The Struggle for the Favor of the Lords of Middle-earth
For centuries, Sauron has tried to influence the rulers of Middle-earth. He has used his own power and his loyal minions to force the leaders of the Free Peoples to obey him. Gandalf, on the contrary, has done everything possible to revive the hope of victory in the rulers and motivate them to resist evil. Now you can determine the outcome of this struggle for the hearts and minds of the rulers of Middle-earth…
This is the third addition to the large-scale military strategy "War of the Ring", which tells about the machinations of Sauron and the subjugation of the will of the Free Peoples. It features sovereigns and dark leaders (together called rulers). These two new character types, representing important heroes of Middle-earth, play a significant role in the War of the Ring.
Sovereigns of the Free Peoples:
- King of Dol Brand;
- Lord of the Dwarves Dain Steelstop;
- Steward of Gondor Denethor;
- King of Rohan Théoden;
- King of the Wood-elves Thranduil.
Dark Lords of the Shadow:
- Black Snake;
- Shadow of Mirkwood;
- Ugluk.
New Rules
- Ruler Dice. When playing with the Kings of Middle-earth expansion, each player receives a special ruler action die. A blue ruler die for the Free Peoples player and a brown ruler die for the Shadow player. The ruler dice have the same symbols as the regular action dice, but they are used according to special rules;
- Kings` Chase Tokens. The Kings of Middle-earth expansion includes two new chase tokens. If these tokens are taken during a chase, their numbers are used as usual. These numbers are also used when determining the effect of event cards that require a token value for a specific purpose (for example, for the card "The Brotherhood Disintegrates", the number on the token is used to determine the number of companions to be separated);
- Special combat skills of rulers. Brand, Théoden, and each of the dark lords have one special skill that can be used in combat. Activating most of these skills requires the player to sacrifice the effects of a combat card (however, the conditions for playing a combat card must be met);
- Ruler tokens. There are 5 ruler tokens in the game, one for each sovereign. The Free Peoples player may use this token to change the ruler`s die result to one that activates the ruler`s second special ability, and immediately use it to activate that ability;
- Awaken a Sovereign. The Free Peoples player may perform the action indicated on the "awakened" version of an unawakened and uncorrupted sovereign card to awaken the sovereign, replacing its unawakened and uncorrupted version with the awakened version;
- Abort a Sovereign. A corrupted sovereign is no longer considered a leader of the Free Peoples. Such a sovereign`s influence on the game is limited to the weaknesses indicated on its card and its influence on cards that reference "sovereigns" and «Cursed Sovereigns»;
- Dark Warlords. Dark Warlords increase the leadership value of the Shadow armies they are part of. Each of them also has one special combat skill that is used only by their army. Ugluk has an additional special skill that can be used during a pursuit.
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