War of the Ring: Second Edition rules – how to play and how to win

War of the Ring: Second Edition quick rules

The goal

The Free Peoples defend their realms while the Fellowship carries the Ring to Mount Doom. The Shadow wants to conquer Middle-earth or reclaim the Ring. The Free Peoples win if the Ring is destroyed, or with 4 Victory points taken from the Shadow; the Shadow wins if the Ring-bearers reach 12 Corruption points, or with 10 Victory points.

The game turn

Each turn has six phases: recover your Action dice and draw one card from each of your two Event decks (six cards in hand at most); the Fellowship phase; Hunt allocation; the Action roll; Action resolution; and finally the military Victory check.

The Action dice

After the roll, the Shadow puts its Eye dice in the Hunt Box, then the sides take turns using one die each, Free Peoples first. Character: move the Fellowship, move Companions or Nazgûl, act with an Army led by a Leader. Army: move two Armies or attack. Muster: move a Nation toward war, recruit, bring in a Minion. Event: draw or play a card. Will of the West counts as any result, and the side with fewer dice left may pass.

The Fellowship

The Ring-bearers figure marks the last known position, Rivendell at the start. A Character die moves the Fellowship Progress counter one step on the Fellowship Track, then the Shadow hunts, and the die goes into the Hunt Box. In the Fellowship phase, you may declare its position: the figure moves up to as many regions as the Track shows, which goes back to 0; in a friendly City or Stronghold, the Ring-bearers heal one Corruption point.

The Hunt

The Shadow places dice in the Hunt Box, at most one per Companion in the Fellowship. On each move, it rolls one Combat die per Shadow die in the Box, 5 at most: a 6 succeeds, with +1 per Free Peoples die already in the Box and re-rolls near a Shadow Stronghold, Army or Nazgûl. A success draws a Hunt tile: its damage is paid by sacrificing a Companion, or in Corruption.

Revealed or Hidden

A tile with the Reveal icon reveals the Fellowship: the figure moves, never into a Free Peoples City or Stronghold, and the Track goes back to 0. A revealed Fellowship cannot move any more: first hide it with a Character die.

Armies and battles

An Army holds 10 units at most. You attack an adjacent Army with an Army die, or a Character die if it has a Leader. Each side rolls one die per unit, 5 at most, hits on 5 or 6, then re-rolls as many failed dice as its Leadership; each hit removes a Regular or reduces an Elite. Each round, each player may play a card for its Combat effect; against a City or Fortification, the attacker hits on 6 in the first round.

Strongholds and sieges

An Army attacked in a Stronghold may retreat into it, with 5 units at most. In a siege, the attacker only hits on 6, and each battle lasts one round, unless he reduces an Elite to fight another.

Politics

A Nation must be At War to attack or to recruit with a Muster die, which moves it one step down the Political Track. The Free Peoples start Passive, except the Elves: they must be activated before war, by an invasion, an attack, the Fellowship declared in their land, or a Companion stopping in one of their Cities or Strongholds.

Mordor and the end of the game

From Minas Morgul or the Morannon, in the Fellowship phase, the Ring-bearers enter the Mordor Track: each move then draws a tile, with no roll, and a turn without trying to move or hide costs one Corruption point. After 5 steps, the Crack of Doom destroys the Ring: the Free Peoples win at once. At 12 Corruption points, the Shadow wins at once.

Military victory

Each enemy City you control is worth 1 Victory point, each Stronghold 2. At the end of a turn, the Shadow wins with 10 points, the Free Peoples with 4. A Settlement recaptured by its owner cancels its points.

With three or four players

You play in two teams; each player acts only with their own Nations. The Leading Player decides about the Fellowship or the Hunt and rolls the dice, then passes the token to the teammate every turn. In a two-player team, the hand limit is four cards; with 3, the lone Free Peoples player keeps six cards and never takes two consecutive actions with the same Nation.

Beginner traps

Each extra move in the same turn makes the Hunt easier. A sacrificed Companion dies even if the damage is lower than his Level. Free Peoples casualties never come back, and a Leader left alone is removed.

With Lords of Middle-earth

Elrond, Galadriel and Sméagol join the Free Peoples, the Balrog and Gothmog the Shadow, with alternate versions of Gandalf, the Witch-king and the Mouth of Sauron and new special dice. Two Sméagol tiles are in the Hunt Pool from the start.

With Warriors of Middle-earth

Each side has three allied Factions, which enter play with a Muster result once their condition is met. You draw one Faction Event card per turn, four in hand at most, and the first Faction brings a Faction die.

With Kings of Middle-earth

Five Free Peoples Sovereigns are on the board from the start: the Free Peoples want to awaken them, the Shadow to corrupt them, with three Dark Chieftains. Each side gains a Ruler die, and then discards one die after each roll.

How to win War of the Ring: Second Edition

No points

There are no points: one side wins, and all its players win with it.

Corruption of the Ring-bearers

At 12 or more Corruption points, the Shadow wins, at any time during the turn.

Destroying the Ring

When the Fellowship reaches the Crack of Doom, at the end of the Mordor Track, with fewer than 12 Corruption points, the Free Peoples win at once.

The Shadow Conquers Middle-earth

At the end of a turn, the Shadow wins if it controls Free Peoples Settlements worth 10 Victory points: 1 per City, 2 per Stronghold.

Sauron is Banished from Middle-earth

At the end of a turn, the Free Peoples win if they control Shadow Settlements worth 4 Victory points.

Order of precedence

If two victories happen in the same turn, the order above decides: Corruption comes before the Ring destroyed, then the Shadow’s victory, then the Free Peoples’.

With 3 or 4 players

The team wins together. The rules also name a personal winner: for the Shadow, the best balance of Victory points taken minus lost; for the Free Peoples, the player who lost the fewest.

What the sheet records

The winning side, once for the whole table, then each player’s side; the winners are the players of the winning side. An optional line keeps how the game was won.

Example ending

At the end of a turn, Jake, the Shadow, controls Minas Tirith and Lórien, two Strongholds, and the City of Dale: 2 + 2 + 1 = 5 Victory points, far from the 10 he needs. The next turn, Emma brings the Fellowship to the Crack of Doom with 9 Corruption points: the Ring is destroyed, and the Free Peoples win at once.

Common mistakes

• Recording Victory points per player: they belong to the side, not the player.
• Checking military victory mid-turn: it only counts at the end of the turn.
• Forgetting that a Settlement recaptured by its owner cancels its points.
• Assuming the destroyed Ring always wins: at 12 Corruption points, the Shadow wins first.

How to set up War of the Ring: Second Edition

Setup follows the rulebook’s twelve steps, then the Army setup. With 3 or 4 players, start by splitting the Nations; add the expansion steps if you play with them.