War of the Ring

• 2 players

1. Ring-bearers in Rivendell
2. Fellowship Progress on 0, Corruption on 0
3. Companion Cards in the Guide of the Fellowship box.
   • If using the Council of Rivendell variant, see below for swapping out companion cards.
   • Choose either version of Gandalf the Grey, place the other back in the box.
   • Gandalf the Grey or Strider may be chosen as the initial guide. Set aside these cards:
     • Aargorn
     • Gandalf the White
     • Treebeard
     • Smeagol
     • Elrond
     • Galadriel
     • Golllum
4. Companion figures in the Fellowship of the Ring box. Set aside these figures:
   • Aargorn
   • Gandalf the White
   • Elrond
   • Galadriel
   • Gollum
5. 3 Elven ring counters on the board with the ring side up.
6. Set aside all Shadow Minion cards and figures.
7. Separate Event cards and shuffle into 3 piles: Character, Strategy, and Faction.
8. Put standard (beige) hunt tiles and 2 Smeagol tiles in a container. Set aside special (blue & red) tiles for later.
9. Shadow player takes 7 red dice. Set aside the following dice:
   • 3 red action dice
   • 1 orange faction dice
   • 2 black lesser minion dice
10. Free People player takes 4 blue action dice. Set aside the following dice:
    • 2 blue action dice
    • 1 green faction dice
    • 3 white keeper dice
11. Place the political counters. Free People's counters are all passive, except for the Elves. Shadow counters are all active.
12. Follow the Army setup on pages 16-17 of the core book.
13. Take the 6 faction reference cards (3 for Shadow, 3 for Free Peoples) and place them image side up. Under each reference card, place the 2 call to action faction cards matching the image.

This is an optional variant.

During the beginning of the game, the Free People's player can choose to swap any of the following companion cards with their alternate cards.

• Boromir
• Gimli
• Legolas
• Meriadoc
• Peregrin
• Strider