(What you see when looking at the map and what they do)
(What everything is that you see on the board)
(How The decks are put together)
(Some Spells and Equipment can only be used on certain factions- Here are all the Factions in -game currently)
(What does the writing on the card mean? How does it interact with others?)



=Feedback is appreciated. Trying to keep the guide simple, as the game is in early access, and is subject to change. If you think something should be added or changed, please let me know in the comments!

At a Glance-

A series of quests that will play out a portion of the story. Each quest consists of multiple maps played back to back. To unlock the next quest in a questline, you must first beat the previous one. Upon completing all quests in a questline for the first time, you will unlock a card as a reward.


An Encounter (As signified by the diamond icon) is a more challenging Storyline but is not broken up into parts. You play all the maps at once. Upon successful completion of the encounter for the first time, you'll unlock a card as a reward.


When you click on a questline or encounter marker on the map, this window pops up and allows you to:
- Choose the quest in the questline to play(Encounters do not have this)
- Select the difficulty
- Select your deck
- Preview Sauron's Cards for the selection


Pick from one of three options to decide how hard the mission will be and the modifiers.
- Narrative has 2 cards drawn per turn and 3 resources generated.
- Adventure has 1 card drawn per turn and 3 resources generated.
- Challenge has 1 card drawn per turn and 3 resources generated, but Sauron gets more of both.
NOTE: In co-op, players cannot currently choose the difficulty.- (In Co-op, Sauron draws back up to max 5 cards in hand and gets 5 resources per turn. Players will draw one card and get 3 resources.)


You may pick which deck you want to take into the mission with you.


Clicking this will display Sauron's deck for the highlighted Questline.

- Shows the cards available to be played
- The maximum # of cards in the player's hand is 9, and no more will be drawn when capped.
- Cards carry over to other maps in the same questline.
- During the upkeep of each round, the player draws 2 new cards on Narrative, and one card on Adventure and higher, unless a modifier is in place.


- Cards avilable to be drawn. Starts at 30 cards.
- In between maps on a Quest, the deck is not replenished
- It is possible to run out of cards. At that point, no more will be drawn.


- The number shows the player's Resources which can be spent on playing cards or using powers.
- The resources go up by 3 every round. They can be carried over between rounds. They also carry over between maps that you travel to on your current quest.
- Each blue dot that fills one of the 5 slots is a marker for a preperation card that is in play and still active just waiting for whatever is needed to trigger it.


- Shows the number of cards in Sauron's hand.
- Every round, Sauron draws back up to 5 cards in his hand.


- Shows how many resources Sauron has to spend on cards.
- Sauron gains 3 resources per round. and in coop, he recieves 6 per round.
- Each red dot that fills one of the 5 slots, signifies an active treachery waiting for something to trigger it.
- Treacheries are Sauron's version of preperations and work against the player. They are played but not activated until conditions are met.


- A meter that is filled by the yellow progress icons (Diamond shaped) on active player cards.
- To fill the meter, the fate button must be chosen as the character card's action rather than guarding or attacking.
- The meter can hold a maximum of 12 fate. (24 in co-op)
- To see what you can spend fate on, click the diamonds with the numbers. To use them, provided you have enough fate and it is your turn on the round, click the diamond, and then confirm with the checkmark. (WILL NOT use an action)
- Fate buildup carries over between maps on the same questline. (Some fate events are map specific, so make sure you're aware before you travel!)


- Sauron's version of the fate meter.
- If it reaches 50, it is game over.
- It starts at a number usually around 30 based on the initial threat generated by the three heros that you chose for your deck. (They have an icon that shows how much threat they generate when you look at thier cards. eg. Aragon is 11)
- As the meter fills, the Threat Events will trigger on the next upkeep after they've gained enough threat to be cast.
- Threat can be generated by many different ways, and at the end of each round, the threat meter will go up by one.
- The player can bring cards that can reduce threat.
- Threat carries over between maps on the same questline. (Threat Events can trigger on the next map if they didnt have time to on the previous one, provided they are not map-specific)


- The middle of the battlefield shows Sauron's troops and any hazards/objectives for the player to overcome.
- The lower row is the player's Heros and allies that are currently in play.
- The upper row (only availible in co-op) shows Player 2's Heros and allies currently in play.
- The max # of player deployed cards is 7. Any more added will result in a prompt to replace one of your ally cards in play.
- The max number of cards that the environment/Sauron can have in play is 10(-double check). And any more cards played will replace others. Any threat event characters added to Sauron's field when he already has the max out will not be added when over the cap.


- The color of the button shows what phase the round is in. Yellow is upkeep, and red is Adventure (Combat, Hazard Resolution Phase)
- You can end the round early by clicking the end phase button instead of using all your actions.
NOTE: This can be used to prolong the current map if you dont want to travel to the next one right away. Just be aware of the building threat meter
- When you end the phase, Sauron can still use all his unused characters and treacheries against you until he has exhausted all his characters and used up all his resource points.
- Likewise, if Sauron passes, you may keep going and be the only one taking actions until you can do no more or choose to pass as well.


- Used to move to the next map once you have resolved your current one's objective.
- NOTE: As mentioned with the end phase button, Clicking travel is effectively an alternate End Phase Button, and Sauron will be allowed to keep doing actions (Playing cards, attacking, etc) against you until he runs out before you move on to the next map.
- When you travel, all cards, allies, Heros, Resources, fate, and threat that the player has in play carries over.
- Only certain enemies Sauron has with the "Persist" modifier will carry over.

The term "sphere" refers to the color of the border on the cards. The 3 Heros you pick for your decks when you create them determine what spheres you may add cards from.

When making the decks, if you pick multiple Heros from the same sphere, it will allow you access to more specialized cards within that sphere that you cannot get with one hero of that sphere only. It is signified by a 2 or 3 beside the sphere's icon.

Currently, in the game are 4 main spheres to choose from-

- Focuses on mainly Defensive strategies such as Guard and Surge.






- Focuses on mainly Healing abilities and special cards that exhaust enemies.






- Focuses mainly on Fate-related cards, manipulating resources, and Negating combat damage.






- Focuses on risk vs reward cards, and equipment




NOTE: A couple of cards that belong to a Neutral (Grey/White) section and can be placed in any deck. (eg. Gandalf and Tom Bombadil)

The Factions that each of the cards are assigned to can determine what equipment and spells may target them. The card's Faction is displayed in the bottom, middle of the card.

• Beorning
  
  
• Bree
  
  
• Dale
  
  
• Dunadain
  
  
• Dwarf
  
  
• Gonder
  
  
• Hobbit
  
  
• Istar (Plural- Istari)
  
  
• Noldor
  
  
• Rohan
  
  
• Silvan
  
  
• Wose

Ally
- A character card that is not a hero that is played to the battlefield by the player. Allies can be equipped with equipment just like heros.

Ambush
- A card with Ambush ignores counter and block when attacking.

Arrival
- When this card first enters the battlefield, it will perform the effect listed on the card.

Attachment
- A card that is equipped to an Ally or Hero that adds an additional modification to the card. There are 4 attachment types and only one of each of the 4 categories may be attached at a time.

Block
- Cards with Block will take 1 less damage from attacks. This applies to damage taken from Guarding characters.
- Characters with block will have a special border around them on the battlefield.

Counter
- When this character is attacked, it will deal 1 damage to the attackers. (Does stack with Guard)
- Characters with counter have spikes on top of their cards on the battlefield.

Exhaust
- A card that has the exhuast option will render the target unable to take actions (With the exceptions of some powers) until the end of the round.
- Characters that are exhausted are greyed out on the battlefield.

Fleeting
- This Card will leave the battlefield at the end of the Round.

Flying
- A flying character (Usually birds and bats) are only targetable for attack using ranged characters. However once they are exhausted, it grounds them and allows for melee characters to be able to hit them.
- Characters with flying hover over the battlefield when flying is in effect. They may ignore Guard.

Guard
- Allies and Heros with Guard must be targeted first in combat before any others, unless the Attacker has "Ranged". When a "Guard" character is attacked, it will deal it's attack power to the attacker. When a character with guard is attacked by a ranged character, it will not retaliate, but will still lose its guard status.
- Characters with Guard Status active have shields revolving around them on the battlefield.

Hazard
- A card the causes an effect on the battlefield until it has been resolved. (Refer to Board Mechanics for how to resolve.)

Hero
- The player starts with 3 heros at the beginning of a questline. If all 3 die during it, the player will lose the questline.

Persist
- This card carries over to the next map in a Quest when the player Travels. Found only on Sauron's creatures. Allies will always carry over unless they have fleeting.

Power
- The card has an effect that can be activated by the player. Typically by clicking on the red icon when the card is highlighted.

Preperation
- This card is played as an action, but its effect does not take place until a certain condition has been met. Until then, it will remain in play.

Ranged
- When a card has ranged, it can bypass cards with Guard and instead target any card in play. If a card with ranged attacks a card with guard, the ranged card will not recieve damage in return, and the guard card will proceed to lose guard.

Revenge
- Upon this card's death, an effect is triggered.

Stalwart
- Cards with Stalwart may take two actions per round.
- When stalwart is triggering the second action, a clenched fist will hover temporarily over the character.

Stealth
- Cards with stealth are untargetable by attackers unter they have been revealed.
- Characters with stealth active have a smoke-y, fog covered appearance on the battlefield.

Surge
- Upon playing this card or power, an additional action may be taken.

Unique
- A named Character (Usually with powers) played by either Sauron or the Player. They are usually tougher than allies, and may not be targeted by certain cards.

Upkeep
- This Card's effect triggers upon the upkeep at the beginning of the new round.

Vanquish
- Cards with vanquish have an effect that takes place upon defeating another card.