Last updated: 18 December 2025

What is This Page?

This page contains material useful only when playing a game involving ALeP cards in some manner. This could mean playing an older, official scenario using a deck that contains ALeP player cards or playing any of the ALeP scenarios. It is not intended to be used when playing strictly within the official card pool (though it should work just fine, and we won’t stop you).

This page is divided into two parts: the ALeP Errata and the ALeP Rules Clarifications and FAQ.

1) The ALeP Errata section contains changes and fixes to the ALeP cards and rules, meant to fix a few mistakes and ambiguities discovered over the years.

2) The ALeP Rules Clarifications and FAQ contain in-depth explanations about how certain ALeP cards and rules work and interact with each other or with some official FFG cards.

When a card is referenced in this document you will find an indication like this [XX YY] after the card name. That specifies the product code (XX) and card number (YY). A list of the product codes we use can be found here.

We hope you find this information helpful, and as always, thank you for playing with the ALeP products!

ALeP Errata

Any errata-ed text will be highlighted by using red strikethrough for the old text and green for the new text.

Children of Eorl Expansion [CoE]

Children of Eorl Rules Sheet

Devoted [updated 03 February 2022]

The rules for the devoted keyword should read: “While each non-[baggins], non-[fellowship] hero you control shares at least one trait with an ally a card with the devoted keyword, that ally card does not require a resource match.”

ALeP’s Note: The presence of Fellowship or Baggins heroes was not meant to impact the functionality of the Devoted keyword so clarified that part. Furthermore, non-ally cards with the Devoted keyword were introduced only along the Oaths of the Rohirrim expansion so the original rules only referred to allies.

Loot Piles

In Ambush at Erelas, the explanation of the Loot Piles should also include this part: “Cards in a loot pile are not in play and are under no player’s control.”

ALeP’s Note: In the original text it wasn’t clear if the cards in a loot pile were or not in play and who, if anyone, controlled them. We added this phrase for clarification.

Wild Country [CoE 21] [added 16 November 2023]

Should read: “Forced: At the end of the travel phase, if the active location is not vast if there is no vast active location, each player deals 1 damage to a character they control.”

Endless Grasslands [CoE 22] [added 16 November 2023]

Should read: “Forced: At the end of the travel phase, if the active location is not vast if there is no vast active location, each player exhausts an ally they control.”

Windworn Villages [CoE 23] [added 16 November 2023]

Should read: “Forced: At the end of the travel phase, if the active location is not vast if there is no vast active location, each player chooses and discards 1 card from their hand.”

Humpbacked Downs [CoE 24] [added 16 November 2023]

Should read: “Forced: At the end of the travel phase, if the active location is not vast if there is no vast active location, each player raises their threat by 1.”

ALeP’s Note: The intent for these vast locations was to add pressure for players who did not travel to them, so they were meant to trigger both when the active location was not vast and when there was no active location at all. The previous wording did not convey this intent correctly, so we changed it.

Oaths of the Rohirrim Expansion [OotR]

Lily Cotton [OotR 3]

Should read: “Action: Exhaust Lily Cotton to ready a different Hobbit ally and add Lily Cotton’s [willpower], [attack], and [defense] to that ally’s [willpower], [attack], and [defense] respectively until the end of the phase. At the end of the phase, if that ally is still in play, return it to your its owner’s hand. (Limit once per phase.)”

ALeP’s Note: Since Lily Cotton’s effect could target an ally who was no longer controlled by its owner (for example a Wandering Took [CORE 43] who changed control) it was needed to clarify to whose hand the boosted ally would return to.

Gavin [OotR 11]

Should read: “Response: After resolving the staging of an encounter card without surge After an encounter card without surge is revealed, exhaust Gavin to give that card surge and add 1 resource to the pool of a Scout hero you control. If the next encounter card revealed is not a location, discard it without resolving its effects.”

ALeP’s Note: This does not change the way most people have been using Gavin. The slight rewording is just to bring it more in line with how ALeP understands the mechanics of revealing encounter cards. It was always intended for Lanwyn [TDC 30/TDCHE 06] to be able to trigger off of Gavin’s surge, and this rewording now makes that interaction clearer.

Spreading Inferno [OotR 18a] [added 26 May 2024]

Should read: “Forced: At the beginning of the travel phase, discard the attached location, raise each player’s threat by 1, and discard the lowest printed cost ally controlled by each player. Reveal Trigger the Guarded (location) keyword of Spreading Inferno.”

ALeP’s Note: Since Guarded (X) triggers only when the card with the keyword enters play, unlike the old Guarded keyword which triggers on the card being revealed, Spreading Inferno was not working as intended. So we propose this fix to the wording.

Exhausted Pursuit [OotR 66] [added 16 November 2023]

Should read: “When Revealed: Either each enemy in play captures its steeds, or exhaust each ready damaged character.”

ALeP’s Note: As initially written, you could select the second option of this treachery only if each damaged character in the game was still ready. If even a single damaged character was already exhausted you could not fully resolve the second option, so you had to choose the first one. This was not the intent of this card, so we updated the wording accordingly.

Gálmód’s Escort [OotR 85] [added 03 February 2022]

Should read: “Immune to player card effects. Gálmód’s Escort cannot leave the staging area while it has hit points remaining. Cannot leave the staging area (except by being destroyed), but is considered to be engaged with each player.”

ALeP’s Note: Previously the intent of how this enemy was supposed to work was not perfectly clear and we also wanted to bring it more in line with the changes we introduced on the XXXXX page to a few unique enemies and locations that cannot leave the staging area unless you satisfy certain conditions. So we propose this updated wording.

Recapture the Traitor – Side B [OotR 100] [added 03 February 2022]

Should read: “The players cannot defeat this stage while Gálmód is guarded by an enemy. When Gálmód is free of encounters, he is captured and the players win the game.”

ALeP’s Note: We added this part to clarify that freeing Gálmód from his escort was a necessary condition for victory, since as it was before nothing stopped you from simply defeating the last stage and winning the game.

Relic of Nargothrond [OotR 108] [added 28 August 2024]

Should read: “Attach to a Noldor or Dwarf character. Restricted. Limit 1 per character. Relic of Nargothrond can be played from your discard pile once per round.”

ALeP’s Note: Before this errata, this card could be used as an extremely powerful draw engine in a Noldor/Dale The Last Alliance [CoE 85] deck, combined with Brand son of Bain [TWoR 1/EMHE 1] and an ally like Descendant of Girion [EM 91/EMHE 39] or Redwater Sentry [TWoR 3/EMHE12]. You would target the Relic with the contract, allowing it to be played on Dale characters too, attach it for free on the ally due to their discount, draw a card from Brand, discard the Relic to its own effect, and then play it (again for free) from the discard pile. Even accounting for the “rule of three” of our own FTCL this allowed for 3 free card draws every round which was definitely not the intended use case, so we decided to issue this errata.

Wonders of Aglarond [OotR 115] [added 12 July 2022]

Should read: “Forced: After Wonders of Aglarond leaves play, place 4 progress on any 1 cave without a player token and reveal an encounter card.”

ALeP’s Note: Due to the plural ambiguity of “any” in this sentence we decided to add “1” too, to better clarify our intent on how this location works and to avoid any possible confusion about it.

Folcwine [OotR 166b] [added 16 November 2023]

Should read:

“Attach to a hero. When Revealed: The first player chooses a player to take control of Folcwine. That player attaches Folcwine to a hero they control.

Action: Exhaust [name] to either ready attached hero, or give attached hero +1 [willpower], +1 [attack], and +1 [defense] until the end of the phase.

If Folcwine leaves play, remove it from the game.”

ALeP’s Note: With the previous text it was not clear how the players took control of Folcwine and who it attached to, so we fixed it. The same was true about what happened to Folcwine if it left play, for example, if the attached hero was destroyed.

The Scouring of the Shire Saga Scenario [TSotS]

Raise the Shire – Side B [TSotS 3] [added 03 February 2022]

Should read: “Forced: After a side quest is defeated, search the encounter deck and discard pile for a Shirriff enemy and add it to the staging area. Shuffle the encounter deck.”

ALeP’s Note: We added this part to cover the case, which is relatively common in multiplayer, where the remaining Shirrifs might all already be in the discard pile.

Watch the East Road [TSotS 22a] [added 16 November 2023]

Should read: “Response: At the beginning of the staging step, place the first player places any number of progress here and reveals an equal number of encounter cards.”

ALeP’s Note: When following the Saga rules, cards are revealed from the encounter deck by a specific player, to account for the usage of “you” and the keyword Peril. In this instance, it was not clear which player actually revealed the card(s), so we clarified it.

The Nine are Abroad Standalone Scenario [TNaA]

The Anduin River [TNaA 40] [added 25 May 2023]

Should read: “Forced: After The Anduin River is explored, the first player shuffles up to 2 cards from their discard pile into their deck. Then, your group must investigate investigates rumors.”

ALeP’s Note: Initially this card was the only one in the scenarios that used the “must investigate” wording, which brought many players to wonder if the whole “investigate rumors” mechanic was optional. Since that is not the case we fixed this location’s wording to be in line with the rest of the cards of the scenario.

The Siege of Erebor Standalone Scenario [TSoEr]

Eastern Assault – Normal Side [TSoEr 7a] [added 22 October 2023]

Should read: “Forced: After a card effect is canceled by a player a player card effect cancels an encounter card effect at any stage, deal 1 damage to the eastmost stage’s main quest.”

ALeP’s Note: the previous wording had some unintended interactions with The Desolation of Smaug [TSoEr 23] and Gandalf [OHaUH 10], so we offer this new wording that is more in line with our intent for the card.

The Shire’s Reckoning Expansion [TSR]

Willow Scion [TSR 90] [added 28 August 2024]

Should read: “Forced: When this location attacks, discard a player attachment from the defending character. When a character is declared as a defender against Willow Scion, discard a player attachment from that character.”

ALeP’s Note: As written this Forced effect would trigger at step 6.4b, but at that moment there is not yet a defending character. This was meant to trigger at step 6.4.1 so we fixed the wording to reflect that. Thanks to the Spanish translation team for noticing this.

Ambushed at the Campsite [TSR 101] [added 26 May 2024]

Should read: “When Revealed: If it is the quest phase, end the phase. Each player reveals a card from the Wolf deck and puts it into play engaged with them. Add Packleader to the staging area.”

ALeP’s Note: It was never intended for Packleader [TSR 63] to activate its Forced effect the round it came into play, no matter how much progress was placed to advance to Stage 3A. So we propose this errata to the quest card to fix the issue (and still retain the chance to use some trickery with Tactics Legolas [CORE 5] to better deal with the Packleader). Right now, if you advance to Stage 3A during the quest phase, the When Revealed effect forces the game to reach the end of the quest phase before the Packleader is in play, so there is no chance for its Forced effect to trigger the round it comes into play.

The Hobbit Standalone Scenario [THo]

Crazy Cob [THo 52] [added 31 January 2025]

Should read: “When Revealed: If the players control any ready characters, Crazy Cob makes an immediate attack. The ready character with the most poison tokens must be declared as the defender and exhausted. against the ready character with the most poison tokens. That character must be declared as the defender and exhausted.”

ALeP’s Note: As originally written the intent for this card, that is to say, to have it attack a specific character (according to the rules introduced in FAQ item 1.41) was not conveyed properly. We introduced this wording update to better reflect that intent.

The Mirror of Galadriel Standalone Scenario [TMoG]

Perp Lewis, Ardent Thug [TMoG 42b] [added 18 December 2025]

Should read: “Forced: After you a player engages a [bi]Brigand[/bi] enemy, they either retreat 2 or give your their active location +2 [threat] until the end of the round.

ALeP’s Note: The original wording did not convey the correct intent, being a bit of a mess made by mixing concepts such as “you” as the defending player for shadow effects, as well as this scenario having separate active locations for each player and their effects speaking of “you” referring to that specific player. The intent was always for this Forced effect to apply table-wide.

ALeP Rules Clarifications and FAQ

Children of Eorl Expansion [CoE]

Stolen Steeds [CoE 71] [added 16 November 2023]

Q: How do Stolen Steeds work when claiming multiple Mount objectives? Is the end of round Forced effect of Stolen Steeds meant to bypass the active location?

A: At the moment when a card with multiple Mount objectives attached to it leaves play, those Mount objectives are detached all at once (since they would be discarded as they are also attachments in that moment, but the effect of Stolen Steeds keeps them in play) and then the players claim each detached Mount objective one by one. This also means that if there is a Pommel-pouncer [CoE 79] in the staging area when this happens, the Pommel-pouncer will snatch only one Mount objective from the players.

The end of round Forced effect of Stolen Steed does not bypass the active location, since it doesn’t specifically tell the players to do so, so those progress tokens will go on the active location if there is one. If the active location is explored by this effect and there are still progress tokens left to place, those are placed directly on the quest card.

The Last Alliance [CoE 85] [added 14 April 2023]

Q: The whole A/B formatting is a bit hard to understand, could you clarify what it’s meant to express?

A: Let’s make some examples, speaking about a Gondor (A) and Ranger (B) deck I might want to build.

1) Each of my starting heroes must have either the Gondor or the Ranger trait, but not both. So I can include any (non-Fellowship) version of hero Aragorn and either version of hero Denethor, but I can’t include either version of hero Faramir, since he always has both the Gondor and the Ranger traits. The same restrictions apply to my allies, so I also can’t include either version of ally Faramir since he once again always has both the Gondor and Ranger traits.

2) I have to choose as starting heroes at least 1 Gondor hero and at least 1 Ranger hero, so I can’t go for an all-Gondor hero lineup without any Ranger heroes.

3) I have to include in my deck at least 10 Gondor allies as well as at least 10 Ranger allies.

4) After flipping the contract during Setup, I will have access for the rest of the game to a constant cost reduction for my Gondor or Ranger allies. While I control more Gondor characters than Ranger characters, the first Ranger ally I play each round has its cost reduced by 1. While I control more Ranger characters than Gondor characters, the first Gondor ally I play each round has its cost reduced by 1. If I play around with this carefully I could even end up benefiting from both cost reductions in the same round!

5) The cost reduction of the contract can reduce the cost of my characters down to 0 (but not to a negative number) since there is no cost limit mentioned. When combined with other cost-reduction abilities, the order in which they are applied is up to the player.

6) During the game I can exhaust the contract to activate its Action and change the printed ability text of a card in my hand or in play under my control so that, instead of mentioning only Gondor or Ranger, that card ability text now mentions “Gondor or Ranger”. So for example, if I play an Envoy of Pelargir [HoN 18/DoG 13] it can give 1 resource to either a Gondor or a Ranger hero, or I can play a Ranger Bow [AtS 88] on either a Gondor or a Ranger character, or I can use For Gondor! [CORE 22] to grant all Gondor or Ranger characters +1 [defense] until the end of the phase.

Q: What exactly does “ability text” cover? What gets changed when using the contract’s Action?

A: Let’s review all aspects of a card’s text box:

Printed Traits: The printed Traits of a card are not affected by the contract’s Action. So for example in a Gondor/Ranger The Last Alliance (TLA) deck, you can’t use the contract’s Action to give Lothíriel [TVoM 27/RoR 3] the printed Ranger trait in order to use her Response to put a Ranger ally into play.

Play Restrictions and Cost Modifiers: These are constant abilities that affect when or how you can play a card or change a card’s cost, thus they are affected by The Last Alliance’s Action. So in a Noldor/Dúnedain deck, you can play Light of Valinor [D 107] on a Dúnedain hero by using the contract’s Action. Furthermore, in a Gondor/Rohan deck, you can have a Citadel Custodian [HoN 4/DoG 6] discounted by each Gondor and Rohan characters in play by using the contract’s Action on a Custodian in your hand.

Constant Abilities and Triggered Abilities: All of these are affected by The Last Alliance’s action. So in a Dwarf/Silvan deck, you can use the contract’s Action to have the constant boosts from Celeborn [TRM 1/EoL 1] or Dáin Ironfoot [SoM 116/DoD 1] affect both Dwarf and Silvan characters or to have Brok Ironfist’s [CORE 19] Response trigger based off on either a Dwarf or Silvan hero leaving play, or to use Thranduil’s [EM 56/EMHE 2] Combat Action to play either a Dwarf or a Silvan ally.

Shadow Effect or Flavour Text: Just to cover every possible part of a card, Shadow Effects (in those few rare cases where it would matter) and Flavour Text are not affected by The Last Alliance’s Action.

Q: How does the whole replace with “A or B” bit work exactly? Is it meant to be inclusive?

A: The “or” in that part of the text is indeed meant to be an inclusive “or”, that is to say for game purposes it grants both traits to the card’s ability text. Here are some examples:

1) If I am playing a Dwarf/Noldor deck, and I target Lure of Moria [D 30/DoD 22] with the contract’s Action, it would now read “Ready all Dwarf or Noldor characters.” so all characters with the Dwarf, as well as all character with the Noldor trait (or with both, if I happened to play a card like Elf-friend [AA 93/AAHE 70]), are readied by Lure of Moria.

2) If I am playing a Gondor/Rohan deck and I target a Steward of Gondor [CORE 26] I control, Steward of Gondor would effectively grant the attached hero both the Gondor and Rohan traits for all game purposes until the end of the round.

Q: Can I choose Lothíriel [TVoM 27/RoR 3] as one of the starting heroes in a Gondor/Rohan TLA deck if one of the other starting heroes in the game is Éomer [TVoI 1/RoR 1]?

A: When choosing starting heroes based on deckbuilding restrictions, their game text is not yet active. Since Lothíriel’s constant ability is not yet active she doesn’t have the Rohan trait, making her a viable choice.

Q: I am running a Dwarf/Noldor The Last Alliance deck with Spirit Dáin Ironfoot [EM 84/EMHE 6] as one of my heroes. I use Thorongil [TVoM 146] to bring Leadership Dáin Ironfoot [SoM 116/DoD 1] onto the table, attached to Thorongil. Can I target Leadership Dáin Ironfoot (or Spirit Dáin Ironfoot) with the contract’s Action in order to give all of my Noldor +1 WP/Attack?

A: In that situation, Leadership Dáin Ironfoot is not really in play, so you can’t target him with the contract’s Action, and while Spirit Dáin Ironfoot has indeed gained Leadership Dáin Ironfoot’s text it hasn’t gained it as printed text so you can’t target Spirit Dáin Ironfoot with the contract’s Action either.

Q: If I’m playing with a Noldor/Dwarf deck The Last Alliance [CoE 85] deck and I use the contract’s Action to target a card in my hand (like Lords of the Eldar [AA 121/AAHE 51) and then that card ends up in the discard pile in the same round, can I play Lords of the Eldar from the discard pile to boost both Noldor and Dwarf characters? [added 26 May 2024]

A: Yes, the change introduced by The Last Alliance’s Action is kept in effect even when the card moves between game zones inherently visible to the player (like the discard pile). That information would be lost if Lords of the Eldar were moved to a game zone not inherently visible to the player, for example, if it was shuffled back into the player’s deck and then drawn again somehow in that same round. 

Oaths of the Rohirrim Expansion [OotR]

Seasoned Forager [OotR 77] [added 14 April 2023]

Q: How do Seasoned Foraged and its “Limit 1 per player” work when a hero changes the controller and is passed to a player that already controls a Seasoned Forager?

A: Let’s say Player A has Seasoned Forager attached to their Glorfindel [CORE 12] and Player B plays Desperate Alliance [OtD 10], giving them control of Beravor [CORE 11], also with a copy of Seasoned Forager attached. When Player A takes control of Beravor, they end up controlling two attachments with the same title and “Limit 1 per player”. The second copy of Seasoned Forager that Player A has just taken control of is discarded from play (going back to Player B’s discard pile). For reference, this is similar to how side quests with “Limit 1 copy of [this side quest] in the victory display” work, as explained in The Sands of Harad rules booklet.

Osbera [OotR 145] [added 14 April 2023]

Q: How does Osbera flipping work? Is she readied by flipping if exhausted? Does she keep her resource tokens, damage tokens, and attachments? Is she considered to be leaving play?

A: Only the text of the side currently face-up is active. When Osbera flips, she is simply changing to another aspect of herself, she is no more bear than she is human. Many things remain unchanged:

• She keeps her ready or exhausted status.
• She keeps all tokens and all attachments (note though that since her [tactics] side has the “Cannot have restricted attachments” text, any such cards will be discarded when she flips to that side).
• She is not considered to have left play when she flips from one side to the other.
• If any lasting effects created by card effects are affecting her (for example, if a treachery card has given her -2 willpower until the end of the round, or if you chose her as the target for The Last Alliance [CoE 85]’s Action) those effects will continue to affect her even after she flips.

Q: Does Osbera enter play on a specific side? Or is it by the player’s choice?

A: Whenever Osbera enters play, be it during Setup or later on during the game (through card effects like Fortune or Fate [CORE 54] or Helm of Secrecy [TVoM 90/DoG 33], for example) she starts on the side chosen by the player who controls her. Note that if you don’t have an enemy engaged with you (which is extremely likely during Setup since her constant ability will be active way before quest card 1A Setup text triggers) and you put her in play on her [tactics] side, she will immediately flip over to her [lore] side through her constant ability.

Q: If a quest card Setup puts an enemy in play engaged with me, can I put Osbera in play on her [tactics] side and keep her on that side?

A: Since the Setup effects of quest and encounter cards trigger after placing heroes on the table, Osbera will have already flipped to her [lore] side by then. Note that if she has a resource to spend (maybe because you are playing with the Core Set rules Easy Mode) when an enemy is put in play engaged with you during Setup, you can spend that resource to flip her from her [lore] to [tactics] side as usual.

Q: Which printed sphere does Osbera have?

A: Osbera has the printed sphere of the side she is currently on. So if she is on her [lore] side she will be counted for the discount on Scroll of Isildur [AtS 142], but if she is on her [tactics] side she will not.

Q: How does Osbera interact with cards like The Last Alliance [CoE 85]?

A: For deck-building restrictions, you have to consider the side you will choose for her to be put in play. So you can include her in a Creature/XXX The Last Alliance deck if you choose for her to be put in play on her [tactics] side during Setup. Note that, as explained above, she will then immediately flip to her [lore] side after being put into play and she will then usually start the first round as a simple Beorning.

Q: How does Osbera interact with Mirlonde [AtS 32] if we put her in play on her [tactics] side during Setup?

A: Since her flipping from [tactics] to her [lore] side is a constant ability, so one that is always active (even in Setup, similar to how hero Gandalf [TRD 2/TFotR 7] allows you to peek at the top card of your deck even then), the same type of effect as Mirlonde’s threat cost reduction, you can choose the order in which they apply. So if you put her in play on her [tactics] side during Setup (maybe due to some deck-building restrictions), you can still benefit from Mirlonde’s threat cost reduction if you decide to let Osbera’s constant ability that flips her back to her [lore] side resolve first. This is also due to the fact that in Setup you first put heroes in play and only afterward you determine your starting threat.

Q: If I have a second Osbera in my collection can I use Thorongil [TVoM 146] to put her other side in play through that card’s effect?

A: Thorongil asks for a “different version” of the hero, while both sides of Osbera are simply two aspects of the same hero. So you can’t use Thorongil to bring your second copy of Osbera into play on the other side.

Q: How does [tactics] Osbera’s Response work? Can I use it to cancel 1 damage that would be dealt to one of my characters or must it be 2?

A: [tactics] Osbera’s Response is meant to be used only when one of your characters is dealt 2 (or more) damage, it cannot be triggered when one of your characters is dealt only 1 damage.

Gilraen [OotR 182] [added 25 May 2023]

Q: How does Star Brooch (TLR 13/AAHE 47) interact with Gilraen’s self-reduction of [willpower]? And if the Brooch counteracts it, do the other Dúnedain heroes lose their [willpower] bonus?

A: Star Brooch uses the wording “cannot have its [willpower] reduced” and as defined by the FFG FAQ 1.14 “cannot” is an “absolute [that] cannot be overridden by other effects”. So yes, Star Brooch can counteract Gilraen’s [willpower] reduction, in the same way that it counteracts cards like Dark Knowledge (CORE 72) or A Fell Dread (AA 163/AACE 154). The [willpower] boost Gilraen provides to the other Dúnedain heroes is not affected by this.

Aragorn [OotR 183] [added 25 May 2023]

Q: Can I use the Setup ability of Neutral Aragorn to attach a Title attachment to him that he is not eligible for, like Captain of Gondor [TRM 140/DoG 15] or The Elvenking [EM 57/EMHE 19]?

A: No, when you try to attach to Neutral Aragorn the Title attachment he fetched with his own Setup ability, he needs to be eligible for it at that moment. But if you are running him with The Grey Wanderer [TVoM 24] contract, you could use the contract Setup effect to put Mighty Warrior [TH 31] or Elf-friend [AA 93/AAHE 70] in play attached to Aragorn before attempting to attach Captain of Gondor or The Elvenking, for which Aragorn will then be eligible.

Grimrede [OotR 194] [added 16 November 2023]

Q: In multiplayer, if Grimrede gets Rohan Renegade [OotS 196] as a shadow card during Stage 2B of Blood in the Isen, who will he attack during the immediate attack?

A: When the shadow effect of Rohan Renegade moves Grimrede to the next player, the constant ability of The Battle is Joined [OotR 208] will move Grimrede back to the first player before the immediate attack begins. For similar situations when a constant ability interrupts a card effect mid-sentence, you can see items #3.208 and #3.322 of our Semi-official Errata and FAQ 1.10 page. So in the above situation, Grimrede will resolve the immediate attack due to Rohan Renegade’s shadow effect against the first player.

The Shire’s Reckoning Expansion [TSR]

Player Objectives [added 01 March 2024]

Q: How and by whom can the Actions and Responses on player objectives be triggered?

A: Here is an example that might shed some light on how player objectives work. Three players (let’s call them A, B, and C) have their respective starting threats set at 22, 20, and 20 and they put Keep it Secret [TSR 21] into play at the end of Setup. Player A and Player B decide to opt in to the player objective (each adding 1 [threat] token to Keep It Secret), then they flip it over. During the first resource phase, Player A decides to trigger the Action of Keep It Secret twice, which brings the secrecy level of Player A up to 22 (and its threat elimination level down to 46). At the beginning of the first planning phase, since there are at least 3 players in the game and they are all in secrecy, Player A and Player B can both separately decide to trigger the Response of Keep It Secret. However, Player C cannot trigger it, since they did not opt in to it.

Q: When exactly is “the end of Setup”?

A: The correct timing for putting into play player objectives comes in the very last part of Setup, but before the beginning of the first round: If you are using the rules presented in the Core Set (Revised or old), this happens after Step 7 of Setup, that is to say after resolving all Setup effects of player, encounter, quest, campaign and nightmare cards. If you are using one of the two versions of the Reworked Setup (see our Community Errata and Free to Choose List page), this happens in Step 5 of Setup.

Lobelia [TSR 4] [added 01 March 2024]

Q: So what exactly can Lobelia “burgle”? How does her ability work with the restricted keyword, with “play only if” attachments, and with “limit 1 per character” attachments? What about Item objectives?

A: With her Action, Lobelia can attach to herself Item attachments from all spheres as well as Item attachments that can be attached only to characters with a certain trait, sphere, or title. So she could for example wield both Gandalf’s Staff [TRD 8/TFotR 22] and Herugrim [TToS 10/TTTo 16], but she is still subject to the general limitation that makes it so a character can only have 2 restricted attachments; so if she tries to attach A Burning Brand [SoM 33] she will need to discard one of those 3 restricted attachments. The “limit 1 per character” restriction also applies to her, so if she tries to attach a second copy of Gondorian Shield [AtS 5/DoG 16] to herself the first one will be discarded. She can attach to herself cards like Ent Draught [TToS 9/TTTo 22] even if you don’t control an Ent since she is not actually playing the attachments so any “play only if” restrictions do not apply (see item #3.200 of our Semi-official Errata and FAQ 1.10 page for a similar situation). If an Item attachment has a null cost or no cost (like some encounter objectives), it can’t be a target of Lobelia’s ability.

Q: How does Lobelia’s Action interact with Guarded (X) cards? And more in general with guarded attachments?

A: If she targets a Guarded (X) card in a player’s hand, the Guarded (X) keyword will still trigger when the attachment enters play, so the Item will attach to Lobelia for a “hot second” (see item #3.283 of our Semi-official Errata and FAQ 1.10 page for a similar situation) before the Guarded (X) keyword triggers and the attachment is moved to the enemy/location just added to the staging area to fulfill the keyword.

If she targets an encounter guarded attachment or a Guarded (X) player card that is already attached to an enemy/location in play, she will get to move that Item attachment from the encounter card to herself.

Q: Which resources can I spend on Lobelia’s ability? Only her own? Do I have to have a resource match with the Item attachment?

A: When paying for Lobelia’s ability you can spend her resources, but also those of other heroes you control, as well as those in the resource pool of a player card that collects resources (like the ally version of Radagast [SoM 59] and Treebeard [TRM 146]). You can’t spend resources from a player card that does not have a resource pool (like Keeping Count [D 5]). You do not need to have a resource match with the Item attachment.

Frodo Baggins [TSR 14] [added 26 May 2024]

Q: Can the “players lose the game” text on ally Frodo [TSR 14] be blanked by card effects like Lord of the Dead [TSoE 5] or Cold from Angmar [TLR 54/AACE 14]?

A: This kind of text cannot be modified by player card effects or encounter card effects, no matter what. This clarification is already present in the LOTR Saga rule booklets, we are simply extending it to all possible situations, since now that text also appears on player cards that can be used in every scenario (and are not immune to encounter card effects like The One Ring [ASitE 1]).

The Riddle-game [TSR 22] [added 01 March 2024]

Q: What happens if a shadow card dealt to Hungry Creature [TSR 23] is a treachery or has X threat?

A: If the shadow card dealt to Hungry Creature does not have a printed numerical value for threat (be it because it’s a treachery, an objective, or has a value of X), then it’s considered to have 0 threat for the purposes of resolving Hungry Creature’s Forced effect. So it might be a good idea to consider adding a decent amount of 0-cost player cards in decks that will use this contract. Note that something similar is true for cards in a player’s hand: a player card with a printed cost of X will be considered to have a cost of 0 when resolving Hungry Creature’s Forced effect and the same is true for an encounter card that somehow ended in a player’s hand and can be discarded (like The Searching Eye [LoS 15/TTTo 105]).

Q: Is the progress token I place on Side A of The Riddle-game due to the Thief being a Hobbit kept when I flip it to Side B?

A: Yes. Generally speaking, when a card is flipped without leaving play and has the same title on both sides, it will also keep any tokens or attachments on it, unless something explicitly says otherwise (like it happens for progress tokens on Uncharted locations) or the new side cannot have certain kinds of tokens or attachments (for example the [tactics] side of Osbera [OotR 145] with her “cannot have restricted attachments” text).

Q: What does a unique contract imply? How do we decide which player can put in play its copy of The Riddle-game if more than one person wants to play with it?

A: During the preparation of the player decks when setting up a game, each player can decide if they want to bring a contract into the game. If you are using one of the two versions of the Reworked Setup (see our Community Errata and Free to Choose List page), this happens in Step 2-1. At that moment, if more than one player wants to play with a unique contract, the players will discuss as a group and decide who will be able to do so since only one copy of a unique card can be in play at any moment. If the players are unable to reach an agreement, the first player will decide which player can play with their copy of the unique contract.

The Fell Summer Expansion [TFS]

Turncoat Rules [added 31 January 2025]

The concept of the Turncoat keyword was born from a series of encounter card effects like Secret Cultist [ASitE 39], which temporarily turned an ally into an enemy. Since we wanted to avoid having to write down walls of text every time we decided to use such an effect on an encounter card, we decided to compress it all down into a single keyword. This also led us to the idea of turning it into a player card effect as well. Since the situation created by this keyword is sometimes a bit of a rules mess, we also decided to provide a series of FAQs about it.

Q: Why use the wording “printed ally/character/enemy with turncoat”?

A: Even though a hero or ally that gains turncoat loses its hero or ally card type, it still remains a printed hero or ally and can be referenced as such by card effects. The same is, of course, true for an enemy. It’s also a way for us to more clearly reference a card when explaining rules and writing FAQs.

Q: Does a printed enemy with turncoat also gain a sphere? Can I play attachments on it?

A: Unless an effect explicitly tells otherwise, a printed enemy with turncoat does not gain a sphere or a cost. They are considered to be neutral for game purposes. You can play attachments on a printed enemy with turncoat as long as it is eligible for the attachment, but note that, since it’s now considered an ally, the limit of 2 restricted attachments per character will still apply.

Q: Can I use a printed enemy with turncoat to pay the cost for a card like A Very Good Tale [OHaHU 14/DoD 20]?

A: Yes, you can exhaust a printed enemy with turncoat to pay for the cost of A Very Good Tale, but note that a turned enemy has no cost so it will likely result in a mediocre tale.

Q: Does a character or enemy that gains turncoat leave play when it “turns”? Can I trigger something like Valiant Sacrifice [CORE 24/DoG 25] off an ally “turning” on me?

A: A character or an enemy that gains turncoat does not actually leave play. It remains in play and shifts allegiance, with a change to its card type and controller.

Q: Can a card have two instances of turncoat? And if so, what happens?

A: A card cannot have two instances of turncoat, so if an effect would add the turncoat keyword to a card that already has it, that effect cannot be resolved. 

Q: What happens when an enemy that is guarding an objective or a player card with Guarded (X) gains turncoat?

A: When a player takes control of a printed enemy with turncoat, they also take control of all attachments on that printed enemy. This can be helpful for many objectives with the Guarded keyword (though note that you have not claimed those objectives since the objective is not technically “free of encounters”) but might be an issue for the Guarded (X) player cards since they will end up attached to an ally and not to a hero (but Long Lake Trader [TWoR 6/EMEH 56] might be of help there).

Q: Are objective-allies affected by turncoat? And if they first gain and then lose the keyword, what happens to them?

A: Yes, objective-allies can indeed be affected by turncoat since they are also considered to be allies for all purposes. While an objective-ally has turncoat it becomes just an enemy, not an objective-enemy. When an objective-ally loses turncoat, first the encounter deck takes control of it, since it’s the owner of all objective cards, then usually the text on the objective-ally (which is now no longer blank) will clarify which player takes control of that objective-ally. In case there is no such clarification, the first player will take control of that objective-ally.

Q: What happens to a ship-enemy that gains turncoat? Is it now a ship-objective?

A: Yes, a ship-enemy that gains turncoat will gain the ship-objective card type. Note that, according to the official rules for ship-objectives, a ship-objective is also considered an ally for all purposes, with the following exceptions:

• Ship‑objectives can only attack ship‑enemies. Non-ship enemies cannot be attacked by a ship‑objective.

• Ship‑objectives can only defend against attacks made by ship‑enemies. Ship‑objectives cannot defend against attacks made by non-ship enemies.

Q: What happens if a printed character loses turncoat while it’s still in play, but its owner has already been eliminated?

A: That printed character is immediately placed in its owner’s discard pile.

Q: What happens if I play Born Aloft [SoM 29] on a printed enemy with turncoat? Where does that printed enemy end up after it leaves play?

A: You can trigger an effect like Born Aloft when it’s attached to a printed enemy with turncoat, but since the owner of that turned enemy is still the encounter deck, it will be shuffled back into the encounter deck itself (since it’s the closest thing to a “hand” the encounter deck has).

Q: What happens to an Encounter keyword ally like Ranger of the North [TLR 15/AAHE 22] that gains turncoat and afterward leaves play?

A: When a Ranger of the North with turncoat leaves play, the effects of the Encounter keyword will prevail over the turncoat rules, and the Ranger of the North will be removed from the game.

Q: The rules about printed characters reference objective-allies. What about objectives like Grimbeorn the Old [SoM 37] and Arwen Undómiel [D 14]?

A: Those cards were the prototypes of the concept of objective-ally. Their Ally trait and their text box make them work like they have the ally card type too. So they are considered characters for card effect purposes, including turncoat. 

Emissary of the East [TFS 8] [added 31 January 2025]

Q: For the purposes of Emissary of the East’s [TFS 8] Response, what constitutes “exhausts as part of a player card effect”? If I exhaust Jubayr [TH 6] to defend an enemy and then trigger Jubayr’s Response, will this trigger Emissary of the East too?

A: Exhausting a character for one of the game framework “actions” like questing, defending, and attacking does not count as exhausting that character “as part of a player card effect”, even if a Response will trigger off it. Speaking of Emissary of the East, some examples of things that will trigger its Response are Southron Refugee [TH 90], Spare Hood and Cloak [OHaUH 12] (if it was originally attached to an Easterling or Harad character), or A Very Good Tale [OHaUH 14/DoD 20] (if I exhaust one or two Easterling or Harad characters to play it).

Word of Persuasion [TFS 10] [added 31 January 2025]

Q: Is a copy of Word of Persuasion attached to an enemy considered to be an attachment? Or is it still an event since there is no “counts as an attachment” text?

A: The general rule (as clarified in item 1.23 of the official FAQ) for these situations is that:

“Any non-objective card that attaches to another card loses its original card type and gains the attachment card type.”

So even without the reminder text of “counts as an attachment”, Word of Persuasion does indeed count as an attachment (and is not an event) while attached to a printed enemy.

Q: If Word of Persuasion is attached to an enemy, can I still trigger the Planning Action on it to attach it to another enemy? Do I have to pay its cost again based on the new enemy?

A: No, once Word of Persuasion is attached to an enemy, its Planning Action can no longer be triggered, the only text active is “Attached card gains turncoat. Limit 1 copy in play per Istari character in play.”

Q: What happens if I use a temporary Istari character (like Gandalf [CORE 73]) to play Word of Persuasion and then that Istari leaves play?

A:If at any moment the number of Istari characters in play is lower than the number of copies of Word of Persuasion in play, the players must place in the discard pile enough copies of Word of Persuasion to go back to the limit. In case there are different players controlling copies of Word of Persuasion above the limit, the first player will decide which copies to place in the discard pile.

Castellan Wilhelm [TFS 37] [updated 18 December 2025]

Q: What happens if, while I am at 49 threat and a standard threat elimination level of 50, I play a Soldier of Isengard [TVoM 57] while controlling Castellan Wilhelm? Does the Doomed 2 from the Soldier of Isengard make me threat out by reaching 51 threat before Wilhelm raises my threat elimination level to 52?

A: The Doomed X keyword on an ally triggers when that ally enters play, so with the same timing as the constant ability of Wilhelm, which would raise your threat elimination level. Since those two effects share the same timing and type, you can choose the order in which you resolve them, so you can avoid threating out in the example you mentioned (but you will still be at 51 threat with a threat elimination of 52, so beware).

Q: If Castellan Wilhelm leaves play, do Ring Wall A and B [TFS 46/47] remain in play under my control?

A: Yes, once the Ring Walls are in play they are not tied to Castellan Wilhelm remaining in play too. Note also that they are unaffected by non-Wall effects, so they cannot be discarded by encounter card effects that require you to discard an attachment you control.

Q: If I am 1 below my threat elimination level and I play Soldier of Isengard [TVoM 57] while controlling Castellan Wilhelm, do I lose by going above my threat elimination level?

A: No, the threat elimination level increase due to the constant ability of Castellan Wilhelm will be taken into account before the Doomed keyword from the Soldier of Isengard can bring you over your threat elimination level, even if you consider Doomed to work at constant ability speed, since in that case you can simply have Castellan Wilhelm recalculate your threat elimination level first.

Q: If a Soldier of Isengard or a Herald of Anórien [TRM 57] gets its text box blanked by an effect such as Cold from Angmar [TLR 54/AACE 14] or The Nine are Abroad [TBR 67/TFotR 80], is it no longer counted for Castellan Wilhelm?

A: It depends: for the Herald of Anórien, all the current forms of text blanking effects will make it so that he will not be counted for Castellan Wilhelm, since its Doomed keyword is only temporarily gained; for the Soldier of Isengard, where the Doomed keyword is actually printed on the card, the answer can vary depending on the blanking effect wording. For example, Cold from Angmar explicitly leaves out keywords from the blanking effect, while The Nine are Abroad makes no such provision. That said, any time due to text box blanking, an ally has neither the Doomed keyword nor the “doomed” word in its ability text, that ally is no longer counted for the purposes of Castellan Wilhelm’s threat elimination level increase. So your Isengard deck ironically better watch out for the Devilry of Saruman [TToS 43/TTTo 63].

Saruman [TFS 38] [added 29 July 2025]

Q: How does Saruman’s Action work exactly?

A: You can use Saruman’s Action to attach to him cards like The Red Arrow [TH 58/RoR 18], Gandalf’s Staff [TRD 8/TFotR 22], or Andúril [OotR 191], ignoring requirements of Traits or named characters. You can even attach to him Vilya [D 137/EoL 30], but note that you will still need to exhaust some version of Elrond to use Vilya’s Action. You can use Saruman’s Action to attach to him Guarded (X) player cards like Ring of Thrór [EM 93/EMHE 73] without having to deal with an enemy or location. You can also use Saruman’s Action to attach to him more than two restricted Artifacts, since placing an attachment in the discard pile due to the restricted keyword counts as “unattaching” it from Saruman, which is prevented by his passive ability.

There is no limit to the number of times you can trigger Saruman’s Action in a single round (besides the number of Artifacts in your hand), though one might prefer to spread out attaching Artifacts to him over multiple rounds to always have him gain access to all spheres.

The “Artifact cards cannot be attached or unattached from him except by the effect below” text means that Artifacts on Saruman are not eligible to be discarded by encounter card effects, but it also means they cannot be moved on to other characters or taken back to your hand while Saruman is in play, with card effects like Long Lake Trader [TWoR 6/EMHE 56], Bartering [TWoR 15/EMHE 64]or Bard son of Brand [TWoR 2/EMHE 5].

Q: How does Saruman interact with The One Ring [ASitE 1] player card?

A: Saruman is not eligible to have The One Ring attached to him through The One Ring Setup text (in a similar vein to Beorn [OHaUH 5] or Sméagol [ASitE 72]).

Fear attachments [TFS 39 and 40] [added 18 December 2025]

Q: When an Oathbreaker ally that was attached to an enemy as aFearattachment (such as Man of the Mountain [TFS 40]) is placed in its owner’s discard pile when the attached enemy leaves play, does that count as a character leaving play?

A: If the effect checking for a character leaving play uses the word “after”, for example, Prince Imrahil [SoM 50] or Light-footed Steed [CoE 16], it will indeed trigger in that instance, since in that moment the Oathbreaker ally is once again a character. If that effect uses the word “when”, for example, Horn of the Mark [TVoM 35/RoR 17], it would not trigger since at that moment the Oathbreaker ally is still an attachment (see item 3.310 of the Semi-official FAQ for a relevant ruling).

Ring Wall A and Ring Wall B [TFS 46 and 47] [updated 18 December 2025]

Q: What is the purpose of arranging the allies between my Walls in a row?

A: It’s meant to be an easy and quick way for you to visualize which of your allies can be affected by the Walls abilities.

Q: Ring Wall B [TFS 47] allows us to declare multiple allies together as defenders. How does it work when multiple characters are defending together? Is their [defense] added together? Are they all considered the defending character? What happens to the damage from the attack, is dealt to a single character or spread out?

A: Their [defense] is indeed pooled together, and they are all defending characters. In case an effect requires a single defending character, since there are multiple valid targets, the first player will choose which ally will be affected. The damage resulting from the attack is all dealt to a single character (see item 1.04 of the official FFG FAQ).

Q: What happens if, thanks to the sentinel keyword, I declare an ally that is between my Walls as a defender for an attack made against another player? Can I use Ring Wall B’s [TFS 47] Response to declare other non-sentinel allies between my Walls as defenders?

A: No, the other allies declared as defenders must be eligible to do so, which includes having the sentinel keyword if they are to be declared as defenders for an attack which is targeting another player.

Q: Is the number of allies I can have arranged between my Ring Walls constantly recalculated while my threat increases and decreases?

A: The number of allies you can have arranged between your Ring Walls is calculated when you trigger the Planning Action on Ring Wall A and is not constantly recalculated afterwards, unless you trigger the Planning Action again. So if I am at 60 threat (thanks to Castellan Wilhelm) and I trigger the Planning Action of Ring Wall A to arrange 6 allies between my Walls, it does not matter if later during that round (or during a following one) I trigger Aragorn’s [D 53] Refresh Action to go back to my starting threat of 35, I will still keep 6 allies arranged between my Ring Walls.

The White [TFS 48] [added 29 July 2025]

Q: Can I play The White on Gandalf [OHaUH 10] to avoid discarding him even without having to raise my threat?

A: Yes, due to how Over Hill and Under Hill Gandalf’s Forced effect is written, you can keep him in play with The White without having to raise your threat by 2 each round.

Tower of Orthanc [TFS 50] [added 29 July 2025]

Q: For how long does the immunity granted by Tower of Orthanc’s Response work? More specifically, in the case of an ally who triggered the Doomed keyword while being played.

A: The immunity granted by Tower of Orthanc will affect other players only while you are playing (or putting into play) that card. So, for example, you can make it so only you draw cards and increase your threat by 2 with Deep Knowledge [TVoI 12]. If you use Gríma’s [TVoI 2] Action to discount Faramir [CORE 14], you can use Tower of Orthanc’s Response to avoid having other players increase their threat by 1 when you play Faramir, but if you later on trigger Faramir’s Action, characters controlled by another player can still have their [willpower] boosted. 

Q: And how about situations when you trigger Doomed directly with a card effect, for example, with Ring Wall Sentry [TFS 42]?

A: Tower of Orthanc is meant to cover those cases, too, and the immunity for other players will last only until the ability is fully resolved. In the Ring Wall Sentry example, that means until each Ring Wall Sentry has gained sentinel, not until the end of the phase, and you can use the now-sentinel Ring Wall Sentries to defend attacks that target other players.

Q: What happens if I use Gríma’s [TVoI 2] Action to discount an attachment while Tower of Orthanc is in play?

A: In the first case, if you trigger Tower of Orthanc’s Response, you will still play the attachment at a discount, but no other player will have to increase their threat due to the Doomed 1 gained through Gríma. Note, though, that at the same time, you will not be able to play that attachment onto another player’s character, as attaching it to another character is part of the process of playing it, and in that moment,t other players and their characters are immune to that card. If you do not trigger Tower of Orthanc’s Response, you will be able to play that attachment on another player’s character, but each player will raise their threat by 1 due to the Doomed keyword.

Q: What if I use Steward of Orthanc [TH 37] on a Campfire Tales [SoM 3] while Tower of Orthanc is in play?

A: If you trigger Tower of Orthanc’s Response in that situation, no other player will draw a card (while you will draw 2 cards), nor will they raise their threat.

Bree-landers [TFS 51] [added 29 July 2025]

One of the intents of allowing people to use the Bree-landers deck in other scenarios is to easily simulate a multiplayer experience, even in solo play. Since the Bree-landers deck bypasses many decisions and flows with very little book-keeping, a player can concentrate mainly on their own deck, but still experiment with some more multiplayer-geared decision moments like handling optional engagement or the use of the sentinel and ranged keyword. Based on this founding principle, we want to make handling the Bree-landers deck as simple as possible, so whenever you have some doubts about how to do so, just follow that idea.

Still, we want to propose some considerations and suggestions about how to handle having the Bree-landers join the game in scenarios other than Fangs in the Dark. Note that these are simply our recommendations, you can play and rule things out differently according to your preferences.

We always recommend limiting the number of players (including the Bree-landers player) to four, to avoid issues with some encounter cards that will probably have only 4 copies, as well as the general balancing of the scenarios. 

That said, here is a list of more specific recommendations:

• The Bree-landers player should be counted for effects that care about how many cards need to be revealed/added to the staging area during setup/quest advancement.
• Since the Bree-landers player has no hand, effects that force a player to discard cards from their hand or to return cards to their hand will basically whiff against the Bree-landers player. Note that this can be an issue in some cases, like Fouled Well [KD 53] or Sleepless Malice [AtS 158].
• Since the Bree-landers player cannot draw cards, it might have some luck avoiding certain bad effects, especially in The Voice of Isengard/The Ring-maker cycle, but it might miss some benefits.
• You cannot use Message from Elrond [TRM 32] to pass a card to the Bree-landers player since the Bree-landers player has no hand.
• The Bree-landers player can be the last player. The Bree-landers player is counted when determining who is the next or previous player.
• Since the Bree-landers deck works in a different way from other decks, we recommend that effects that discard cards from a player’s deck do not affect the Bree-landers player. In the same note, we suggest that scenarios that manipulate a player’s deck during Setup (such as To Catch an Orc, Escape from Mount Gram, and The Fortress of Nurn) do not affect the Bree-landers player.
• In the case of scenarios that separate players, the Bree-landers player will continue to work normally, with the first player still making all decisions for it.
• For the specific case of Breaking of the Fellowship, if the Bree-landers player reveals Frodo’s Choice, consider as if the next player in turn order did so.
• If the Bree-landers player reveals a card with the Peril keyword, the first player will still make any related decisions, but the restriction for other players to trigger abilities is still in effect so the first player will not be able to play A Test of Will [CORE 50/EoL 19/RoR 20] to cancel a Peril treachery revealed by the Bree-landers player.
• Since the Bree-landers player can’t draw cards, it will avoid effects like Poisoned Counsels [TToS 21/TTTo 66] or The Searching Eye [TLoS 15/TTTo 105].
• For some scenarios that “punish” the first player (like Return to Mirkwood or a few LOTR Saga scenarios), playing with a single player assisted by the Bree-landers player will often be in practice equivalent to playing in true solo in that regard, so beware.

The Scouring of the Shire Saga Scenario [TSotS]

Into the West [TSotS 42] [added 14 April 2023]

Q: How does the second Forced effect of the contract Into the West work in regard to an ally “leaving play”? Can it be “rescued” by Eagles of the Misty Mountains [SoM 119]?

A: An ally that is removed from the game by the second Forced effect of Into the West has indeed left play, so it will trigger the Response of a Horn of the Mark [TVoM 35/RoR 17] (if the ally who left play shares a Trait with the attached hero) or the Forced effect of a Silvan Refugee [AtS 37/EoL 13]. Note though that since that ally has been removed from the game it will have “no further interaction with the game in any manner for the duration of its removal” (according to the Rules Reference), so if the ally that was removed from the game by the contract was an Eagle ally, a player cannot trigger the Response of an Eagles of the Misty Mountain to attach that Eagle facedown to the Eagles of the Misty Mountains.

Grievous Wound [added 07 November 2024]

Q: What happens to Grievous Wound [TRD 88/TFotR 135] when it’s attached to Frodo Baggins during the Setup of The Scouring of the Shire scenario? Does it turn into a Condition attachment?

A: Yes, you are also supposed to have Grievous Wound turn into a Condition attachment as per its own Forced effect.

ALeP’s Note: Based on the wording on the Campaign Card, Grievous Wound would not technically turn into a Condition attachment since it did not attach due to its own Forced effect. That was not our intent though, so we are offering this clarification.

The Nine Are Abroad Standalone Scenario [TNaA]

Regions and Investigate Rumors [added 25 May 2023]

Q: Where do we put the current region token in Stage 1A Setup of The Nine are Abroad when there are multiple regions that are tied for the greatest number of Traits shared with heroes in play?

A: When there is a tie between more than one region card sharing a Trait with the highest number of heroes in your group, the first player will choose where to place the progress token among those region cards. Such a tie can also occur when all heroes in the group share zero Traits with all the region cards (for example, when playing solo with a Gandalf The Grey Wanderer deck). In such a case the first player will choose where to place the progress token among all the region cards.

Q: Is “investigate rumors” a mandatory process if the players control at least 1 ready character? Or can the group completely skip it? Why does only The Anduin River [TNaA 40] say “must investigate rumors”?

A: If the players control at least 1 ready character among themselves when they trigger an “investigate rumors” effect, they must indeed do so. As always, though, they can end the process after having exhausted only 1 character and without having found or chosen a Rumor effect. To make this more clear we have slightly updated the wording in the rules cards and brought the wording of The Anduin River in line with the other “investigate rumors” effects, to avoid doubts arising from the use of “must” only in that location.

Q: How do staging area Traps or Guarded (X) player cards interact with the peculiar staging area of The Nine Are Abroad?

A: Traps played in the staging area are attached to the first eligible enemy through a constant ability. All non-Nazgûl enemies in this scenario also have a constant ability that will move them to a specific region as soon as that encounter card starts being revealed. That passive effect on enemies will take priority over the Trap attaching, in the same way as it takes precedence over something like Thalin [CORE 6]’s ability (as pointed out by the first FAQ included in the Nine are Abroad pack). So basically, staging area Traps will attach only to an enemy that is placed on the group’s current region when it’s revealed.

Guarded (X) cards will behave in a similar way for enemies, that is to say, the enemy’s constant ability that places it onto its corresponding region will take effect as soon as starts being revealed before the Guarded (X) card can be attached to it unless of course, the enemy ends up in the group’s current region. So when determining if an enemy is an eligible target for the Guarded (X) keyword you need to keep discarding cards until you find an enemy that will be placed on the group’s current region. This is similar to how enemies with “immune to player cards effects” or “cannot have attachments” are not eligible for the Guarded (X) keyword.

Guarded (X) cards will work relatively normally on locations, since locations are placed on regions through a “Forced: After [this location] enters play” effect, so the Guarded (X) card has time to attach itself to a location before it’s placed on its corresponding region.

So to sum up, when resolving a Guarded (enemy or location) keyword in The Nine Are Abroad the eligible targets for it are all locations, or all enemies that will end up being placed in your region (keep in mind that Nazgûl enemies are immune to player card effects in all areas of the game due to the effect on Shadows of Terror [TNaA 14]).

In the rare event that you go through the entire encounter deck without finding any viable target in the deck at all, you will get the Guarded (X) card for free (see item #3.286 of our Semi-official Errata and FAQ 1.10 page).

Shadows of Terror [TNaA 14] [added 25 May 2023]

Q: How does the immunity granted to Nazgûl enemies by this objective work exactly? Does it also prevent me from fetching a Nazgûl from the encounter deck with Wait no Longer [TH 5/RoR 26]?

A: The Shadows of Terror objective is meant to grant Nazgûl enemies immunity from player card effects even when those enemies are in out of play areas, such as in the encounter deck or in the encounter discard pile.

The Siege of Erebor Standalone Scenario [TSoEr]

Staging and Separate Stages [added 07 September 2023]

Q: How do cards like Thalin [CORE 6] or A Test of Will [CORE 50/EoL 19/RoR 20] work in The Siege of Erebor? And what about Spirit Merry [AA 1/AAHE 6]?

A: When playing The Siege of Erebor scenario, while a card is being revealed (be it during the staging step or at any other moment) “any player at any stage can interact with it as normal”. This means that cards that will take effect while a card is being revealed (like Thalin or A Test of Will) can interact with the revealed card, no matter at which stage the player that controls that card is currently at. But if a player card tries to interact with an encounter card after it’s been revealed, like is the case for the Response on Spirit Merry, it will only be able to do so if the player card still shares a stage with the revealed encounter card after it has been added to its corresponding staging area.

Q: How do Ranger of the North [TLR 15/AAHE 22[ or Eagle of the North [EM 35/EMHE 36] work in The Siege of Erebor? More in general, what about cards being revealed that involve a first player’s choice?

A: When a Ranger of the North or an Eagle of the North is revealed while playing The Siege of Erebor scenario, the first player in the game will choose a player at any stage to take control of it. When that player takes control of it, the ally will move to the chosen player’s stage. Only at that point will the second phrase of the Encounter keyword ally’s When Revealed effect start to resolve, being able to affect only cards at the chosen player’s stage. More generally speaking, a card being revealed in The Siege of Erebor that involves a choice made by the first player will consider the first player in the game (not the first player in the turn order at a specific stage).

Q: How do Doomed events like Legacy of Númenor [TVoI 11] work in The Siege of Erebor scenario?

A: In The Siege of Erebor, when you “apply the effects of a player card ability, only consider the players and cards at your stage as part of the game”. This also means that a card like Legacy of Númenor will apply its Doomed keyword (and its resource gaining effect) only to the players at the same stage as the player who played it.

Q: How do Guarded (X) cards interact with the locations and enemies of The Siege of Erebor? At which staging area will they be added?

A: The specific rule of The Siege of Erebor that makes it so that enemies and locations are added to the staging area indicated in their bottom-right corner, applies only when an enemy or location is revealed. The process of resolving the Guarded (X) keyword includes discarding cards from the encounter deck until an eligible (X) card is discarded and then adding that card to the staging area. Thus, the enemy or location guarding the player card with Guarded (X) will be added to the staging area of the stage where the player who played the Guarded (X) card is currently at.

Q: How do player cards like Wait no Longer [TH 5/RoR 26] that reduce the number of encounter cards revealed during the staging step work in The Siege of Erebor scenario? Do they only affect the number of encounter cards revealed when they are played by the first player?

A: Since the effect on Eastern Assault [TSoEr 7] makes it so that the staging step is resolved by all the stages together, instead of each stage resolving it separately, it doesn’t matter at which stage the player who plays Wait no Longer (or a similar card) is or where they are placed in the turn order. The reduction of the number of encounter cards revealed during the staging step will still apply.

The Hobbit Standalone Scenario [THo]

Player Cards Shuffled in the Encounter Deck and Stage Changes [added 07 November 2024]

Q: How do player cards with the encounter keyword as well as other cards that we should shuffle in the encounter deck like Stinker [ASitE 71] work in this scenario with its many changes of encounter deck?

A: If a card like Ranger of the North [TLR 15/AAHE 22] or Stinker is shuffled by the players in the encounter deck it will stay in it (or in the encounter discard pile) even when other cards in the encounter deck are changed in between stages.

Beyond the Original Bargain [THo 69] [added 07 November 2024]

Q: How does this contract work exactly? Which contracts can we combine together?

A: You can use this contract to combine different contracts as long as you don’t have contrasting deckbuilding restrictions. For example, Bond of Friendship [TVoM 147] and A Perilous Voyage [THftD 47] cannot be combined with Beyond the Original Bargain since they have contrasting deckbuilding restrictions.

There are also combinations that while not directly prohibited, might make your game quite hard, for example, something like Fellowship [ASitE 74] and Forth, the Three Hunters! [TVoM 49].

Note that since Messenger of the King [TVoM 134] would be really easy to abuse with other contracts that restrict your number of heroes, like Grey Wanderer [TVoM 74] or At The End of All Things [TNaA 53], we introduced a new possible wording for it in our Community Errata and Free to Choose List page 

With our Free to Choose List wording, you can combine Grey Wanderer and Messenger of the King, with the Messenger of the King hero acting as your single starting hero or you can have a Messenger of the King hero as one of the four starting heroes of your Bond of Friendship.

Master Burglar [THo 71] [added 07 November 2024]

Q: How does the -1 threat cost work if I play this normally during a game? 

A: The -1 threat cost would not affect your starting threat, since it has already been calculated, but it could be still relevant for things like Helm of Secrecy [TVoM 90/DoG 33] or Inspiring Presence [TDC 143/TDCHE 51].

Q: How does Master Burglar work with Messenger of the ing Bilbo or [baggins] sphere Bilbo Baggins [OHaUH 1/OtD 1]?

A: Messenger of the King Bilbo is not eligible for the Setup ability of Master Burglar because he’s not a printed hero. Furthermore, if you follow the official wording of Messenger of the King [TVoM 134], the Messenger of the King hero is put into play during Setup some time after you would have the chance to put Master Burglar into play. 

The above timing issue is also true for [baggins] sphere Bilbo Baggins and he would not benefit from the -1 threat cost anyway since he has 0 threat cost (and numbers cannot be negative in this game). On the other hand, he would be able to benefit from the [willpower] bonus if you play Master Burglar on him normally during the game.

The Mirror of Galadriel Standalone Scenario [TMoG]

Wave and Villain Decks [added 18 December 2025]

Q: Do the Wave X deck and Villain deck have their own separate discard piles?

A: No, when a card that was revealed from a Wave X deck or the Villain deck leaves play (or finishes resolving if it’s a treachery that does not enter play due to its own effect), it’s placed in the encounter discard pile, unless it’s to be added to the victory display (be it due to it having a printed victory points value or through the use of player card effects such as None Return [AA 62/AAHE 65]).

Word of Healing [TMoG 18] [added 18 December 2025]

Q: If I destroy the Ring-lord hero after it gained turncoat due to the Give Me The Ring ability on The Dark Lord Beckons [TMoG 43b] and then I play Fortune or Fate [CORE 54] to put it back into play, does that hero still retain turncoat since it’s gained “until the end of the game”?

A: No, since according to the full rules about the turncoat keyword, when a card with turncoat leaves play, it loses that keyword. That “until the end of the game” is more of an indication of how long that keyword would last as long as the hero-turned-enemy remains in play, since the keyword is not gained through an attachment that remains on that hero, so it was best to give an indication of the duration of the effect. You could also read that part as “while it [the Ring-lord] remains in play”.

The Gifts of Galadriel [TMoG 62] [added 18 December 2025] 

Q: How does The Gifts of Galadriel work regarding ignoring eligibility?

A: This contract’s Response will allow you to ignore eligibility based on Traits or resource icons, so you can attach Herugrim [TToS 10/TTTo 16] to a Gondor hero or A Burning Brand [SoM 33] to a non-[Lore] character. On the other hand, you would not be able to attach hero-specific attachments like Gondorian Shield [AtS 5/DoG 16] to an ally nor to attach a character-specific attachment to a card with another title, so you could not attach Vilya [D 137/EoL 30] to Boromir [SoM 95]. If you attach a third restricted attachment to a character while triggering this contract’s Response, you will still immediately have to discard one of those three restricted attachments, according to the general rules of the game.

A short and easy way to look at this could be asking yourself:

“Is there a different set of Traits and/or resource icons I could give this character that would turn them from being ineligible for the attachment to being eligible for it?”

If the answer is yes, then The Gifts of Galadriel can be triggered.

Q: Can I use The Gifts of Galadriel to attach Sword-thain [AA 149/AAHE 72] to a unique neutral ally, such as Treebeard [TRM 146]?

A: This is an interesting question.

As we explained in the FAQ above, one way to look at The Gifts of Galadriel is to ask yourself: “Is there a different set of Traits and/or resource icons I could give this character that would turn them from being ineligible for the attachment to being eligible for it?”

If you gave a resource icon to a unique neutral ally (for example, if you attach Narya [TGH 15/TDCHE 71] to Gandalf [OHaUH 10]), you could indeed attach Sword-thain to that ally, so this means you can indeed use The Gifts of Galadriel to attach Sword-thain to Treebeard.

However, it is important to note that Treebeard already possesses some abilities granted by the hero card type. For example, his ability that says: “…collects 1 resource each resource phase” is something heroes already do. So by giving Treebeard the hero card type, this part of his ability becomes redundant and does not give Treebeard any additional resources during the resource phase beyond what his hero card type now grants him. Treebeard will have a single resource pool and would be able to use his resources to pay for any neutral card since he is a hero (or potentially another sphere if he gets some resource icons from something else), as well as for Ent cards of any sphere (due to his own ability text).

We think it is likely that FFG prevented Sword-thain and Messenger of the King from being attached to neutral allies in large part to avoid this complex interaction, with players wondering whether Treebeard would collect multiple resources and have multiple resource pools. We could have gone in that direction with this ruling, but we believe our ruling above provides the simplest resolution.

Q: Can I combine The Gifts of Galadriel with the Setup ability of neutral Aragorn [OotR 183] to attach something like The Elvenking [EM 57/EMHE 19] to him?

A: Usually, yes, you can do so, though it can depend on which version of the Setup timing you follow. For example, the ALeP Reworked Setup – Streamlined version allows you to trigger any player card Setup abilities in the order of your choice, so you can flip The Gifts of Galadriel with its Setup ability before triggering Aragorn’s Setup ability, so that the Response on Side B of the contract is ready to be triggered.

Q: What happens if a character is already eligible for an attachment by virtue of satisfying one of its eligibility requirements, but with this contract, I allow it to ignore the rest of the eligibility requirements? For example, Tactics Beregond [HoN 1/DoG 27] is eligible for Armored Destrier [TDC 59/TDCHE 14] due to his sentinel keyword, but is ineligible due to his sphere icons. Can I use The Gifts of Galadriel’s Response to ignore the [leadership] sphere icon requirement and so draw a card or gain a resource?

A: No, the “would be ineligible” wording on The Gifts of Galadriel means that the character must not be eligible at all when playing or putting the attachment into play for you to be able to trigger the contract’s Response at all.