[MECCG] CRF 13 Turn Sequence
Craig Ichabod O'Brien
This is version 13 of the collected clarifications to the rules for the
Middle-earth: Collectible Card Game, up to August 11, 1998. This includes
rulings made through digest 118 of the MECCG mailing list. Some of these
clarifications are considered errata to the rules or cards, and are noted as
such. The Turn Sequence and Rulings by Term sections are specifically
considered clarifications to the rules, and are therefore overridden by card
text that specifically does so. A complete list of errata is included at the
end of this document. There will be periodic updates to this file, and
items marked with a "@" are new or changed since the last version.
New rulings that clarify ambiguous situtations take effect immediately.
Reversals of old rulings, changes to the rules, and new rulings not covering
ambiguous situations will not have an effect on tournament play until two
weeks after they are made. All such rulings will have the date they become
effective with them when they are announced.
The main thing to remember, when making rulings based on the rules and the
cards, is that if it isn't there, then it isn't there. If a card says a site
counts as a Haven for purposes of healing, that does not mean the site counts
as a Haven for any other purposes. If a card says it can be played as a
resource, that does not mean it counts as a resource at any time except when
it is being played. Remember: If it isn't there, it isn't there.
Tournament rules for MECCG differ slightly from the rules for casual play.
Rulings marked with a "#" differ from those in tournament play. When playing
in a tournament, be sure to check the Tournament Rulings section.
If you have any further questions concerning MECCG, you can either:
* Write Iron Crown Enterprises at P.O. Box 1605, Charlottesville, VA, 22902.
* Email the official rules representative, Craig "Ichabod" O'Brien, at
<ich...@cstone.net>
* Post the message to the Usenet news group rec.games.trading-cards.misc, with
"[MECCG]" in the subject line, or
* Join the official MECCG mailing list by sending a message to
list...@tower.ml.org with "subscribe metw" and your email address in the body
of the message.
Turn Sequence Rulings
Beginning of the Game
# If a character is put in the deck due to duplication in the starting
company, then it does not count against the 10 character limit.
# You should either draw numbers for the whole game or roll dice for the
whole game.
Your starting company can only contain 20 points of unmodified mind.
Non-character cards duplicated in the character draft may not be placed
into the play deck.
Your staring hand is eight cards, regardless of what characters you
have at particular sites.
Untap Phase
Corruption checks triggered at the end of the untap phase happen after
everyone untaps.
Organization Phase
Choosing a New Site
Rules Erratum: When a company splits, any of the resulting companies can
move with region movement. Region movement is not limited to one company of a
split.
Any single site path cannot have more than one copy of a particular region.
Any company may declare as its new site a site already on the table. That
site will remain on the table at least until the end of that company's
movement/hazard phase.
Two companies may not start at the same site of origin and move to the same
new site.
Effects that are played during the organization phase, and depend on the
site or site path of a moving company, create an effect which is not declared
until the new site is revealed. If the site or site path is not of the
appropriate type when the effect resolves, the resource has no effect. If the
company has multiple movement/hazard phases on the same turn, the card applies
separately to each phase, having an effect only if the correct conditions are
met.
Followers
A character cannot use a bonus to direct influence against "Blue Mountain
Dwarves" to control characters with the home site Blue Mountain Dwarf-hold.
The bonus only applies to the faction.
Bonuses to direct influence against characters apply only once, not for
each character.
Organizing Companies
When a company splits up, its player chooses which characters are the
original company and which characters are a new company, unless otherwise
directed by a card. All resource permanent-events played on the original
company stay with the original company.
Company composition changes that you choose to make, including bringing a
character into play, must all be done at the same time during the organization
phase. During this time no other actions may be taken.
If a company splits, all but one of the split companies must attempt to
move to a different site this turn. The company may not rejoin in the same
phase.
You may transfer a character from one company at a site to another,
without creating a third company.
See also Rulings by Term, Company and Influence
Playing Characters
Rules Erratum: You may play a character if you do not have enough influence
to control them. However, if there are any characters you do not have the
influence to control at the end of your organization phase, the character you
brought into play this turn must be returned to your hand.
If you play a Ringwraith at a non-Darkahven site where there is one of your
non-Ringwraith comapnies, one of the companies must move that turn. If both
companies are still there at the end of the movement/hazard phase, discard
the non-Rinwraith company.
Storing Items
Minions who roll equal to or one less than their accumulated corruption
when storing an item are only tapped.
A minion who taps from a corruption check for storing/transferring an item
still successfully stores/transfers that item.
Long Event Phase
Movement/Hazard Phase
General
Annotation 25: A company is considered to be at the site given by its site
card at all times except from the moment their new site card is revealed
during their movement/hazard phase until their old site card is discarded
during the same movement/hazard phase. During this period a company is
considered to be en route between sites and not at any site.
Annotation 25a: A company's movement/hazard phase is concluded when a
moving company removes its site of origin and both players agree to reconcile
(discard down to/draw up to) their hand sizes. No resources (and obviously no
hazards) can be played卟nd no resource effects can be activated𠹹ntil the site
phase or until both players have drawn cards for the movement of a following
company.
Annotation 25b: Players drawing cards when a new site is revealed is
synonymous with the resolution of the new site being revealed. It happens
immediately, not in the following chain of effects.
Annotation 26: If at the start of a player零 movement/hazard phase, there
are multiple effects in play such that their net effect depends on the order
they are applied, the player who is currently not taking his turn (i.e., the
hazard player) decides the order in which they are to be applied. Once this
interpretation is established, all further actions are applied in the order
they are resolved for the rest of the turn.
Once the effects of an environment card have been applied to a target
during a given movement/hazard phase, that effect is not applied again to that
target during the current turn.
When you draw cards for movement, you may continue drawing cards until you
either want to stop, or have drawn the number of cards allowed for the
movement.
Companies at the same non-Haven/non-Darkhaven site must join at the end of
all movement/hazard phases, before the site phase starts. Companies at the
same Haven/Darkhaven site may join at this time.
If companies would join at the end of the movement/hazard phase such that
the company composition rules are violated, one company of the hazard player零
choice must return to its site of origin.
If two companies join at a site, cards affecting one of the companies now
affect them both.
Removing the site of origin and resetting to hand size are simultaneous
actions, and they are the last actions in any movement/hazard phase. This
means a moving company is not at a site until the site phase. [effective
11/17/97]
@ A non-moving company's current site is considered its new site for card
play.
Movement
General
If a company does not move, it still has a movement/hazard phase. No cards
are drawn based on the company's movement, and the only hazards that can be
played on the company are creatures that can be keyed to the company's site
and events.
Lebennin and Ithilien are not adjacent, even though they look that way on
some maps.
If a company moves twice in one turn, resources played during the
organization phase, like Secret Passage, are reapplied to the company at the
beginning of each of their movement/hazard phases, if the conditions of the
card are met.
If both players have access to region movement, then neither player may
be stopped from using region movement. Access includes region cards or an
appropriate map.
The same region (as in region card) may not occur twice in a single site
path.
Playing Hazards
Some hazard permanent-events allow you to tap or discard them for an
effect, and this does not count against the hazard limit unless specified
otherwise on the card. [effective 11/17/97]
Hazards may only be played on a company whose movement/hazard phase is
being resolved, or on the site they are moving to. Long-events and permanent-
events may effect more than one company even though they are only played "on"
one company.
If a card must be keyed to two or more instances of a region type, those
region types do not have to be consecutive in the site path.
If you say you are done playing hazards and your opponent plays a resource
before the movement/hazard phase ends, you may then resume playing hazards,
assuming you have not yet reached the hazard limit.
If a company is moving from a surface site to an Under-deeps site, hazards
may not be played keyed to the region of the surface site.
Angmar Arises, In Darkness Bind Them, and Reaching Shadow may not be used
to play creatures keyed to double shadow-lands.
A creature "played at" a site is the same as being "keyed to" the site.
A creature "played at a site in" a region is the same as being "keyed to"
the site by name.
For the purposes of interpreting hazards, no Darkhaven or Haven has a
site path except Geann a-Lisch.
@ You check the hazard limit at declaration and resolution. At declaration
there must be less hazards already declared than the hazard limit. At
resolution there must be no more hazards declared than the hazard limit.
Returning to Site of Origin
If a company returns to its site of origin, its site path immediately
disappears, and its movement/hazard phase immediately ends.
An effect that returns a company to its site of origin may not be declared
in the middle of an attack.
Combat
General
Side effects of losing a character are resolved immediately after the
character is lost, before other characters resolve their strikes.
All strikes of an attack must be assigned before any are resolved.
See also Rulings by Term, Body Check and Ally; and Turn Sequence, Site
Phase, Company vs. Company Combat.
Attack
Annotation 12: An attack is considered to be resolved and concluded when
the final strike, all special actions resulting from the final strike, and the
associated body check are resolved.
Annotation 13: An attack may not be canceled once its strikes have been
assigned. A strike may not be canceled once the dice-roll for the strike has
been made.
Annotation 14: A canceled attack has no effect on its target company,
except that the company is considered in its history to have faced the attack.
Annotation 15: An attack must be the first declared action in a chain of
effects, i.e., a creature card may not be played in response to another card
in the same chain of effects. Revealing an on-guard creature is an exception.
In order to cancel an attack or to directly affect an attack, the character
doing so must be in the company facing the attack. Note that the region/site
type a hazard creature was keyed to can be affected otherwise.
Cards only modify attacks if they say they specifically mention attacks.
When a minion company defeats an attack with no * by the MPs, the creature
goes to the out-of-play pile belonging to the person who played the attack.
They may still be taken as a trophy, but go to the appropriate out-of-play
pile when the trophy is discarded.
Excess strikes applied as -1 modifiers do not have to have their body
defeated.
If an attack states all characters in a company face a strike, then effects
which allow a character to face more than one strike have no effect against
the attack. Similarly, effects that change the attack's number of strikes have
no effect. As an exception, effects which reduce the number of strikes to a
specific number do work.
Any effect that would change the number of strikes for an attack may not be
played after strikes are assigned. This includes cards that have other
additional effects, and cards that only indirectly change the number of
strikes.
Attacks created by events are not keyed to anything unless specifically
stated as being keyed to something on the card.
There are three levels of cards which reassign strikes. Alatar is the top
level, and overrides any other conflicting card which changes the assignment
of strikes. Cards which say they "always" or "in all cases" change the
assignment of strikes are the next level, and override any other conflicting
effects except Alatar. Cards which say they change the assignment of strikes
"regardless of ..." certain factors are the third level, and are overridden by
all other effects from conflicting cards. If two effects on the same level
conflict, the resource overrides the hazard.
If an attack can not be cancelled, strikes from the attack may still be
cancelled.
An attack is considered faced by a company if it successfully resolves in
its chain of effects.
The Strike Sequence
Annotation 16: When a wounded character becomes unwounded, he is considered
in his history to have been wounded and must face any special actions the
wounding strike presented him.
Annotation 17: The only actions that may be declared during a strike
sequence are those outlined in Annotation 18.
Annotation 18: When a defending player chooses to resolve a strike against
a particular character, the only actions that may be taken by either player
until the strike dice-roll is made are the following: playing hazard cards
that affect the strike, the attacker may decide to use any or all of his
remaining -1 modifications due to strikes in excess of the company's size, a
target untapped character may take a -3 modification so that he will not
automatically tap, and the defending character may play resource cards that
affect the strike. An action that has the condition that a target character
tap, but which otherwise has an effect not outlined here, may not be declared
at this point. This is true even if the recipient of the strike would be the
target character tapping and thus receive -1 to his prowess.
Annotation 19: Following each successful strike or failed strike, a body
check must be rolled (unless the failed strike has no body). However, if the
strike calls for any special actions to follow it (e.g., a character wounded
by "William" may be required to discard his items), these special actions are
resolved before the body check. The body check is the first declared action in
a nested chain of effects that immediately follows the strike dice-roll and
special actions resulting from the strike. Other actions may be declared in
response to a body check, in the same chain of effects, but these are limited
to those actions that directly affect the body check dice-roll. E.g., Tookish
Blood could not be declared in response to the body check caused by Giant
Spiders wounding a Hobbit. No action may be declared in response to a special
action resulting from a strike unless the special action is a dice-rolling
action, i.e., a special action is generally considered synonymous with the
strike dice-roll. If the special action is a dice-rolling action, an action
may be declared in response to it if the action directly affects the dice-
roll.
Annotation 20: If more than one special action is to follow a strike, the
defending player decides the order they are resolved.
Annotation 21: A successful strike against a character is synonymous with
that character being wounded, i.e., inverting a character card on the playing
surface is not a separate action from the successful strike.
Wounded characters only suffer a -2 prowess. In general, wounded characters
are not considered tapped.
Non-item prowess bonuses are applied in the order the player controlling
the character decides.
If a character is facing two strikes, and the first strike kills the
character, the second strike is considered successful.
There is time between the strike sequences to take actions that are
otherwise legal.
Site Phase
General
Items, factions and allies must be played during the site phase.
There is no one resource card per site phase rule. However, the tapping of
the site usually limits you to one card per site phase.
The site taps upon successful play of the resource that would tap it.
A company may not play any resource during the site phase until they have
faced all automatic-attacks, unless that resource directly affects an
automatic-attack. Removing an automatic-attack does not directly affect it,
although cancelling does.
You may only play a free minor item after playing an ally, faction,
or item that taps the site.
See also Rulings by Term, Item.
Company vs. Company Combat
The defender may take actions that affect the attack or any of the strikes.
The attacker may only take actions that affect individual strikes.
True Fana and Sacrifice of Form cannot be used in company versus company
combat.
Hazards have no effect on company vs. company combat.
@ Only the defender is considered to be facing an attack, but all characters
are considered to be facing strikes.
See also Card Rulings, Swarm of Bats.
Automatic-attacks
A card that can cancel an attack can cancel an automatic-attack, and this
counts as facing the automatic-attack.
Automatic-attacks added to a site are faced after the normal automatic-
attacks for the site. Multiple automatic-attacks are faced in the order listed
and/or resolved.
Company composition and overt/covert status is checked before each
automatic attack.
Any character may tap to cancel one automatic-attack at his home site.
The only resources you may play against automatic-attacks are ones
that cancel the attack, cancel a strike, or would be otherwise playable
during the strike sequence.
Influence Attempts
It is not possible to influence an item away from a Wizard or Ringwraith.
You may influence a Hobbit if you are not at Bag End.
A successful influence attempt on an opponent's resource does not tap the
site.
You may only make one influence attempt against your opponent's resources
during each turn.
When influencing factions across alignments, you roll against the number on
the card in play, that you are trying to influence away.
For a Fallen-wizard, the resource revealed must match the alignment of the
site at which the attempt is taking place.
On-Guard Cards
Rules Erratum: An on-guard card may only be revealed if it could have also
been played during the movement/hazard phase. This means all targets of the
card must have existed during the movement/hazard phase in order for the card
to be revealed.
A revealed on-guard card retroactively takes effect as though it were both
declared and resolved immediately prior to the chain of effects during which
it was revealed.
An on-guard card may be revealed when the company plays a resource that
potentially taps the site. The card must affect the company or a character in
the company that site phase. Note that this clarification is looser than the
rule printed on p.61 of the Unlimited Rules book
A successful ring test does not allow an on-guard card to be revealed.
You may reveal a card in response to an influence attempt against a faction
even if the on-guard card only has an effect if the attempt is successful. You
may also reveal a card in response to such an attempt that affects the actual
influence attempt.
Only declared or on-going cards and effects can be considered when
determining the validity of revealing an on-guard card. Potential effects that
have not been triggered cannot be considered.
A card cannot be revealed that:
* Returns a company to its site of origin.
* Taps a company's site.
* Potentially removes a character from a company, besides combat or corruption
checks.
* Forces a company to do nothing during its site phase.
* Directly taps a character in the company.
A card that potentially removes an ally from the company can be revealed,
so long as it otherwise is legal.
The on-guard card is not considered to be in any player's hand.
When an on-guard card is revealed, it immediately ceases to be considered
an on-guard card.
Creatures may only be revealed on-guard if there is an automatic-attack at
the site.
If two companies are at a Haven, on-guard cards played on one company
can only be revealed against that company, and can only affect that
company (unless the hazard states it affects all versions of the site).
See also Rulings By Term, Burglary Attempts
End-of-Turn Phase
End-of-Turn effects are triggered by the ending of the End-of-Turn phase.
Once both players are done with all actions in the End-of-Turn phase, all End-
of-Turn effects are declared and resolved in the order chosen by the current
player. No further actions may be declared that turn.
Cards may be played during the End-of-Turn phase after hand size has been
reconciled.
Replacing one site with another at the end of the turn counts as movement,
without a movement/hazard phase.
End-of-Game
These rulings apply to any end game, whether it is the Free Council, the
Audience with Sauron, or the Day of Reckoning.
Characters may tap to aid corruption checks, if they are in the same
company.
Long- and permanent-events still in play will still have an effect.
Only resources that directly affect corruption checks may be played during
the Free Council. This includes cards that reduce a character's corruption
point total or prevent a character from being discarded.
When determining if more than half of your marshalling points come from one
type of marshalling point, ignore negative marshalling points. The easy way to
do this is if one category is more than half of your positive marshalling
points, reduce that category to equal all of your other positive marshalling
point categories combined.
To calculate marshalling points at the Free Council, follow these steps:
1) Total up the marshalling points for each category. The modifications from
My Precious, factions played on a leader, and eliminated characters apply now.
2) If your opponent has no points in a category double your points in that
category. Doubling does not apply to the Miscellaneous or Kill categories.
3) If one of your categories accounts for more than half of your positive
marshalling point total, reduce it so that it has the same number of points
as the rest of your positive categories combined.
4) Subtract any points that are subtracted from your total, including points
from unique resources your opponent has duplicated in his hand.
You may only call the Free Council if you have met the deck cycling and
marshalling point requirments, not if only your opponent has.
You may not recieve kill MPs from a card you played.
MPs from special and minor items count as item MPs.
See also Rulings by Term, Under-deeps.
------- "The Crossing-guard of Mordor" -------
Craig "Ichabod" O'Brien Remove spamblock to reply by email
Assistant Editor, Iron Crown Enterprises Me:CCG Official Netrep
http://www.cstone.net/~ichabod/ Alternate Official Me:CCG Website
------- "We shall pick up an existence by its frogs" -Fort -------