RING WAR
INTRODUCTION
Two player card game simulating the struggle between the forces
of good and evil in Tolkein’s "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings".
THE DECKS
There are two decks.
One player uses the Forces of Light Deck.
The other player uses the Dark Powers Deck.
Each deck contains one of each of the cards described in its list.
VICTORY
The first player to have 10 Quest tokens or 10 War tokens wins.
If at the end of a turn one player has 10 Quest tokens and the other
Player has 10 War tokens the player with the 10 Quest tokens wins.
SETUP
Each player starts with 5 Quest tokens and 5 War tokens.
TURN SEQUENCE
Draw Phase
Aid Phase
Scout Phase
Action Phase
Resolution Phase
DRAW PHASE
Each player fills his hand to 9 cards.
If a deck runs out shuffle the discard and draw from it.
AID PHASE
Each player may discard up to 3 cards and draw replacements.
SCOUT PHASE
Reveal a card with the Scout property to look at your opponents hand.
The revealed card may not be your reserve card this turn.
ACTION PHASE
Each player puts 4 cards face down in 2 piles:
The War Pile and the Quest pile. (Each pile will contain 3 cards)
When both players have made 2 piles, the piles are revealed (flipped face up)
This will leave each player with one card in their hand.
The remaining card is called the reserve card.
RESOLUTION PHASE
Each card has a Quest value and a War value.
Each player adds up the Quest values of the cards in his Quest pile.
The player with the highest total value wins the Quest Contest.
The winner of the Quest contest takes one Quest token from his opponent.
In ties, no tokens are exchanged.
If one player’s total value is twice his opponents, he may take 2 tokens.
Each player adds up the War values of the cards in his War pile.
The player with the highest total value wins the War Contest.
The winner of the War contest takes one War token from his opponent.
In ties, no tokens are exchanged.
If one player’s total value is twice his opponents, he may take 2 tokens.
A pile may only contain one location card.
The player with the most armies in his war pile gets +3 to his War total.
The player with the most cavalry armies in his war pile gets +1 to his War total.
If 2 cards in a pile share the same alliance the pile gets +1.
If 3 cards in a pile share the same alliance the pile gets +3.
If 4 cards in a pile share the same alliance the pile gets +5.
A single card may belong to more than one alliance at a time.
CARD LIST NOTATION
A = Alliance
W = War
Q = Quest
MIDDLE EARTH - WAR OF THE RING - DARK POWERS - CARD LIST
Unit Name: A W Q Notes:
Sauron the Dark Lord M 7 6 Maiar: Lord of the Rings
Saruman the White I 4 4 Istari: Maiar
Witch King of Morgul AU 5 5 High Nazgul
Nazgul Ring Wraiths MU 4 4 Black Riders: Scout: +1 vs One Ring
Barrow-Wights U 0 3 Monster: Undead
Mouth of Sauron M 2 0 General: All your armies get +1W
Orcs of the Red Eye MG 2 2 Army: Goblins
White Hand Orcs IG 2 2 Army: Goblins
Orcs of Angmar AG 2 2 Army: Goblins
Uruk-hai G 3 2 Army: Hobgoblins
Half Orcs IG 3 0 Army
Trolls T 4 3 Army: Giants
Olog-hai T 5 3 Army: Black Trolls
Balrog Demon U 6 5 Monster
Shelob the Great S 0 4 Monster: Spider
Great Spiders S 0 3 Monsters
Cave-Drake D 4 3 Monster: Dragon
Winged Fire-Drake D 4 4 Monster: Dragon
Smaug D 5 5 Monster: Dragon
Black Numenoreans - 2 0 Army: Men
Umbar Corsairs M 2 0 Army: Men
Easterlings of Rhun A 3 0 Army: Men: Sagath: Cavalry
Men of Harad M 2 0 Army: Men: Southrons
Balchoth Barbarians M 2 0 Army: Men
Wargs W 2 3 Monsters: Great Wolves
Wolf Riders GW 3 2 Army: Orcs & Wargs: Cavalry
Great Bats - 0 2 Monster
Vampires U 0 3 Monsters: Undead
Gaurhoth Werewolves UW 0 3 Monsters: Shapeshifters
Fell Beasts U 0 2 Monsters: Nazgul get +1
Wainriders M 3 0 Army: Men: War Chariots: Cavalry
Flies of Mordor M 0 2 Monster: Swarms
Dunlendings I 2 0 Army: Men
Haradrim Mumakils M 3 0 Army: War Elephants: Cavalry
Hillmen A 2 0 Army: Men
Smeagol Gollum - 0 5 Monster: +3Q vs Frodo or the One Ring
Kraken - 0 3 Monster
Bandits - 1 2 Men: Scout
Wormtongue I 2 2 Traitor: +3 vs King Theoden
Southron Spy I 1 2 Scout
Gothmog A 3 0 General: All your armies get +1W
Variags of Khand M 3 0 Army: Men: Cavalry
The Grond - 1 0 Giant Battering Ram: +5W vs. Locatns
The Lidless Eye M 2 3 Magic: Scout
Corruption - 0 3 Magic: +1Q per opposing hero
Palantir - 0 3 Seeing Stones: Maiar get +2: Scout
Crebain - 1 2 Large Black Crows: Scout
Mordor M 4 3 Location
Moria - 0 3 Location: Balrog gets +2Q
Mount Doom M 0 4 Location
Mirkwood S 0 3 Location
Misty Mountains - 0 3 Location
Notes:
M = Mordor Alliance
A = Angmar Alliance
I = Isengard Alliance
U = Undead Alliance
S = Spiders Alliance
D = Dragons Alliance
G = Goblins Alliance
T = Trolls Alliance
W = Wolves Alliance
The Corruption card is = 0 if any Hobbits are played
MIDDLE EARTH - WAR OF THE RING - FORCES OF LIGHT - CARD LIST
Unit Name: A W Q Notes:
Gandalf the Grey F 5 6 Hero: Istari, Wisest of the Maiar
Radagast the Brown - 2 3 Hero: Istari, Maiar
Elrond Half-elven E 0 4 Hero: Elf King
Aragorn (Strider) GF 5 5 Hero: Rightful King of all Dunedain
Legolas the Elf Lord EF 4 5 Hero: Elf
Glimli the Dwarf Lord DF 4 5 Hero: Dwarf
Frodo the Ring Bearer HF 0 6 Hero: Hobbit
Samwise HF 0 5 Hero: Hobbit: +2 vs Shelob the Great
Merry HRF 1 3 Hero: Hobbit
Pippin HGF 1 3 Hero: Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins H 0 4 Hero: Hobbit: +2 vs Smaug
Boromir GF 0 4 Hero: Prince of Gondor
Faramir G 3 0 Hero: Brother of Boromir
King Theoden R 3 0 Hero: King of the Mark
Eomer R 4 0 Hero: Son of Theoden
Eowyn R 2 0 Hero: Sister of Eomer: +4 vs Nazgul
Gwaihir the Windlord B 4 4 Hero: King of the Eagles
Giant Eagles B 5 4 Army: Scout
Treebeard T 3 4 Hero: Treefolk Leader
Ents T 5 0 Army: Treefolk
Huorns T 4 0 Army: Animated Trees
Thorin Oakenshield D 4 4 Hero: King Under the Mountain
Grey Mountain Dwarves D 3 0 Army: Khazad
Iron Hill Dwarves D 3 0 Army: Khazad
Rivendell Grey Elves E 3 0 Army: Sindar
Lothlorien High Elves E 3 0 Army: Noldor
Mirkwood Silvan Elves E 3 0 Army: Laiquendi
Teleri Sea Elves E 2 0 Army
Half Elves E 2 0 Army
Galadriel E 0 4 Queen of Lorien
The Shire H 0 3 Location
Tom Bombadil HT 0 4 Spirit of the Woods
Beorn N 0 4 Hero: Shapeshifter
Bard of Esgaroth N 1 2 Hero: +4 vs Dragons
Men of Gondor G 2 0 Army: Dunedain
Men of Arnor G 2 0 Army: Dunedain
Force from Lebennin G 2 0 Army: Dunedain
Horsemen of Rohan R 3 0 Army: Rohirrim: Cavalry
Helms Deep R 4 0 Location
Bardings of Dale N 2 0 Army: Northmen
Beorning Bear Men N 3 0 Army: Northmen
Rangers of the North N 3 0 Army: Northmen: Scout
Woses of Druadan N 1 2 Scout
Woodmen of Mirkwood N 2 0 Army: Northmen
Dead Men of Dunharrow - 5 0 Army: Undead
Fellowship F 0 3
Minas Tirith G 4 0 Location
Lorien E 0 3 Location: Haven
Rivendell - 3 3 Location: Haven
The One Ring F 0 6 Ruling Ring: Invisibility
Cracks of Doom - 0 4 Location
Sting H 0 3 Magic Sword: +1 with Frodo
Anduril - 0 3 Magic Sword: +2 with Strider
Shadowfax R 0 3 Magic Steed: Scout: Gandalf gets +1
Notes:
E = Elf
D = Dwarf
G = Gondor
N = Northmen
R = Rohan
H = Hobbit
B = Eagles
T = Ents
F = Fellowship
The One Ring gets +3Q if played with the Cracks of Doom.
A pile that contains both Legolas and Glimli gets +2.
Gandalf is +1 vs the Balrog.
Strider is a scout.
Boromir = 0 if the One Ring is played.
Pippin = 0 if Palantir is played.
MIDDLE EARTH LINKS
Gaming Havens
Tolkien Boardgames
DISCLAIMER
‘Middle Earth/Lord of the Rings’ are copyrighted/trademarked properties.
This is just a fan site.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Special thanks to Martin Hermansky for playtesting, analysis, finding and
correcting critical flaws in the Dark Powers deck, and coming up with new alliances.
CARD SET AVAILABLE
Click here
Thanks Zak!