WINNING THE GAME

There are four ways to win the game. Two Victory conditions may be triggered at any moment during a turn (see Ring-based Victory Conditions, below), while the other two Victory conditions apply only during phase 6 of the turn, the Victory Check.

If any of these conditions apply, the game ends with a Victory for one of the players.

Note that lower-numbered Victory conditions take precedence over higher-numbered Victory conditions, if two or more are achieved on the same turn.

RING-BASED VICTORY CONDITIONS

The most important goal for Sauron is to reclaim the One Ring, while the most important goal for the Free Peoples is to destroy the Ring.

For this reason, if either of those two events occur at any time during a turn, the game ends immediately without waiting for the Victory Check phase.

1) Corruption of the Ring-bearers: If the Ringbearers have 12 or more Corruption points, they failed their quest. Sauron regains the Ring for himself and the Shadow player wins the game.

2) Destroying the Ring: If the Ring-bearers figure is on the “Crack of Doom” step on the Mordor Track and the Ring-bearers have fewer than 12 Corruption points, the Ring is destroyed. Sauron is utterly vanquished and the Free Peoples player wins the game.

MILITARY VICTORY CONDITIONS

In The Lord of the Rings, if Sauron had succeeded in destroying the Nations of the Free Peoples, even the destruction of the Ring could not have resulted in a proper victory for the Free Peoples.

At the same time, if the Free Peoples had successfully challenged Sauron militarily, the Dark Lord would have needed to greatly focus on the struggle against the Armies of the Free Peoples, and it would have been much easier for the Ring-bearers to reach Mount Doom.

Thus, if at the end of a game turn any of the following two conditions apply, the game ends with a military victory

3) The Shadow Conquers Middle-earth: If the Shadow player controls Free Peoples Settlements worth 10 or more Victory points, he wins.

4) Sauron is Banished from Middle-earth: If the Free Peoples player controls Shadow Settlements worth 4 or more Victory points, he wins.

Military Victory conditions are based on the control of a Settlement.

For the purposes of a Military Victory, a player controls an enemy Settlement if it has that player’s Settlement Control marker on it.

Each enemy City a player controls is worth 1 Victory point, while each enemy Stronghold a player controls is worth 2 Victory points.

Players use their their Victory Point markers and the Victory Point track to keep count of the Victory point value of their conquests.

Victory Point Marker

Free Peoples Victory Point Marker

Shadow Victory Point Marker

VICTORY POINTS

The symbol appearing on a City is a reminder that control of this region is worth 1 Victory point to the opponent.

The ​​ symbol appearing on a Stronghold is a reminder that control of this Stronghold is worth 2 Victory points to the opponent.