The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Challenge of the Wainriders
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Challenge of the Wainriders Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Circuit
When setting up the quest deck for The Challenge of the Wainriders, arrange stages 1, 2, and 3 in a row from left to right. Then, place stages 4, 5, and 6 in a row above them from right to left, so that stage 4 is positioned directly above stage 3. The two rows together make "the circuit." After creating the circuit, flip each quest stage over and place The Challengers objective and The Wainriders objective at stage 1B so that the staging area looks like this:
[Diagram: the six quest stages of the circuit, shown with the staging area. The printed diagram shows the stage 1B position with The Challengers objective and The Wainriders objective, and curved arrows showing the circuit's direction around the two rows.]
The Challengers objective represents the players' position in the race, and The Wainriders objective represents their opponents' position. The stage that The Challengers objective is at is considered the current quest. The stage that The Wainriders objective is at is considered "the Wainriders' stage."
When the players defeat a quest stage, they advance The Challengers objective counterclockwise to the next stage in the circuit. The Wainriders objective will also advance around the circuit in a counterclockwise direction. If The Challengers objective has advanced through more quest stages than The Wainriders, then the players are considered to be ahead of The Wainriders. When the players defeat stage 6, they complete the circuit. In order to defeat the scenario, The Challengers objective must complete the circuit twice before The Wainriders objective completes the circuit twice.
Race Keyword
Race is a new keyword used on quest cards in Challenge of the Wainriders. It represents the players' chariot race against the Wainriders. Quest cards with the race keyword cannot be defeated outside of the quest phase, and progress cannot be placed on them by player card effects.
When a quest stage with the race keyword is defeated, it is not removed from play after it is defeated. Instead, the quest stage remains in play and all progress is removed from it at the end of the phase.
Racing X Tests
Racing tests represent the heroes' ability to drive their chariots over difficult and dangerous terrain. Succeeding at these tests will mean the difference between winning and losing the race.
Each quest stage has a Forced effect that initiates a racing X test when that stage is defeated. When this happens, the first player commits a single character to the test by exhausting it. Then, the first player discards the top X cards of the encounter deck, where X is the total value of that character's indicated attribute (Willpower, Attack, or Defense). Some encounter cards have racing test results printed in their lower-right-hand corners. The results types are STRAIGHT, TURN and WILD (the WILD result counts as both a STRAIGHT and a TURN result). Each racing test specifies which result and how many of that result the players need to discard in order to pass.
Example: Tony quested successfully at stage 2B and placed a total of 11 progress on that stage, triggering its effect: "Forced: When this stage is defeated, make a racing Attack test. To pass requires 1 STRAIGHT result, plus an additional STRAIGHT result for each stage you have completed this round. If the players pass the test, excess progress is placed on the next stage. If the players fail the test, deal 1 damage to each character." Tony exhausts Aragorn who has 3 Attack, so he discards the top 3 cards of the encounter deck. Among the discarded cards are two STRAIGHT results, which is more than enough to pass the test. Tony advances The Challengers objective to stage 3B of The Circuit and places the 7 excess progress on that stage, triggering its effect: "Forced: When this stage is defeated, make a racing Willpower test. To pass requires 1 TURN result, plus an additional TURN result for each stage you have completed this round. If the players pass the test, excess progress is placed on the next stage. If the players fail the test, each player discards an ally he controls." Tony exhausts Éowyn who has 4 Willpower, so he discards the top 4 cards of the encounter deck. There is only one TURN result among the discarded cards, which is not enough to pass the test, so he fails. For failing the test, Tony must discard an ally he controls. However, he has still defeated stage 3B. He advances The Challengers objective to stage 4B, but he does not place the remaining 3 progress on that stage.