Abbreviated Starter Rules (for first time players)

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CDavis7M
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Late in the game's life there was a 2-player starter set released with Gandalf vs Saruman decks including a walkthrough of a game with the cards in a predetermined order and a special play map instead of site cards. This starter set included a 4 page Abbreviated Starter Rules. I think there is no better place for a first time player to start. I've included the text below with some modifications.

Beyond these Abbreviated Starter Rules, a first time player might also want to read a document called "Ichabod Rewrites the Rules" which was created by the ICE employees demoing the game at gaming conventions and then later updated by "Ichabod" the official netrep and author of some of the Players Guides. After playing a few games, a beginner should read both the "Starter" and the "Standard" rules of the game. The Abbreviated Rules are similar to the "Starter" rules but leave out some important details. The "Standard" rules allow for "region movement" (moving between sites using a map or region cards without necessarily using a Haven site) and add/change other rules. Most veteran players use the Standard Rules with the Council of Lorien tournament rules.

(NOTE: I have included notes into the Abbreviated Starter Rules with this same format. I have modified the original document by removing statements that referred to the Starter Set preconstructed decks and other documents included in the Starter Set. Also, the Getting Ready to Play section from the Abbreviated Starter Rules has been replaced by the same section from the full rulesbook.)

ABBREVIATED STARTER RULES

GETTING READY TO PLAY
Follow these steps to get ready to play:
  1. Place your site cards in your location deck. This deck should contain all of your Haven cards (i.e., Rivendell, Edhellond, Grey Havens, and Lórien). You may include any number of Haven cards, but only one of each non-Haven site card.
  2. Place between 25 and 50 Resource cards and an equal number of Hazard cards in your play deck (if you have fewer than 25 of either available, just use all of the cards you have). Only one of each “unique” card may be included. No more than three copies of any one non-unique card may be included.
  3. Place one to five starting characters (no Wizards) face down in front of you. The combined mind attributes of these characters must be 20 or less. You and your opponent reveal your characters simultaneously, placing any duplicated characters into your play decks. Then organize your starting characters into followers and companies and place them at Rivendell (i.e., place a Rivendell site card next to them).
  4. You may assign up to two non-unique minor items to your starting characters (i.e., two items total, not two to each character). These items must come from cards that you have not already committed to your play deck.
  5. Place up to 10 character cards in your play deck. Only one of each character card may be included. In addition, place up to two Wizard cards in your play deck (you may place two copies of the same Wizard). Shuffle your play deck.
  6. Draw a hand of eight cards from your play deck.
  7. Each player makes a roll, and the player with the highest result goes first (reroll if tied).
THE PLAYER TURN
Play consists of a series of "Player Turns." During your turn, you take various actions during the following phases. Then, your opponent does the same during his turn.

Player Turn Summary
  1. Untap Phase: Each of your characters may do one of the following: Heal (if at a Haven site) or Untap.
  2. Organization Phase: Reorganize your company and/or (if at a Haven) play one character or your Wizard from your hand. Remove your opponent's hazard long-events.
  3. Movement/Hazard Phase: You may move your company to a new site. Each player draws cards as indicated by the new site. Then, your opponent plays hazards against you based on the new site and the path taken. Finally, each player must discard or draw until he has a hand of exactly 8 cards.
  4. Site Phase: If your new site has an automatic-attack, you must face it. Then, you may tap a character to play one item or ally or you may tap a character to attempt to play a faction. (NOTE: If you do not want to play an item, ally, or faction then you do not have to face the automatic attack)
  5. End-of-Turn Phase: Each player may discard one card. Then, each player must discard or draw until he has a hand of exactly 8 cards.
THE CARDS
There are three types of cards in your deck: character cards (the blue background cards and the Wizard cards), resource cards (the copper-metal background cards), and hazard cards (steel grey metal background cards). The color insert in the Initial Adventure has a key for each of these types of cards.

Before starting play, shuffle your cards and place them face-down in front of you--this is your play deck. During the game, you draw cards from the top of this deck and place them in your hand. When you play a card, it either remains in play or it is placed into your discard pile or your out-of-play pile:
  • Discard Pile -- Your discarded cards are placed face down in your discard pile. When your play deck is exhausted, you shuffle the cards in your discard pile and they become your new play deck.
  • Out-of-play Pile -- If one of your characters is eliminated, place him in your out-of-play pile. When you defeat all of the strikes from a creature, place the creature's card in your out-of-play pile. When you successfully play a faction, place it in your out-of-play pile.
Tapping and Card Positions
Normally, during play, each of your cards is placed on the playing surface so that its top is towards your opponent and its bottom is towards you. During play characters and certain items must be "tapped" when they are used-this is a record keeping mechanism to keep track of card usage. To tap a card, rotate it 90° so that it is turned sideways-to untap a card, rotate it back 90° to its normal position. A tapped character or item has already done something during the turn and cannot perform certain actions.
When one of your characters is wounded, his card is placed with its top towards you (i.e., rotated 180° from an untapped position). All restrictions to tapped characters also apply to wounded characters.

CHARACTERS & COMPANIES
As a player, you influence and control a number of characters that move and act in the world of Middle-earth. Each character's abilities are defined by these attributes: race, skills, direct influence, prowess (offense), body (defense), mind, marshalling points, and special abilities. A character can be eliminated and removed from play as a result of failing a body check during combat.
During play, all of your characters operate together in your company.

Controlling Characters
Characters are primarily controlled by your pool of 20 general influence points. For each controlled character, you must commit a number of general influence points equal to his mind attribute. In addition, you may control a character by using another character's direct influence--a character controlled in this fashion is called a follower and does not use general influence points.
If such a character's direct influence is greater than or equal to another one of your characters' mind attribute, he may take control of that other character, who then becomes a follower of the controlling character. A follower may not have his own followers, but a follower is handled in all other ways as a normal character.
If you have enough influence, you may move a follower from direct influence to general influence ( or vice versa) during your organization phase.
If a character controlling a follower is removed from play, the follower remains in play as a normal character.

Bringing Characters Into Play
If your company is at a Haven (i.e., Rivendell or Lorien) and you have enough general influence or direct influence, you may bring one character or your Wizard into play.

Healing
Each of your wounded characters at a Haven may heal during the untap phase of your tum. Such a character moves from a wounded position to a tapped position (i.e., the character is still tapped).

MOVEMENT
During the movement/hazard phase of each of your turns, you may move your company from its current site to its new site. (NOTE: In the Abbreviated Rules for the Starter Set, the new site must be connected to the current site by a bold, black line on the special play map provided in the Starter Set. There is no such special play map in the normal game. In the full "Starter" rules, you can move from a Haven to a site (or Haven) or from a site to a Haven. To speed the game up, I suggest allowing movement between any two sites having the same "nearest Haven" as if playing the card "Bridge")

Drawing Cards When Moving
  • If your company does not move, no cards are drawn.
  • If your company moves, you draw the number of cards indicated in the white box in the lower-left comer of the new site. Your opponent draws the number of cards indicated in the grey box in the lower-left comer of the new site.
Site Type
Each site has one of the following six site type symbols in its upper-left corner:

Site Type ...................... Symbol
Havens ......................... [ [-me_ha-] ]
Free-holds ..................... [ [-me_fh-] ]
Border-holds .................. [ [-me_bh-] ]
Ruins & Lairs .................. [ [-me_rl-] ]
Shadow-holds ................. [ [-me_sh-] ]
Dark-holds .....................[ [-me_dh-] ]

Site Paths
(NOTE: In the special Starter Set play map, there is a site path printed next to the bold, black line that connect each pair of adjacent sites. In the normal "Starter" rules, the region symbols in the site's site path are printed on the left-side of the site card.) A site path represents the regions that your company travels through in order to move from one site to another. Each site path consists of a series of region symbols:

Region Type ............................... Symbol
Coastal Seas ................................ [ [-me_cs-] ]
Free-domains ............................... [ [-me_fd-] ]
Border-lands ................................ [ [-me_bl-] ]
Wilderness .................................. [ [-me_wi-] ]
Shadow-lands ............................... [ [-me_sl-] ]
Dark-domains ............................... [ [-me_dd-] ]

Playing Hazards on a Moving Company
After you and your opponent have drawn cards, your opponent has the opportunity to play hazards that he has in his hand. In order to play a hazard creature on a moving company, one of the symbols in the bar on the left hand side of the creature's card must match one of the following:
  • The site type symbol of the company's new site.
  • One of the symbols in the site path between the company's current site and its new site.
COMBAT
Combat occurs when a creature hazard is played on your company or when your company faces an automatic-attack at a site. Each of these cases involves resolving one attack that consists of one or more strikes.
  • Each strike can target one and only one character in the attacked company.
  • Each character can be the target of only one strike from a given attack.
  • If an attack has more strikes than the company has characters, ignore the excess strikes. (NOTE: in the full rules, each excess strike can be used as a -1 modifier to your opponent's character's prowess during the strike sequence)
Unless the attack states otherwise, the defender chooses which untapped characters will be the targets of given strikes. Then, the attacker chooses which other defending characters not yet assigned a strike will be the target of any remaining unassigned strikes.

A Strike's Prowess
Each attack has a prowess that reflects how hard it is to defeat the attack. Certain cards may increase the number of strikes and/or prowess of an attack: Arouse Minions, Wake of War, and Minions Stir.

A Character's Prowess
Each of your characters has a prowess that reflects the character's abilities in combat. There are a number of standard modifications to a character's prowess:
  • An tapped character modifies his prowess by -1.
  • A wounded character modifies his prowess.by -2.
  • Normally a character that is the target of a strike must tap when the strike is resolved. However, a character may choose to not tap--if so, his prowess is modified by -3. The character does not take this penalty if a Block or Dodge card is used.
  • The target's prowess is modified by +3 if a Risky Blow card is used.
  • (NOTE: items and events may also modify a character's prowess)
Condition ............................................ Modification to Target's Prowess
Untapped character decides to tap ............. 0
Untapped character decides not to tap ........ -3
Tapped character .................................. -1
Wounded character ................................ -2
Risky Blow ........................................... +3

Resolving a Strike
Strikes are resolved one at a time as decided by the defending player. When you choose a strike to resolve, determine all of the factors affecting the strike before the roll is made.
To resolve a strike, the defender makes a roll (2D6) and adds his modified prowess:
  • If this result is greater than the strike' s prowess, the strike is defeated.
  • If this result is equal to the strike's prowess, the strike is ineffectual.
  • Otherwise, the strike is successful and the character is wounded and must make a body check.
Body Checks
To make a body check, the attacker makes a roll (2D6); if this value is greater than the character's body attribute, the character is eliminated and his card is placed in your out-of-play pile. If the character was already wounded before this strike, the roll is modified by +1.
If a character is eliminated, the items he controls are transferred to other characters in his company. (NOTE: in the full rules, an unwounded character may be transferred one item from an eliminated character and the rest are discarded).

Defeating an Attack
An attack by a hazard creature is defeated if each of its strikes that targeted a character is defeated. A defeated hazard creature's card is placed in the defender's out-of-play pile. The defender receives marshalling points for eliminating it.

Canceled Attacks and Strikes
If one of the strikes was canceled or ineffectual, the attack is not defeated. If the attack is canceled, the attack is not defeated. A canceled attack has no effect on the defending company. A canceled hazard creature is immediately discarded.

PLAYING CARDS
You may only play hazard cards during your opponent's movement/hazard phase (NOTE: The card "Twilight" is an exception to this rule). You may only play items, allies, and factions during your site phase as outlined in this section. You may play other resource cards anytime during your own turn as outlined below:

Card ........................ Playable
Risky Blow ................ on a character facing a strike
Lucky Strike .............. on a character facing a strike
Block ....................... on a character facing a strike
Dodge ...................... on a character facing a strike
Concealment .............. on an attack
Escape ..................... on an attack
Dark Quarrels ............. on an attack
Halfling Stealth ........... on a Hobbit facing a strike
Halfling Strength ......... on a tapped or wounded Hobbit
Ford ........................ on a moving company
Bridge ...................... on a company that just moved to a Haven
Muster ..................... on a character influencing a faction
Tempering Friendship ... on a character influencing a faction

Transferring Items
During your organization phase, you may transfer items between your characters.

Playing a Faction
In order to play a faction card, you must tap one of your characters that is at the site indicated on the faction's card. Then you must make an influence check. Make a roll (2D6), add your character's unused direct influence, and add any appropriate modifications (any applicable standard modifications from the faction card and from any other cards played).
All modification cards must be played before making the roll (2D6). If the modified result is greater than the value required on the faction card, you place the faction in your out-of-play pile (it now counts towards your marshalling point total). Otherwise, you discard the faction card. Once a faction is brought into play, it is not controlled by any specific character and it does not count against general or direct influence.

Playing an Ally
You can automatically bring an ally into play by tapping one of your characters. The character must be at the site indicated on the ally's card. Every ally is controlled by the character that tapped to bring it into play. It must be placed under and remain with that character's card. An ally does not count against its controlling character's direct influence or your general influence.

Playing an Item
If a character is at a site that indicates that a major item is "playable," he may tap to bring a major item into play. If a character is at a site that indicates that a greater item is "playable," he may tap to bring a greater item into play. The item card is placed under the character's card.
During a given game, each player may play only one item at each site. (NOTE: In the full rules, sites are tapped when playing an item, ally, or faction at that site and tapped sites are discarded when moving away from the site. As such, only one item can be played at each site during the game until the deck is exhausted and the discarded sites are returned to the site deck)
A character may only use the effects of one weapon at a time and one shield at a time.

Short-events
A short-event's effects are immediately implemented when it is played. Then the event card is discarded.

Long-events
You may only play a hazard long-event during your opponent's movement/hazard phase. Its card and effects remain in play until your opponent's next long-event phase or until otherwise discarded. Hazard long-events last approximately two turns, one of your opponent's and one of yours.

(NOTE: There are also "Permanent-events" which have effects that are immediately implemented when they are played. The effects of permanent-events last until they are discarded.)

THE VICTORY CONDITIONS
You win the game if your opponent's Wizard is eliminated. Otherwise, the winner of the game is the player that has gathered the most marshalling points from:
  • Control of: characters, allies, items, and factions.
  • Destruction of creatures played by your opponent.
Marshalling points are printed on the top left corner of the cards that award them. If both players end up with the same number of marshalling points, the game is a tie.

Ending the Game
The game ends when one of the following occurs:
  1. If your Wizard is "eliminated," the game ends immediately and your opponent wins. (NOTE: In the tournament rules that most players use, a player doesn't lose if their wizard is eliminated, they just receive -5 marshalling points at the end of the game.)
  2. If each play deck has been exhausted once, the game ends at the end of the current turn. (NOTE: Most players play "2-deck" games where the game ends when the play deck is exhausted twice.)
  3. If you have at least 20 marshalling points, the game ends at the end of your opponent's next turn (i.e., your opponent gets one last turn). (NOTE: in a 2-deck game, you need to have at least 25 marshalling points)
Last edited by CDavis7M on Tue Dec 31, 2019 6:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Theo
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CDavis7M wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:32 pmMost veteran players use the Starter Rules with the Council of Lorien tournament rules.
Did you mean Standard?
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Theo
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CDavis7M wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:32 pm I suggest allowing movement between any two sites having the same "nearest Haven" as if playing the card "Bridge"
The two given concepts are different. Suggested change:
"allowing movement between any two sites having the same "nearest Haven" as well as between (in either direction) a Haven and sites with "nearest Haven" that also has a site path given on that Haven, that as if playing the card "Bridge" but combining the site paths into one move."
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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Theo
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CDavis7M wrote: Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:32 pm (NOTE: Most players play "2-deck" games where the game ends when the play deck is exhausted twice.)
Probably should be: "both play decks have been"
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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CDavis7M
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Thanks Theo! Great tips for a first time player.
thedarkness
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Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 1:16 am
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I'll be giving this a try this weekend, thank you
“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places.” - LOTR
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