Novice questions, please read.

[oscar]

I just picked up the game yesterday and have since read the complete rules twice. The game seems amazing, but the rules, at least how they are explained in the rule book, seem unecessarily complex.

Anyway, my question is:

In the first turn, the Fellowship Phase, the FP player cannot move the fellowship because the counter is at 0, correct? The player will have to wait until the action phase, using a Character die, to move the fellowship counter up one space. This of course, intitiates the Hunt.

During the Hunt allocation phase, the SP decides how many of his initial 7 dice to put in the Hunt Box. Right after, does the SP player roll the remaining dice during his Action Rolll or does he roll all 7? From the rules it seems that if you allocate two dice during the Hunt Allocation Phase, then you can only roll 5 dice during the Action Phase, correct?

At the beginning of the game, the FP player can only move armies in and around the border of their nation? When an army moves, either by Army result or Character result, it can only move one space.

If a Hunt is successful, does the FP player have to unhide the fellowship marker, thus revealing the fellowship? Or is the fellowship only revealed if the Hunt tile has a reveal icon on it?


When can the fellowship hide again? What benefit is there to unhiding the fellowship?

What's a typical first round in this game. With the rules seeming somewhat complex, with so many actions to be taken, it's a little confusing as to where to start.

Thanks a lot. Much appreciated.

Cheers

[Krieghund]

oscar said:

I just picked up the game yesterday and have since read the complete rules twice. The game seems amazing, but the rules, at least how they are explained in the rule book, seem unecessarily complex.

I don't think they're so much complex as they are a little disorganized. I had to read them three times before parts of them made sense to me. I will say that I didn't have a lot of questions once I understood them. The FAQ on this site will help clear some things up.

In the first turn, the Fellowship Phase, the FP player cannot move the fellowship because the counter is at 0, correct? The player will have to wait until the action phase, using a Character die, to move the fellowship counter up one space. This of course, intitiates the Hunt.

If by "move" you mean Declare, then yes you are right. The Fellowship begins the game Declared at Rivendell, so the movement counter is at zero.

During the Hunt allocation phase, the SP decides how many of his initial 7 dice to put in the Hunt Box. Right after, does the SP player roll the remaining dice during his Action Rolll or does he roll all 7? From the rules it seems that if you allocate two dice during the Hunt Allocation Phase, then you can only roll 5 dice during the Action Phase, correct?

That is correct - you roll the remaining 5 dice.

At the beginning of the game, the FP player can only move armies in and around the border of their nation? When an army moves, either by Army result or Character result, it can only move one space.

Actually, you can move armies of a nation that is not yet "at War" outside of their national boundaries - you just cannot move them inside of another nation's boundaries. There are several areas on the map that belong to no nation. Armies may move only one space per action, unless they are being moved by a card that says otherwise.

If a Hunt is successful, does the FP player have to unhide the fellowship marker, thus revealing the fellowship? Or is the fellowship only revealed if the Hunt tile has a reveal icon on it?

The Fellowship is Revealed only if the drawn Hunt Tile has a Reveal icon.

When can the fellowship hide again? What benefit is there to unhiding the fellowship?

You can use a Character Action Die to hide the Fellowship. It is important to note the distinction between Revealing and Declaring the Fellowhip. The Shadow does the former, while the Free Peoples do the latter. By Declaring the Fellowship, the Free Peoples player can move the marker to a beneficial location (such as an FP stronghold for healing) or away from a harmful location (such as Nazgul or a Shadow army). Also, when the Fellowship is Declared, it does not need to be hidden to move again.

What's a typical first round in this game. With the rules seeming somewhat complex, with so many actions to be taken, it's a little confusing as to where to start.

I am not sure there is a "typical" first round. Check out the strategy pages on this website for tips.

Hope this helps.

[oscar]

Thanks.

While declaring the fellowship you can move the figure, equal to or less than the fellowship track, it says to move the fellowship it must be hidden.

I'm assuming that declaring the fellowship doesn't change the hiddden/revealed status, because as you have said it has nothing to with moving the fellowship unless the Shadow player reveals them.

Clarification please...

[Veldrin]

You are correct, when the FP player Declares the Fellowship's location the Fellowship marker is not turned to the Revealed side. The Fellowship remains Hidden.

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

[oscar]

Thanks Veldrin.


Concerning the Hunt, it says the SP uses any dice he may have put in the Hunt Box, plus any dice with the Eye result.
In addition they get any additional dice if the FP has moved using a Character result to move the fellowship.

So, if I put two dice during allocation, plus have one "Eye" result that would mean three dice in total. If the FP player has used a Character result to move the fellowship (counter) - which is the only way to move the fellowship, except for cards, then these dice are also added.

So my question is do you add a FP dice every time they move the fellowship counter or only if they move more than once??


In the rules it says every time time, but then later on it says more than once. Confusing.

Thanks.

[steveowen]

Each time the fellowship moves in one turn the action die used to allow them to move is placed in the hunt box. This signifies that the second time the fellowship moves in a turn the shadow rolls a number of dice equal to the shadow dice in the hunt box and score hits on 5 or 6's rather than just 6's. If moving for a third time the dice hit on 4,5, or 6's. So the free peoples dice in the hunt box just represent reminders of the modifiers to the conventional dice rolled to determine hunt success.

[Krieghund]

It is also important to note that the FP die is added to the Hunt Box after the Hunt, so the bonus only accrues on the second and subsequent Hunt Rolls.

[eXistenZ]

Rules state that, if the Fellowship is revealed when it enters to or escape from a SA Stronghold, an additional tile is drawn. But what about passing through? E.g., if the fellowship is revealed, and then the FP chooses to pass through Moria, does it suffer a sort of "Balrog of Moria" effect (that causes an additional tile drawn even if the company is declared)?

[Veldrin]

Yes, the rules also states that you draw an additional Hunt tile for starting in, ending in or passing through a Shadow Stronghold if the Fellowship is Revealed.

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

[eXistenZ]

Veldrin said:

Yes, the rules also states that you draw an additional Hunt tile for starting in, ending in or passing through a Shadow Stronghold if the Fellowship is Revealed.

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

I just checked the Complete English Rules on the sites and, as you wrote, it's explicitly stated (and underlined!) that an additional tile is drawn if the fellowship is revealed moving through a SA Stronghold, whilst in the italian version it is not. Maybe if I had translated the Rules and the Cards I would have made better...

That means, if I pass through Moria being revealed, and the Balrog is on the table, TWO additional tiles are drawn?!

And, again: when the fellowship moves through Moria being revealed, am I forced to discard Balrog to draw a tile, or may I save it to use its combat effect?

[Veldrin]

Yes, you have to discard the Balrog card to draw the additional Hunt tile.

You can always keep it there to use in a future assault on Lorien but then you don't get the extra Hunt tile for the Balrog.

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

[oscar]

Hi Veldrin et al:

OK, so as I understand it this is how the fellowship moves. Please correct me if I'm wrong:


The FP gets a Character result on a die:

He decides to move the FSP one point up the fellowship track. That die that he used to move is added to the Hunt Box. If the FP player has another die with a Character result on it, he may move a second time up the fellowship track again. If he does, I use the die already in the Hunt Box. And so on...


Next clarification, some cards in order to work say the FSP's last known position. Does this mean the last position where the FSP figure was revealed or declared? And then if the card requires you trace their steps since the position, moving into a position, etc.

When you reveal the FSP after a successful normal hunt, you then trace their steps and if it happens thast the figure has moved from, through and into, and if they have you draw one more hunt tile immediately following the first hunt?

Next question: If you use a card's ability, can you keep the card around for it's combat ability or must it be discarded?

Next point: If we haven't received any special cards that let us access the special hunt tiles, then use the normal hunt tiles, which are recycled when the player enters the Mordor Track?


If my army is invading an enemy territory with an enemy stronghold and army, but the army is outside the stronghold, before my enemy can retreat into the stronghold, does a round of normal combat take place, or can he retreat into the stronghold automatically before combat happens?

When Saruman is in Orthanc, and an invading army attacks, does battle take place as normal, or can Saruman retreat into the stronghold and then have a siege battle. Also, once Saruman is dead, he cannot be ressurected?


When combat cards add +1, does that mean in actuality, subtract 1. In other words, you need a 6 to hit, now you need a 5? Also, Aragorn's ability says add 1, up to a maximum of 5, but if you already have 6 units in the army, it doesn't matter, unless you go below...


When a combat card says player does not get a Leader re-roll for combat, does that mean for one round of battle or until the battle is over?


Whle mustering two regular units or two leaders forces you to put them in different settlements, if you muster one regular and one leader, you can place them both in the same settlement.

To play the Shadow's extra characters you simply have to meet the requirements of the card, not have to match the symbol in the top right corner, then meet the requirements in order to play.


Thanks a lot everyone. I really appreciate it. The game is amazing, but nailing down all the nuances can be a little daunting. Cheers,

[eXistenZ]

So many questions! Since, by your admission, you're new to this wonderful but complicate game, I recommend at first to play with the introductory rules, then read carefully the complete rules (many doubts can just be resolved with the official english version if you don't have that) and the FAQ, regularly updated and which should be considered as an appendix to the rules. You will see by yourself that many of your questions will find an exhaustive answer

[oscar]

Existenz,

You are right. I was finally able to access the FAQ (it was down yesterday). However, one final question: If Saruman is in Orthanc, and Orthanc is beseiged by an enemy force, doesn't Saruman get destroyed? According to the FAQ, he can never die, except through the use of an Ent card. But how does an enmey army occupy Orthanc, if he can neve leave?

[Krieghund]

oscar said:

If Saruman is in Orthanc, and Orthanc is beseiged by an enemy force, doesn't Saruman get destroyed? According to the FAQ, he can never die, except through the use of an Ent card. But how does an enmey army occupy Orthanc, if he can neve leave?

If the FP army defeats an SP army at Orthanc, Saruman is destroyed. Since characters may only be destroyed in combat when they are with an army, the FAQ example is only applicable if Saruman is alone (without an army) in Orthanc.

As with any other character without an army, if an enemy army moves into the region, the character still exists there (not in the Stronghold, but in the region). Since Saruman cannot leave the Orthanc region, the only way for him to die at this point is by either an Ent card or the FP army leaving or being destroyed, allowing Saruman to regroup, and attacking an army at Orthanc.