Once Frodo and his Companions have reached Minas Morgul or Morannon the final part of the Fellowship’s trek across Middle-earth begins. As the Fellowship enters Mordor the Hunt for the Ring becomes increasingly more dangerous as the will of the Ring is pitted against the will of the Ring-bearer. Every time the Fellowship moves a Hunt tile is drawn, and both the Shadow’s and the Free Peoples’ special Hunt tiles in play have been added to the Hunt Pool, as have the previously drawn Eye tiles. This makes the final part of Frodo’s journey a perilous one indeed.

Reaching Mordor

Simply reaching Mordor is a difficult endeavor on its own; it doesn’t help that the Shadow player might hold the “Cruel Weather” Event Card, a card capable of delaying the Fellowship from reaching Mordor for a full turn. There are two ways you can negate the possible threat posed by “Cruel Weather”. The easiest way, and one that you always have the option of using, is moving the Fellowship one region more than what is required to reach Mordor. The other way is to make sure the Fellowship is located in Minas Tirith as the effect of “Cruel Weather” (moving the Fellowship one region on the board”) becomes useless. This strategy is equally valid, but more difficult to succeed with, if the Fellowship is able to reach Morannon/Minas Morgul while staying hidden all the way from either Lorien or Rivendell.  

Event Cards

To aid the brave Ring-bearers on their journey you should attempt to put the special Hunt tiles (“Elven Rope”, “Elven Cloaks”, “Phial of Galadriel”, and “Sméagol Helps Nice Master”) into play by playing their corresponding Character Event Cards, preferably before entering Mordor. If you draw any of them once the Fellowship is in Mordor always add them to the Hunt Pool before moving. Should you draw any Corruption reducing cards (e.g. I “Will Go Alone” and “Bilbo’s Song”) you might want to hang on to them as they could win you the game if they are used in Mordor. The Shadow also has four special Hunt tiles (“The Ring is Mine!”, “On, on They Went”, “Give it to Uss!”, and ”Shelob’s Lair”), which will all prevent the Fellowship from moving on the Mordor track if drawn. “Shelob’s Lair” is especially nasty since it can deal out a total of six Corruption points. To avoid one of these nasty Hunt tiles you have the card “Mithril Coat and Sting” which will force the Shadow to draw a new tile to replace the drawn one, this could also save Frodo if an Eye tile is drawn when there are too many dice in the Hunt box for him to avoid being Corrupted by the One Ring.

The Companions

Before you enter Mordor you must also decide upon how many Companions to bring since the number of Companions determines how many Hunt dice the Shadow can allocate to the Hunt at the beginning of each turn. This is much more important now that an Eye tile drawn in Mordor adds Corruption equal to the number of dice in the Hunt box, including the Fellowship’s Character and Will of the West Action Dice previously used to move the Fellowship in the same turn.

The Companions you bring can be used to absorb Corruption and if you have any of the protection cards (e.g. “Axe and Bow”) in play or in your hand the corresponding Companions should be kept in the Fellowship. The dilemma is that with many Companions the Shadow can put more dice in the Hunt box and the more dangerous the Eye tiles become. Once in Mordor you should take the Companions as casualties as soon as possible in order to limit the number of Hunt dice the Shadow can place in the Hunt box.

Gollum

Gollum has some really useful abilities. Remember to use his ability to ignore Reveal icons on numbered standard (beige) Hunt tiles; this is important since staying hidden gives you more dice to use to move instead of hiding a revealed Fellowship. Gollum can also be used to reveal the Fellowship if they are not revealed through the drawn Hunt tile to reduce Corruption by one, this can literally win you the game, if you move to the final step of the Mordor Track (The Crack of Doom) and the tile drawn brings Frodo to twelve Corruption points but doesn’t reveal him Gollum can reduce the Corruption to eleven. Being revealed at the Crack of Doom doesn’t matter as the One Ring is destroyed.

Secrecy and Haste

When and how often to move the Fellowship when in Mordor? This question is difficult to answer since it depends on the number of Hunt dice in the Hunt Box, the current level of Corruption and the composition of the Hunt Pool. You should at all times try to be up to speed on what Hunt tiles are left in the Hunt Pool, and can you risk drawing an Eye tile? Remember that if you don’t attempt to move or hide The Fellowship during a turn you suffer one Corruption point, but sometimes that can be the best choice if faced with many dice in the Hunt Box and a high ratio of Eye tiles left in the Hunt Pool.

Finally there is no better motivation than that of dire urgency, if the Shadow is getting close to reaching ten Victory points you might as well go out on a limb with the Fellowship and make a mad final dash up the slopes of Mount Doom. Remember that if you manage to destroy the Ring in the same turn as the Shadow reaches his tenth and final Victory point you win the game.

Written by Kristofer Bengtsson

Tags: Kristofer Bengtsson, Strategy, War of the Ring