================================================================================ W A R F O R T H E R I N G The struggle for Middle-earth For the ZX Spectrum 128K ================================================================================ "One Ring to rule them all... and in the darkness bind them." The hour of the Ring has come. From Rivendell the Fellowship sets out for the Mountain of Fire, while the armies of the West and the hosts of Mordor march across Middle-earth. Two great causes; one Ring; one war. You may command the FREE PEOPLES or the SHADOW -- or sit a friend down at the other end of the keyboard and settle it between you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOADING -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZX Spectrum 128K (or +2/+3) -- the game uses the extra memory for its maps and battle screens, so a 48K machine will not run it. REAL HARDWARE / TAPE Select TAPE LOADER from the 128K menu, press PLAY on the tape, and the game loads and runs by itself. EMULATOR Open war.tap and let it auto-run, or type LOAD "" in 128K BASIC. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE WAR - how it is won -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FREE PEOPLES win if the Fellowship carries the One Ring into Mount Doom and casts it into the Fire. THE SHADOW wins if it destroys the Fellowship (and so seizes the Ring), or if it conquers the free cities of the West. The war is fought turn by turn. On your turn you move your armies, give battle, raise new troops in your cities, and -- when you are done -- end the turn and let your enemy (or the machine) answer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE OPENING MUSTER - the start menu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 TWO PLAYERS you and a friend take Light and Shadow 2 LIGHT VS AI you lead the Free Peoples; the machine plays Mordor 3 SHADOW VS AI you lead Mordor; the machine plays the Free Peoples D DIFFICULTY 1-4: how many cities the machine wakes against you C CHOOSE THE CITIES pick which strongholds start in play B BATTLE how battles are settled (see BATTLE below): ASK each time / always AUTO / always ARCADE K CONTROLS + KEYS view and redefine the six movement/action keys L LORE OF THE WAR the book of special rules (read it -- it is short) ENTER START THE WAR -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMANDING YOUR HOST - on the map -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The six keys below may be redefined from the CONTROLS page. The defaults are: Q . . . . . up O . . . . . left A . . . . . down P . . . . . right ENTER . . . SELECT -- pick up / put down YOUR army under the cursor, or open the menu on the tile SPACE . . . END TURN -- pass the turn to the other side With an army selected, the movement keys MARCH it; with none selected, they move the cursor. Fixed letter keys: B change a city's PRODUCTION (what it is forging) G DEPLOY a soldier from a city's garrison into the field I INFO card -- who stands on this tile S the EYE OF SAURON searches the cursor tile (Shadow only) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE MAP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Middle-earth is drawn tile by tile: green lands, blue rivers and sea, grey mountain passes, and the ash of Mordor in the south-east. On it stand the cities (castles), the wandering armies, and the golden Ring that marks the Fellowship. The two lines at the foot of the screen are your dispatch: the turn, whose move it is, your treasury and its income, and a word on whatever has just happened -- a city taken, a hero fallen, the Ring sighted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BATTLE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When your army meets a foe -- in the open field or before a city wall -- the outcome is decided by the strength of the hosts, their leaders and the ground. But you need not merely watch. If a human is at the helm, you may take the field IN PERSON: you walk a single champion through the melee and fight, shield and strike, while the battle's fate is sealed by the numbers. A wall and a wide gate rise for a siege. In the duel: UP / DOWN . . . walk forward / back LEFT / RIGHT . . . turn SELECT . . . . STRIKE END TURN . . . . . SHIELD Move into the fray and you become MORTAL -- guard yourself, or fall and let your spirit take the next body. When the field is decided, press a key to return to the map. (Prefer the quick way? Set BATTLE to AUTO, or answer the prompt, and the numbers settle it at once.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LORE OF THE WAR - the special powers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE RING & THE HUNT The Fellowship moves UNSEEN. It is found only by the Eye, by a Nazgul one tile away, or by a foe standing on its very tile. Carry the Ring to Mount Doom to win; lose the Fellowship in battle and the war is the Shadow's. THE BLACK GATE In the ash of Mordor the Eye sees the Ring always -- UNLESS a Free army stands at the Black Gate. Then the Gaze turns to that threat, and the Ring-bearer may slip by. The feint that wins the road. BREAKING THE FELLOWSHIP You may split a companion off to lead his own army -- but every one gone thins the guard on the Ring. Weigh it well. GANDALF & THE BALROG A Balrog sleeps in Moria. Only Gandalf, at the Fellowship's head, can cast it down -- and he falls doing so, to return two turns later as Gandalf the White, mightier than before. Should the SHADOW take Moria instead, the Balrog is loosed for Mordor. THE WITCH-KING No man may slay the Lord of the Nine -- only a woman (Eowyn, Galadriel) or a hobbit bearing the Barrow-blade. Slay him and no new Nazgul are forged; any still on the forges turn to common orcs. THE NAZGUL Nine in all. They ride without upkeep and sense the Ring one tile away. Alone, a wraith raids but cannot hold a city. SMAUG THE DRAGON He guards Erebor. Won for the Shadow, he flies to war for you; won for the Light, you must slay him -- then Erebor musters dwarves. His fire melts any wall. THE ENTS March HOBBITS ALONE into Fangorn and the Ents awaken: two Ents, once in all the war. A mixed company wakes nothing. Ents tear down walls. THE BARROW-DOWNS Claim them for the Light and a hobbit wins the Barrow-blade -- the one blade a halfling may turn on the Witch-king. Claim them for the Shadow and they raise Barrow-wights. ROHAN SLEEPS Edoras lies under Grima's spell. A hero who enters wakes Eomer. Should GANDALF be the one, Theoden is healed and rides with Eowyn. HEROES & ARMIES A hero never fights in person; he lends his army strength in attack and defence, and his command sets how many may follow. No host marches without a leader. A fallen hero is lost unless you spend one of your three rescues. CITIES Build only in cities of your own kind. Take a kindred neutral and its hero joins you. Take a foe's city for gold -- but it will not build for you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HINTS FOR THE WISE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * The Ring is everything. Screen the Fellowship; do not let a Nazgul or the Eye draw near. When the road south is watched, send a host to the Black Gate and turn the Eye aside. * Heroes are force multipliers -- a great captain doubles the worth of his soldiers. Keep your best leaders alive; rescues are few. * A strong garrison behind a high wall can hold for a turn or two. Bring trolls, ents or a dragon to break the stone -- and remember that Smaug or the Balrog, once yours, change everything. * Close battles can be turned by a steady hand in the arcade. A hopeless one is better resolved at once -- set BATTLE to taste. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Written, and restored from a long-lost original, by LAWLORD. ZX Spectrum 128K, 2026. Based on the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, made in tribute and for love of the Spectrum. Not for sale. ================================================================================