The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core Set

Players begin setup by selecting a team of up to three heroes from four spheres of influence (Leadership, Lore, Spirit, and Tactics). Each player assembles a deck of at least 50 cards matching their heroes' spheres. The encounter deck, quest cards, and scenario-specific cards are prepared in the play area alongside resource and damage tokens.

The primary objective is to successfully navigate and complete the quest stages laid out by the active scenario. Players must quest to accumulate progress while defending against encounters, managing threat, and defeating enemies that threaten Middle-earth.

A round consists of several sequential phases: the Resource Phase where heroes gain resource tokens and cards are drawn, the Planning Phase to play allies and attachments, the Quest Phase to commit characters to questing, the Travel Phase to move to new locations, the Encounter Phase to engage enemies, the Combat Phase to resolve attacks, and the Refresh Phase to ready cards and increase threat.

The revised core set focuses primarily on cooperative survival rather than traditional scoring. Success is measured by completing the campaign scenario without losing all your heroes, though keeping threat levels as low as possible is crucial for overall performance.

Victory is achieved when the final quest card's progress requirements are met. Defeat occurs immediately if all player heroes are destroyed or if any player's threat dial reaches fifty.