War of the Ring
The Free Peoples against the Shadow — a quick guide to playing.
How to begin
The game starts as soon as it loads. By default you command the Free Peoples
against the Shadow AI, and the board is set for Turn 1. Everything you need is
in the control panel on the right; the map fills the rest of the screen.
- Use Play as Free Peoples / Play as Shadow to choose your side.
- Use Auto (AI vs AI) to sit back and watch the two AIs fight the whole war.
- Use New Game at any time to restart from a fresh setup.
Controls
| Pan map | Drag anywhere on the map. |
| Zoom | Scroll the mouse wheel over the map. |
| Command a region | Click a region node to select it; its command card appears in the panel. |
| Use a die | Click an Action Die to arm it, then click the action you want to spend it on. |
| Pass / skip | Use Pass to forgo a die when you have nothing useful to do with it. |
All actions are driven by on-screen buttons — there are no typed commands.
Turn order
Each turn runs through the same phases:
- Roll: both sides roll their Action Dice. Free Peoples get four;
Shadow gets seven, plus one per summoned minion. Any Eye
results the Shadow rolls go straight into the Hunt Box.
- Fellowship phase: the Free Peoples may declare the Fellowship's position (to rest and heal a
little Corruption at a friendly stronghold) or stay hidden. Use Declare or Stay hidden.
- Hunt allocation: the Shadow commits dice to the Hunt for the coming turn.
- Action phase: the sides alternate spending one die at a time until both are done.
- Victory check: if any victory condition is met, the game ends; otherwise a new turn begins.
Movement & the Fellowship
- Armies move and attack with Army dice, but a nation's units can only leave home and fight once
that nation is At War — push nations along the political track with Muster dice first.
- The Fellowship moves in secret with Character dice, building Progress toward Mordor. Each secret
move risks the Hunt: if the Shadow scores hunt successes, you draw a hunt tile and gain Corruption.
- Reach a Mordor gate with low enough Corruption and Enter Mordor to begin the final crossing on
the Mordor Track — five steps to Mount Doom, every one of them dangerous.
- Special actions appear when available: Separate Companions, Crown Aragorn,
Summon Gandalf the White, and Play Event.
Combat & scoring
- Attacker and defender roll a number of dice based on army size, with re-rolls for leadership. Hits of the
required value inflict casualties; units absorb hits by downgrading (elite to regular) before being removed.
- Strongholds put the defender under siege: attackers only score storm hits on a natural 6, so
fortresses are hard to crack.
- Capturing an enemy city is worth 1 Victory Point; a stronghold is worth 2.
Winning conditions
Free Peoples win if…
- the Ring-bearer reaches Mount Doom and the Ring is destroyed, or
- they reach 4 Victory Points by taking Shadow cities and strongholds.
The Shadow wins if…
- the Ring-bearer's Corruption reaches 12 and the Ring is claimed, or
- it reaches 10 Victory Points by taking Free Peoples cities and strongholds.
Losing conditions
There is no separate "loss" — your opponent's victory is your defeat. For the Free Peoples the sharpest
danger is a Ring-bearer corrupted at 12; for the Shadow it is the Ring reaching the Fire before the armies
of Mordor can overrun the West.
Saving & restarting
This release does not save games — each session is a fresh war. Press New Game to restart at any
time. Because nothing is written to disk or to browser storage, closing the tab simply ends the current game.