The Cold Arm of Angmar

A scenario for the Middle-earth Collectible Card Game taken from The Northern Waste (MERP #2025)
''In the summer his power wanes; but now his breath is deadly, and his cold arm is long.''
- Return of the King
The land of Forodwaith has suffered long under the icy
grip of sorcerous evil - once crushed under the thumb
of black Morgoth, it is now tortured by the dreaded
Witch-king of Angmar. His dark magics send forth
clouds of frosty death upon the Northlands, and
creatures of Darkness bound from the biting winds to
attack those Free Peoples who struggle to survive in
the cold expanses of this land.
Vteli, a tietaja among the Lossoth, knows her land
will die under the cold fist of Angmar. And she knows
the fell prophecy: That no living man may hinder the
Witch-king. Glorfindel was not the first to utter it when
he counseled Earnur on the battlefield of the North:
The mystics of Evermist had long foreseen it, and
similar foretellings had circulated among the viisaat
and henkinimittajat of the Lossoth. Yet there was a
wise one, a grandmother of grandmothers, who
revealed to Vteli a flaw: That she, Vteli, a woman, is
no living man - she may be the one to bring an end to
the Lord of the Nazgul.
So Vteli has taken it upon
herself to venture into the
warm lands of the South, to
gather brave warriors,
weapons of might and
powerful armies to attack the
Witch-king in his citadel at
Carn Dm. Only when she,
woman of the Lossoth, has
dispatched the Witch-king
and has ended his evil magic
will the suffering of her land
end.
This is a solitaire scenario, for one person to play
alone.
Objective
You, Vteli, must meet the Witch-king in single combat
and defeat him. A difficult task for any, but you must
face him in his own citadel, protected by his elite
guard, and surrounded by his own artifacts of power.
Therefore, you must scour the land for brave warriors
willing to accompany you on this seemingly suicidal
quest, gather weapons and other powerful items to
assist you against the Witch-king and his guard, and
convince the peoples of Middle-earth to send armies to
defend you as you assault Carn Dm.
Deck Construction
You will need the following:
1. Two starting characters: One of which is Vteli,
the other can be any character with a mind of
five or less.
2. One starting minor item of your choice for each
character.
3. A resource deck of 25 cards of your choosing.
This may include up to 6 other characters
(including one copy of one wizard), plus any
items, factions, allies or resource events. You
may have no more than three of each non-
unique card.
4. A hazard deck of 30 cards, divided as follows:
o 20 hazard creatures, 10 keyed to
wilderness/double wilderness, 5 to
Free-domains/Border-lands, 5 to
Shadow-lands/Dark-domains;
o 10 other hazard event cards of your
choice (including corruption cards,
Nazgul, Dragon Ahunt manifestations
etc.);
o You may use no more than three non-
unique hazards in your deck.
5. Site cards based on your resource strategy.
These must include Lossadan Camp (starting
location) and Carn Dm (ending location).
6. A Witch-king deck (10 cards) which consists
of:
o Witch-king of Angmar
o The Pale Sword
o Rogrog
o Fell Winter
o Doubled Vigilance
o Redoubled Force (x2)
o Doors of Night (x2)
o Angmar Arises
7. A map of Middle-earth or appropriate region
cards.
Setup
Vteli begins play at Lossadan Camp. Place the Carn
Dm site card at the top of the play area and the
Witch-king deck beside it. Carn Dm in all cases
remains in play for the entire game. Draw 6 cards from
your resource deck for your starting resource hand.
Your hand size is 6 for this scenario.
Turn Sequence
1. Untap Phase
o Turn over the top card from the Witch-
king deck and place face up next to
Carn Dm.
o Follow the Untap Phase procedure
normally.
2. Organization Phase
o Transfer any items between
characters.
o Bring in one character, if enough
general influence is available. For this
scenario, you have 25 general
influence.
o Reorganize your companies.
o Select your destination site. If the
Witch-king has been revealed, you
may choose Carn Dm as your
destination site. Only then may you
choose Carn Dm.
3. Long-event Phase
o Play any resource long-events.
4. Movement/Hazard Phase
o Draw 2 plus the number of resource
cards indicated on the destination site.
o Draw the number of hazard cards
indicated on the destination site, and
put them in a hazard hand. The hazard
hand size is 5, but there are no cards
in it at the start of the game.
o Play any hazards which are playable
based on the indicated site path, up to
the hazard limit for the company.
Choose the order off hazard cards to
be most dangerous to the company
(such as another orc attack before an
Orc-lieutenant; or a Despair of the
Heart before a Cave-drake). Resolve
attacks using Standard Rules (but see
below for additional Special Rules).
o At the end of the movement/hazard
phase, discard or draw to the hand size
of both the resource and hazard hand,
6 and 5 respectively.
5. Site Phase
o If the company is at Carn Dm (the
final turn), follow the steps in "The
Assault on Carn Dm" section below.
o Otherwise follow the Site Phase
procedure using Standard Rules.
6. End of Turn Phase
o You may chose to discard 1 resource
card, and then draw to return your
resource hand to 6 cards.
The Witch-king Deck
This deck of 10 cards represents the Witch-king's
increase in power over the course of the game. As
Vteli struggles to assemble aid, the Witch-king gains
awareness of the threat against him, and he prepares
for her.
Turn over 1 card from this deck at the beginning of
each of your turns. Place them all in a row next to
Carn Dm. When the Witch-king is revealed, Vteli
may face him that turn, or wait until the following turn,
making one last attempt to gather resources the turn
he is revealed. She must move to Carn Dm and face
him by the end of the next turn. (As a note, Voteli will
not want to stray too far from the vicinity of Carn Dm
for fear she may not be able to race back in time when
the Witch-king is revealed.) If any card from the
Witch-king deck would otherwise be discarded, shuffle
it back into the Witch-king deck.
The Assault on Carn Dum
After the Witch-king appears in his citadel, Voteli may
move to Carn Dm. Follow the normal rules for
movement/hazard phase. At the site phase, the
following will occur:
Assaulting the Citadel (facing the automatic-
attack):
If Doubled Vigilance is revealed, you must follow the
instructions on that card before facing Carn Dm's
automatic-attack (for this scenario, Doubled Vigilance
can legally be played, and must be played on Carn
Dm). The Doubled Vigilance attack may be cancelled.
Carn Dm's normal automatic-attack is Orcs - 4 strikes
with 7 prowess. In this scenario, this attack cannot be
canceled. Therefore, the company will have to face this
attack, and face it alone, unless they have succesfully
recruited factions to fight this battle for them.
Each faction you have succesfully played reduces the
number of strikes and the prowess of this automatic-
attack by 2. Remaining strikes will be faced by the
company.
Defeating the Witch-king's personal guard:
If Rogrog has been revealed, the characters must fight
him before facing the Witch-king. This attack cannot
be canceled. Any untapped character may choose to
face him. If no other characters are untapped, Rogrog
will attack Vteli. [I assume this should read: "If no
characters are untapped" otherwise this sentence
would be unnecessary, JP] If Rogrog is defeated (the
strike is defeated), he is removed from the game. In
addition, if Rogrog is destroyed (his body is also
defeated), the Witch-king suffers a -4 to his prowess
for the remainder of the turn.
Battle with the Witch-king:
Here the Witch-king and Vteli meet in single combat.
This may occur even if Vteli is tapped or wounded.
Play this attack as a single strike on Vteli, which
cannot be canceled.
Other characters in the company may [tap in]
support [for] Vteli as normal.
The Witch-king's prowess will be modified by
The Pale Sword if in play.
Resolve the strike normally otherwise.
If the Witch-king's attack succeeds, Vteli is
wounded. Roll a body check for her. If it fails,
Vteli dies and the game is over. If it succeeds,
combat continues (though Vteli is -2 to
prowess and -1 to body for being wounded). [I
think this should read: "...and +1 to body
checks for being wounded, JP]
If the attack is defeated, roll a body check for
the Witch-king (remember to reduce his body
by half, and subtract any other modifiers). If
the body check fails, Vteli wins. If it succeeds,
combat continues (the Witch-king suffers no
penalties for being previously wounded.)
The battle continues until one or the other of
the combatants is defeated. This means there
may be multiple attacks by the Witch-king on
Vteli during this final site phase.
Special Rules
Marshalling Points:
Marshalling points do not count for this scenario.
Influence:
Vteli is considered to have a pool of 25 general
influence which she may use to bring in characters.
Characters may be brought into play at any site
(including wizards). Wizards are considered to have a
mind stat of 12 for this scenario.
Corruption:
Vteli has a +2 modifier to all corruption checks for
this scenario. If Vteli fails a corruption check, the
game is over. (She has lost heart, and left her quest in
shame.) If any other character (including a wizard)
fails a corruption check, he is removed from the game,
taking with him any items he bears. In this scenario, a
wizard being corrupted does not end the game.
Gates of Morning/Doors of Night/Twilight:
Doors of Night may be duplicated for this scenario.
Gates of Morning is considered to be in play until the
first Doors of Night is revealed from the Witch-king
deck. A Doors of Night may be removed by a Gates of
Morning (or Twilight) - that single Doors of Night is
shuffled back into the Witch-king deck. If more than
one Doors of Night is in play when Gates of Morning is
played, one Doors of Night is shuffled back into the
Witch-king deck, and the Gates of Morning is
discarded. The other Doors of Night remains in play.
Factions:
Each faction in play at the time of the assault on Carn
Dm reduces the strikes and prowess of the
automatic-attack at Carn Dm by 2.
Strike Sequencing:
For attacks labeled "Attacker chooses defending
characters" strikes must be assigned in the following
order: to Voteli (regardless of status), to wounded
characters, then to tapped characters, then to
untapped characters. Other attacks may have strikes
assigned in any order, provided that all untapped
characters are assigned strikes first.
If an attack has more strikes than there are characters
in the company, the additional strikes must be
assigned as -1 modifications to the characters'
prowess. Assign these modifications evenly among all
characters in the company, then follow the order
indicated above for "Attacker chooses" strikes for the
remainder of modifications. (Thus, if Vteli and Dori
face an attack with 5 strikes, each would face one
strike. Vteli's prowess would be modified by -2 and
Dori's by -1.)
Long-events:
Resource and hazard long-events last for 2 turns in
this scenario, except Fell Winter in the Witch-king
deck. This long-event, once revealed, remains in play
for the remainder of the game.
Victory Conditions
You win if Vteli succeeds in destroying the Witch-king,
thereby breaking his grip of sorcery on her land. You
lose if Vteli is killed or corrupted.