The following ideas apply to the Campaign Game version of SPI's War of the Ring. Also recommended are "Expanded Three-player Rules for War of the Ring," by Eric Goldberg, in Moves nr. 37 and "In Character: Attitudes, Advice and Options in War of the Ring" in Moves nr. 39.

FOUR-PLAYER WAR OF THE RING

The fourth player is the Gondor player, and he controls all the unite of Gondor and Rohan and the characters Denothor II, Boromir, Faramir, Imrahil, Theoden, Theodred, Eomer and Eowyn. The Fellowship player retains control of the remaining Fellowship and Free Peoples characters and units. The Gondor player wins by maintaining, continuously, throughout the game, control of Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth, Helm's Deep and Dunharrow (all four).

AA. THE RING IN THE FOUR PLAYER GAME

AA.1 Denethor and the Ring

In the Four-Player game Denothor II may wear the Ring and use it. He has a Ring Rating of three. He may attempt to seize the Ring in accordance with rule M.3. However, once the Gondor player possesses the Ring his victory conditions become identical to those of the Dark Power player! He may also gain control of Nazgul, as Saruman can, in accordance with rule W.2, except that Denothor must be in Minas Tirith, with the Palantir, and wearing the Ring at the start of the Ring Phase. But Denothor is no wizard. Even when meeting the above conditions the Gondor player must roll a one, two, three or four on one six-sided die to gain control of a Nazgul. A roll of five or six means the attempt to gain control fails.

AA.2 Boromir and the Ring

The Gondor player may play Event Card 075, "Boromir Attempts to Seize the Ring," if he has it, at any time that Boromir is in the same hex aa the Ringbearer. Note that, while a member of the Fellowship, in the Four-Player game Boromir is ultimately controlled by the Gondor player. The Gondor player has the right to demand that Boromir be moved, by the Fellowship Player, with (in same hex as) the Ringbearer so long as (a.) the Ringbearer is still a Fellowship character (i.e., not Gollum, Saruman, a Nazgul or the Month of Sauron), (b.) the Ringbearer is not captured and (c.) Boromir has not yet attempted to seize the Ring. In such case Boromir is moved by the Fellowship Player on his turn. Otherwise Boromir may be moved by the Gondor player on his turn. The Fellowship and Gondor players may keep this demand secret between them and not let the Dark Power or Saruman player know whether it iB in force or not.

If Boromir does successfully seize the Ring, follow rule E.5 with the following exceptions: (a.) Boromir is only required to put on the Ring if faced with Individual Combat with a character that has a Sorcery Rating and then only if the opposing player intends to use sorcery in this combat. (b.) In the Four-Player game Boromir does have a Ring Rating. It is three. (c.) If Boromir reaches Minas Tirith with the Ring and is not wearing the Ring he must give it to Denothor II, provided (1.) Denothor is still alive, (2.) Denothor is in Minas Tirith and (3.) the Gondor player can roll one, two or three on a single six-sided die. If the roll is four, five or six Boromir puts on the Ring! If on a subsequent turn Boromir has successfully removed the Ring and the other prerequisites exist, the die is rolled again but one is added to the die roll for each previous unsuccessful attempt to transfer the Ring.

BB. Gondor and the Events and Magic Cards

BB.1 The Gondor Player can play any Event Card the Fellowship Player could use, except 096, "Mind Battle: Elrond and Galadriel Distract Sauron," or 092, "Aragorn Uses Palantir; Sauron Challenged!"

BB.2 The Gondor Player may engage in barter with the Fellowship and/or Saruman Player in accordance with Rule Y.1 of the Expanded Three-Player Rules (ETPR) in Moves #37.

BB.3 He may obtain Magic Cards in accordance with Rule Y.2 of the ETPR.

BB.4 He can nullify Event Card 093 by having Denothor put on the Ring.

CC. Gondor and Other ETPR Rules

CC.1 Denothor may alao engage in Mind Battle with Sauron in accordance with ETPR Rule Y.5, but only while wearing the Ring. The Dark Power player loses Shadow Points equal to the roll of one six-sided die. Denothor may also engage in Mind Battle with Saruman, but only while wearing the Ring, and the Saruman player may not attack any Gondor or Rohan unite that turn.

CC.2 The Gondor Player may form and dissolve alliances with the Fellowship and/or Saruman Player in accordance with Rule W. of the ETPR.

DD. The Order of Succession and Command in Gondor

DD.1 If Denothor is killed Boromir becomes ruler of Gondor, if he is in Minaa Tirith or with a Gondorian army unit. If Denothor is dead and Boromir is dead or ineligible (see above) Faramir rules Gondor (same conditions) (until Boromir becomes eligible). If Denothor and Faramir are both dead and Boromir is dead or ineligible Imrahil rules Gondor (same conditions) (until Boromir becomes eligible). These heirs as ruler, may use the Ring in the same way as Denothor, but with a penalty of one on all related die rolls.

If Denothor and Boromir are dead and Aragorn has taken the Paths of the Dead and is in Minas Tirith, he becomes ruler of Gondor (and is moved by the Gondor player) and an automatic, game-long alliance immediately becomes effective between the Gondor and Fellowship Players. Aragorn as ruler (king) of Gondor may also use the Ring as outlined above for Denothor, and without any penalty on the die roll. Once the (any) ruler of Gondor becomes a Semi-Ringwraith, Gondor iseliminated from the game and its units can no longer move (but those of Rohan can).

DD.2 Any atack of Gondor units that contains Denothor must be commanded by him, regardless of what other characters are in the same hex. Any stack of Gondor units that contains Boromir but not Denothor is commanded by Boromir regardless of what other characters are in the same hex. Any stack of Gondor units that contains Faramir but not Denothor or Boromir is commanded by Faramir unless Faramir is ruler of Gondor and Gondor is allied with the Fellowship Player, in which case he may defer to Gandalf or Aragorn but no other.

DD.3 Denothor may never initiate individual combat.

FIVE-PLAYER WAR OF THE RING

The fifth player is the Rohan Player, and he controls all the units of Rohan and the characters Theoden, Theodred, Eomer and Eowyn. The Rohan player wins by maintaining, continuously, throughout the game, control of Helm's Deep and Dunharrow, but only if Gondor maintains control of Minas Tirith. (If Rohan is attacked by Gondor, thia last requirement ia dropped.) The normal victory conditions for the Gondor Player are changed to drop Dunharrow and Helm's Deep from the list of places he must control.

EE. THE RING IN THE FIVE-PLAYER GAME

None of the Rohan characters may attempt to seize the Ring. If they should somehow come into possession of it they could not use it to attempt to control Nazgul. The Rohan Player may not play Event Card 075, "Boromir Attempts to Seize the Ring." Otherwise, the Rohan Player can use any Event Card the Condor Player can.)

FF. ROHAN AND THE EPTR RULES

The Rohan Player may engage in barter with the Fellowship, Saruman and/or Gondor players in accordance with Rule Y.1 of the ETPR, and he may obtain Magic Cards in accordance with Rule Y.2 of ETPR. He may also form and dissolve alliances with the Fellowship, Gondor and/or Saruman players, in accordance with Rule W. of the ETPR.

GG. THE ORDER OF SUCCESSION AND COMMAND IN ROHAN

GG.1 If Theoden is killed, Theodred becomes King of Rohan. If both Theoden and Theodred are dead, Eomer is King of Rohan. If all three are dead, Eowyn becomes Queen of Rohan, and in this case may use her Morale to lead armies.

GG.2 Any stack of Rohan units that contains Theoden must be commanded by him. Any stack of Rohan units that contains Theodred but not Theoden must be commanded by Theodred. However, if Rohan is allied with the Fellowship player any Rohan character may defer to Gandalf. If Rohan is allied with Saruman, any Rohan character may defer to Saruman. If Rohan is allied with Gondor, the King (or Queen) of Rohan may defer to the ruler of Gondor and any lesser Rohan character may defer to any Gondor character.

RESTRICTIONS ON ALLIANCES

Regardless of who is allied with whom men of neither Rohan nor Gondor nor of the West, nor any elf nor any dwarf may be stacked with any ORCS escept to fight them. Men of Rohan will never stack with Dunlendings nor the Chief of the Dunlendings, except to fight them. No elves, dwarves, men of Gondor, men of Rohan or of the West may be commanded by a Nazgul. Characters of the Fellowship, Gondor and Rohan (unless wearing the Ring) may not command ORCS.

MODIFICATIONS TO MOBILIZATION

1. If Mordor mobilizes before Gondor, the Gondorian units in South Ithilien (Faramir and five SP of cavalry at hex E0630) may, as of the turn of Mordor's mobilization, be moved, but only within South Ithilien--or be moved to Minas Tirith, but once there they can no longer move until Gondor mobilizes. While the units are free to move within South Ithilien they may attack any enemy units within Ithilien, and Faramir may engage in individual combat there.

2. If Mordor mobilizes before Rohan the Rohirrim units in Enst Emnet (Eomer and five SP of cay. in hex W3022) may, as of the turn Mordor mobilizes, move and fight within East Emnet.

HISTORICAL LOCATIONS OF MAGIC CARDS

1. Instead of having Magic Cards distributed at random they are placed in the box/hex corresponding to their actual locations in LOTR. Rivendell: The three Elven Swords and the Mithril Mail. Lothlorien: Lembas, Elven Cloak, Elven Rope and Galadriel's Light. Edoras: Shadowfax. Minas Tirith: Athelas.

2. Some magic items should be used by certain characters only. "Sting" and the Mithril Mail must start with Frodo and stay with him while he lives. If he dies they can be used by any hobbit or carried (but not used) by any other character. "Glamdring" must start with Gandalf the Grey and stay with him while he lives. If he dies it can be used by any elf, dwarf or man character of the Fellowship, Gondor or Rohan players. Galadriel's Light can only be picked up by the Ringbearer, but can be used by any Fellowship player. Athelaa can only be used by Aragon (but carried by others). Shadowfax can only belong to Gandalf, or the ruler of Rohan. "Anduril" starts with Aragorn and no one else can use it while he lives.

Thereafter it properly belongs to Elrond but if he's not around to use it the next in line is Gandalf, then Boromir, then Legolas or Gimli (no preference), then any other non-hobbit, non-Saruman Player, non-Dark Power- Player charactera. A hobbit could carry "Anduril" or "Glamdring" (not both) but could not use either (too big).

SEQUENCE OF PLAY

1. The order of draw for Events Cards and sequence of player turns in the Four-Player Game is: Saruman-- Fellowship--Gondor--Dark Power.

2. The order of draw for Evenb Cards and sequence of player turns in the Five-Player Game is: Saruman-- Fellowship--Rohan--Gondor--Dark Power.

HIDDEN MOVEMENT

Neil Randall's excellent article ("Could the One True Ring Be Brass?") in Moves nr. 40 makes an excellent case for the need for hidden movement of the Fellowship characters in War of the Ring. Here is an experimental system to try:

Movement of the nine Fellowship characters will not take place on the map. The Fellowship player could either write down the coordinates of every hex moved through by each character--with only nine characters, and usually only two or three stacks that's not all that difficult--or keep a separate copy of the mapsheet, out of the view of the other players.

Scrap the present search procedure during the Search Phase. Instead, the Dark Power player may search any province to which he cares to send Nazgul. For each province containing Nazgul he rolls two six- sided dice. If the number rolled is equal to, or less than, the number of Nazgul in the province any and all characters on clear or desert hexes in that province are located and their counters are placed on the main map, face down. Such characters are only "spotted" (face up), as defined in rule J.1, when a Nazgul or other Dark Power unit is in the same hex.

Characters on rough and marsh hexes can only be located if the number of Nazgul exceeds the die roll by at least three. Characters on forest/rough and mountain hexes can only be located if the number of Nazgul exceeds the die roll by at least six. Characters on forest, citadel and town hexes or inside tunnels cannot be located by this means at all.

However, characters are always "spotted" when in the same hex with Dark Power units. If characters ended their turns in terrain that prevented their being located but passed through terrain in which the given die roll and Nazgul would have located them, the Dark Power player must be informed of how many characters would have been located, and where.

In the Lord of the Rings, flying Nazgul did not begin to appear until the Fellowship was almost to Gondor. To partially simulate this the Dark Power player may only search with two Nazgul the first turn, and two more are added each turn until all nine have been added. The unused Nazgul must remain within Mordor (Gorgoroth and Nurn).

If Saruman and/or Gondor control Nazgul they may use them to search in esactly the same way. The Fellowship player should inform searching players (including the Dark Power) of what they've located and/or spotted secretly, so that other players do not gain information to which they're not entitled. If the searching player wants to share his information that's his business--and, of course, he could lie.

ALL OUT WAR

The purpose of this version is to emphasize the military aspects of the game. The Dark Power automatically mobilizes on the first tum, Saruman's forces on turn two, Gondor on turn three, Rohan on turn four and the Elves, Dwarves and Western Allies on turn six.