Deep, Lamedon*, Lórien, Pelargir, Westemnet*.
• Section 3: Bree*, Cair Andros*, Dale, Erebor, Ered Luin*, The Great Stone-Bridge*, Iron Hills*, Lossarnach*, Minas Tirith, The Shire.

Shadow battlegrounds and skirmishes

• Section 1: Angmar*, Minas Morgul, Morannon, Moria, Mount Gundabad, Núrn*, Orthanc.
• Section 2: Dol Guldur, Dunland, Harad, Near Harad*, Rhûn, Umbar.
• Section 3: Barad-dûr.

* Denotes a skirmish.

Paths

• Path 1A: Bag End, A Long-expected Party
• Path 1B: Bucklebury Ferry, Gildor’s Encampment
• Path 2A: The Barrow-downs, The Old Forest
• Path 2B: Inn of the Prancing Pony, Weathertop
• Path 3A: Fords of Bruinen, The Last Homely House
• Path 3B: The Council of Elrond, Imladris
• Path 4A: Caradhras, The Doors of Durin
• Path 4B: The High Pass, Khazad-dûm
• Path 5A: Dimrill Dale, Lothlórien
• Path 5B: Egladil, Fangorn
• Path 6A: Amon Hen, Emyn Muil
• Path 6B: The Black Gate, Dead Marshes
• Path 7A: Henneth Annûn, Osgiliath
• Path 7B: The Crossroads, The Tower of Ecthelion
• Path 8A: Morgul Vale, The Stairs
• Path 8B: Cirith Ungol, Shelob’s Lair
• Path 9A: Gorgoroth, Morgai
• Path 9B: Crack of Doom, Orodruin

Draw Step

During the Draw step, the Gandalf player draws 4 cards, and The Witch-king player draws 6 cards.

Ring Tokens

Each player starts with one Ring token, which functions in the same way as in the Two-Player Duel scenario.

Special Rules

• The Two-Player Duel scenario special rules for "Each Player" are applied; the special path scoring rule is not — normal scoring rules are used.

• Each path number consists of 2 parts: A and B. The progression of path numbers includes the part as well as the number of each path, as explained below:

• When advancing to a new path number, the progression is as follows: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, and so on.

  Example: In the Location step, if the last path activated in the previous round was a 2A, the path activated in the current round will be a 2B, and the path activated in the next round will be a 3A. Likewise, if Gandalf the Grey is on a path 4A and uses his ability to activate a path of the next higher number, that path will be a 4B.

• For paths 4 and 7, the last path A that is activated dictates the path B that will follow (the path B is not chosen randomly or selected):

  • Caradhras ➞ The High Pass;
  • The Doors of Durin ➞ Khazad-dûm;
  • Henneth Annûn ➞ The Cross-roads;
  • Osgiliath ➞ The Tower of Ecthelion.

  If the path number of The Black Gate becomes 7, either The Cross-roads or The Tower of Ecthelion can be activated next.

• Cards that activate a path of the same number cannot be used to go from a part A path to a part B path, or vice versa.

• It is not possible, as a result of a card text effect, to skip over a path number and part, nor to move "backward."

  Example: Glorfindel's "use an action" text may not be used if it is on a path 2A, as you would skip path 2B. If used on a path 2B, you would choose a random 3A path. On a path 3A, you would choose a random path from among the remaining 3A (if any) and 3Bs. On a path 3B, you would choose the remaining 3B (if any).

Player Aid

The expansion's Expanded Trilogy player aid, as printed; it lists Resolve a skirmish as an action type. Transcribed from the player aid sheet, not the rulebook pages.

The Game Round

1. Location step: The starting player activates one battleground, then one path.
2. Action step: Players take turns taking actions or passing, beginning with the starting player, until all have passed consecutively.
3. Combat step: Resolve combat on the active battlegrounds, skirmishes with cards, and path.
4. Victory check: Check to see if either side has attained victory.
5. Draw step: Each Free Peoples player draws 3 cards, each Shadow player draws 4 cards. The starting player token is passed to the next player.

Ring Token

Once per game, as an action, discard your Ring token to draw 2 cards. If unused, it is worth 1 victory point.

Actions

• Play 1 card from your hand (cycling another card).
• Move 1 character or army in reserve to an active path or battleground.
• Cycle 1 card from your hand.
• Winnow by eliminating 2 cards from your hand to draw 1 card.
• Use an Action to resolve the "use an action to..." text of a card in play.
• Resolve a skirmish where one of your factions has a card.
• Use a Ring token to draw cards.

Instead of taking an action, you may pass if:

• The number of cards in your hand is less than or equal to your carryover limit; OR
• The number of cards in your hand is less than each opponent.