The Shadow has three powerful Minions who each bring an additional Action Die and some very handy special abilities, and eight Nazgûl to provide Leadership for the Shadow Armies and to Hunt the Fellowship. Let us have a look at how you can get the most out of them.

Saruman

Saruman, Corrupted Wizard, can be brought into play once the Isengard nation is at War. Even though he cannot leave the Orthanc region his abilities are extremely powerful, and literally essential, if you plan on acquiring some Victory points from Rohan. When he is in play all the Isengard Elites double as Leaders for all movement and combat purposes. This means that, in addition to providing Leadership re-rolls in combat that cannot be cancelled by Gandalf the White, you can move/attack with Armies containing Isengard Elites using a Character Action Die result. Saruman’s other ability is even more powerful, with Saruman in play you can Muster either one Isengard Regular in each Free Isengard Settlement (this most often means three Regular units; one in North Dunland, one in South Dunland, and one in Orthanc) or you can upgrade two Regular units, in the Orthanc region, to Elite units. This allows you to quickly Muster an overwhelming force with which you can launch an unstoppable assault on the plains of Rohan.

The Witch-King

The Witch-King, The Black Captain, is your most powerful Minion. He has a Leadership of two, can fly as far as you want when you move your Minions and Nazgûl, and every time you play a Combat Card in the first round of combat you get to draw a new Event Card. This ability should be used to get access to as many Event Cards as possible in the Event deck you choose to play from. If you want to get those anti-Fellowship cards in the Character deck you need to play Character Cards in combat and if you are going for those nice Muster Event Cards or powerful Combat Cards you need to play Strategy Cards. Getting access to the Witch-king’s extra Action Die and nice abilities will need some work though; as you need to have both Sauron and a Free Peoples nation at war. This means that you most of the time have to risk attacking before the Witch-king is available to lead the assault to get that Free Peoples nation to war.

The Mouth of Sauron

The most important thing to remember about the Mouth of Sauron is just that, to remember him. You can only muster him once the Fellowship is on the Mordor track or all the Free Peoples nations are “at War”. Many times do the Shadow player simply forget to bring him into play because all focus is on the Fellowship and the final journey through Mordor. Once mustered, the Mouth of Sauron is a formidable Leader and his ability to change a Muster Action Die into an Army Action Die is extremely useful in the end game when all resources that can help you conquer those final Victory point locations are needed.

The Nazgûl

The unlimited movement of your Nazgûl is their greatest power, and one you should make frequent use of. For a single Character Action Die result you get to reposition them to the different sieges and fields of battle where their Leadership will be needed to speed your military conquest. Hitting a defended Stronghold with little or no Leadership is more often than not a bad move, even if the Stronghold is lightly defended. Try to finish one siege at a time and then sending the Nazgûl to the next one.

A single Nazgûl in the same region as the Fellowship will grant you one re-roll when rolling for the Hunt. With few such rolls, and not always with enough dice in the Hunt box, that re-roll can be quite important. However, the resource (Action Die) spent to get the Nazgûl there might be better spent elsewhere. To best use the Nazgûl’s as Fellowship hunters try to move one of them to the region with the Fellowship at the same time as you reposition the rest of your Nazgûl to lead your Armies, but only if you can spare the Leadership.

Strategy Tips

Getting your Minions into play is of utmost importance. Their abilities and the extra Action Die they each bring make getting them on the board one of your most prioritized tasks throughout the game. Saruman is the easiest one to get as all you need are two Muster Die results. The Witch-king, however, requires some planning.

Getting the Sauron nation to war is quite easy, but competing with Saruman for the early Muster Dice is a problem. The task then becomes more intricate with the need of a Free Peoples nation being at war. The Free Peoples player will most likely not help you with this (unless he is attempting a Free People Military Victory) which means you need to begin the assault on a Free Peoples nation without the awesome powers of the Black Captain. The safest route might be to get Saruman first and then with his Uruks and Wolf-riders attack Rohan. Once Rohan is at war you can then bring in the Witch-king. In the end game The Mouth of Sauron mustn’t be forgotten. Once available bring him in inside a Sauron Stronghold close to the action so you can use his Leadership (which cannot be negated by Gandalf the White by the way) in the final sieges.

Written by Kristofer Bengtsson

Tags: Kristofer Bengtsson, Strategy, War of the Ring