The judge starts the draft by instructing the players to open their first booster. Models are removed from their bags. There is no need to hide what models you have pulled.
Each player chooses one of the models from their booster, and then raises their hand to indicate they have chosen. Once all players have chosen, each player passes the three models they didn’t choose to the player on their right.
Now, each player chooses 2 of the models in front of them to keep. They do not have to keep a model they had drafted previously. Once all players have chosen, they all pass the remaining 2 models to the player to their right.
Finally, the players must choose 3 of the models in front of them. Once all players have chosen, they pass their final model to the player to their right.
Next, each player opens their second booster and chooses 5 of the models from their pool. Once all players have chosen, they pass 3 models to the player to their left.
Then, each player chooses 6 of the models from their pool, passing 2 models to the player to their left after all players have chosen. Finally, each player chooses 7 models from their pool, passing the final model to the player on their left.
Players have 500 points to spend on their armies. All the normal army building rules apply, except that players may field any number of minions, regardless of the action points on their heroes, while still having 500 points or less.
The player that has fewer points in their army gets +1 to all strategy rolls, and +1 to the roll at the beginning of the game to choose map sides.
Victory is had by eliminating your enemy’s entire army. The One Ring rules not in effect for booster draft games. This means Frodo cannot put one the ring, he cannot win be exiting the end of the board, and you do not lose if he dies.
Players are then paired off in whatever structure you want to run, like single elimination or Swiss. Swiss is preferred because each player can play all the rounds of the tournament. Players are allowed to alter their army in between rounds, but not once the pairings have been posted.
After the tournament, players keep all the models they drafted.
