War of the Ring: Second Edition
War of the Ring (Second Edition) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
The map is divided into Regions; groups of Regions form Nations. Regions may contain Settlements — Cities (1 Victory Point), Towns, or Strongholds (2 VP) — or Fortifications. Armies are Regular or Elite units, led by Leaders (Free Peoples) or Nazgûl (Shadow); named Characters (Companions, Minions) provide special abilities. The Free Peoples' greatest hope is the quest of the Ring; the Shadow relies on military might and the Hunt for the Ring.
The Game Turn
Each turn has six steps:
- Draw Event Cards: both players draw 2 cards (one from each of their two Event decks).
- Fellowship Phase: the Free Peoples player may declare the Fellowship's position (activating a Nation if in its City/Stronghold, and healing the Ring-bearers) and may change the Guide.
- Hunt Allocation: the Shadow player places Action Dice into the Hunt Box — up to the number of Companions in the Fellowship (always at least one).
- Action Roll: each player rolls their remaining Action Dice; Shadow "Eye" results go into the Hunt Box.
- Action Resolution: starting with the Free Peoples, players alternate using one Action Die each.
- Victory Check: check victory conditions; otherwise a new turn begins.
The Action Dice
Each player's dice pool determines their options. The Shadow starts with 7 dice (up to 10, gaining one per Minion in play); the Free Peoples start with 4 (gaining one for Aragorn and one for Gandalf the White). Die icons: Character, Army, Muster, Event, Army/Muster, and a special face (Will of the West for Free Peoples, Eye for Shadow — Eyes go straight to the Hunt Box).
Players alternate selecting one die and immediately taking the action; used dice are set aside. A die used to move the Fellowship goes into the Hunt Box (returned at end of turn). A player may pass only if they have fewer unused dice than the opponent.
Elven Rings: the Free Peoples start with three; each can be used once (then passes to the Shadow, who uses it once and discards it) to change one Action Die to any other result (Free Peoples may not change to "Will of the West"; a Shadow die changed to "Eye" goes to the Hunt Box). Only one Elven Ring per player per turn.
Event Cards
Each player has a Character deck and a Strategy deck. Cards are drawn in step 1 and can be drawn or played using an Event die result. Every Event Card also has Combat Card text at the bottom: before each combat round, each player may play one card as a Combat Card (no action needed) for a one-round bonus (the defender's card resolves first), then discard it.
Armies, Movement, and Battles
All units of one player in a Region form an Army (max 10 units, or 5 in a besieged Stronghold). Army dice move armies (activating armies to move to adjacent Regions, subject to political restrictions) or muster; Muster dice recruit units at friendly Settlements. To attack, use an Army die (or a Character die with a Leader) to battle an enemy Army in an adjacent Region (or a Siege/Sortie in the same Region).
Resolving a battle (repeated Combat Rounds):
- Combat Roll: each player rolls Combat Dice equal to their Army's Combat Strength (max 5); a 6 (5+ or modified) is a hit.
- Leader Re-roll: re-roll failed dice up to your Leadership score (max 5).
- Casualties: per opponent hit, remove a Regular, or downgrade an Elite to Regular; or remove one Elite per two hits. Free Peoples casualties leave the game; Shadow casualties return to reinforcements.
- After each round, the attacker may cease; if they continue, the defender may retreat to an empty adjacent Region without an enemy Settlement.
A "1" always misses and a "6" always hits, regardless of modifiers. If all a battle's Army units are eliminated, its Leaders/Characters are removed too.
Fortifications and Cities: in the first round of combat, the attacker hits only on 6. Strongholds: before each round the defender chooses a Field Battle or to Retreat into a Siege (moving into the Stronghold box; the attacker may advance into the Region, besieging it). A Siege Battle (attacker hits on 6) lasts one round unless the attacker downgrades an Elite to extend it. A Sortie lets a besieged Army attack the besiegers as a field battle.
Politics
Each Nation's stance is tracked on the Political Track. Free Peoples Nations must be Active (flipped from Passive, e.g., via the Fellowship or a Companion at their City/Stronghold) before advancing, and must reach "At War" before their armies may attack or leave their nation. Advance a Nation with a Muster die (or events). Shadow Nations mobilize more easily.
The Fellowship and the Quest of the Ring
The Fellowship's true location is hidden; the Fellowship Progress Counter on the Fellowship Track measures Regions travelled from its last known position. Use a Character die (or events) to move the Fellowship (advancing the counter and triggering a Hunt), to hide it (required before it can move again once revealed), or to separate a Companion (moving them onto the map, never to rejoin). Declaring or revealing the Fellowship moves its figure and resets the counter to 0. Resting in a friendly City/Stronghold heals 1 Corruption.
Entering Mordor: once declared in Morannon or Minas Morgul, the Fellowship enters the Mordor Track (5 steps). There, moving automatically draws a Hunt tile; the Fellowship must be hidden to advance; failing to move/hide in a turn adds 1 Corruption. Reaching the Crack of Doom destroys the Ring.
The Hunt for the Ring
Each time the Fellowship moves, the Shadow makes a Hunt Roll: roll Combat Dice equal to the Hunt Level (dice in the Hunt Box, max 5); a 6 is a success (each Free Peoples die in the Hunt Box adds +1 to each die). Re-roll one failed die per Shadow Stronghold / Army unit / Nazgûl in the Fellowship's last-known Region. On at least one success, draw a Hunt tile for the Hunt Damage (a number, or an "Eye" = number of successes), and reveal the Fellowship if the tile shows a Reveal icon.
Effects of the Hunt: the Free Peoples player either uses the Ring (advancing Corruption by the Hunt Damage) or takes casualties (eliminating one Companion — the Guide or a random one; excess damage over the Companion's Level becomes Corruption). Certain Companion abilities and Event Cards can cancel or reduce the Hunt.
Winning the Game
At the Victory Check (or immediately for Ring conditions), lower-numbered conditions take precedence:
- Corruption: if the Ring-bearers reach 12 Corruption, the Shadow wins.
- Destroying the Ring: if the Fellowship reaches the Crack of Doom with fewer than 12 Corruption, the Free Peoples win.
- Shadow military victory: if the Shadow controls Free Peoples Settlements worth 10+ Victory Points, the Shadow wins.
- Free Peoples military victory: if the Free Peoples control Shadow Strongholds worth 4+ Victory Points, the Free Peoples win.
(For military victory, each controlled enemy Stronghold is 2 VP and each City is 1 VP, marked with a Settlement Control Marker.)
Multiplayer (3–4 Players)
In a four-player game, two players share each side (Gondor+Elves / Rohan+North+Dwarves for the Free Peoples; Witch-king / Saruman & allies for the Shadow), passing a Leading Player token each turn to coordinate the Fellowship, Hunt allocation, and shared decisions. A three-player game uses the same structure with a single Free Peoples player.