From: "Steve Burt" Subject: SPI War of the Ring variant rules (very long) As requested by a few people. Sorry about the delay. Had to time em in from a hand-written 15 year old original.... War of the Ring modifications Steve Burt, Martin Burt, John Kleeman, Gordon Barbour These modifications are intended for the Army Game, which as supplied is hopelessly biassed in favour of the Dark Lord, who only has to stack units in Mordor and wait till the Ring is found. They attempt to reflect the fact the Sauron did not know what the intentions of his enemies were, and also give the option for the Western powers to seize and use the Ring as Sauron expected them to. The variant rules also give Saruman a real chance of victory in a 3 player game. Many of the rules are just little extra bits of 'Chrome'. I apologise for any unclearness - I'm typing these rules in from a hand-written set which I've not looked at for 15 years or so, and my copy of the game is long gone.... Hidden movement Up to 9 Fellowship characters may be hidden. Hidden characters may not lead armies, though they can voluntarily reveal themselves at any time. Hidden characters are not placed on the map; the Fellowship player notes their locations on a piece of paper. Any magic cards are played in secret, and all search rolls on hidden characters are kept secret. There are no 'self-reveal' throws. Search Remove the bottom search card to see whether Saruman or Sauron may search, and whether with Orcs or Nazgul. There is only one search phase per turn, even in a 3 player game. The searcher declares before looking at the card whether he wishes to use the areas(s) on the card, or search any single area of his choice. Whichever he chosses, the search uses the forces listed on the card. +1 to capture rolls (only) in rough and forest hexes -1 to search rolls on characters who used a road that move Characters spotted trying to move through a hex with your pieces in it may be challenged to individual combat if you got a capture attempt, instead of trying to capture. (Some characters are almost impossible to capture, or to keep captive, so this is often a better bet). Intrinsic Defences Certain areas have an Intrinsic defence even when there are no troops in them. These generally represent magical safeguards of one form or another as you will see from the list. The strength of the Intrinsic defence is given; it is used only when the location is undefended. Intrinsic defences are destroyed by a -/100 or a-/100k result, and once destroyed never come back. Leaders function normally, but 'k'k results are ignored by defending leaders so long as the intrinsic defence is intact. Isengard's Intrinsic defence is permanently negated by Ents. Barad-dur 40 Isengard 20 Lorien 20 Rivendell 20 Grey Havens 20 Morannon 10 Dol Guldur 5 Minas Tirith 5 Thranduil's Palace should count as a Citadel (per the description in the Hobbit) Saruman In a 2-player game, must capture and garrison as follows: Fords of Isen (both sides) Helms Deep Edoras Dunharrow Hobbiton Bywater Buckland Michel Delving Far Downs Bree Fornost Isengard need not be garrisoned, but Saruman must remain there unless Sauron takes over. Sauron may choose howto attack and with how many, but must follow this, unless he pays: 2 shadow points to 'take control' 1 shadow point per attack while under his control 3 player game Saruman gets extra forces as follows: 10-6 Warg rider on M+1 Allies may move freely among each other except through Isengard/Mordor Sauron may attack Saruman at any time Saruman can't move eye-orcs. Saruman may 'convert' captured leaders who have been taken to Isengard, one per turn. They they become his units. Mount Doom No non-fellowship characters, including Saruman, may be placed on Mount Doom unless the ring is put on in Mordor, or the Ringbearer is spotted in Mordor by Nazgul or the Mouth of Sauron. Gorgoroth It is clear in the book the the plateau of Gorgoroth is virtually uninhabitable, therefore no army units may finish their move in Gorgoroth unless they are in a citadel or Udun. This prevents a highly implausible guarding of Mount Doom. Nurn is exmept from these restrictions and may be occupied as desired. The units listed as starting anywhere in Gorgoroth are instead placed as follows: 25-4 Orc [E0829] In Minas Morgul 3 x 5-5 Olog-Hai [E1029] In Barad-Dur Note that this restriction only applies to armies, and that it is lifted, like the Mount Doom restriction, if the ring is worn or spotted in Mordor. Time Factor Sauron was trying to win a Military Victory, but he needed to keep winning to keep his allies on side. This rules forces him to be aggressive. There are 20 objectives of which Sauron initially has 6. Barad-Dur Durthang Udun Minas Morgul Dol Guldur Umbar Minas Tirith Pelargir Linhir Dol Amroth Helm's Deep Edoras Isengard Lorien Thranduil's Palace Rivendell Grey Havens Hobbiton Esgaroth Bree Sauron must control certain numbers of objectivs at certain times after mobilisation. If at any time he holds 18 out of the 20, he wins the game with a military victory. Turn numbers are given after mobilisation (M) Turn Target M+0 6 M+5 8 M+10 10 M+15 12 M+20 14 M+25 and after 16 If Sauron fails to hold this number of objectives, the Haradrim, Variags and Easterlings desert and return to their home provinces (Far Harad, Khand and Rhun, respectively). The Corsairs will sail back to Umbar if they are in use. Orcs, Trolls and ither such creatures are unaffected. To get his allies back, Sauron drops one notch on the target scale. For instance, let's say that on M+15 he has only 11 objectives. No enough, so the allies desert. To get them back, he must have 10 by M+20, but of course he has far fewer troops to do it! Rescue Attempts Any uncaptured characters may try and rescue captured ones who fail to escape if they are in the same hex. Add combat and morale of all rescuers, and subtract strength of captors (including the value of all characters with the captors). If you roll less than or equal to this number on 2 dice you have rescued them, but a raw roll of 2 is always a success, and a raw roll of 12 fails and kills all the rescuers. Separate attempts may be made for each captive. No rescue attempts may be made on characters in citadels, and escape rolls add 1 in these circumstances. It is not possible to escape from Barad-Dur, and escape from Isengard is possible only by using Eagles. Auto mobilisation Rohan will always mobilise 2 turns after Saruman if it hasn't already done so. Gondor will always mobilise 2 turns after Sauron if it hasn't already done so. The Free People mobilise automatically 4 turns after Sauron if not already attacked. Misty Passes In spite of references to 'many' passes through the mountains, and the attempt to cross by the Redhorn gate, no provision is made for this in the game. Therefore the 'Misty Passes Open' card opes the Misty Passes and the hex-sides marked 'Carhadras' and 'Mount Gundabad', both of which were known passes. Only characters may move through, counting them as 'pass' hex-sides and paying all normal movement costs. Western Military option Aragorn or Gandalf may put on the ring and try to seize power. They follw the same rules as Saruman for this, but if they succeed in getting all the Nazgul the game is a draw - they can never win using this option. The Western Allies can get a military victory by confining all Mordor forces to Mordor and all Saruman forces to Isengard. Corsairs They are represented by a 50-5 infantry unit which starts in Umbar. They can be brought in only using the 'Corsairs' card. Rangers This unit may absorb a 'k' result instead of a leadrer if desired (being destoyed in the process). It can also act as a leader with a value of 1 if there are no other leaders present. Eowyn May kill Nazgul, but is out of the game for 1-6 turns thereafter, which she must spend in a citadel. Merry & Pippin May inflict 1 'real' wound n Nazgul, but are out of the game for 1-6 turns therefater, which they must spend in a citadel. Hobbits The Hobbit unit may not leave the Shire unless it has been in combat Nazgul 2 Nazgul plus a leader shifts the odds up one column. All 9 raise the odds by 2. This is for attack only. Paths of the Dead May only be traversed once! Denethor May not leave Minas Tirith Galadriel May move normally if Dol Guldur is taken, but if she leaves Lorien it loses its intrinsic defence. Rivendell and Lindon There were Elves here, though they did not as it happens take part in the War of the Ring. However, on M+4 a 5-5 Elf unit appears in Rivendell, and 5-5 units appear also at harlond and Grey Havens. Elrond may then leave Rivendell, but if he does it loses its intrinsic defence. He can give sorcery benefit to an army, even though he can't lead one. Ring rating If you take off the ring at the first attempt, you suffer no penalty. However, for each turn after the first that it stays on, your Endurance *and* you Ring rating drop by 1. Free Field combat You may try to disengage, but you must roll scoring less than or equal to the scores shown to succeed: Western Allies 4 Saruman, Sauron Allies 3 Sauron Orcs/Trolls/Uruks 2 Only an Elf leader, Gandalf or Aragorn may lead Elves, but Legolas can lead all-Elven armies, and Gimli all-dwarven ones. Celeborn and Thranduil have Elven Swords. Mobilisation Rohan is not mobilised by 10 or less Orcs moving through it, but may attacke them using only Emoer and his troops. 10 or less unmobilised troops may move with captives. Cavalry Shadowfax may not enter Mordor Leaders with cavalry have an MF of 7 Minas Tirith To reflect the great strength of this citadel it quadruples defenders (this should probably apply to Barad-Dur also) Nazgul Until Mordor mobilises, Nazgul may not use flying beasts West of the Anduin. West of the Anduin they have an MF of 7. Rout If attacked from more than hex away and you take at least 10% casualties and twice as many as you caused, your forces rout, moving your full MF away. -- God is with the big battalions. Napoleon.