A successful hunt

[Torque]

Hi,

I'd really like to know more about the possible outcomes of a successful hunt. As I understand it for each successful hunt die you draw a tile, from the pictures at Gamesfest I see there are tiles with numbers on them, a picture of a dice and an eye.
Can you tell me what are the various tiles that can be drawn and how they are dealt with?

Cheers Torque

[deadeyethingy]

I may be waaay off here, but this is what I recall from readings around the net (most on this site and board).

I believe that the numbers can be used to inflict damage to a member of the fellowship, or to move the ringbearer further on the corruption line.

I am a bit fuzzy on damage... but this is how I think it works: Each companion has a stength rating, which among other uses, is used to calculate how much damage they can take. So, for example, Strider might have a strength of 2. If a tile is drawn with 2 on it, the fellowship player would do two damage to any of the companions... which would kill Strider if applied to him. (It may be that Merry and Pippin are 1 strength a piece, and thus you could kill them both or something like that. I don't know the exact mechanic. But I am sure that Veldrin or another playtester, or the designer, Francesco, will come in and explain things in their usually thorough manner. )

As for the corruption line, once it reaches 12 the show's over. Frodo has succumb to the temptation of the ring and is now Sauron's play toy.

My guess is that the eye means the fellowship has been found and must be placed on the board appropriately.

Not sure what the die would be... maybe a variable amount of corruption or damage... not sure.

[Veldrin]

Heres the run down of it:

When the FP player moves the Fellowship the Shadow rolls his/her Hunt dice. If the Hunt is successful the Shadow player picks one of the Hunt tiles at random.

The tile has a number from 0-3. This is how dangerous or diffcult it is for the Fellowship to avoid being captured. If the Tile bears an Eye the Hunt number is equal to the number of successful die rolls where made when the Shadow rolled his/her Hunt dice.
It can be handled in three different ways:

a) Use the Ring to slip away. Add so many corruption points as the number on the Tile is (at 12 Corruption the Ring takes control of Frodo and the Shadow wins).

b) Sacrifice (=remove as a casualty) the Guide of the Fellowship and subtract the Guide's Level from the number shown on the Tile, if this equals zero or less no Corruption is added. If the number of the Tile minus the Guide's Level is >0 add the result as Corruption.

c) If you don't want to sacrifice the Guide randomly pick one Companion as a casualty and subtract that Companion's Level from the Hunt damage as with the Guide in B.

The Tile might also show a Reveal icon. If so the Fellowships position is Revealed and the FP player must place the Fellowship on the game board after counting how many steps they have moved on the movement track. They may not be Revealed in a Free Peoples' Stronghold or City.

There are aslo special Tiles put into the Hunt by certain Event cards, like Shelob's Lair and Phial of Galadriel.

[glow=green,2,300]Veldrin[/glow]

[steveowen]

Just to follow on from Kristofer being revealed can be quite nasty as the fellowship cannot move again until it is hidden and there are a number of shadow event cards that target the revealed FSP. In addition Nazgul and shadow armies can be placed in the same region as the FSP and increase the chances of a successful hunt subsequently. This is why the FP player generally hides the FSP again ASAP. The revealed or declared FSP outside of safe areas is much more vunerable and so one shadow strategy is to prise the FSP out of a stronghold by attacking it.

[redelcamuffo]

Hi guys!

I haven't understood how shadow strongholds, armies and nazgul affects the hunt for the Fellowship. Could you explain it?

Another question. If you choose to move the Fsp southwards (through Dunland) and you are revealed for example in southern dunland, since there's a city is it considered as a shadow strongholds for purpose of hunt effects?

Ciao

Rdc

[Francesco]

redelcamuffo said:

Hi guys!
I haven't understood how shadow strongholds, armies and nazgul affects the hunt for the Fellowship. Could you explain it?

The three conditions you mention let the SA player reroll an equal number of failed Hunt Roll dice. For example, if the Fellowship is in a region containing a SA army and a Nazgul, the SA player can reroll up to two Hunt dice.

Another question. If you choose to move the Fsp southwards (through Dunland) and you are revealed for example in southern dunland, since there's a city is it considered as a shadow strongholds for purpose of hunt effects?

No. Only evil strongholds affect the hunt.

[stevehope]

I understand that the Shadow player sets aside dice before rolling to be used for the Hunt. If an Eye then comes up on the die during the roll, is it accurate that those dice all get placed in the Hunt immediately as well?

[Francesco]

stevehope said:

I understand that the Shadow player sets aside dice before rolling to be used for the Hunt. If an Eye then comes up on the die during the roll, is it accurate that those dice all get placed in the Hunt immediately as well?

Yes. This is meant to 'simulate' the obsession that Sauron has for the Ring. He can't always control his urge to get it!

[stevehope]

So I guess if you WANT to get, say, 3 dice in the Hunt box you really should only put 2 there and figure that you'll get a third (and maybe more) out of the roll of the dice.

What's a normal number of dice for the Shadow player to allocate to the Hunt in the first few turns?

Also, Francesco, I have to say that you and the other designers have been remarkably helpful and involved with these boards! I hope you'll hang around after the release as well to help clarify rules issues!

Steve

[steveowen]

You asked about the optimum number of dice to place in the hunt box. This depends on several factors. The first is that you can only place as many dice as there are companions in the fellowship (this is important in Mordor where there you need to balance the cover extra companions can give the FSP against every die in the hunt box counting as a hit if an eye tile is drawn from the bag - a tile being drawn for every step in Mordor). The second is that no more than five dice count for the hunt. The third, as you have mentioned, is the possibility of rolling eyes in addition to the allocated hunt dice. The fourth is the number of dice you have to play with. At game start you have seven but bring Saruman and the Witch King into play and you have nine. The fifth is what cards you may have in your hand which can target the fellowship. The sixth is whether the FSP is holed up in a stronghold or relatively exposed somwhere on the board. The seventh is the overall military situation - do you need the dice results desperately elsewhere? Usually, however, the optimum is 2-3. Three dice mean you have a 50% chance of hitting the FSP if they move once and evens if they make a run for it. Always try and leave one in though as the FSP get a free ride otherwise. As you can see the hunt system is a game within itself.