War of the Ring by SPI
William Sariego

As someone who has re-read The Lord of the Rings trilogy every three
years since first discovering Middle Earth in 1977, the coming movie has
brought back an interest in the classic game by SPI. The game was
published in 1977 and has shown some wear, and has a few anomalies which
are not relevent in this piece. What I want to share is some things I’ve
done over the years to add a little chrome, and possibly improve game
play. The rules below are of course, optional, and can be taken as a
whole or used individually as players see fit.

SERVANTS OF SAURON

To make the game a bit deadlier, there should be no "A Frightening
Rumor" cards. Instead, make card #41 a Mountain Giant (they are
mentioned in The Hobbit), and card #42 a Great Worm (Gandalf in chapter
two of FotR makes mention that a few weak dragons are still around).

The Giant has a Combat value of 3, Morale of (3), and Endurance of 5,
The Great Worm has a Combat value of 4, Morale of (3) and an Endurance
of 5

NEW LEADERS FOR DARK POWER PLAYER 

One of the biggest drawbacks to the Dark Power player winning a military
victory is the great many objectives to be captured, and the few leaders
available to command the otherwise overwhelming forces that exist. Add
the King of Rhun and the Sultan of Harad. This will improve the Dark
Power players leadership without imbalancing things too much.

The King of Rhun is (for arguments sake) an elderly despot carried to
war on a Palaquin, hoisted by slaves. He has a Combat value of 2, Morale
value of 1, Endurance of 4, Ring Rating of 0, and a movement value of 5.
The King of Rhun arrives on M+2 with the Rhun 25-5 combat unit.

The Sultan of Harad is a descendant of the Black Numenorians, and rides
the back of a giant Mumak in battle. He has a Combat value of 3, Morale
value of 2, Endurance of 5, Ring Rating of 0, and Movement value of 6.
He arrives with the reinforcements in Far harad on M+3 with the 5-6
Mumakil unit.

NAZGUL CHANGES 

Moving Nazgul can be an expensive proposition, and with nine of them
mucking about causing mischief, and armies to ponder. If the Nazgul move
with an army (beginning the turn in the same hex) they move for free.
They are considered to be accompanying the army to have a negative
affect on the foes of Lord Sauron. Over and over in the books it is
stressed that the greatest attribute of the Nazgul is fear (witness the
ineffectiveness of the physical attack at Weathertop). If at least three
Nazgul are present in a battle they have a -1 die roll effect to the
Fellowship player, regardless of any other leadership modifiers. The
drawback is that if they are used to affect combat, the same Nazgul
cannot be used to Search the following turn. This Nazgul Fear does not
affect Fellowship forces that include Gandalf, Aragorn, Galadrial, or
Elrond.

Also, it is a common them to park Nazgul #3-#9 on Mt. Doom and await the
final conflict with the Fellowship. Yet the book makes it clear the
attempt to destroy the Ring caught Sauron by surprise. Nazgul cannot
move to Mt. Doom unless a Hobbit (any hobbit will do) is spotted within
the confines of Morder or the Ring is put on there. 

RADAGAST THE BROWN 

Radagast was of the Order of Wizards, and was primarily concerned with
nature and beasts. He played only a tiny part in the War of the ring,
both inadvertantly arranging for Gandalf being captured by Saruman AND
rescued by Gwahir the Great Eagle.

Radagast is considered a Western Ally character and is mobilized
accordingly. He has a Combat value of 2, Morale value of (2), Endurance
value of 5, Ring Rating of 4, Capture/Escape value of 2/2, Sorcery value
of C, and Movement value of 7. Roll a die at the moment the Western
Allies are mobilized. A 1-2 and be begins at Bree, 3-4 in Dimril Dale,
5-6 at Esgaroth (remember, the messengers of Elrond did not locate him
at his home in Mirkwood in FotR, as he was no doubt away on Wizard’s
business!).

He has a loyalty to Saruman, however. If Saruman ever seizes the Ring,
Radagast immediately switches allegiance to Saruman and the Fellowship
player must randomly discard one event card! At this point Radagast’s
Morale value becomes a pure 2, enabling him to lead armies and his Ring
Rating drops to 3. He is now Saruman’s lackey for the duration of the
game.

SHADOWFAX

Nothing is more irritating than to acquire Shadowfax in Rivendell and
then lose him due to having to go through Moria. If Shadowfax should
ever be discarded due to game play, the card is returned to Edoras where
he can again be acquired by a Fellowship character. Also, treat Gimli as
a hobbit for purposes of being carried by Shadowfax (after all, Arod,
the horse of Rohan given to Legolas was able to carry the dwarf, so
should Shadowfax).

COMBAT

In personal combat, all the Elven characters except Legolas (he is too
young to have an heirloom) are considered to have an Elven sword. This
would be important for knocking off Nazgul. Also, due to his Fate, the
Lord of the Nazgul cannot be slain by man....how does this translate in
game terms? Bloody good question. The Rot K he is slain by Eowyn, and
badly wounded by Merry. All the hobbits had Blades of Westerness,
retrieved from the Barrow Wight’s Tomb, so these can be treated as
"Elven" against the Big Dude, and Eowyn is given special dispensation to
wound him (but only the Lord).

The great Mumakil are the Elephants of Middle Earth, and like them, can
be a two-edged sword as far as effectiveness. If Mumak are involved in
any combat, roll a die before battle is resolved: 1-2 they rampage into
their own troops, causing a loss of 1-6 strength points (Dark Power
player chooses, but one must be Mumakil), 3-4 resolve battle as normal,
5-6 grant the Dark Power player a die roll modifier of +/- 1 as Sauron
sees fit.

SAURON CAPTURES THE RING

The game ends if this should happen. Why, might one ask? It is certainly
true that he had the Ring in the 2nd Age and was successfully resisted
by the (admittingly stronger) Free Peoples. If Sauron seizes the Ring
implement the following rules.

1] The Dark Power player gets 20 Shadow Points per turn.

2] Sauron can take physical form once more. He has a Combat value of 5,
Morale value of 4, Endurance of 6 (can only be affected by Sorcery or
Elven Swords), Sorcery value of A/C (i.e. roll once on the A column,
once on the C), has a Sorcery defense of -1 (similar to the Balrog), and
a Movement value of 7.

3] The Dark Power player now must complete the military takeover of
Middle Earth, as per the 3-Player game Rule Z, adding the Grey Havens,
Rivendell, and the Lorien magic hex to the required hexes needed to win.
If Sauron is slain the Dark Power player losses immediately.

4] The Dunlendings and their chief (if still surviving) immediately
become Western Allies. Half of Saruman’s other forces (round fractions
up for both Orcs and Uruk-Hai) go AWOL. The remainder (and Saruman) are
moved at top speed to Isengard where they cannot move for the remainder
of the game. Radagast (if a traitor) realizes the error of his ways and
joins the Western Allies again, but retains the ability to lead armies. 

5] The Elves mobilize what is left of their strength. Elrond and
Galadrial can now move (5 movement points per turn). Deploy a 1-5 unit
in Rivendell. Deploy a 5-5 unit in the Grey Havens, along with Cirdan.
Cirdan has a Combat value of 2, Morale value of (2), Endurance of 4,
Sorcery value of C, and a movement of 5. Ring and Capture/escape ratings
are pointless at this stage. Rivendell can now be entered by armies, as
the Ring gives away its hidden location to Sauron

6] Omit the Search Phase......and Nazgul #3 through #9 all have a morale
of 2 and can thus lead armies. 

7] The game can extend beyond Turn 20. At the end of each additional
turn roll two dice. Rolling doubles will end the game at that point, as
the Valar return to put an end to Sauron once and for all, and the
situation effectively goes beyond the player’s control....we’ll call it
a draw.

8] Gollum is removed from the game.

9] Starting on Turn 21 both sides start recieving replacements. 2
Western Ally strength points become available at the beginning of each
Fellowship players turn. They can be deployed anywhere a Western Ally
Unit started the game, or in a Gondorian or Rohirrim citadel. No Dwarves
or Elves; and the remnants of Rohan and Gondor are included in these two
points. Sauron rolls a die 6 for his men (red units) and Orcs (only).
That is the number of strength points that can be replaced. No more than
one Orc point can be Uruk-Hai and no more than one Man point can be
cavalry. No trolls of any sort or Mumakil. The Men strength points must
begin in Umbar and the Orcs in any citadel in Mordor or in Dol Guldur.

Playing past Sauron’s capture of the Ring is quite fun if one has extra
time to spare, or if the Ring is captured quickly and you don’t want to
waste all the time spent in setting up the game. It could be played as a
starting scenario, but I leave it to better minds to come up with the
situation. An obvious starting point would be with the death of Frodo
and Sam on Mt. Doom, killed by Gollum, who is turn doesn’t make it out
alive. The problem here is that it was only the destruction of the Ring
that prevented the annilhation of the Good Guys at the Battle of Slag
Hills, so you would have to assume no Aragorn, Gandalf, etc.........not
a pretty picture. A more balanced scenario would be to assume the
capture of Frodo and Sam while attempting to pass Minas Morgal.