The Lord of the Rings™ TCG Help Clinic
Part 5 - Archery
by Mark Tuttle (elrond@decipher.com)
The Lord of the Rings is frequently described
as "sword and sorcery" fantasy. This brings up the image
of wizards throwing spells back and forth and the clanging
of steel on steel. However, anyone living in this fantasy
world would be well advised to listen for the whistle
of arrows! Archery has always been an important part
of fantasy gaming, as it's usually the first volley
in an attack. This is also the case in The Lord of
the Rings TCG. In fact, archery is a powerful technique
that every player should master to be successful!
THE SLINGS AND ARROWS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE
Rule Summary: Once the maneuver phase is over, you
enter the archery phase. The archery phase begins with
archery actions. These are indicated by the "Archery:"
special ability text. There are many cards that utilize
this text and many can cause damage that you can direct
toward the minion of your choice. Let's look at a few
examples:
Legolas, Greenleaf
This is probably the ultimate example of the power of
an "Archery:" special ability.
Card Text: Archery: Exert Legolas to wound a minion.
Legolas does not add to the archery total.
Assuming that Legolas is at full vitality, then he can
be exerted twice. Let's say the Shadow player has played
two 1 vitality Goblin Warriors. In the archery action
phase, you can exert Legolas, Greenleaf once to wound,
thus killing the first Goblin Warrior. Then, when it's
your action again, you could exert him again to wound
and kill the second Goblin Warrior. For the cost of
two exertions, you've cleared all the minions before
you even get to the assignment phase!
Or, you could exert Legolas two times to put two wounds
on the same minion. It's your choice where you decide
to place these wounds.
Note that the above example also works for Aragorn
(either version) bearing Aragorn's Bow. Even better,
Aragorn has one more vitality than Legolas so he can
exert three times! However, there is a downside to both
Legolas, Greenleaf and Aragorn's Bow. Should you decide
to use this archery special ability, you do not add
to the archery total with these cards. We'll cover that
in just a moment.
Orophin and Rumil
These are two powerful allies that have very specific
archery special abilities. Both have the ability similar
to Legolas, Greenleaf that lets you direct wounds to
specific minions. However, Orophin may only wound an
Uruk-hai and Rumil may only wound an Orc (Moria or Sauron).
You're probably thinking that's somewhat limiting, and
it is. However, notice the text. Using the archery special
ability on these two allies does NOT prevent them from
adding to the archery total. When the fellowship is
at site six, the home site for these two allies, not
only can they use their archery special ability, but
they also add to the archery total. If you have both
of them in play, and fully healed, at site six, Orophin
and Rumil may do 3 wounds each, or a combined 6 wounds
to attacking minions! That's more than Legolas, Greenleaf!
One last note about these two cards. The rules specify
that you may use the special ability text on allies
at any site, not just their home site. When you have
these two in play, you may exert them to wound their
target minions at any site the fellowship is at.
As with other phases, the Free Peoples player gets
the first action in each phase. However, the Free Peoples
player isn't the only player with possible actions in
the archery action phase. Let's look at a Shadow card
example.
Bitter Hatred
This Moria culture card allows you to spot a Moria Orc archer to wound an
Elf. In the above example with Legolas, Greenleaf, I was careful to indicate
that each time you exert Legolas is a separate action. As we learned in
the last Help Clinic article on the maneuver phase and the action procedure,
when the Free Peoples player resolves an action, the Shadow player gets
an action. So when Legolas exerts to wound an Orc, the Shadow player would
then be able to play Bitter Hatred to wound Legolas. Since that would be
two wounds on Legolas, he would be exhausted and could not "fire" again.
A few other cards have archery special abilities that
take place during this first part of the archery phase.
They are self-explanatory. Most of them add to the archery
total, which we'll use in the second part of the phase.
Participating in Archery Fire
There is another example of cards that get special consideration
in the archery phase. Several cards allow allies to
participate in archery fire and skirmishes, even when
the fellowship is not at their home site. It's very
important to understand exactly what this means, and
doesn't mean. Let's look at two examples.
Swan-ship of the Galadhrim
Card text: Maneuver: Exert an Elf ally whose home is
site 6. Until the regroup phase, that ally is strength
+3 and participates in archery fire and skirmishes.
First, this special ability must be used in the maneuver
phase. If you try to do this when you get to the archery
phase, it's too late. This allows one of your home site
6 allies to participate in archery fire and skirmishes
with the fellowship regardless of what site the fellowship
is at. This means that cards like Orophin could add
to the archery total at any site, 1-9. Plus, he is eligible
to have archery wounds assigned to him and then assign
and skirmish.
Let's look at another card that offers a different
situation.
Thrarin, Dwarven Smith
Card text: Maneuver: Exert Thrarin to allow him to participate
in archery fire and skirmishes until the regroup phase.
This card works very similar to the Swan-ship of Galadhrim.
However, one important difference, is that this does
NOT give the keyword of archer. In the last example,
Orophin was already an archer. Allowing a character
to participate in archery fire does nothing more than
permit you to assign archery wounds to them if they
are not already an archer. Outside of the "bow" possessions,
there are no cards that will make a non-archer an archer.
COUNT 'EM UP
Once all of the archery actions have taken place, it's
time to finish the archery phase. The second part of
this requires us to calculate the archery total.
Rules Summary: All Shadow players total up
all of their minions with the "archer" keyword (and
any other cards that add to the archery total such as
the Sauron culture card Orc Bowmen) to determine the
Shadow archery total. Note that in a game with more
than two players, all Shadow players total up their
archery totals, and then combine that into one Shadow
archery total.
Then, the Free Peoples player adds up his archery
total using the same criteria. Note that if they fellowship
is currently at the home site as any archer allies you
count any of them with the archer keyword into that
total as well.
Make sure that any cards that affect the archery total,
both negatively or positively are factored into the
archery total. Cards like Uruk-hai Armory subtract from
the fellowship total.
When the archery totals are calculated, it's time
to assign wounds based on those numbers. The Free Peoples
player assigns wounds to his companions (and allies
that are participating) equal to the Shadow player's
archery total. Once that is done, the Shadow player
then assigns wounds to his minions equal to the fellowship
archery total. If there is more than one Shadow player,
the current Free Peoples player decides which Shadow
player will place those wounds on his own minions.
On either side, wounds may be assigned up to the full
vitality of any character, thus killing it. Wounds are
assigned one at a time. Thus, if you had a character
with two vitality and needed to assign three wounds
from archery fire, you could assign two to that character,
kill it, and then assign that remaining to another character.
You cannot assign more wounds to a character than what
would kill it.
Examples:
There are many things going on here, and many points
that require some clarification. First, we'll explain
the archery totals.
Let's say, for example, the fellowship archery total
is four after all modifiers. The Shadow archery total
is two. The Free Peoples player assigns two wounds to
his companions, one on Aragorn and one on Frodo. The
Shadow player then has to assign four wounds. He places
two wounds on his Uruk Slayer, which will kill it immediately.
He then places one on Lurtz and one on an Uruk Savage.
An important concept here is that archery wounds are
decided and placed by the owner of the characters that
are being wounded. Meaning, that the Shadow player is
sending two arrows over, but the Free Peoples player
decides where (or rather, in who) they land. This is
in contrast to the archery action special abilities
that allow a player to deal that damage directly to
the opponent's characters. A smart strategy for archery
actions is to try to take out the archers on the other
side to prevent them from adding into the archery total
later in the phase.
Frequently Asked Questions
A question that is frequently asked is "Why does the
fellowship takes archery wounds first?" The best visualization
for this comes from the film The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring itself. In the Mines
of Moria, when the Fellowship is in Balin's Tomb, two
arrows from a Goblin Archer narrowly miss Boromir. The
cowardly minions always fire first, with our valiant
heroes returning fire.
Here's another interesting point from this example.
Let's say that Aragorn and Frodo were the only companions,
and both were exhausted. The fellowship player MUST
account for both of those wounds. Frodo would then take
a wound and be killed, causing the Free Peoples player
to lose the game. Due to the text on The Ruling Ring,
he could NOT put the Ring on to convert that wound to
a burden. However, the other version of the Ring, Isildur's
Bane, allows you to put on the Ring anytime in response
to taking a wound. Yes, Frodo would take two burdens,
but in this specific example, it would prevent the loss
of the game.
A last point here relates to timing. Let's replace
Aragorn with Legolas in the previous example. Further,
we'll assume that the fellowship archery total is 1
from Legolas' archer keyword. If Legolas died due to
the Shadow archery, the fellowship archery total is
still 1, as it is calculated before the assigning of
the archery wounds.
Rules Summary: The last thing to note about
the archery phase, is that at the end of the phase,
if there are no minions left at the end of this phase,
then you proceed directly to the regroup phase. Neither
player will be able to play any assignment or skirmish
phase actions.
CONCLUSION
Archery is powerful, and can offer a crafty player the
ability to decide who will be available for assignment
in the next phase. It is a powerful Elven strategy but
cards like Aragorn's Bow make it available to other
cultures. It is not limited to Free Peoples cards, and
you must be wary of minion archers like Lurtz whose
creaking bow and sapling-sized arrows delivered many
painful blows in The Fellowship of the Ring.
If you have any rules questions, feel free to send
them to me at elrond@decipher.com.
If there are specific topics you would like to see future
Help Clinics on, please let us know!
January 23, 2002
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