Lord of the Rings: The Search
Lord of the Rings: The Search Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 48 Landscape Tiles
- 8 Blue Encounter Chips for the Water
- 8 Yellow Encounter Chips for the Fields
- 8 Green Encounter Chips for the Woods
- 20 Brown Encounter Chips for the Mountains
- 2 Boat markers
- 1 Mt. Doom (Volcano) to put together
- 2 Hobbit figures
Object of the Game
The aim of the game is, first, to discover the unknown landscape and to collect victory points during the process. Once all Landscape Tiles are discovered, the location of Mt. Doom is also known. The game ends when one of the Hobbits reaches Mt. Doom, then scoring follows.
Whoever has collected the most victory points wins the game.
Game Setup
- From the 48 Landscape Tiles pull out the tile with The Shire (the back is unique) and place it face up in the middle of the table. The remaining 47 cards are shuffled thoroughly and divided into three face down supply piles at the edge of the table.
- The green, yellow, blue, and brown Encounter Chips are shuffled separately face down and laid out near these piles. Added to this supply are both boat markers and the assembled "Mt. Doom".
- The players agree who will be Frodo (yellow) and who will be Sam (green). Frodo begins the game, afterwards the two players always alternate turns.
- Each player draws 3 Landscape Tiles from the supply piles and takes them into his hand.
Game Play
Game play is divided into 3 phases:
- Phase 1: The playing field is created by laying out Landscape Tiles - in the form of a cross. The playing field must be 8 tiles in one direction and 6 tiles in the other direction. Players alternate turns.
- The current player selects a Landscape Tile and sets it next to a tile that is already played.
- The player then draws another Landscape Tile into his hand.
- Phase 2:
- a) The landscape is discovered.
- b) Search for Mt. Doom.
- The search for Mt. Doom begins as soon as a player has no more cards in his hand.
- As soon as all Landscape Tiles are placed, the location of Mt. Doom is determined.
- Phase 3: Once the location of Mt. Doom is finally determined the race to the Mountain begins.
- Players alternate moving their Hobbit playing piece.
- As soon as a player reaches Mt. Doom, the game is over and scoring follows.
Phase 1: Creating the Playing Area
Alternately the players lay out tiles to form a cross: one row with 6 tiles, another row with 8 tiles. The "Shire" tile must always form the center of the cross. Here are 3 examples that each shows a cross and the permitted playing area:
<see illustrations on page 3 of the rulebook - not reproduced here>
- Frodo begins. He places an appropriate Landscape Tile.
- Then he draws a Landscape Tile from one of the supply piles.
- Then it is Sam's turn.
- This phase ends when a cross of 6 by 8 tiles is placed to determine the exact size of the playing area.
Landscape Tile placement
All landscape tiles are diagonally divided into 4 sections. The 4 sections can show completely different landscapes.
- A Landscape Tile must always be placed in such a way that the bordering sections show the same landscape together:
- Forest (green) by Forest
- Field (yellow) by Field
- Water (blue) by Water
- Mountains (brown) by Mountains
- If a player does not have a suitable Landscape Tile, then he must discard his hand of tiles face up (on a "face up supply pile"). From the face down supply piles he draws 3 new tiles into his hand. His turn is then over, he may not place a tile.
A space consisting of exactly two sections
As soon as a complete space is created consisting of exactly 2 sections, this area becomes an encounter space.
Note: The mountain ranges are designed so that they always create a space of exactly two sections.
- An Encounter Chip (taken from the supply) of the same color as the landscape (e.g. a blue chip on water) is immediately placed on an encounter space.
- Green and yellow Encounter Chips are placed face up.
- Blue and brown Encounter Chips are placed face down.
If a chip of the appropriate type is no longer available, then the encounter space remains empty.
Phase 2a: The Landscape is Discovered
Once the playing area is created, the second phase follows. The players take alternating turns, each player has 3 actions:
-
The active player must place a Landscape Tile.
- The player must select a Landscape Tile from his hand and place it adjacent to two already played landscape tiles. The landscape on each section must match the landscape on the adjacent sections.
- If a player does not have a suitable Landscape Tile, then he must discard his hand face up (on the "face up supply"). From the face down supply piles he draws 3 new tiles into his hand. His turn is then over, he may not play another tile and his following actions are also forfeit (moving his Hobbit figure and drawing new cards).
- Again, if an encounter space is created, an Encounter Chip is placed.
- If a player has no more landscape tiles in his hand, then the tiles of the face up supply are laid out individually to form a face up display. The player must now select and play one of these tiles.
Note: If the case should arise that a player has no more tiles in his hand and there are also no face up tiles to be laid out, he can only take the movement part of his turn.
As soon as no more of the tiles from the open display fit, phase 2b immediately begins (see page 5 in the rulebook).
-
Moving the Hobbit figure. The active player may now move his Hobbit figure.
Note: If it appears more favorable to him, the player may do without this movement. Sometimes he has no other possibility.
- All areas of the same color on bordering sections are considered a region, independent of the number of tiles on which this region exists. There must be at least 2 sections, however, for an area to be considered a region (2 or 3 sections on a single tile are considered a region).
- The Shire on the start card is considered its own region.
- A Hobbit may move to a bordering adjacent region. Regions that touch one another only at the diagonals are not considered to be adjacent. If a Hobbit is standing in a larger region (occupying several tiles), he may be moved from "everywhere" in that region.
Phase 2b: Searching for Mt. Doom
If the active player is unable to find a suitable Landscape Tile from the face up display to play, then he places one of the tiles face down.
- The player takes any Landscape Tile from the face up display and plays it with the neutral backside up.
- The tile must border at least 2 tiles that are already placed.
- This tile shows 4 equal, neutral sections. Since these neutral sections fit all landscapes, the creation of the playing area can be continued with any Landscape Tile. If a landscape is set next to a neutral section, then this neutral section acts as if it were the landscape of the adjacent section. A Hobbit may enter this landscape.
- Should the situation occur again that a player cannot find a suitable Landscape Tile, then the above process is repeated.
- As soon as all 48 Landscape Tiles are placed, the location of Mt. Doom is set. Mt. Doom is placed on the last neutral tile played.
Note: In the rare case that all tiles fit, i.e. no neutral Landscape Tiles were placed, Mt. Doom is placed on the last tile played.
Phase 3: The Race to Mt. Doom
Now the Hobbits make their way to Mt. Doom. The players continue to alternate turns and move their pieces. To reach Mt. Doom, a player must go to the Landscape Tile with the mountain. If a Hobbit stands on a region near the tile with Mt. Doom, he must still climb the mountain on his next turn, i.e. he moves to that tile, which corresponds to a complete movement turn.
Special Rules for the Encounter Chips
Blue Encounter Chips
-
Gwaihir, the Eagle: The player can use this chip later in place of his normal movement turn. Now his Hobbit can go from the landscape he currently occupies as far as he wants, to the next landscape of the same type travelling in a straight line.
Example: the yellow Hobbit on the middle forest region can reach the forest regions 1, 3, 4, and 5. The region 6 lies beyond his range. Region 2 may also not be moved onto because it consists of only single section.
-
Ent: The player can use this chip at the end of his turn to immediately take another turn (with all actions 1 - 3).
Afterwards, used blue chips are put back in the box, out of play.
The Brown Encounter Chips
- Empty Cave: No event.
- Orks, Ork Chieftains, and Trolls: The Hobbit must fight and loses the movement portion of his next turn (1 white dot).
- Balrog and Shelob (Kankra): The Hobbit must fight and loses the movement portion of his next two turns (2 white dots).
A player who must fight, loses only the movement portion of his turn, i.e. he must still place a Landscape Tile. If he cannot do that, he loses an additional movement turn.
- Purchasing a boat: For any two brown Encounter Chips a player can buy a boat at any time. He discards two brown Encounter Chips and gets the "boat" marker. From now on he can move his Hobbit on water landscapes. Each player may only possess one boat.
Tip: It is naturally better to give up two "Empty Caves" for a boat, than to sacrifice valuable victory points.
Green and Yellow Encounter Chips
- Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Boromir, Pippin or Merry (all green) coupled with Sting (Stich), Anduril, or Mithril (all yellow): When a player displays one of these combinations he loses one less movement turn in the battle against enemies in the mountains! E.g. an Ork is defeated immediately. A player can also use two combinations to immediately defeat the more dangerous opponents Balrog or Shelob (Kankra) in a single blow.
- Galadriel or Legolas (both green) coupled with Elvencloak (Elbenmantel), Elvenrope (Elbenseil), Phial (Phiole), Lembas, or Athelas (all yellow): When a player displays one of these combinations he may look at a face down chip on an adjacent (not diagonal) encounter space and then decide where to move.
- Each displayed, and therefore used, green-yellow combination subtracts 1 point at the end of the game.
Game End and Scoring
As soon as a Hobbit moves to the tile with Mt. Doom, the game is over.
All the Encounter Chips a player possesses (regardless of whether they are face up or face down) score as follows:
- Blue Encounter Chips, not used (Exception: Gollum): 1 point
- Green, yellow, brown Encounter Chips: number on the chip
- Each used green-yellow combination: 1 point
Editor's note on the source: the scoring line above reads "1 point" for each used green-yellow combination, while the green and yellow chip section says each displayed combination "subtracts 1 point" at the end of the game. The source is printed this way; the two statements conflict and have not been corrected here.
Additional Bonus Points
- a) Reaching Mt. Doom: +3 points
- or
- b) Reaching Mt. Doom with the Ring: +4 points
- or
- c) Reaching Mt. Doom with the Ring and Gollum: +5 points
- d) Possession of Gollum, except in combination c): -1 point
Note: Gollum always gives his owner a disadvantage, unless he can bring him together with the Ring to Mt. Doom.
Editor's note on the source: the source uses "Gollum" and "the Ring" in scoring but does not describe them in the contents, setup, or chip rules. Their mechanics are not included in this translation and have not been filled in here.
The player with the highest total score wins. In case of a tie, the player who reached Mt. Doom wins.