War of the Ring; 2nd edition; house rules.

REV A; Ed McGran; May 26, 2020

1). Introduction: In the first edition expansion there were six (6) onager siege engine
miniatures in the expansion set. For those fortunate to have the original first edition
expansion, six onager miniatures are available there; otherwise use something else.

a). Onagers may be used by either side as an offensive siege unit which fires in the leadership
reroll fire phase. The Shadow player gets a force pool of four (4) onagers while the Fellowship
player gets a force pool of only two (2) onagers. Destroyed onagers return to their respective
force pool. There can be no more than two (2) onagers present in any one particular siege

b). Every time a sieging elite unit is exchanged for a regular unit to allow another siege combat
round to a continuing siege attack; an onager may be added to the besieging player forces. If a
side does not have an onager available in the force pool, then it is not deployed; but the elite
unit is still reduced to continue the siege another round. When the siege ends by whatever
means, the siege engine(s) are all immediately destroyed and returned to the relevant side’s
force pool. When a Fellowship elite unit is exchanged in order to create an onager at the siege
site and a substitute regular replacement Fellowship unit, a Fellowship regular unit in the
reinforcement pool is permanently eliminated.

d). The Shadow faction “call to battle” card “The Last Stroke of Doom” may create an onager
when it is used to extend a siege. The two Shadow event cards “The Fighting Uruk-Hai” and
“Grond, Hammer of the Underworld” do not add onagers during the siege extensions allowed
by these two cards as they portray horrendous mass assaults and not prolonged siege actions.

e). Each onager present in a siege gives the attacking player a single white die attack with a die
result of six (6) being a hit. The total amount of reroll dice allowed is equal to the number of
original misses rerolled due to current game leadership rules plus 1 or 2 onager allowed die
rolls. Use white dice to represent onager attacks. Onager attacks cannot be modified by any
means in the game, are not rerolled for any reason, and always hit on a die roll of six (6).

f). If two same value white dice (doubles) are rolled, then one onager is destroyed by intrinsic
opposing stronghold return fire along with the destruction of one siege attack regular unit or
the reduction of a siege attack elite unit to represent crew losses due to return siege fire.

g). Onagers may not move. Onagers may only stack two in an area. Onagers may stay and
participate in a prolonged siege over many turns as long as a besieging army is present and
qualifies as a besieging army. Factions/leaders/companions/minions by themselves do not
count towards onager survival; only friendly army units present in a siege situation count.

2). If the Fellowship has no companion/army/leader units to muster, then a muster die may be
used to raise one regular unit (only) out of the “permanently eliminated” force pool. The
faction die muster result may also be used to raise a “permanently eliminated” regular unit if
no “in play” faction units are available for muster.
3). In my opinion, it is not faithful to Lord of the Rings lore, to not have Strider, Gandalf, and
the four hobbits together at the start of the Fellowship journey. The other three companions
(1D6 results 4, 5, & 6), are new team “loose cannon” types; having their own personal agendas.
The council of Rivendell rule is modified to allow the following to happen:

Die roll (1D6) result:

1, 2, 3 = everyone starts in Fellowship as normal; Shadow player has one tile of his hidden
choice. In this case, place Lord Elrond immediately in Rivendell at no muster cost. Lord Elrond’s
die is available at start of game.
4 = Boromir starts game in Minus Tirith; Shadow player has two tiles.
5 = Gimli starts game in Erebor; shadow player has two tiles.
6 = Legolas starts game in Lorien; shadow player has two tiles. In this case, place Lady Galadriel
immediately in Lorien at no muster cost. Lady Galadriel’s die is available at start of game.

4). If Rohan, Gondor, the elves, the dwarfs, or the North armies have more leaders left alive
than the total of same army (regular and elite) units, then a muster die may be used to combine
two same region, same army leaders into a single regular (same army in same region) unit
reincarnated from the dead pile. The two leaders so exchanged are permanently eliminated.
This can be done inside a stronghold under siege as if the only numbers that matter are inside.

5). Cavalry charges are in addition to normal combat in the first combat round only: Only
Isengard, Gondor, Rohan, and the North elite units may do a cavalry charge. Regular units,
faction units, and other “elite type” units do not fight in this manner. Only the attacking player
may do a cavalry charge in the first combat round only and a charge cannot be made against a
siege or city/fortification battle. For every two same nationality attacking elite units of the
charging type and one accompanying leader of the same nationality, two white dice are rolled.
Each cavalry charge is rolled for separately. Doubles kills the accompanying charging leader.
Isengard elites do not use leaders to charge; but they charge in groups of three with three
white dice rolled in the charge with only triples reducing one charging elite army unit to a
regular army unit. In the same way, Aragon, or Gandalf the White, can make a charge with
three elites of any combined (charging capable) nationalities using three white dice; but only
triple white dice kills Aragon or Gandalf the White. All losses are at end of combat round;
leader losses take effect after all leader rerolls. Cavalry charge dice are in addition to normal
attack dice and hit on a white die roll of 5 or 6. No leadership rerolls are available to cavalry
charging white dice that fail. No more than six elites can participate in a total cavalry charge.

6). Legolas, a stealthy elf, can move into and out of adjacent besieged strongholds. Legolas
uses both his two movement points to move into or out of a friendly adjacent region besieged
stronghold. Legolas may smuggle one of the original Fellowship short companions (hobbits or
dwarf) into or out with him.