For a beginner, the most difficult aspect of picking up The Lord of the Rings^TM Tradable Miniatures Game can be the Special Abilities (SA’s). Movement, Combat and Archery are simple concepts that most individuals have experience with elsewhere; however it is Special Abilities that really make the game interesting and strategic. You can read over the Special Abilities list and learn what each one does and when it is activated, but just by reading it do you gain an understanding of how to use it on the field of battle? Most probably not.

Below are some notes on how to better understand and effectively use the SA’s. These are intended to help beginners to the game get a better grasp of strategy and game play without having to play an inordinate amount of games to do it. Some SA’s require more thought than others and have more uses in the game. Some are simple to comprehend and use while others have uses that don’t automatically seem obvious. Experienced gamers will get little benefit from these rudimentary overviews and may even know of other tactics that can be used with a particular SA.

Miscellaneous

Dread - This Special Ability raises each AP cost by 1 (SA’s, Glancing Blows and Critical Hits) for an enemy model in contact. Currently, only Nazgul and their derivatives have this SA. This does not have to be activated until an adjacent figure attempts to use AP’s. On many figures this SA is free but some have a cost. If there is a cost to use it, then the player must really gauge whether it’s worth it or not as opposed to figures that have Dread for 0 and can use it each time without consequence.

Healing - This Special Ability allows a figure to roll one die and heal that many wounds on an adjacent figure during the Strategy Phase. This SA is most effectively used to heal Hero’s as opposed to minions since Hero’s have more Wounds that they can lose and/or recover. There is very little strategy involved with this SA other than a player needing to maneuver wounded figures close to figures with this SA so that they will be able to heal at the start of the next turn. Overall, it can be a powerful SA in armies comprised mostly of Hero’s, but is less effective in armies consisting of mostly minions.

Initiative - This Special Ability allows a player to add 1 to the roll for initiative. It must be activated each Strategy Phase before the roll. This is a straightforward SA that has little effect past the Strategy Phase. This SA is best used in armies that use archery since they will want to shoot first and Fast/Sneak since they will want to go second.

Leadership - This Special Ability allows a Hero to double the amount of minions he could place in an army based on his AP. For example, UR Elrond has Leadership and 8 AP’s, so therefore Elrond could allow 16 minions to join the army just on his AP alone instead of the normal 8. This SA has no effect once the game begins and only affects the building of armies.

Steal Essence - This Special Ability allows the user to "steal" another SA from an enemy Hero to use as his own. This is activated at the same time the potential "stolen" SA would normally be activated. For example, if the figure were stealing Battle Cry, then it would be activated during the Combat Phase before the Combat Rolls were made. When stolen there is no AP cost associated with it. This means that if the Steal Essence SA cost 1 on a figure and that figure decided to steal Arrow Flurry (that would normally cost its possessor 2), then the original figure with Steal Essence would get Arrow Flurry for a mere 1 AP. Once an SA is stolen it can be used in any way possible by the figure that stole it.