Ares Games has made the rulebook for War Of The Ring: The Card Game available for download ahead of the game's releases later this year.

War Of The Ring: The Card Game - Rules // Ares Games

The rules have been designed to allow you to play out the entirety of The Lord Of The Rings (Fellowship, Two Towers and Return Of The King) from start to finish as either the forces of good or evil. You can either play in teams of two with four players, with three players or as a solely one-versus-one experience.

War Of The Ring - Set-Up // Ares Games

There are specific deck lists and rules for playing with different player counts but in essence, the core rules and mechanics remain the same. During play, cards representing the Path (of the Fellowship) and Battlegrounds will be played into the centre of the table.

Players will then choose which heroes, allies and key items they want to play and to which location, hoping to win them for themselves and add them to their pool of victory points.

War Of The Ring - Combat // Ares Games

The rules are spread over twenty-two pages and whilst they might seem a little daunting, they are actually fairly simple to pick up. The way that cards are played and the way that they interact should be quick and easy to pick up, meaning that you can play out the War Of The Ring from start to finish in short order once you've done "the teach".

Additionally, a Fellowship-focused scenario is available for when folks want to play a short game and it also works well as an introductory scenario for the game as a whole.

You can download the rules now and get pre-ordering the War Of The Ring: The Card game from Ares Games right now.

Have you given these rules a read?