Last updated: 2024-05-26
The purpose of this page is to gather all the errata to FFG cards that were not collected in an official FFG FAQ after the last one in 2017.
This page is divided into sections, depending on the origin of these errata: official reprints by FFG, card errors not yet reprinted but either glaringly obvious or explicitly confirmed by the developers, and finally a few unofficial rules addenda we suggest to clean up ambiguities in the official rules.
We hope you will find this useful!
Official Reprints
The following cards have seen official reprints in recent products by FFG, with functional changes to their text. Even though there was no official communication about it in an FFG FAQ, we consider these changes to be official errata in all regards.
The Dark of Mirkwood Standalone Scenario [TDoM]
The Oath Campaign Card – Side A [TDoM 50]
Should read: “Response: Forced: At the end of each round, place 1 resource token here.”
ALeP’s Note: The intent was clearly for this effect to be triggered no matter what each round, but being initially erroneously printed as a Response its activation was subject to the players’ choice.
Defenders of Gondor Starter Deck [DoG]
Envoy of Pelargir [DoG 13]
Should have 1 printed Hit Point (not 2).
Faramir [DoG 28]
Should have the Traits Gondor. Ranger. Noble.
Helm of Secrecy [DoG 33]
Should read: “Action: Choose a hero you control and discard all tokens from it. Select a different non-[fellowship], non-[baggins] hero from your collection with a threat cost less than or equal to the chosen hero. Swap those heroes, moving all eligible attachments and damage tokens to the hero from your collection.”
ALeP’s Note: The errata in the Defenders of Gondor starter deck basically brings these cards back in line with their original text from the Heirs of Númenor, Against the Shadow, and The Vengeance of Mordor expansions.
Elves of Lórien Starter Deck [EoL]
Daeron’s Runes [EoL 20]
Should read: “Response: Action: Draw 2 cards. Then, discard 1 card from your hand.”
Elrond’s Counsel [EoL 21]
Should read: “Response: Action: If you control a unique Noldor character, give another character +1 [willpower] until the end of the phase and lower your threat by 3.”
ALeP’s Note: The changes in the Elves of Lórien starter deck basically bring these cards back in line with their original text from the Dwarrowdelf expansion.
Shadows of Mirkwood Expansion [SoM]
A Burning Brand [SoM 33]
Should read:
“Attach to a [lore] character. Restricted.
While attached character is defending, cancel any shadow effects on cards dealt to the attacking enemy. Response: Exhaust A Burning Brand to cancel a shadow effect just triggered during an attack that attached character is defending.”
ALeP’s Note: The latest printings of the Conflict at the Carrock AP included this “silent errata”, that is to say, one never added to the official FAQ despite coming out before the game hiatus.
Dáin Ironfoot [SoM 116]
Should have the Traits Dwarf. Noble.
ALeP’s Note: The Noble trait was added when this card was reprinted in the Dwarves of Durin starter deck.
Dwarrowdelf Expansions [D]
Legacy of Durin [D 61]
Should read: “Response: After you play a Dwarf character from your hand, exhaust Legacy of Durin to draw 1 card.”
ALeP’s Note: The latest printings of The Watcher in the Water AP already included this “silent errata”, that is to say, one never added to the official FAQ despite coming out before the game hiatus, which was then further confirmed when it was reprinted in the Dwarves of Durin Starter Deck.
Erebor Battle Master [D 79]
Should read: “Erebor Battle Master gets +1 [attack] for each other Dwarf ally you control. (Limit +4 [attack].)”
ALeP’s Note: The latest printings of The Long Dark AP included this “silent errata”, that is to say, one never added to the official FAQ despite coming out before the game hiatus.
Healing Herbs [D 109]
Should have the Trait Item.
ALeP’s Note: The Item trait was added when this card was reprinted in the Dwarves of Durin starter deck.
Against the Shadow Expansion [AtS]
Silvan Refugee [AtS 37]
Should have the Traits Silvan. Scout.
ALeP’s Note: The Scout trait was added when this card was reprinted in the Elves of Lórien starter deck.
The Lost Realm Expansion [TLR]
The Lost Realm Rules Sheet [added 2023-04-14]
The Encounter keyword for player cards that is presented in the new Angmar Awakened Hero Expansion works slightly differently than the old version that appeared for the first time in The Lost Realm deluxe expansion. The new version of the keyword allows each player to set aside up to 3 copies of each player card with the Encounter keyword, as opposed to before, when each player could only set aside 3 player cards with the Encounter keyword in total (be it 3 copies of a single card, a single copy of 3 different cards or anything in between). So, with the new version of the Encounter keyword, a player with a full collection (at the moment we are writing this) can set aside at the start of a game 3 copies of Ranger of the North [TLR 15/AAHE 22], 3 copies of Wind from the Sea [TH 144], 3 copies of Eagle of the North [EM 35] and 3 copies of Tom Bombadil [TVoM 10].
The Dream-Chaser Expansion [TDC]
Déorwine [TDC 60]
Should read: “While Déorwine is defending, he gains: “Action: Response: While Déorwine is defending, Spend 1 [leadership] resource to cancel a shadow effect dealt to the attacking enemy just triggered. Any player may trigger this action response.”
ALeP’s Note: This erratum was added when the card was reprinted in The Dream-chaser Hero Expansion, to make it actually work as intended. The previous wording was problematic since it was an Action instead of a Response, as is usual for this kind of effect, and it was unclear when it could actually be triggered. Caleb Grace had already clarified in the past the intent for this card and now the wording clearly reflects that intent.
Ered Luin Miner [TDC 66]
Should read: “Response: After Ered Luin Miner is discarded from the top of your deck, put it into play under your control.”
ALeP’s Note: This erratum was added when the card was reprinted in the Dwarves of Durin starter deck as part of a general rewording of the mining effects, to avoid issues about what actually constituted the “top of your deck” in combination with effects like King Under the Mountain [OtD 18/DoD 16] or A Very Good Tale [OHaUH 14/DoD 20].
Windfola [TDC 116]
Should read: “Response: After attached character is removed from the quest, exhaust Windfola to commit attached hero that character to the quest.”
ALeP’s Note: This erratum was added when the card was reprinted in The Dream-chaser Hero Expansion and is meant to keep the last phrase in line with the rest of the card, to cover those corner cases where a character this card was attached to is no longer a hero (for example, Prince Imrahil [TFotW 5] when there is no hero in the discard pile anymore).
The Haradrim Expansion [TH]
Dwarf Pipe [TH 7]
Should read: “Response: After a card is discarded from the top of your deck, exhaust Dwarf Pipe to place that card on the bottom of your deck.”
ALeP’s Note: This erratum was added when the card was reprinted in the Dwarves of Durin starter deck as part of a general rewording of the mining effects, to avoid issues about what actually constituted the “top of your deck” in combination with effects like King Under the Mountain [OtD 18/DoD 16] or A Very Good Tale [OHaUH 14/DoD 20].
Quickbeam [TH 135] [added 2023-04-14]
Should have the uniqueness symbol before the card name.
ALeP’s Note: The original printings of the Tactics hero version of Quickbeam lacked the uniqueness symbol. This was fixed in later printings.
Ered Mithrin Expansion [EM]
Roam Across Rhovanion – Quest Cards [EM 47-51]
All quest cards show an incorrect encounter set icon (Gathering Gloom). The correct icon (Lost in Wilderland) can be found on the rules sheet.
ALeP’s Note: The first printings of the AP showed an incorrect encounter set icon. Subsequent printings fixed the mistake.
Mount Gundabad Rules Sheet
Should read: “Players will progress through stage 2 quest cards until they have won the game; there is no stage 3. Quest cards are not flipped to side B immediately when revealed. Rather, the current quest card is flipped at the beginning of the staging step of the quest phase. Flipping a quest card this way causes the B side to be revealed.”
Also, should read: “To create the Caves deck, take Dagnir’s Hoard and Throat of the Mountain, plus each card from the Lost Caves encounter set, and shuffle them together. This is the Caves deck.”
ALeP’s Note: The first printings of the Mount Gundabad AP included a couple of erroneous information. In the first case, it was confirmed by Caleb Grace the quest cards were correctly showing the timing and not the rules sheet. In the second case, it was confirmed, once again by Caleb Grace, that Dagnir’s Hoard and Throat of the Mountain were indeed meant to be included in the Caves deck. Subsequent printings fixed the mistake.
Radagast [EM 145] [added 2024-05-26]
Should read: “You may use resources from Radagast’s pool to pay for Creature allies of any sphere. While playing a Creature ally, Radagast gains the printed [leadership], [spirit], and [tactics] icons.”
ALeP’s Note: With the previous version of the text, using Radagast to play an off-sphere ally whose cost had been reduced to 0 with Radagast’s Staff [EM 154/EMHE 72] was not possible. Caleb has confirmed upon the release of the Ered Mithrin Hero Expansion that this non-bo was not intended and that they changed the wording accordingly, to make Radagast work “as originally intended”.
Reforged [EM 153] [added 2024-05-26]
Should read: “Action: Choose an Item attachment with a printed cost of X in any player’s discard pile and play that attachment for no cost. (The chosen attachment can belong to any sphere of influence.)”
ALeP’s Note: When the Ered Mithrin cycle was reprinted in the Revised format this card was updated so that it could work “as originally intended” by the developers.
The Goblins’ Assault [EM 155]
The Heroes’ Defense [EM 156]
There is a typo on two The Fate of Wilderland objectives, where it lists the incorrect quest name (Mount Gundabad) instead of the correct one (The Fate of Wilderland).
ALeP’s Note: The first printings of the AP showed an incorrect encounter set name for the objectives. Subsequent printings fixed the mistake.
The Vengeance of Mordor Expansion [TVoM]
Helm of Secrecy [TVoM 90]
Should read: “Action: Choose a hero you control and discard all tokens from it. Select a different non-[fellowship], non-[baggins] hero from your collection with a threat cost less than or equal to the chosen hero. Swap those heroes, moving all eligible attachments and damage tokens to the hero from your collection.”
ALeP’s Note: Initially it was not clear how to handle the damage tokens on the hero swapped with this event since it was first said to discard all tokens (including damage ones) and then to move the damage tokens. Caleb Grace later confirmed that this event was meant to bring in a fully healed hero and the last printing of the Under the Ash Mountains AP fixed the text (the same is true for later printings of the Defenders of Gondor Starter Deck).
Over Hill and Under Hill Saga Expansion [OHaUH]
Thrór’s Map [OHaUH 13]
Should read: “Travel Action: Exhaust Discard Thrór’s Map to choose a location in the staging area. Make that location the active location. (If there is another active location, return it to the staging area.)”
ALeP’s Note: The latest printings of Over Hill and Under Hill Saga Expansion included this “silent errata”, that is to say, one never added to the official FAQ despite coming out before the game hiatus. It was later confirmed again when this card was reprinted in the Dwarves of Durin Starter Deck.
The Black Riders Saga Expansion [TBR]
Gandalf’s Delay [TBR 78] [added 2023-04-14]
Should read: “Each player draws 1 less card in his starting hand. Skip the draw cards step during the first round of the game.”
ALeP’s Note: This erratum was added when the card was reprinted in The Fellowship of the Ring saga expansion. It was made since the old version of the cards didn’t actually work since it came into play after the players had drawn their starting hands.
The Road Darkens Saga Expansion [TRD]
Doom, Doom, Doom [TRD 43] [added 2023-04-14]
Should read: “Forced: At the end of the quest phase, remove 1 damage token from Doom, Doom. Doom. Then, if If there are no damage tokens here, add The Balrog to the staging area.”
ALeP’s Note: This clarification was added when the card was reprinted in The Fellowship of the Ring saga expansion. Its intent is to avoid a corner situation when the players removed the 10th damage token before the Forced effect did it, in which case the use of “Then” would have meant that the Balrog would not have been added to the staging area. Since that would have been against the mechanics of the quest, that corner case was fixed by removing “then”.
Confirmed Errors
For the following cards in many cases, we received confirmation from an FFG developer (usually Caleb Grace) that those cards were meant to have a different text (and might be fixed in future reprints). In a few other cases the errors were glaringly obvious and either we never received an answer about them from the developers when we inquired or we felt even asking wasn’t necessary. For this second and third case, we propose the best possible fix we can think of, either the only logical one (for example in case of a typo) or the clearest one that we could reach through the community consensus. These cards are marked with a (CC) near the card name. We consider all the changes in this Confirmed Errors category to be “semi-official” errata to the cards.
Revised Core Set [RevCORE]
Campaign Cards [RevCORE 129-131] (CC)
The Mirkwood Paths (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) Campaign Cards show an incorrect encounter set icon (The Tower of Cirith Ungol from The Mountain of Fire saga expansion for all three Campaign Cards). The correct encounter set icons (Passage Through Mirkwood, Journey Along the Anduin, and Escape from Dol Guldur respectively) can be found on the rules sheet.
The Dark of Mirkwood Standalone Scenario [TDoM]
Obsidian Arrows [TDoM 26]
Should read: “When Revealed: Deal 2 damage to a character you control controlled by the first player.”
ALeP’s Note: We received confirmation from Caleb Grace about how this card was meant to work and he explained how the wording was influenced by how much work he was doing on Marvel Champions at the time.
Khazad-Dûm Expansion [KD] and Dwarrowdelf Expansion [D]
Plundered Armoury [KD 34] (CC)
Durin’s Greaves [D 88] (CC)
[updated 2023-09-20]
There is what we consider a typo on two encounter cards from the Khazad-Dûm & Dwarrowdelf expansions: in the game text of both of these cards, instead of the word Armor to refer to the attachment trait, we find the word Armour, probably a mix up between the American English and British English spellings. The fact that we think this is a typo is further reinforced by the fact that, in all the translations we checked, both Armor and Armour are translated with the same identical word. Since this typo can lead, in some corner cases, to erroneous game interactions, these cards should be considered as using Armor.
Dwarrowdelf Expansion [D]
The Long Dark Rules Sheet
The rules sheet incorrectly mentions the Hazards of the Pit encounter set instead of the Deeps of Moria. The encounter set icons are correct. This was mentioned in the FFG article “Stars, Clarity, and Foundations of Stone”.
Foundations of Stone Rules Sheet
The rules sheet incorrectly mentions the Deeps of Moria encounter set instead of the Hazards of the Pit. The encounter set icons are correct. This was mentioned in the FFG article “Stars, Clarity, and Foundations of Stone”.
The Lost Realm Expansion [TLR] and Angmar Awakened Expansion [AA]/Angmar Awakened Campaign Expansion [AACE]
Iârion [TLR 16/AACE 1]
Should have the uniqueness symbol before the card name.
ALeP’s Note: Caleb confirmed that Iârion was meant to be a unique character, which can have an impact on cards like Coney in a Trap [TH 9/DoG 32].
Thaurdir [TLR 33/AACE 80, AA 98/AACE 113, AA 127-128/AACE 129a-129b] [added 2023-12-19]
Should read: “Cannot have player attachments.”
ALeP’s Note: The original version of Thaurdir had the “cannot have attachments” text to avoid having Trap or other player cards attached to it, but the introduction of Black Mare [TBoCDNM 8] in the Nightmare version of The Battle of Carn Dûm, as well as the presence of the 3 Thaurdir Objective Burdens [AACE 168-169-170] in the Angmar Awakened Campaign Expansion, for us clearly meant that the limitation was only intended for player card attachments. Since Caleb Grace confirmed a similar situation for the Dream-chaser cycle we feel confident the same should hold true in this situation as well.
Angmar Awakened Campaign Expansion [AACE]
Iârion’s Pendant [AACE 157] [updated 2023-09-14]
Should read: “Attach to a character. Attached character gets +1 [willpower].”
ALeP Note: As written this card, if chosen as a boon in Deadmen’s Dike [AACE 166] and included in a player’s deck, cannot be correctly played since it lacks the specification about who it can attach to. Caleb Grace later confirmed the intent was for it to attach to any character.
The Weather Hills Campaign Card – Side A [AACE 159] [added 2023-04-14]
Should read: “Setup: Add the Mysterious Omens side quest to the Campaign Log Pool and shuffle it into the encounter deck. Add the Protect the Innocent side quest to the staging area and place damage on it equal to the amount of damage noted for it in the Campaign Log.”
ALeP’s Note: This was clearly a typo that was later confirmed by Caleb Grace.
Mysterious Omens [AACE 160] [updated 2023-09-14]
Should read: “Forced: When Mysterious Omens is defeated, remove it from the Campaign Pool. Then, each player may choose 1 of the following boons and attach it to a hero they control: Cunning, Hardy, Resolute, Ruthless, or Stalwart. The players have earned those boons and add them to the Campaign Pool.”
ALeP’s Note: Since there was no explicit confirmation of the players having earned those boons we asked for clarification from Caleb Grace who confirmed that it is indeed how this card is meant to work.
The Battle of Carn Dûm Campaign Card – Side B [AACE 188] [added 2023-04-14]
Should read: “Resolution: Note the amount of damage on each hero at the end of the game in the Campaign Log.”
ALeP’s Note: This was clearly a typo that was later confirmed by Caleb Grace.
The Grey Havens Expansion [TGH] and The Dream-chaser Expansion [TDC]/The Dream-chaser Campaign Expansion [TDCCE]
Light Cruiser [TGH 57/TDCCE 150]
Corsair Warship [TGH 58/TDCCE 151]
Siege Ship [TDC 126/TDCCE 105]
Heavy Cruiser [TDC 127/TDCCE 106]
Ramming Ship [ASoCHNM 4]
[added 2023-12-19]
Should all read: “Cannot have player attachments.”
ALeP’s Note: the original version of these Ship enemies had this text to avoid having Trap or similar player cards attached to them, but the mechanics of the quest A Storm in Cobas Haven, specifically the Dol Amroth Guarded objectives and Stage 2B Battle in the Bay [TDC 121/TDCCE 100] When Revealed effects seem to clearly require objectives to be able to attach to Ship enemies. We thus believe that the limitation on the cards that cannot be attached to those Ship enemies was meant to apply only to player cards. Caleb Grace later confirmed that the intent was indeed for the Dol Amroth Guarded objectives to be able to attach to the Ship enemies too. To minimize the number of card errata, we propose this change only for the Ship enemies that are used in the quest A Storm on Cobas Haven (in all its possible versions), but note that it could be applied to all Ship enemies with the “Cannot have attachments” text, even though as of now that would not affect anything outside that scenario.
The Dream-chaser Expansion [TDC]/The Dream-chaser Campaign Expansion [TDCCE]
Fate of the Dream-chaser – Side A [TDC 148/TDCCE 118] [added 2023-12-19]
Should read: “When Revealed: Each player assigns damage among non-Ship characters he controls equal to the total damage on each Ship objective he controls. Discard all shadow cards, Ship enemies, Ship objectives, and Ocean locations in play.”
ALeP’s Note: this addition is introduced because one of the ways you can advance to Stage 2A in The City of Corsairs is by destroying The Stormcaller [TDC 151/TDCCE 121], but this can be done while other enemies are still in play with their shadow cards not yet discarded since it’s not the end of the combat phase. This could end up adding some unintended cards to the encounter deck used in the second part of the quest. Caleb clarified that this sort of errata should be introduced with the following ruling.
Q: I am playing City of Corsairs. Quest card 2a reads: “When Revealed: Each player assigns damage among non-Ship characters he controls equal to the total damage on each Ship objective he controls. Discard all Ship enemies, Ship objective and Ocean locations in play.” Quest card 2b reads: “When Revealed: Shuffle the Corsair deck and Corsair discard pile into the second encounter deck. Search the encounter deck and discard pile for each copy of Battle-hardened and each copy of Watch Tower, shuffle them into the second encounter deck. Set the current encounter deck and discard pile aside, inactive. The second encounter deck becomes the active encounter deck. Advance to stage 3.”
What happens to shadow cards if you advance while they are in play? Could easily happen while dealt to a Corsair enemy and you advance in the combat phase after destroying the Storm-caller.
1) Nothing, they remain in play. At the end of the phase they will be discarded as per usual. This means they will end up in the new encounter deck. This opens up the possibility for a Ship enemy or an Ocean location to become part of the new encounter deck.
2) They should be discarded. Nothing tells you to do this, but that seems to be the intent, because you shouldn’t end up with a Ship or Ocean once on stage 3. This means you will end up with a Corsair enemy or two or three who has no shadow card this round.
3) Resolve the shadow effect, but once the card is discarded, put it with the inactive encounter deck (because again, it does not seem to be intended that you have Ships/Oceans at this point). This is actually how I played it.
A: Great question. Somehow this never came up in play-testing, so it never occurred to us that stage 2A should also force you to discard each shadow card in play. As a result, stage 2A will likely need an errata to read: “Discard all Ship enemies, Ship objectives, Ocean locations and shadow cards in play.”
I hope you’re enjoying the scenario!
Cheers,
Caleb
The Dream-chaser Campaign Expansion [TDCCE]
Helm of the Stormcaller [TDCCE 56] [updated 2023-08-17]
Should have 2 printed Threat (not X
Should read: “X is 2 more than the number of resources on all Raider enemies in play Helm of the Stormcaller gets +1 quest point for each resource token on a Raider enemy in play.”
ALeP’s Note: When this card was reprinted in The Dream-chaser Campaign Expansion there were some changes to the threat and quest points calculation, possibly made in a desire to make it more clear and easy to interpret, but this ultimately ended up creating a wrong card. Caleb Grace confirmed that the correct version is meant to be the original one from The Dream-chaser cycle, which you can see above thanks to the support from Hall of Beorn.
The Black Riders Saga Expansion [TBR]/The Fellowship of the Rings Saga Expansion [TFotR]
Three is Company [TBR 22/TFotR 28]
A Shortcut to Mushrooms [TBR 23/TFotR 29]
Escape to Buckland [TBR 24/TFotR 30]
[added 2023-12-19]
Should all read: “When a player fails a Hide test, each Nazgûl enemy not engaged with a player (including any still being revealed) in the staging area engages that player. (Trigger Forced effects after resolving this effect.)”
ALeP’s Note: When revealing a Nazgûl enemy in A Shadow of the Past quest (which also happens due to the When Revealed effects of Stage 2B and 3B), the Hide test is made and resolved while the Nazgûl is still in the process of being revealed and not yet added to the staging area. So failing the Hide test required by a specific Nazgûl will not make that Nazgûl engage you due to the passive effect of the main quest card, since that enemy was not in the staging area. That is not the intent of how this quest should work and Caleb issued a ruling about this issue (see below), proposing a fix to the quest cards language to address the issue.
Q: I have a quick question about Shadow of the Past. When I go between quest stages I am instructed to reveal a Black Rider and then add it to the staging area. Revealing a Black Rider triggers a Hide test. If I fail the Hide test does the Rider I just drew engage and then attack as per the quest effect?
The quest card states that ‘When a player fails a Hide test, each Nazgûl enemy in the staging area engages that player’ but it seems that the Rider I just drew is still in the When Revealed limbo world and not actually in the staging area yet. Is he not a threat? If so, is this also true for pulling a Black Rider in staging too? Apologies if this question has been answered before
A: Your interpretation of the timing is correct. Unfortunately, that’s not how the scenario is intended to work. When a Black Rider is revealed and you fail its Hide 2 test, it is meant to engage you and attack. I think everyone involved in developing this scenario understood this intent so intuitively that no one bothered to scrutinize the timing as closely as you have.
As a result, it will probably be necessary to errata each quest stage to change the phrase “each Nazgul enemy in the staging area” to “each unengaged Nazgul enemy in play.” In the meantime, you can choose to play it as written or as intended. Either way, I hope you’re enjoying The Black Riders!
Cheers,
Caleb
The Fellowship of the Ring Saga Expansion [TFotR]
The Great Bridge [TFotR 122] [updated 2023-12-19] (CC)
Should read: “Response: When The Great Bridge is explored, discard a hero from play to deal X damage to The Balrog. X is that hero’s threat cost. Then, The Balrog loses the indestructible all keywords for the remainder of the game. Any player may trigger this response.”
ALeP’s Note: When this card was reprinted for The Fellowship of the Ring Saga Expansion, its wording was changed to better address a question that was often asked about it: Does the phrase “all keywords” include“immune to player card effects” too? The answer is no, since “immune to player card effects” is not a keyword, as explained in FFG FAQ 1.7. Caleb further explained (see below) that he was leaving open future design space for Nightmare mode with that wording. Indeed, The Balrog ended up being able to gain the Archery and Regenerate keywords in Nightmare mode, which could then be removed by The Great Bridge’s Response. The re-released version of The Great Bridge from The Fellowship of the Ring does remove the confusion about “immune to player card effects”, but negatively impacts Nightmare mode. So, we recommend reverting the wording to the original version present in The Road Darkens Saga Expansion.
Q: The Great Bridge reads: “Response: When The Great Bridge is explored, discard a hero from play to deal X damage to The Balrog. X is that hero’s threat cost. Then, The Balrog loses all keywords for the remainder of the game. Any player may trigger this response.”
Does losing all keywords mean the Balrog loses the text, ” The Balrog and shadow cards dealt to The Balrog are immune to player card effects.”
I ask because while this is not a keyword, it is in the “keyword” section of the card, and there is a space between this and the rest of the Balrog’s text.
A: The only keyword the Balrog has is Indestructible, so that’s all he loses after the Response on the Bridge is triggered. Phrases like “Immune to player card effects” and “cannot have attachments” are game text – not keywords. It’s actually easy to identify keywords because they’re always called out in the rules as being keywords. I believe the confusion here is because I made it plural on the Balrog. That was me trying to leave future design space open for future nightmare mode.
Cheers,
Caleb
Various Expansions
Enemies and locations that “cannot leave the staging area” [updated 2023-11-16] (CC)
In a few FFG quests there are enemies and locations that have the text “cannot leave the staging area”, be it by themselves or through quest effects. While this text is present to allow those enemies and locations to act in certain specific ways in the quests in regard to travel, engagement, and combat, it can sometimes create a small “paradox” when the victory condition is tied to defeating those enemies or exploring those locations (and not simply them not having any hit points/quest points remaining or something else), since “cannot leave the staging area” implies that they are not discarded from play for having damage equal or greater than their Hit Points or progress equal or greater than their quest points. To clarify these situations we propose the following updates:
Durin’s Bane [D 150] from Shadow and Flame
Should read: “Cannot leave the staging area (except by Dark Pit’s effect), is considered to be engaged with each player whose threat is 1 or greater, and attacks each of those players in turn during the combat phase (deal and discard a new shadow card each attack).”
The Crossing at Tharbad [TRM 71] from Trouble in Tharbad
Should read: “Cannot leave the staging area (except by being explored).”
Midwinter’s Crux [AA 156/AACE 128] from The Battle of Carn Dûm
Should read: “Thaurdir cannot leave the staging area (except by being destroyed), is considered to be engaged with each player, and attacks each player in turn during the combat phase (deal and discard a new shadow card for each attack). At the end of the round, if Thaurdir is Captain side faceup, flip him.”
Dagnir [EM 125] from Mount Gundabad
Should read: “While there are 5 or more quest cards in the victory display, Dagnir cannot leave the staging area (except by quest card effects) and is considered to be engaged with each player.”
Urdug [EM 157] from The Fate of Wilderland
Should read: “Immune to player card effects. Cannot leave the staging area (except by being destroyed).”
Bolg [OtD 53] from The Battle of Five Armies
Should read: “Cannot leave the staging area (except by being destroyed).”
ALeP’s Note: to support this approach we have the following ruling from Caleb, which gives a slightly different take, but is still indicative of the designer’s intent:
Q: Durin’s Bane “cannot leave the staging area” (by its own text).
I presume this means that A Elbereth! Gilthoniel will not work on Durin’s Bane (since putting DB on the bottom of the encounter deck would involve it “leaving the staging area”). This seems fair enough.
However, the same reasoning suggests that Dark Pit will not work on Durin’s Bane, as it “discards DB from play” (= “leaving the staging area”). This would obviously be absurd as DP appears to be the way that the quest requires you to overcome Durin’s Bane.
A: Durin’s Bane cannot leave the staging area, so O Elbereth! Gilthonial! will not send it to the bottom of the encounter deck. This does create a problem with the text on Dark Pit. That card will receive an erratum in the next FAQ to explain that its ability supersedes the game text on Durin’s Bane, making it possible for players to defeat the scenario the way it was intended. In the meantime, please play the scenario as if the last line of Dark Pit reads “This effect supersedes the game text on Durin’s Bane.”
Cheers,
Caleb
Rules Addenda
There are a few instances where we felt that the official rules lacked clarity or failed to cover some aspects of the game, so we offer these additions of our own to the basic game rules. They are to be considered unofficial unless otherwise specified.
Setup Step 0
We introduce a new Setup step, which takes place before Step 1 of Setup, where a player may choose a contract for their deck. The deckbuilding and hero requirements of the contract are now active, but the contract has not yet entered play and its Setup text does not yet trigger. The contract will enter play during Setup Step 2 alongside the heroes.
ALeP’s Note: It was previously unclear how a contract’s deckbuilding restriction would function if it is not put into play until after the deck is chosen. This does contradict the rules for the timing of contracts entering play found in the A Shadow in the East box, but we believe this approach makes it easier to understand how to apply the deckbuilding restrictions.
Your Collection
If a card ability refers to a player’s collection (for example, “search your collection”), it refers to the leftover set of cards from which that player’s deck, heroes (as well as any other player’s deck and heroes that used the same set of player cards) and encounter deck(s) for the quest were assembled.
Baggins and Fellowship cards are only considered part of your collection if you are playing The Hobbit Saga and The Lord of the Rings Saga respectively. Treasure cards are only considered part of your collection if you are playing The Hobbit Saga and you “discovered” them. Boons and burdens are only considered part of your collection if you are playing Campaign Mode and they were in your Campaign Pool when you assembled the deck(s) for a quest.
ALeP’s Note: This means that when you are using The Burglar’s Turn [TVoM 24], your loot deck can only contain attachment boons you have earned and Fellowship attachments when you are playing The Lord of the Rings Saga quest. Note that treasures are their own distinct card type, and are not considered attachments.
Moving, Discarding, Removing, Spending, Paying, and Losing Tokens
1. To “move” a token, take it from one card or card’s pool and place it on another card or in another card’s pool, without placing it in the token bank.
2. To “discard” or “remove” a token, place it directly in the token bank. These two terms are equivalent and can be used interchangeably.
3. To “spend” or “pay” a token, place it directly in the token bank. These two terms are equivalent and can be used interchangeably.
These three definitions are mutually exclusive. For example, a spent/paid token is not considered discarded.
Losing a token is a blanket term that includes moving, discarding, removing, spending, and paying. Any time the number of tokens on a card or in a card’s pool is decreased, that card or card’s pool has lost one or more resources.
ALeP’s Note: Item 1.25 of the Official FAQ already covered the “Collecting, Adding, Moving, and Gaining Resources” portion of the terms related to the use of resource tokens, so we wanted another similar item that covered these other terms.
Enemies engaged with multiple players and additional attacks [added 2023-04-14]
In the event that an enemy which is considered to be engaged with multiple players is dealt a shadow card that triggers an additional attack from that enemy, but without specifying “against the defending player” or “against you”, the intent is that the additional attack is made against that same defending player the shadow effect triggered against. Examples of this are when City Guard [TVoM 37] is dealt The King’s Elite [TVoM 39] as a shadow card in The City of Ulfast while it’s considered to be engaged with multiple players based on their current threat or when The Two Watchers [TMoF 70] is dealt Deep Shadows [TMoF 62] as a shadow card during Stage 1B or 3B of The Tower of Cirith Ungol.
ALeP’s Note: The resolution of this particular edge case is not addressed in the rules, so we propose what for us is the most simple and easy approach to the situation.
Enemies that change engaged player and framework attacks [added 2023-08-18]
Framework attacks are those attacks made due to how the game itself is structured, as opposed to attacks made due to card effects like immediate or additional attacks. Usually, during the combat phase, each engaged enemy makes a framework attack against the engaged player when that player is the active player. But what happens when, during the combat phase, a card effect makes an enemy move to being engaged with another player that has not yet been the active player (for example a shadow card that says “engage the next player…”)? Will the enemy make a framework attack against the newly engaged player too (besides any immediate/additional attack made as part of the card effect)? This was a matter of some debate for quite a long time, also due to some contrasting and unclear rulings and FAQs that supported both positions. Luckily we recently got a clear-cut answer from Caleb on the subject:
“Enemies are not limited in the number of attacks they can make. So, if an enemy attacks the first player and subsequently engages the second player (before that player resolves their enemy attacks), that enemy will attack again.”
For example, in A Shadow of the Past if a Black Rider [BR 39/TFotR 39] that is engaged with Player #1 gets a Pathless Country [TBR 72/TFotR 171] as a shadow card for its framework attack in the combat phase, after finishing its attack against Player #1, it will engage Player #2 and make an immediate attack against them. Afterward, when Player #2 becomes the active player for the enemy attacks step, the Black Rider will also make a framework attack against Player #2 (though without a new shadow card since the timing for dealing shadow cards for framework attacks is already passed).
We are aware this contrasts with some old rulings and the Rules Reference. We propose that the definition of “eligible enemy” in that document be amended to read “one that has not yet made a framework attack against the active player this phase”, since it fixes a few other issues.
ALeP’s Note: This was a matter of some debate in the community for a few years, with a few back-and-forths from the developers on the subject. Now that we have a final and clear-cut answer from Caleb we propose the above changes to make things work as intended with the least amount of rule changes as possible.
Action Window Between Steps 6.6 and 6.7 of the Combat Phase [added 2023-12-19]
We propose to reinstate the Action Window between Steps 6.6 and 6.7 of the Combat Phase that was removed with the release of the Rules Reference. You can use the diagram below as a reference of how we intend the Combat Phase to play out with this change.
ALeP’s Note: With the release of the Rules Reference there were some changes to the Action Windows of the Combat Phase. On the one hand, this allowed players to do useful new things, like being able to play Meneldor’s Flight [SoM 76] in the Action Window between steps 6.8.3 and 6.8.4 of the Player Attack Resolution to save a Vassal of the Windlord [SoM 98] from being discarded by its own effect. On the other hand, there was no longer an Action Window between Steps 6.6 and 6.7 of the Combat Phase, which for example meant that, to be able to use the Action on Westfold Outrider [TVoI 6/RoR 6] to engage an enemy in the staging area during the Combat Phase without being attacked by that enemy, a solo player needed to be engaged with another enemy already.
This also impacted the use of the event Helm! Helm! [TToS 12/TTTo 18], since a previous ruling about Elevenses [TDC 36/TDCHE 49] (see Ruling A below) clarified that events that say “play only after [specific timing]” are meant to be played only immediately after the specific timing.
By reaching out to Caleb Grace about this issue we were able to discover that the removal of that Action Window was likely an oversight and that he would play as if it was still there (see Ruling B below). By making a poll on Discord, Facebook, and other channels we also confirmed that the vast majority of players played as if that Action Window was present.
Through the combination of all these things, we reached the conclusion that it would be easier and simpler for everyone if the Action Window between Steps 6.6 and 6.7 was reinstated.
Ruling A
Q: Since characters are considered to be questing until the end of the quest phase, can I use Elevenses to ready my questing Hobbit characters after the quest resolves? In effect, allowing my Hobbits to quest successfully and then readying them afterward?
1) Send Hobbits on quest
2) Staging step
3) Quest resolves (success or fail)
4) Play Elevenses to ready questing Hobbit characters
5) Quest Phase ends
Is this correct?
A: In order to play Elevenses, you must play it immediately after the staging step resolves. You cannot wait until resolving the quest to play the card.
Cheers,
Caleb
Ruling B
Q: How is the Helm! Helm! event meant to work? It should be played “only after the resolving enemy attacks step is complete” and past rulings about this kind of effect (like Elevenses) require for this kind of cards to be played immediately after the required timing. But in the Combat Phase structure there is not an Action Window immediately after the resolving enemy attacks step is complete, the first useful action would be the first one in the first attack declared by the players. Maybe this card was better meant as a Response?
A: I did not realize that the action window between enemy attacks and players attacks had vanished with the updated rules reference. My guess is that was an oversight and I would play as if it is still there.
Cheers,
Caleb
Starting Hand and Synonyms [added 2024-05-26]
The set of cards that are drawn by a player during Setup (before or after a mulligan) is usually referred to by the rules as “starting hand”. There are a few sparse official cards that use slightly different terms, for example, Galdor of the Havens [TGH 2/TDCHE 8] uses “setup hand” while the Campaign Cards for The Battle of Carn Dûm [AACE 188] and The Dread Realm [AACE 193] use “opening hand”. We want to clarify that all those terms are synonyms and refer to the same thing. Galdor’s Response can be applied only to the first set of cards drawn since a player has only one chance to take a mulligan so the replacement effect can only be applied at that time.
ALeP’s Note: We wanted to streamline the use of terms used when referencing the cards drawn during Setup, but to avoid issuing some non-essential errata we propose this alternate approach.
A Long-extended Party 