The Southron army was larger and better prepared than the rangers anticipated, and now your dwindling company is painfully overmatched. Your only option is a disciplined withdrawl to Cair Andros, before being overwhelmed by the enemy reinforcements hurrying up the road to join the fight.
The island fortress of Cair Andros, which guards Gondor's northernmost causeways over the river Anduin, is under siege! Battering rams rumble up the eastern causeway and rafts filled with Orcs float across the river toward the lightly defended northern banks.
Setup: Add The Approach, The Citadel, and The Banks to the staging area. Shuffle the encounter deck.
Siege. (Characters quest using instead of .)
Players must deal damage from undefended attacks to the lowest Battleground location in play. If there are no Battleground locations in play, immediate advance to the next stage.
The assault is relentless, and the defenders grow weary. The tide is slowly but surely turning against you...
Orc scramblers have infiltrated the island and climbed over the walls. They fought to the western gate, and the gate fell. Now a new host of enemies that were lying in wait are breaching the Citadel itself!
Siege. (Characters quest using instead of .)
Breakthrough at the Citadel adds 5 to the staging area.
The defenders of Cair Andros have survived brunt upon brunt of the enemy's assault, but the outcome of the battle hangs on the edge of a knife. One last heroic effort is required to save the fortress and win the victory...
When Revealed: Add DrĂ»-buri-DrĂ» to the staging area.
You sense that the edge of the forest must be near at hand, but Woses are master huntsmen and a band of them block your path. your situation seems hopeless: there are simply too many of them. As they begin their attack, you realize your only hope of survival is to convince the Pukel–men that you are not their enemy.
Characters use their instead of when attacking enemies. If an enemy would be damaged this way, place progress tokens on it instead of damage tokens. When an enemy has progress equal to its hit points, add it to the victory display and place those progress tokens on the quest.
If the players defeat this stage, they have won the game.
On all this Bilbo looked with misery. He had taken his stand on Ravenhill among the Elves – partly because there was more chance of escape from that point, and partly (with the more Tookish part of his mind) because if he was going to be in a last desperate stand, he preferred on the whole to defend the Elvenking. –The Hobbit
Siege. Characters may use instead of when questing here.)
Players cannot advance from this stage unless stage 2 and stage 3 are complete.
Forced: If there is no progress on this stage at the end of the round, each player must discard all resources from each hero's resource pool.
An army from Angmar marches on the DĂșnedain capital of AnnĂșminas. You rush to prepare the defenses as best you can before the Orcs reach the city.
Setup: Set Lieutenant of Angmar Battering Ram, Enemy Camp Siege Tunnel, each copy of Host Angmar and each copy of DĂșnedain of AnnĂșminas aside, out of play. Each player searches the encounter deck for a different location and adds it to the staging area. One of those locations must be Gate of AnnĂșminas. Shuffle the encounter deck.
Many hands hurry to reinforce the gate with heavy timbers and large stones while the enemy draws steadily nearer.
Forced: At the beginning of the round (before the resource phase), place 1 resource here. Then, if there are 4 resources here, advance to stage 2.
Response: At the end of the round, remove 10 progress from this stage to increase the city strength of AnnĂșminas by 10.
An army from Angmar marches on the DĂșnedain city of AnnĂșminas. You ring the alarm bells and hurry to gather what strength you can.
Setup: Set Lieutenant of Angmar Battering Ram, Enemy Camp Siege Tunnel, each copy of Host of Angmar and each copy of DĂșnedain of AnnĂșminas aside, out of play. Shuffle the encounter deck. Each player discards cards from the top of the encounter deck until he discards an enemy or location. Add each enemy and location discarded in this way to the staging area.
You race along the shores of Lake Nenuial to gather the DĂșnedain inside the walls. "To arms!" you shout. "Everyone into the city! Angmar approaches!"
Forced: At the beginning of the round (before the resource phase), place 1 resource here. Then, if there are 4 resources here, advance to stage 2.
Response: At the end of the round, remove 10 progress from this stage. Then, the first player at each stage takes control of a set aside DĂșnedain of AnnĂșminas.
An army from Angmar marches on the DĂșnedain city of AnnĂșminas. Your friends need time to prepare the defense, so you ride out to meet the enemy.
Setup: Set Lieutenant of Angmar Battering Ram, Enemy Camp Siege Tunnel, each copy of Host of Angmar and each copy of DĂșnedain of AnnĂșminas aside, out of play. Each player searches the encounter deck for a different enemy and adds it to the staging area. One of these enemies must be Vanguard of Carn Dâm. Shuffle the encounter deck.
It's up to you to harry the Orcs and slow their approach to the city.
Forced: At the beginning of the round (before the resource phase), place 1 resource here. Then, if there are 4 resources here, advance to stage2.Response: At the end of the round, remove 10 progress from this stage, then the players at each other stage reveal 1 fewer encounter card during their next quest phase (to a minimum of 0).
You've driven the enemy from the battlements when you hear a commotion from below. Orcs have tunneled under the walls and atack you from the rear. You charge down the stairs to stem the tide of Orcs and block the tunnel entrance.
When Revealed: Shuffle the encounter discard pile into the encounter deck. The first player adds Siege Tunnel to the staging area. Each other player reveals an encounter card.
Progress cannot be placed here while Siege Tunnel is in play.Response: At the end of the round, raise each player's threat by 1 and reveal an encounter card to choose a non-unique enemy worth no victory points at another stage. Discard the chosen enemy.
If the Lieutenant of Angmar is in the victory display at the end of the round, the players have routed the enemy and won the game.
Setup: Add Dol Guldur to the staging area, attach a threat dial to it, and set its value to 5. Then, increase it's value by 5 for each player. For the rest of the game, that threat dial is the siege tracker and it displays the city strength of Dol Guldur. Flip this card over.
"...we were drawing nigh to Dol Guldur, and that is still a very evil place; we do not go that way."
–Legolas, The Fellowship of the Ring
While Dol Guldur's city strength is 0, each Lieutenant enemy loses indestructible.
While the players are at stage 3, this card gains:"Forced: After resolving the Forced effect on Dol Guldur, randomly select a stage 3 that was not in play this round and resolve its Forced effect. Then, discard all progress from the current stage 3 and advance to a new stage 3 of your choice."
At the end of the round, if Dol Guldur's city strength is 0 and there are no Lieutenant enemies in play, Dol Guldur is captured and the players win the game.
After the fall of the Dark Tower and the passing of Sauron the Shadow was lifted from the hearts of all who opposed him, but fear and despair fell upon his servants and allies. –The Return of the King
Setup: Create 3 separate staging area, each with its own quest deck and encounter deck. Divide the players into 3 teams, one for each staging area. One team puts Dol Guldur into play in their staging area, attaches a threat dial to it, and sets its value to 5. Then, increase its value by 5 for each player at each stage. For the rest of the game, that threat dial is the siege tracker and it displays the city strength of Dol Guldur. Each other team removes their copy of Dol Guldur. Each other team removes their copy of Dol Guldur from the game. Flip this card over.
...there was long battle under the trees and great ruin of fire...
–The Return of the King
While Dol Guldur's city strength is 0, each Lieutenant enemy loses indestructible.
While the players are at stage 3, this card gains:"Forced: After resolving the Forced effect on Dol Guldur, the team with Dol Guldur in their staging area resolves the forced effect on the stage 3 that was not in play at any stage this round. Then, each team discards all progress from their stage 3 and advances to a new stage 3 of their choice. Each team must choose a different stage."
Response: At the end of the round, a player who controls Host of LĂłrien or Power of LĂłrien may give control of that card to another player at any stage.
If the last player at a stage is eliminated, the siege falls and the entire group loses the game. At the end of the round, if Dol Guldur's city strength is 0 and there are no Lieutenant enemies in play at each stage, Dol Guldur is captured and the players win the game.
They took Dol Guldur, and Galadriel threw down its walls and laid bare its pits, and the forest was cleared.
–The Return of the King