Turn Sequence Rulings
Beginning of the Game
- If a character is put in the deck due to duplication in the
starting company, then it does not count against the ten character
limit.
- You should roll dice for the whole game.
- Your starting company can only contain 20 points of unmodified
mind.
- Non-character cards duplicated in the character draft may not
be placed into the play deck.
- Your staring hand is eight cards, regardless of what characters
= you have at particular sites.
Untap Phase
- Corruption checks triggered at the end of the untap phase happen
after everyone untaps.
Organization Phase
Choosing a New Site
- Rules Erratum: When a company splits, any of
the resulting companies can move with region movement. Region
movement is not limited to one company of a split.
- Any single site path cannot have more than one copy of a particular
region.
- Any company may declare as its new site a site already on the
table. That site will remain on the table at least until the end
of that company's movement/hazard phase.
- Two companies may not start at the same site of origin and
move to the same new site.
- Effects that are played during the organization phase, and
depend on the site or site path of a moving company, create an
effect which is not declared until the new site is revealed. If
the site or site path is not of the appropriate type when the
effect resolves, the resource has no effect. If the company has
multiple movement/hazard phases on the same turn, the card applies
separately to each phase, having an effect only if the correct
conditions are met.
Followers
- A character cannot use a bonus to direct influence against
Blue Mountain Dwarves to control characters with the home
site Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold. The bonus only applies to
the faction.
- Bonuses to direct influence against characters apply only once,
not for each character.
Organizing Companies
- When a company splits up, its player chooses which characters
are the original company and which characters are a new company,
unless otherwise directed by a card. All resource permanent-events
played on the original company stay with the original company.
- Company composition changes that you choose to make, including
bringing a character into play, must all be done at the same time
during the organization phase. During this time no other actions
may be taken.
- If a company splits, all but one of the split companies must
attempt to move to a different site this turn. The company may
not rejoin in the same phase.
- You may transfer a character from one company at a site to
another, without creating a third company.
- See also Rulings by Term, Company and Influence.
Playing Characters
- Rules Erratum: You may play a character even
if you do not have enough influence to control them. However,
if there are any characters you do not have the influence to control
at the end of your organization phase, the character you brought
into play this turn must be returned to your hand.
- If you play a Ringwraith at a non-Darkahven site where there
is one of your non-Ringwraith comapnies, one of the companies
must move that turn. If both companies are still there at the
end of the movement/hazard phase, discard the non-Rinwraith company.
Storing Items
- Minions who roll equal to or one less than their accumulated
corruption when storing an item are only tapped.
- A minion who taps from a corruption check for storing/transferring
an item still successfully stores/transfers that item.
Long Event Phase
Movement/Hazard Phase
General
- Annotation 25: A company is considered to be at the
site given by its site card at all times except from the moment
their new site card is revealed during their movement/hazard phase
until their old site card is discarded during the same movement/hazard
phase. During this period a company is considered to be en route
between sites and not at any site.
- Annotation 25a: A company's movement/hazard phase is
concluded when a moving company removes its site of origin and
both players agree to reconcile (discard down to/draw up to) their
hand sizes. No resources (and obviously no hazards) can be played,
and no resource effects can be activated, until the site phase
or until both players have drawn cards for the movement of a following
company.
- Annotation 25b: Players drawing cards when a new site
is revealed is synonymous with the resolution of the new site
being revealed. It happens immediately, not in the following chain
of effects.
- Annotation 26: If at the start of a player's movement/hazard
phase, there are multiple effects in play such that their net
effect depends on the order they are applied, the player who is
currently not taking his turn (i.e., the hazard player) decides
the order in which they are to be applied. Once this interpretation
is established, all further actions are applied in the order they
are resolved for the rest of the turn.
- Once the effects of an environment card have been applied to
a target during a given movement/hazard phase, that effect is
not applied again to that target during the current turn.
- When you draw cards for movement, you may continue drawing
cards until you either want to stop, or have drawn the number
of cards allowed for the movement.
- Companies at the same non-Haven/non-Darkhaven site must join
at the end of all movement/hazard phases, before the site phase
starts. Companies at the same Haven/Darkhaven site may join at
this time.
- If companies would join at the end of the movement/hazard phase
such that the company composition rules are violated, one company
of the hazard player's choice must return to its site of origin.
- If two companies join at a site, cards affecting one of the
companies now affect them both.
- Removing the site of origin and resetting to hand size are
simultaneous actions, and they are the last actions in any movement/hazard
phase. This means a moving company is not at a site until the
site phase.
- The same region (as in region card) may not occur twice in
a single site path.
- A non-moving company's current site is considered its new site
for card play.
Movement
General
- If a company does not move, it still has a movement/hazard
phase. No cards are drawn based on the company's movement, and
the only hazards that can be played on the company are events
and creatures that can be keyed to the company's site.
- Lebennin and Ithilien are not adjacent, even though they look
that way on some maps.
- If a company moves twice in one turn, resources played during
the organization phase, like Secret Passage, are reapplied
to the company at the beginning of each of their movement/hazard
phases, if the conditions of the card are met.
- If both players have access to region movement, then neither
player may be stopped from using region movement. Access includes
region cards or an appropriate map.
Playing Hazards
- Some hazard permanent-events allow you to tap or discard them
for an effect, and this does not count against the hazard limit
unless specified otherwise on the card.
- Hazards may only be played on a company whose movement/hazard
phase is being resolved, or on the site they are moving to. Long-events
and permanent-events may effect more than one company even though
they are only played "on" one company.
- If a card must be keyed to two or more instances of a region
type, those region types do not have to be consecutive in the
site path.
- If you say you are done playing hazards and your opponent plays
a resource before the movement/hazard phase ends, you may then
resume playing hazards, assuming you have not yet reached the
hazard limit.
- If a company is moving from a surface site to an Under-deeps
site, hazards may not be played keyed to the region of the surface
site.
- Angmar Arises, In Darkness Bind Them, and Reaching
Shadow may not be used to play creatures keyed to double shadow-lands.
- A creature "played at" a site is the same as being "keyed to"
the site.
- A creature "played at a site in" a region is the same as being
"keyed to" the site by name.
- For the purposes of interpreting hazards, no Darkhaven or Haven
has a site path except for Geann a-Lisch.
- You check the hazard limit at declaration and resolution. At
declaration there must be less hazards already declared than the
hazard limit. At resolution there must be no more hazards declared
than the hazard limit.
Returning to Site of Origin
- If a company returns to its site of origin, its site path immediately
disappears, and its movement/hazard phase immediately ends.
- An effect that returns a company to its site of origin may
not be declared in the middle of an attack.
Combat
General
- Side effects of losing a character are resolved immediately
after the character is lost, before other characters resolve their
strikes.
- All strikes of an attack must be assigned before any are resolved.
- See also Rulings by Term, Ally and Body Check; and Turn Sequence,
Site Phase, Company vs. Company Combat.
Attack
- Annotation 12: An attack is considered to be resolved
and concluded when the final strike, all special actions resulting
from the final strike, and the associated body check are resolved.
- Annotation 13: An attack may not be canceled once its
strikes have been assigned. A strike may not be canceled once
the dice-roll for the strike has been made.
- Annotation 14: A canceled attack has no effect on its
target company, except that the company is considered in its history
to have faced the attack.
- Annotation 15: An attack must be the first declared
action in a chain of effects; i.e., a creature card may not be
played in response to another card in the same chain of effects.
Revealing an on-guard creature is an exception.
- In order to cancel an attack or to directly affect an attack,
the character doing so must be in the company facing the attack.
Note that the region/site type a hazard creature was keyed to
can be affected otherwise.
- Cards only modify attacks if they say they specifically mention
attacks.
- When a minion company defeats an attack with no * by the MPs,
the creature goes to the out-of-play pile belonging to the person
who played the attack. They may still be taken as a trophy, but
go to the appropriate out-of-play pile when the trophy is discarded.
- Excess strikes applied as -1 modifiers do not have to have
their body defeated.
- If an attack states all characters in a company face a strike,
then effects which allow a character to face more than one strike
have no effect against the attack. Similarly, effects that change
the attack's number of strikes have no effect. As an exception,
effects which reduce the number of strikes to a specific number
do work.
- Any effect that would change the number of strikes for an attack
may not be played after strikes are assigned. This includes cards
that have other additional effects, and cards that only indirectly
change the number of strikes.
- Attacks created by events are not keyed to anything unless
specifically stated as being keyed to something on the card.
- There are three levels of cards which reassign strikes. Alatar
is the top level, and overrides any other conflicting card which
changes the assignment of strikes. Cards which say they "always"
or "in all cases" change the assignment of strikes are the next
level, and override any other conflicting effects except Alatar.
Cards which say they change the assignment of strikes "regardless
of ..." certain factors are the third level, and are overridden
by all other effects from conflicting cards. If two effects on
the same level conflict, the resource overrides the hazard.
- If an attack can not be cancelled, strikes from the attack
may still be cancelled.
- An attack is considered faced by a company if it successfully
resolves in its chain of effects.
- Attacks or strikes keyed by name to a region or site cannot
be cancelled by effects which refer only to the type of the region
or site.
The Strike Sequence
- Annotation 16: When a wounded character becomes unwounded,
he is considered in his history to have been wounded and must
face any special actions the wounding strike presented him.
- Annotation 17: The only actions that may be declared
during a strike sequence are those outlined in Annotation 18.
- Annotation 18: When a defending player chooses to resolve
a strike against a particular character, the only actions that
may be taken by either player until the strike dice-roll is made
are the following: playing hazard cards that affect the strike,
the attacker may decide to use any or all of his remaining -1
modifications due to strikes in excess of the company's size,
a target untapped character may take a -3 modification so that
he will not automatically tap, and the defending character may
play resource cards that affect the strike. An action that has
the condition that a target character tap, but which otherwise
has an effect not outlined here, may not be declared at this point.
This is true even if the recipient of the strike would be the
target character tapping and thus receive -1 to his prowess.
- Annotation 19: Following each successful strike or failed
strike, a body check must be rolled (unless the failed strike
has no body). However, if the strike calls for any special actions
to follow it (e.g., a character wounded by William may
be required to discard his items), these special actions are resolved
before the body check. The body check is the first declared action
in a nested chain of effects that immediately follows the strike
dice-roll and special actions resulting from the strike. Other
actions may be declared in response to a body check, in the same
chain of effects, but these are limited to those actions that
directly affect the body check dice-roll. E.G., Tookish Blood
could not be declared in response to the body check caused by
Giant Spiders wounding a Hobbit. No action may be declared
in response to a special action resulting from a strike unless
the special action is a dice-rolling action, i.e., a special action
is generally considered synonymous with the strike dice-roll.
If the special action is a dice-rolling action, an action may
be declared in response to it if the action directly affects the
dice-roll.
- Annotation 20: If more than one special action is to
follow a strike, the defending player decides the order they are
resolved.
- Annotation 21: A successful strike against a character
is synonymous with that character being wounded; i.e., inverting
a character card on the playing surface is not a separate action
from the successful strike.
- Wounded characters only suffer a -2 prowess. In general, wounded
characters are not considered tapped.
- Non-item prowess bonuses are applied in the order the player
controlling the character decides.
- If a character is facing two strikes, and the first strike
kills the character, the second strike is considered successful.
- There is time between the strike sequences to take actions
that are otherwise legal.
Site Phase
General
- Items, factions and allies must be played during the site phase.
- There is no one resource card per site phase rule. However,
the tapping of the site usually limits you to one card per site
phase.
- The site taps upon successful play of the resource that would
tap it.
- A company may not play any resource during the site phase until
they have faced all automatic-attacks, unless that resource directly
affects an automatic-attack. Removing an automatic-attack does
not directly affect it, although cancelling does.
- You may only play a free minor item after playing an ally,
faction, or item that taps the site.
- See also Rulings by Term, Item.
- Play of an ally, item, faction, or resource card which will
normally tap the site must be after the company resolves all automatic,
agent and on-guard creature attacks.
Company vs. Company Combat
- The defender may take actions that affect the attack or any
of the strikes. The attacker may only take actions that affect
individual strikes.
- True Fána and Sacrifice of Form cannot
be used in company versus company combat.
- Hazards have no effect on company vs. company combat.
- Only the defender is considered to be facing an attack, but
all characters are considered to be facing strikes.
- Tapped defending characters choose their strikes after untapped
attacking characters have assigned their strikes.
- Minion and hero companies can attack each other. Hero companies
may not attack each other. A Fallen Wizard covert company is considered
a hero company.
- See also Card Rulings, Swarm =
of Bats.
Automatic-attacks
- A card that can cancel an attack can cancel an automatic-attack,
and this counts as facing the automatic-attack.
- Automatic-attacks added to a site are faced after the normal
automatic-events for the site. Multiple automatic-attacks are
faced in the order listed and/or resolved.
- Company composition and overt/covert status is checked before
each automatic attack.
- Any character may tap to cancel one automatic-attack at his
home site.
- The only resources you may play against automatic-attacks are
ones that cancel the attack, cancel a strike, or would be otherwise
playable during the strike sequence.
Influence Attempts
- It is not possible to influence an item away from a Wizard
or Ringwraith.
- You may influence a Hobbit if you are not at Bag End.
- A successful influence attempt on an opponent's resource does
not tap the site.
- You may only make one influence attempt against your opponent's
resources during each turn.
- When influencing factions across alignments, you roll against
the number on the card in play that you are trying to influence
away.
- For a Fallen-wizard, the resource revealed must match the alignment
of the site at which the attempt is taking place.
On-Guard Cards
- Rules Erratum: An on-guard card may only be revealed
if it could have also been played during the movement/hazard phase.
This means all targets of the card must have existed during the
movement/hazard phase in order for the card to be revealed.
- A revealed on-guard card retroactively takes effect as though
it were both declared and resolved immediately prior to the chain
of effects during which it was revealed.
- An on-guard card may be revealed when the company plays a resource
that potentially taps the site. The card must affect the company
or a character in the company that site phase. Note that this
clarification is looser than the rule printed on page 61 of the
Unlimited Rules book.
- A successful ring test does not allow an on-guard card to be
revealed.
- You may reveal a card in response to an influence attempt against
a faction even if the on-guard card only has an effect if the
attempt is successful. You may also reveal a card in response
to such an attempt that affects the actual influence attempt.
- Only declared or on-going cards and effects can be considered
when determining the validity of revealing an on-guard card. Potential
effects that have not been triggered cannot be considered.
- A card cannot be revealed that:
- Returns a company to its site of origin.
- Taps a company's site.
- Potentially removes a character from a company, besides combat
or corruption checks.
- Forces a company to do nothing during its site phase.
- Directly taps a character in the company.
- A card that potentially removes an ally from the company can
be revealed, so long as it otherwise is legal.
- The on-guard card is not considered to be in any player's hand.
- When an on-guard card is revealed, it immediately ceases to
be considered an on-guard card.
- Creatures may only be revealed on-guard if there is an automatic-attack
at the site.
- If two companies are at a Haven, on-guard cards played on one
company can only be revealed against that company, and can only
affect that company (unless the hazard states it affects all versions
of the site).
- See also Rulings By Term, Burglary Attempts.
End-of-Turn Phase
- End-of-turn effects are triggered by the ending of the End-of-Turn
phase. Once both players are done with all actions in the End-of-Turn
phase, all End-of-Turn effects are declared and resolved in the
order chosen by the current player. No further actions may be
declared that turn.
- Cards may be played during the End-of-Turn phase after hand
size has been reconciled.
- Replacing one site with another at the end of the turn counts
as movement, without a movement/hazard phase.
End-of-Game
- These rulings apply to any end game, whether it is the Free
Council, the Audience with Sauron, or the Day of Reckoning.
- Characters may tap to aid corruption checks, if they are in
the same company.
- Long- and permanent-events still in play will still have an
effect.
- Only resources that directly affect corruption checks may be
played during the Free Council. This includes cards that reduce
a character's corruption point total or prevent a character from
being discarded.
- When determining if more than half of your marshalling points
come from one type of marshalling point, ignore negative marshalling
points. The easy way to do this is if one category is more than
half of your positive marshalling points, reduce that category
to equal all of your other positive marshalling point categories
combined.
- To calculate marshalling points at the Free Council, follow
these steps:
- Total up the marshalling points for each category. The modifications
from My Precious, factions played on a leader, and eliminated
characters apply now.
- If your opponent has no points in a category then double
your points in that category. Doubling does not apply to the
Miscellaneous or Kill categories.
- If one of your categories accounts for more than half of
your positive marshalling point total, reduce it so that it
has the same number of points as the rest of your positive categories
combined.
- Subtract any points that are subtracted from your total,
including points from unique resources your opponent has duplicated
in his hand.
- See also Rulings by Term, Under-deeps.
- Marshalling points that minions have at an Under-deeps site
do not count for calling the Audience with Sauron, but do count
at the Audience with Sauron.
- You may only call the Free Council if you have met the deck
cycling and marshalling point requirements, not if only your opponent
has.
- You may not recieve kill MPs from a card you played.
- MPs from special and minor items count as item MPs.
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