The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Nightmare Decks: The Road Darkens

Expansion for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game Expansion for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Road Darkens

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Nightmare Decks: The Road Darkens Rulebook

Table of Contents

Setup: The Ring Goes South Nightmare

You are playing Nightmare mode.

Setup: Set each copy of Pale-green Tentacle aside, out of play.

Forced: When the players advance to stage 4B, each player puts 1 copy of Pale-green Tentacle into play engaged with him. Shuffle any remaining copies, and the encounter discard pile, into the encounter deck.

"I have also glimpsed many hawks flying high up in the sky. I think we ought to move again this evening. Hollin is no longer wholesome for us..." –Aragorn, The Fellowship of the Ring

Begin with the standard quest deck and encounter deck for the The Ring Goes South scenario.

Remove the following cards, in the specified quantities, from the standard encounter deck:

2x Crebain from Dunland 2x Howling Warg 1x Tree-crowned Hill 3x Hills of Hollin 2x Snowdrifts 1x Storm of Howls

Then, shuffle the encounter cards in this Nightmare Deck into the remainder of the standard The Ring Goes South encounter deck.

Finally, flip this setup card over and place it next to the quest deck. Its effect remains active throughout the game, which is now ready to begin.

Setup: Journey in the Dark Nightmare

You are playing Nightmare mode.

Each hero in each player's discard pile cannot leave the discard pile.

The players cannot defeat stage 3B unless The Balrog is in the victory display.

"And I say to you: if you pass the doors of Moria, beware!" –Aragorn, The Fellowship of the Ring

Begin with the standard quest deck and encounter deck for the Journey in the Dark scenario.

Remove the following cards, in the specified quantities, from the standard encounter deck:

3x Moria Archer 4x Mines of Moria 1x We Cannot Get Out 3x Deep Fissure

Then, shuffle the encounter cards in this Nightmare Deck into the remainder of the standard Journey in the Dark encounter deck.

Finally, flip this setup card over and place it next to the quest deck. Its effect remains active throughout the game, which is now ready to begin.

Setup: Breaking of the Fellowship Nightmare

You are playing Nightmare mode.

"The day has come at last," he said: "the day of choice which we have long delayed. What shall now become of our Company that has travelled so far in fellowship?" –Aragorn, The Fellowship of the Ring

Begin with the standard quest deck and encounter deck for the Breaking of the Fellowship scenario.

Remove the following cards, in the specified quantities, from the standard encounter deck:

4x Uruk-hai Archer 2x River Anduin 1x Slopes of Amon Hen 2x Black Feathered Arrows

Then, shuffle the encounter cards in this Nightmare Deck into the remainder of the standard Breaking of the Fellowship encounter deck.

Finally, flip this setup card over and place it next to the quest deck. Its effect remains active throughout the game, which is now ready to begin.

Encounter Cards

Each Nightmare Deck contains 19 encounter cards, 57 in all, shuffled into the standard encounter deck of its scenario as set out in the setup text above. Each entry gives the card's set number and copies as printed on the Hall of Beorn database (for example "#2 (x4)" is set number 2, four copies), its type, any unique marker, its printed stats, and its traits.

Stats are given as the database prints them, with the database's own labels (Threat, Attack, Defense, Hit Points) where it gives one. The bracketed number on each enemy and location is unlabelled on the database page and is kept in brackets as printed. X is kept as printed where the card defines it.

Encounter Cards: The Ring Goes South Nightmare

Pale-green Tentacle

#2 (x4) · Enemy · Stat line as printed: (22) · Threat 3 · Attack 5 · Defense 1 · Hit Points 5 · Traits: Tentacle.

Cannot have attachments.

Watcher in the Water. Cannot take damage.

Forced: After Pale-green Tentacle attacks and destroys a character, return Pale-green Tentacle to the staging area.

Victory 3.

Hunting Hawk

#3 (x2) · Enemy · Stat line as printed: (44) · Threat 4 · Attack 4 · Defense 3 · Hit Points 5 · Traits: Creature.

Cannot have attachments or be optionally engaged.

While Hunting Hawk is in the staging area, it gains: "Forced: After a player plays an ally, he must either exhaust it, or place 1 damage on an active location."

Misty Mountain Warg

#4 (x3) · Enemy · Stat line as printed: (33) · Threat 2 · Attack 4 · Defense 3 · Hit Points 4 · Traits: Creature. Warg.

When Revealed: Misty Mountain Warg makes an immediate attack against you. If it destroys a character, place 2 damage on each active location.

Shadow: If this attack destroys a character, place 1 damage on an active location.

Expanse of Hollin

#5 (x3) · Location · Stat line as printed: Threat X · (6) · Traits: Hills.

X is 1 more than the number of enemies in play.

Forced: When Expanse of Hollin is explored, shuffle the encounter discard pile into the encounter deck. Then, discard the top card of the encounter deck for each damage here. Add each enemy discarded by this effect to the staging area.

Slopes of Hithaeglir

#6 (x3) · Location · Stat line as printed: Threat 3 · (5) · Traits: Hills.

Forced: After a "when revealed" effect is cancelled, place 1 damage on each active location.

Forced: When Slopes of Hithaeglir is explored, each player raises his threat by 1 for each damage here.

Hunted in Hollin

#7 (x2) · Treachery · Keyword: Peril.

When Revealed: Either raise your threat by 6, or engage the lowest engagement cost enemy in the staging area and reveal an encounter card.

Shelterless Land

#8 (x2) · Treachery · Keywords: Surge; Doomed 1.

When Revealed: Until the end of the phase, add 1 to the total [icon] in the staging area for each damage on each active location.

Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +1 attack for each damage on each active location.

Encounter Cards: Journey in the Dark Nightmare

Slab-bearer

#2 (x2) · Enemy · Stat line as printed: (32) · Threat 4 · Attack 5 · Defense 3 · Hit Points 4 · Traits: Troll.

Cannot have attachments.

Forced: When Slab-bearer is destroyed, discard the top card of the encounter deck. If the discarded card is an enemy, add it to the staging area.

"...they bore great slabs of stone, and flung them down to serve as gangways over the fire." –The Fellowship of the Ring

Zirakzigil Archer

#3 (x4) · Enemy · Stat line as printed: (42) · Threat 3 · Attack 4 · Defense 3 · Hit Points 4 · Traits: Orc.

Keywords: Peril. Archery 2.

When Revealed: Discard a random card from your hand. Assign X damage among characters you control, where X is the cost of the discarded card.

Glowing Fissure

#4 (x3) · Location · Stat line as printed: Threat X · (4) · Traits: Underground.

X is 1 more than the number of damaged characters.

Forced: After a player commits characters to the quest, he deals 1 damage to a character he controls.

"Out of it a fierce red light came, and now and again flames licked at the brink..." –The Fellowship of the Ring

Darkened Mine

#5 (x3) · Location · Stat line as printed: Threat 3 · (5) · Traits: Underground.

While Darkened Mine is in the staging area, progress cannot be placed on locations in the staging area.

Shadow: Discard 1 random card from your hand.

Fiery Whip

#6 (x1) · Treachery · Unique.

When Revealed: Attach Fiery Whip to The Balrog (even if out of play) as a Weapon attachment with the text: "Attached enemy gets +1 defense and gains Archery 4."

Shadow: If attacking enemy is The Balrog, attach Fiery Whip to it.

Flaming Sword

#7 (x1) · Treachery · Unique.

When Revealed: Attach to The Balrog (even if out of play) as a Weapon attachment with the text: "Attached enemy gets +1 attack and gains Regenerate 4. (At the end of the refresh phase, remove 4 damage from the attached enemy.)"

Shadow: If attacking enemy is The Balrog, attach Flaming Sword to it.

Very Weary

#8 (x3) · Treachery.

When Revealed: Each player deals 1 damage to a questing character he controls. Until the end of the phase, each damaged character gets -2 willpower.

Shadow: Deal 1 damage to the defending character.

Cut Off

#9 (x2) · Treachery · Keyword: Peril.

When Revealed: Either deal 1 damage to each character you control, or progress cannot be placed on the quest until the end of the round.

Shadow: If this attack destroys a character, remove all progress from the quest.

Encounter Cards: Breaking of the Fellowship Nightmare

Isengard Archer

#2 (x3) · Enemy · Stat line as printed: (44) · Threat 2 · Attack 4 · Defense 2 · Hit Points 4 · Traits: Orc. Uruk-hai.

Keywords: Toughness 1. Archery 2.

Forced: After Isengard Archer enters the staging area, each player at this stage deals 2 damage to a character he controls.

Shadow: Deal 2 damage to an ally you control.

Isengard Tracker

#3 (x4) · Enemy · Stat line as printed: (35) · Threat 3 · Attack 5 · Defense 1 · Hit Points 3 · Traits: Orc. Uruk-hai.

Keywords: Toughness 2. Archery 1.

Forced: After Isengard Tracker destroys a character, move it to the first player's staging area.

Shadow: After this attack, move attacking enemy to the first player's staging area.

Langflood River

#4 (x3) · Location · Stat line as printed: Threat 4 · (4) · Traits: River. Forest.

While Langflood River is in the staging area, no more than 4 progress can be placed on this quest stage each round.

Forced: When Langflood River leaves play as an explored location, add it to the staging area to the left, if able.

Western Emyn Muil

#5 (x3) · Location · Stat line as printed: Threat 3 · (4) · Traits: Forest. Hills.

While Western Emyn Muil is in the staging area, each Uruk-hai enemy at this stage gains Toughness 1.

Travel: A player at this stage must engage the highest toughness enemy in the staging area to travel here.

Arrows in the Night

#6 (x2) · Treachery · Keyword: Peril.

When Revealed: Until the end of the round, add 6 to the archery total at this stage. You may discard X cards from hand to reduce the archery total at this stage by X until the end of the round.

Shadow: Discard 1 random card from your hand.

Hunting the Ring

#7 (x2) · Treachery · Keyword: Surge.

When Revealed: Attach to the current quest. (Counts as a Condition attachment with the text: "Forced: At the end of the round, each player at this stage raises his threat by 1 for each enemy in the staging area. Then, discard Hunting the Ring and move each enemy in this staging area to the first player's staging area.")

Discord and Distrust

#8 (x2) · Treachery · Keyword: Doomed 2.

When Revealed: Until the end of the round, players cannot trigger Action or Response effects.

Shadow: Until the end of the round, defending character cannot ready.

Transcription Notes

The following corrections and judgement calls were made against the source text. Each is either a fix of an obvious database or typing error, or a point where the source is unclear and is shown as such. None adds a rule.

Sources checked. The three setup cards were read from the card scans in the sourcer's copy. The encounter-card text comes from the Hall of Beorn card-detail pages, one per card, and was checked against card scans only for Shelterless Land and Flaming Sword. Every other encounter card is as the database prints it.
Quest cards not transcribed. The Hall of Beorn product listing counts "Quest Cards 3" with the product, but none of its three quest cards is named or present in the Hall of Beorn card database, so no text was available. They are not reproduced and were not reconstructed.
Flaming Sword. The database's When Revealed text reads "Attach Fiery Whip to The Balrog". The card scan reads "Attach to The Balrog (even if out of play)", so the scan's wording is used.
Shelterless Land. The database writes a symbol as "$" in the When Revealed text, where the card scan shows an icon. The icon is not named in the database or the scan text, so it is shown here as "[icon]" and was not filled from memory.
Zirakzigil Archer. "randome" is corrected to "random".
Hunting the Ring. "Counts a Condition attachment" is corrected to "Counts as a Condition attachment".
Punctuation. The database has no full stop after the ability name "Watcher in the Water" on Pale-green Tentacle, and on Hunting Hawk it reads "it gains," with the quoted ability running straight on. Here these are shown as "Watcher in the Water. Cannot take damage." and "it gains: "Forced: ...". Otherwise punctuation is kept as the database has it.
Icons as words. Attack, defense, willpower and hit point icons are written as the words "attack", "defense", "willpower" and "hit points". Threat icons in stat lines keep the database label "Threat".