Two thousand years have passed since Sauron was defeated by the last alliance of men and elves. Now he has risen again and seeks to recover his one ring, the source of all power.

In this expansion one player takes the part of Sauron, the dark lord, and plays against the fellowship. Sauron watches over the players’ every move and uses the black rider figure and special Sauron and Nazgûl cards to strike. New resources come to the hobbits’ support.

Once again, you are called upon to master this exciting continuation of the great adventure and lead the fellowship to victory. Alternatively, take command of Sauron’s dark forces to catch and eradicate these defiant hobbits before they can destroy your rings…

Also included: dark events. An independent set of event tiles that increases the challenges of the original board and its expansions. Some event tiles may now be rejected – you decide.

Players         3 to 6
Playing time  90 to 120 minutes

Contents

1 Black Rider Figure
1 Sauron Character card
30 Sauron cards
9 Nazgûl cards
2 Gandalf cards
5 Fellowship cards
6 Resource cards
12 Resource chips
4 Sauron Event tiles
1 bag and this rules leaflet.

In addition:
23 Dark Event tiles
1 One Ring card and
1 Watchful Peace card.

Overview

The Sauron expansion of the Lord of the Rings board game offers you the following new features:

·        One player receives the Sauron character card, assumes the part of Sauron and plays against the fellowship. The Sauron player commands a special deck of 30 Sauron and 9 Nazgûl cards with which to subdue the fellowship.
furthermore the Sauron player uses the new black rider figure to pursue the Ring-bearer on the Corruption line.

·        4 Sauron Event tiles are added to the mix. The Event tiles are now kept in a bag.

·        There are 12 new resource chips backed by 6 additional resource cards distributed over the scenario boards. These provide new and urgently needed support for the fellowship. A new fellowship card for each character and new Gandalf cards also help along the way.

The Sauron expansion can be played as a single expansion to the board game lord of the rings or in conjunction with the expansion “Friends & Foes”.

In addition, the box also contains some independent features:

·        23 Dark event tiles, all with negative consequences for the fellowship. They can be added to the tile mix. To compensate for the greater challenge, the active player may reject individual tiles when drawing from the bag to dodge the worst effects – but you never know, the replacement tile may bring even greater horrors upon the party!

·        Two powerful extra cards, the one ring and the watchful peace.

You should be familiar with the original lord of the rings board game before adding the Sauron expansion of the independent features.

Unless otherwise stated, all rules of the original co-operative board game apply. The objective for the fellowship remains to collectively win the game against Sauron and to achieve a high point score. The Sauron player attempts to bring the game to an early end and to keep the fellowship’s point score low.

Set-up

Use the same set-up as for the original board game, but also follow these instructions:

·        Select one player to command Sauron’s forces, or use the Sauron Character card together with the relevant hobbit character cards to deal out one card to each player at random.

·        After receiving their character cards, the other players display their respective fellowship card face up in front of them. Put any unused fellowship cards back into the box.

·        Display the new Gandalf “Protection” card and the Gandalf “Foresight” replacement card side by side with the other Gandalf cards. Discard the original Gandalf “foresight” card.

·        Keep the six resource cards as an additional stack face up next to the master board.

·        Shuffle the 12 resource chips face down and place then next to the boards. Then draw four of them at random and place one each face up above the last space and above the fourth space for the end on each activity line, except the main activity line. The Images on the spaces should remain visible.

·        Put all 23 event tiles from the original board game together with the four new Sauron event tiles into the bag and shuffle them

Note: the 23 additional dark event tiles contained in the box are used independently from the Sauron expansion

Playing Sauron

The Sauron player does not take urns. Instead, the Sauron player is activated in two instances:

·        When a fellowship player is instructed to roll the die, and

·        At the start of every fellowship player’s turn.

In these cases, the Sauron player usually plays one Sauron from the hand against the relevant fellowship player. The symbols on the Sauron cards have various effects:

The black rider figure advances the indicated number of steps in the direction it is facing on the corruption line.

The Sauron figure moves one step towards the hobbits on the corruption line

The fellowship player’s hobbits moves one step into the darkness on the corruption line.

The fellowship player must discard one card from the hand.

The fellowship player must return any one life token from their possession.

The fellowship player must return one ring token from their possession.

The fellowship player must discard the indicated number of shields from their possession.

The fellowship player is instructed to roll the die, hence must activate the Sauron player.

Sauron’s action instead of a die roll

When a fellowship player is instructed to roll the die (either by text or by the black quadratic  symbol), as usual all players may first take preparatory actions (e.g. playing the feature card “belt”). If this does not avoid the die roll, then instead of rolling the die, the player by calling out the word “Sauron”.

If you are the Sauron player and you are activated instead of a die roll, then choose one Sauron card from you hand and play it against the relevant player. Place the card onto a face up discard pile next to your Sauron card deck.

The affected fellowship player must take the fill consequences of the Sauron card in any order as

far as possible – but an inability to satisfy some consequences has no effect. Like after a die rill in the original board game, all players may take actions (e.g. playing the feature card “Mithril”) to avoid some or all consequences of the Sauron card. If a Sauron card eliminates a player from the game, all remaining consequences of the card are implemented nevertheless.

Example: You hobbit moves one step into the darkness on the corruption line and you must discard two cards from your hand. (if you have less than two cards in you hand, discard what you have without further effects.)

If you are the Sauron player and you are activated instead of a die roll, you may not decide to play a card from your hand and instead refresh you hand to six cards by drawing from the Sauron card deck. Before refreshing, you may discard any number of cards from your hand. After you have been activated, the fellowship cannot take any actions to prevent you from refreshing.

Sauron’s actions at the start of every turn

When a fellowship payer starts a new turn on the scenario board (beginning with the ring-bearer and clockwise thereafter), the fellowship player must activate the Sauron player by calling out the word ‘Sauron” before taking any other actions. The fellowship cannot take any actions to avoid activating the Sauron player at this point in time.

If you are the Sauron player and you are activated at the start of a player’s turn, then choose one Sauron card from your hand and play it against the player who is about to start the turn. Place the card onto the face up discard pile next to your Sauron card deck.

In this case, the Sauron card has a lesser effect. The affected fellowship player must select one of the consequences (one symbol!) on the Sauron card and satisfy it: either the black rider advances the indicated number of steps (as far as possible), or the Sauron figure moves one step, or your hobbit moves one step into the darkness, or you discard one card from your hand, or you discard one life token, or you discard the indicated number of shields. The affected player may not select a consequence that cannot be fully satisfied. As after a die roll, all players may take actions (e.g. playing yellow feature cards) to avoid the consequence. Abilities that avoid the consequences of a die rill may also be applied in this situation (e.g. playing the feature card “Mithril”).

Example: you must choose to either move your hobbit one step into the darkness or to discard one card from your hand. (if you have no cards in your hand, you must move your hobbit one step into the darkness.)

If you are the Sauron player and you are activated at the start of a player’s turn, then you may decide not to play a card from your hand and instead draw one card form the Sauron card deck.

If you are the Sauron player and you are activated at the start of a player’s turn, then instead of playing one card from your hand or drawing one Sauron card, you may apply one of the Nazgûl cards face up in front of you. (note: you cannot apply a Nazgûl card when activated instead of a die roll.) place the Nazgûl card onto the face up discard pile next to your Sauron card deck.

While Sauron cards only affect one player, the Nazgûl cards have two affects:

1.      First the symbol in the upper left had corner of the card is applied against the active

2.      player who is about to start the turn. This is similar to playing a Sauron card.

3.      Then the instructions on the Nazgûl card cause an “incident” that usually affects the entire fellowship. As after revealing an event tile, all players may take actions (e.g. playing yellow feature cards, putting on the ring, or calling Gandalf), to avoid some or all consequences before they are implemented. If a Nazgûl card eliminates a player from the game, all remaining consequences of the Nazgûl card are implemented nevertheless.

Example; your hobbit moves one step on the corruption line, then one player must volunteer to discard 5 symbols (or stars) from the hand or the Sauron figure moves two steps toward s the hobbits.

After activating the Sauron player at the start of the turn and resolving any consequences, the active player continues the turn as usual by drawing event tiles – now from the bag.

The Sauron character card summarizes the actions the Sauron player can take.

The Sauron event tiles

There are new Sauron event tiles in the bag. There tiles have the following affects:

The active player must activate the Sauron player instead of the required die roll.

One player must volunteer to activate the Sauron player instead of the required die roll, or else the Sauron figure moves one step towards the hobbits.

The black rider

The Sauron expansion introduces a new threat to the fellowship: the black rider. The black rider starts in Mordor (step 15 on the corruption line) and advances as a consequence of the Sauron and Nazgûl cards played by the Sauron player. If the black rider encounters the ring-bearer’s hobbit for the first time in a scenario (by being on the same space or beyond on the corruption line), the Sauron player takes the following actions:

·        The Sauron player turns the black rider figure around to face in the direction of Mordor.

·        The Sauron player receives one Nazgûl card from the deck and displays it face up.

·        The ring-bearer must throw the die, that is activate the Sauron player instead of the die roll.

If the black rider’s movement causes the encounter, the black rider stops on the ring-bearer’s step. If the ring bearer’s movement leads to the encounter, the ring-bearers movement does not stop on the black rider’s step.

If the black rider succeeds in returning to Mordor (step 15 on the corruption line) within the same scenario after encountering the ring-bearer, then the fellowship encounters the big eye and the game ends.

Not playing cards: the active player has the option to not play the allowed o e or two cards on the turn (activity 2a in the original rules), but to choose the activity “not playing any cards” instead. This now allows the player to do one of three things: draw two hobbit cards, move their hobbit back on the corruption line, or push back the black rider (up to ) three steps against the direction it faces (not behind step 15 when riding out and not behind step 0 when riding back).

Resources

When a fellowship player advances an activity marker onto or over a space with a resource chip above it, the player discards the resource chip and collects the corresponding resource benefits together with the benefits of the space itself – but not if the space is omitted as a consequence of using the ring. The resource benefits may not be transferred to another player.

There are a variety of different resources available:

Draw three hobbit cards.

Take three shields.

Move your hobbit two steps towards the light on the corruption line, if possible

Add the corresponding resource to your hand.

The cards

Resource cards: use these cards like any other feature cards.

Narya, Nenya, Vilya: similar to the Frodo fellowship card, players may play these cards immediately after the active player reveals an event tile, or after the execution of a tile or a card by the active player. The active player may advance the respective activity marker by two spaces and carry out these spaces.

Star of Elendil; the black rider is pushed back five steps against the direction it faces (not behind step 15 when riding out and not behind step 0 when riding back to Mordor, irrespective of the ring-bearers position).

Gwaihir: players may play this card when the active player concludes the turn. Then the active player may retrieve into the hand one white or grey card played during the turn. Cards that were discards may not be retrieved.

Red arrow: players may play this card during the active player’s turn on a scenario board. Then the active player may add to the hand one of the creature cards (not resource cards) displayed and yet unused for the scenario. Should the rules later allow this chosen feature card to be picked up, nothing happens.

Fellowship cards: players may use their new fellowship card once during the game. The cards are displayed face up next to the individual character cards. These cards do not form part of the players’ hands. Some fellowship cards are more beneficial when used for other players than for oneself. Once used, the fellowship cads are discarded from the game.

Frodo – fellowship: immediately after the Sauron player plays a Sauron card or applies a Nazgûl card, or immediately after the active player reveals an event tile, or after the execution of a tile or a card by the active player, Frodo may use this card. Then the active player may advance one activity marker by one space and carry out the space.

Sam – fellowship: when the Sauron player is activated instead of a die rill and plays a card against any one player, Sam may use this card. Then the affected player needs to select one of the consequences (one symbol!) on the Sauron card and satisfy it.

Pippin – fellowship: pippin: pippin may use this card during any players turn. Then the active player may play a total of three white/grey cards during the turn instead of the usual one white and one grey.

Merry – fellowship: merry may use this card when the black rider is about to move. Then the black rider’s move is avoided.

Fatty – fellowship: at any time during the game, fatty may use this card. Then the fellowship may discard five shields between them to call any one displayed or discarded Gandalf card.

Gandalf cards: call the new Gandalf cards as described in the original rules:

Gandalf – protection: after the Sauron player played a Sauron card or applied a Nazgûl card, the fellowship ignores all the consequences.

Gandalf – foresight (play with bag): when you play with the event tiles in the bag, use this Gandalf card instead of the original card. Instead of drawing one tile from the bag, draw five tiles from the bag and display them face up. Then players use these tiles in any order instead of drawing from the bag – until all five are used up or until the scenario ends.

Gandalf integrity (from the expansion “friends & foes”): this card applies to the instances when the die is still rolled: when putting on the ring, and in the “battle of spells” on the Isengard scenario board in the “friends & foes” expansion. It also applies when a player has to activate Sauron instead of a die roll – then the Sauron player is not activated.

Scenario end

At the end of each scenario and before undertaking any of the usual activities (life tokens, ring, fatty), the Sauron player takes the following actions:

·        The Sauron player resets the black rider figure to step 15 on the corruption line.

·        The Sauron player receives one new Nazgûl card from the deck ad displays it face up.

Then proceed with the usual scenario end activities. Also discard any remaining resource chips from the current scenario board. (do not use them again!) when you come to the next scenario board that you play, draw four new resource chips at random and place one each face up above the last space and above the fourth space from the end on each activity line, but not on the main activity line. This only applies to the first three scenario boards you play, until all resource chips are used up.