The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Sands of Harad
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Sands of Harad Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Component Overview
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Sands of Harad expansion includes the following components:
- This rules insert
- 156 cards, consisting of:
- 2 Hero Cards
- 33 Player Cards
- 112 Encounter Cards
- 9 Quest Cards
Expansion Symbol
The cards in The Sands of Harad expansion can be identified by this symbol before each card's collector number.
Web Resources
There is an online tutorial for the game available at www.fantasyflightgames.com/lotr-tutorial.
You can enter and track your plays and scores of these scenarios and others online through The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game Quest Log at www.fantasyflightgames.com/lotr-questlog.
Rules & New Terms
"Immune to player card effects"
Cards with the text "Immune to player card effects" ignore the effects of all player cards. Additionally, cards that are immune to player card effects cannot be chosen as targets of player card effects.
Archery X
While a card with the archery keyword is in play, players must deal damage to character cards in play equal to the specified archery value at the beginning of each combat phase. This damage can be dealt to characters under any player's control, and it can be divided among the players as they see fit. If there is a disagreement as to where to assign archery damage, the first player makes the final decision. If multiple cards with the archery keyword are in play, the effects are cumulative. Remember that [shield icon] does not block archery damage.
[Transcriber's note: the insert prints this shield glyph as a picture with no name beside it, so it is shown here as "[shield icon]".]
For example: Zoë and Dan are playing the scenario "Escape from Umbar," and there are two copies of Southron Archer in play. Southron Archer has the keyword archery 2. This gives a cumulative archery total of 4. At the beginning of the combat phase, the players decide to deal 2 of that damage to Zoë's ally, Erebor Guard, and the remaining 2 damage to Dan's hero, Gimli.
"Limit 1 copy in the victory display"
The player side quest, The Storm Comes, has the text: "Limit 1 copy of The Storm Comes in the victory display." This text prevents more than 1 copy of The Storm Comes from entering the victory display. If the players defeat The Storm Comes, and there is already a copy of that side quest in the victory display, then the copy that was just defeated is placed in its owner's discard pile.
Side Quests
Side quests represent secondary adventures that the heroes may undertake while pursuing the main goals of the quest deck. There are two kinds of side quests: those with encounter card backs and those with player card backs. Side quests are never considered to be a part of the quest deck. The top card of the quest deck is called the "main quest."
Encounter Side Quests
A side quest with an encounter card back is called an "encounter side quest." An encounter side quest is both a quest card and an encounter card. Each encounter side quest is part of an encounter set and it is shuffled into the encounter deck when setting up a scenario that uses its encounter set. When an encounter side quest is revealed from the encounter deck, it is added to the staging area. Because side quests are quest cards as well as encounter cards, the "when revealed" effects of side quests cannot be canceled by player card effects. If a side quest is dealt to an enemy as a shadow card, it functions as any other encounter card without shadow text.
Player Side Quests
A side quest with a player card back is called a "player side quest." A player side quest is both a quest card and a player card, and can be included in player decks. A player side quest can be played from a player's hand during the planning phase by paying its cost. When a player side quest is played or enters play, it is placed in the staging area.
Side Quests in Play
While any side quest is in the staging area, it functions like a quest card with the following exception: when a side quest is defeated, the players do not advance to the next stage of the quest deck. Instead, the side quest is added the victory display.
At the beginning of each quest phase, if there are one or more side quests in the staging area, the first player may choose one to be the "current quest" until the end of the phase instead of the quest card that is currently active via the quest deck. While a side quest is the current quest, any progress that the players make is placed onto that side quest and any card effects that target the "current quest" target that side quest. Progress must still be placed on the active location before it can be placed on a side quest. Any progress that is made beyond the current quest's total quest points is discarded; do not place progress on any other quest card in play.
Anatomy of Side Quests
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Card Title: The name of the side quest.
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Encounter Set Icon / Sphere of Influence Icon: Each encounter side quest has an encounter set icon that indicates to which set of encounter cards it belongs. This is used in conjunction with the "Encounter Information" icons on side A of the quest cards of any scenario to determine which encounter sets are used to build the encounter deck.
Each player card side quest has a sphere of influence icon that indicates to which sphere it belongs. If a player card side quest has a grey template and no sphere of influence icon (such as The Storm Comes), then it is a neutral card.
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Cost: Only player side quests have a cost. This is the number of resources a player must spend from the appropriate resource pool(s) to play a player card side quest.
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Game Text: The special abilities and italicized flavor text unique to the side quest while it is in play.
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Set Information: The encounter side quest's unique identification number within its encounter set.
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Quest Points: The number of progress tokens that must be placed on the side quest in order to defeat it.
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Victory Points: Each side quest has a victory point value to indicate that it should be added to the victory display when it is defeated.
Heat Tracker
When setting up Desert Crossing, the players are instructed to "place the heat tracker next to the quest deck and set the temperature to 10." To do this, take an unused threat tracker and place it next to the quest deck. For the rest of the game, that threat tracker is the heat tracker and the value it displays is the "temperature." If the temperature reaches 60, the players lose the game.
Objective-Heroes
Objective-hero is a new card type in The Long Arm of Mordor. The four objective-heroes in this scenario represent the brave Haradrim of Kahliel's tribe who are fighting against Sauron's Orcs in order to save the heroes and escape from the oppressive rule of Mordor. An objective-hero is both an objective and a neutral hero. An objective-hero functions the same as a regular hero with the following exceptions: an objective-hero has no threat cost and does not count towards the hero limit of 3.
As a neutral hero, each objective-hero collects 1 resource at the beginning of the resource phase, and resources from its resource pool may be spent to pay for neutral player cards.
When setting up The Long Arm of Mordor, each player is instructed to take control of an objective-hero. Starting with the first player, each player should choose 1 of the available objective-heroes in turn order. Then, any unused objective-heroes are removed from the game.
Each objective-hero in The Long Arm of Mordor has the text: "If (this hero) leaves play, you are eliminated from the game." This text cannot be modified in any way.
Heroes in the Staging Area
At the beginning of The Long Arm of Mordor, the heroes are still recovering from their difficult desert crossing. To represent this in the scenario, the players are instructed to place their heroes in the staging area during setup. Stage 1A reads: "For the remainder of the game, heroes in the staging area are in play but under no player's control, immune to player card effects, and their text boxes are considered to be blank." This creates a lasting effect that applies to heroes while they are in the staging area.
When an effect causes a player to take control of a hero in the staging area, that player moves that hero from the staging area to his play area. Once that hero is no longer in the staging area, the lasting effect created by stage 1A no longer applies to it.
While a hero is under no player's control, it does not collect resources during the resource phase.
When a card effect refers to ownership of a hero, the player who "owns" that hero is the player who selected that hero as one of his starting heroes during the game's setup. If a hero in the staging area has its hit points reduced to 0, it is destroyed and placed in its owner's discard pile.
Guarded Heroes
When the players advance to stage 3A, they are instructed to attach each hero in the staging area to a different Orc enemy in the staging area. Each hero attached to an Orc enemy is guarded by that enemy. While a hero is guarded by an enemy, it is treated like a guarded objective.
Stage Number
When a card refers to the "stage number" of a quest card, it is referencing the numerical value of the sequence in the upper left hand corner of that quest card.
Scenario Rules
The Sands of Harad contains three scenarios. Each scenario's difficulty level, encounter sets and scenario-specific rules are given below. The scenario narratives, which the insert presents as story text, are not reproduced.
Escape from Umbar
Difficulty level = 5.
"Escape from Umbar" is played with an encounter deck built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: Escape from Umbar, Harad Soldiers, and Harad Territory. These sets are indicated by the following icons, shown in the insert.
Desert Crossing
Difficulty level = 6.
"Desert Crossing" is played with an encounter deck built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: Desert Crossing, Desert Creatures, and Desert Sands. These sets are indicated by the following icons, shown in the insert.
[Transcriber's cross-reference: the heat tracker rule for this scenario is printed under Heat Tracker above.]
The Long Arm of Mordor
Difficulty level = 7.
"The Long Arm of Mordor" is played with an encounter deck built with all the cards from the following encounter sets: The Long Arm of Mordor, Mordor Orcs, and Jungle Forest. These sets are indicated by the following icons, shown in the insert.
[Transcriber's cross-reference: the objective-hero, staging-area and guarded-hero rules used in this scenario are printed under Objective-Heroes, Heroes in the Staging Area and Guarded Heroes above.]
Game Modes
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is intended for both casual players and dedicated enthusiasts. To accommodate different play styles, three modes of play are available: Easy, Standard, and Nightmare.
Easy Mode
Easy mode is ideal for new players and for players who prefer the narrative and cooperative aspects of the game with less challenge. To play a scenario in Easy mode, simply take the following steps during setup of any scenario:
- Add one resource to each hero's resource pool.
- Remove any card with the "difficulty" indicator around its encounter set icon (a gold border) from the current scenario's encounter deck.
Some older scenarios (including those in early printings of the core game) do not have the "difficulty" indicator icon on relevant cards their encounter decks. Please visit www.fantasyflightgames.com to see which cards should be removed in those scenarios.
Standard Mode
To play a scenario in Standard mode, simply follow the normal setup instructions for that scenario.
Nightmare Mode
Players who desire a truly difficult challenge should consider using the supplemental "Nightmare Decks" (sold separately) for each scenario. More information about Nightmare Decks for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game can be found at www.fantasyflightgames.com.