Index -> Glossary -> Turns

Turns

The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game is played in turns, with each player sequentially taking his or her turn. The initial bidding determines who takes the first and subsequent turns. During each player's turn, that player is referred to as the Free Peoples player, and may only play Free Peoples cards, while all other players are referred to as Shadow players, and may only play Shadow cards. Each turn consists of seven phases: fellowship, Shadow, maneuver, archery, assignment, skirmish, and regroup. If there are no minions in play at the end of a Shadow phase, then the maneuver, archery, assignment, and skirmish phases are skipped, and play proceeds directly to the regroup phase. If the Free Peoples player moves more than once, their turn continues past the end of the regroup phase with an additional Shadow phase, and proceeds through the rest of the required phases (again passing over maneuver, archery, assignment, and skirmish if there are no minions in play). Any fierce skirmishes also create the need for additional assignment and skirmish phases (each skirmish effectively being its own skirmish phase) immediately after the normal skirmish phases are played out.