Spies for Arthedain

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Darksatin
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SPIES FOR ARTHEDAIN

A Scenario from A Long-Expected Party

"It was in the beginning of the reign of Malvegil of Arthedain that evil came to Arnor. For at that time the realm of Angmar arose in the North beyond the Ettenmoors... The lord of that land was known as the Witch-king... who came north with the purpose of destroying the Dúnedain of Arnor, seeing hope in their disunion.... " - Return of the King, p. 397

The shadow of Angmar ever looms over the lone kingdom of Arthedain, darkening its northern reaches with the threat of war. Each spring the howling of wolves heralds the coming of the hordes - vile Orcs, great Trolls, and fierce Angmarean warriors - all held in thrall by the dark might of the Witch-king. Portents say this spring's raids will be the worst for many years, and the nobles of Arthedain fear that the power of Angmar will prove too great to be resisted. Thus they have called for the bravest adventurers to make their way onto the harsh plateau of Angmar, to spy out its citadels, to count the numbers of the enemy amassing on Arthadan border, and to return with that intelligence to Fornost Erain.Perhaps when armed with the knowledge of the threat they face, the lords of Arthedain can muster enough resistance to survive the Witch-king's onslaught.
You have three months before the coming of the spring - three months to gather your intelligence and wend your way back into Arthadan lands, and make your reports to Fornost.
Spies for Arthedain is a solitaire scenario.

DECK CONSTRUCTION :
You will need the following:

1. A starting company, which should consist of:
· no more than 5 characters, with a total mind not to exceed 20. No Wizard characters may be chosen;
· two starting non-unique minor items.

2. A resource deck of 36 cards. This deck should include:
· 6 to 8 Dark Numbers;
· up to 3 additional characters, with a total mind not to exceed 15;
· other resources as you wish, with the following limitations: you may include no more tha one of any unique card, and no more than three of any non-unique card.

3. A hazard deck of 36 cards. This deck should include:
· 24 creatures: 14 keyable to Shadow-land or Shadow-hold, 5 keyable to Dark-domain or Dark-hold, and 14 keyable to Wilderness, double Wilderness or Ruins and Lairs. Most should be Orcs, Trolls or Men;
· 12 events of your choice. The following events would be especially appropriate for this scenario: Angmar Arises, Arouse Minions, Awaken Minions, Clouds, Doors of Night, Doubled Vigilance, Incite Minions, Minions Stir, Morgul Night, Rank Upon Rank, Redoubled Force, Scorba Ahunt.

4. A site deck, which must include:
· Rivendell
· Dead Man's Dike (as Fornost Erain; see Site Cards below under Special Rules)
· Carn Dûm
· Eldanar
· Morkai
· Angsûl (use Morkai; see Site Cards below under Special Rules)
· Shedûn (use Morkai; see Site Cards below under Special Rules)

Resource and hazard decks are kept separate for this scenario.

THE TURN SEQUENCE :

The company of spies begins play at Fornost Erain. the player draws a resource hand of 5 cards.

Untap Phase: As in Standard Rules.

Organization Phase: As in Standard Rules.

Long-event Phase: As in Standard Rules (but see below for Special Rules).

Movement/Hazard Phase: As in Standard Rules, except the following sections replace those in the Standard Rules:

The Hazard Hand: The hazard hand consists of cards drawn from the hazard deck, which are placed face up in a row on the playing surface. Hazards are played on the company from this hand, one at a time. There is no limit to the size of the hazard hand. No cards are in the hazard hand at the start of the game.
If the company is not moving, no resource cards may be drawn. One card is drawn from the hazard deck and placed in the hazard hand.
If the company is moving to a non-Haven site, you must draw a number of cards from the hazard deck as indicated by the site the company is moving to, and place them in the hazard hand. You may draw up to the number of resource cards indicated by that site card (you must draw at least one card).
If the company is moving to a Haven site, you must draw a number of cards from the hazard deck as indicated by the site the company is moving from, and place them in the hazard hand as indicated above. You may draw up to the number of resource cards indicated by that site card (you must draw at least one card).
Hazard cards are played on the company until the hazard limit is reached or until no playable cards remain in the hazard hand. Hazards should be played on the company in the order that would be most disadvantageous to the company (such as Minions Stir before Orc-raiders, or Orc-raiders before Orc-lieutenant). The hazard limit is equal to the size of the company or two, whichever is larger (Hobbits count half, round up). The hazard limit is determined for each company at the beginning of the movement/hazard phase (i.e., it remains fixed).
At the end of the movement/hazard phase, you must discard any cards in excess of five in your resource hand. If you have fewer than five cards in your resource hand, you must draw cards until your resource hand has five cards. You do not discard or draw cards for the hazard hand at this time.

Site Phase: As in Standard Rules, except additionally:
If the automatic attack at one of the Angmarean citadels has been faced, a scout may tap to play a Dark Numbers card. In this scenario, Dark Numbers may only be played after facing the automatic-attack at one of the six Angmarean citadels.

End of Turn Phase: You may discard one card from your resource hand. Then you must draw or discard cards until your resource hand has five cards.

SCENARIO OBJECTIVES :
Play Dark Numbers after facing the automatic-attack at each of the following Angmarean citadel sites: Carn Dûm, Eldanar, Morkai, Angsûl, Shedûn, Mount Gram.
Return as many Dark Numbers cards as you can to Fornost Erain before 9 turns (your 3 months) have elapsed.

VICTORY CONDITIONS :
At the end of the 9th turn, the Council of Norbury is called to make preparations for war. The completeness of the information your spies will give will determine Arthedain's chances of survival this spring:
· If the spies return with 6 Dark Numbers: The forces of Angmar are crushed in a perfectly executed trap, and it is many years before the Witch-king can again muster a horde to threaten the peace that Arthedain has won.
· If the spies return with 4 or 5 Dark Numbers: The main body of the Witch-king's army is routed at the frontier, but a force of Wolf-riders and Trolls sneaks past the border guards, bringing death and destruction to the villages of the North Downs.
· If the spies return with 2 or 3 Dark Numbers: Although the Arthadan army fights valiantly, and successfully defends Norbury's royal keep against the Witch-king's much larger force, they cannot hold the fontier. Arthadan is greatly weakene, and the shadow of Angmar grows long in the North.
· If the spies return with fewer than 2 Dark Numbers, or do not return within 3 months (9 turns): The colossal might of the Witch-king's horde overruns the frontier, decimates Arthdain's defending tropps, and lays siege to Fornost Erain. The capital falls before summer.
You lose automatically if all of your characters are killed.

SPECIAL RULES :

Assigning Strikes : Assign normal strikes in the following order: against untapped characters first, then against taped characters, then wounded characters. Assign any prowess modifications (from extra strikes) in the same order. Assign "Attacker chooses" strikes in the reverse order: against wounded characters, then tapped characters, then untapped characters.

Corruption : No corruption checks are required during this scenario, even when transferring items between characters.

Dark Numbers : You may include between 6 and 8 Dark Numbers cards in your resource deck. For this scenario, Dark Numbers may only be played after a company has faced automatic-attack at one of the Angmarean citadel sites: Carn Dûm, Eldanar, Morkai, Angsûl, Shedûn, or Mount Gram. Dark Numbers need not remain under the control of the scout who brought it into play. Any character in the company may carry any number of Dark Number cards. When a character is killed, any Dark Number cards he controls may be transferred to one or more characters in his company.

Long-events : All long-events remain in play for two turns. A good way to keep track of long-events is: play long-events upright. During subsequent long-event phases, invert any upright long-event cards (rotate them 180 degrees), and discard any long-events which began the turn inverted.

Marshalling Points : Marshalling points do not count for this scenario.

Movement : The company may use either starter or region movement, although the company may not move to any site not listed in the site deck section above. Since the company is under a time limit, region movement is definitely preferable, unless moving to or from Rivendell.

Site Cards : Please use the following modifications to the site cards for this scenario:
* Use Dead Man's Dike for Fornost Ersin (it has not yet fallen into ruin). Consider the site a Border-hold, and ignore the "Playable", "Automatic-attack", and "Special" notations on the card.
* Use Morkai for Angsûl and Shedûn as well (all three sites are essentially the same for the purposes of this scenario). For Angsûl and Shedûn, ignore Morkai's "Special" notation.

A SAMPLE DECK :

Starting Company :
Merry with Healing Herbs
Robin Smallburrow
Beorn
Elladan with Dagger of Westernesse
Háma

Site Deck :
Rivendell
Dead Man's Dike (Fornost Erain)
Carn Dûm
Mount Gram
Angsûl
Shedûn
Eldanar

Resource Deck (36):
Beretar
Block
Boromir II
Clear Skies
Cram (x2)
Dark Numbers (x8)
Dark Quarrels (x3)
Fog
Gates of Morning (x2)
Great-shield of Rohan
Halfling Stealth (x3)
Halfling Strength (x3)
Many Foes He Fought
Orcrist
Pippin
Sword of Gondolin
The Cock Crows
Trickery

Hazard Deck (36):
Angmar Arises
Arouse Minions
Awaken Minions
Cave-drake
Dire Wolves (x2)
Doors of Night (x2)
Doubled Vigilance
Ghouls
Giant
Half-trolls of Far Harad
Hobgoblins
Marsh-drake
Minions Stir
Olog-hai (Trolls)
Orc-guard (x2)
Orc-lieutenant
Orc-raiders
Orc-warband
Orc-warriors (x2)
Orc-watch
Rank Upon Rank
Redoubled Force
Rogrog
Scorba Ahunt
Stirring Bones
Thunder's Companion
Wargs (x2)
Witch-king of Angmar
Wolf-riders (x2)
Wolves


Spies for Arthedain can be found on pages 5-7 of the A Long-Expected Party sourcebook and is copyright ©1997 ICE
User avatar
Darksatin
Posts: 621
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:14 pm
Location: Chalon sur Saône, France

Here are the images of the special sites for this scenario :


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