Bilbo Baggins does not count against the hero limit and cannot gain resources from non-treasure cards. The first player gains control of Bilbo Baggins.
Action: Spend 1 resource to search your deck for a treasure card and add it to your hand.
If Bilbo Baggins leaves play, the players have lost the game.
Response: Pay 1 resource from Balin's resource pool to cancel a shadow effect just triggered during an attack. Then, deal the attacking enemy another shadow card. (Limit once per attack.)
"Well, it is the first time that even a mouse has crept along carefully and quietly under my very nose and not been spotted." –The Hobbit
When Bard the Bowman makes a ranged attack, the enemy he attacks gets -2 until the end of the phase.
Now he shot with a great yew bow, till all his arrows but one were spent. –The Hobbit
While you control at least 5 Dwarf characters, Glóin gains:
Response: After you play Glóin from your hand, choose a hero. Add 2 resources to that hero's resource pool.
Glóin lit several more torches, and then they all crept out, one by one... – The Hobbit
Action: Exhaust a Weapon attachment to choose a non-unique enemy with 0 . Discard the chosen enemy.
In it smote and vanished, barb, shaft and feather, so fierce was its flight. –The Hobbit
Action: Choose a hero you control. Until the end of the phase, give control of that hero and all resources in that hero's resource pool to another player. (Limit 1 per phase.)
"Come!" called Gandalf. "There is yet time for council." –The Hobbit
Action: Exhaust a hero you control to shuffle the encounter deck and look at its top card. Place progress tokens on the current quest equal to the revealed card's . Then, put that card back on top of the encounter deck.
As they worked the ravens brought them constant tidings. –The Hobbit
Action: Choose a character in play (other than Bilbo Baggins). Add Bilbo Baggins' total , , and to that character's and respectively until the end of the phase.
"I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number."
–Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit
Attach to a hero with the printed Ranged keyword. Restricted.
Combat Action: Choose an enemy in the staging area. Exhaust Great Yew Bow and attached hero to make a ranged attack against that enemy. Declare attached hero as the attacker. No other attackers can be declared for this attack.
Attach to a hero.
Response: After a location is added to the staging area, attach Thrór’s Key to that location. While attached to a location, Thrór’s Key gains:
Treat attached location's printed text box as blank, except for traits.
"The key that went with the map! Try it now while there is still time!" –Bilbo, The Hobbit
Attach to a hero. Limit 1 per hero.
Response: After attached hero quests successfully, name a card type and discard the top card of your deck. If the discarded card is the named type, take it into your hand.
Attach to a Dwarf hero.
Action: Exhaust King Under the Mountain to look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Add 1 to your hand and discard the other.
"Long ago in my grandfather Thror's time our family was driven out of the far North, and came back with all their wealth and tools to this Mountain on the map." –Thorin, The Hobbit
Attach to Bilbo Baggins.
Action: Exhaust Bilbo’s Magic Ring and raise your threat by 1 to gain 1 resource. (Limit once per round.)
Response: After Bilbo Baggins exhausts to defend an attack, exhaust Bilbo’s Magic Ring and raise your threat by 3 to cancel all damage from this attack.
Attach to a hero.
Action: Exhaust The Arkenstone and raise your threat by X to lower by X the cost of the next ally you play this phase that matches the attached hero's sphere.
"...the Heart of the Mountain; and it is also the heart of Thorin. He values it above a rive of gold." –Bilbo, The Hobbit
Attach to Bilbo Baggins.
Attached hero gets +1 and +1 hit point.
"Mr. Baggins!" he cried. "Here is the first payment of your reward! Cast off your old coat and put on this!" – Thorin, The Hobbit
Attach to a hero. Restricted.
Attached hero gets +2 .
Response: After attached hero attacks and destroys an enemy, deal 1 damage to another enemy engaged with you.
Royal indeed did Thorin look, clad in a coat of gold–plated rings, with a silver hafted axe... –The Hobbit
Attach to a hero. Restricted.
Attached hero gains Ranged.
When making a ranged attack, attached hero gets +2 .
Thorin seized a bow of horn and shot an arrow at the speaker. –The Hobbit
"Stick to the forest–track, keep your spirits up, hope for the best, and with a tremendous slice of luck you may come out one day and see the Long Marshes lying below you, and beyond them, high in the East, the Lonely Mountain where dear old Smaug lives."
–Gandalf, The Hobbit
Setup: Each player may shuffle 1 copy Bilbo's Magic Ring into his deck. Search the encounter deck for The Spider's Glade and set it aside, out of play. Then, shuffle the encounter deck and reveal 1 encounter card per player.
Unconscious characters cannot quest, attack, defend, collect resources, trigger abilities, be poisoned, or ready (except by effects that target unconscious character).
The nights were the worst. It then became pitch–dark – not what you call pitch–dark, but really pitch, so black that you really could see nothing. Bilbo tried flapping his hand in front of his nose but he could not see it at all. Well, perhaps it is not true to say they could see nothing: they could see eyes. –The Hobbit
When Revealed: Reveal stage 3 and create a separate staging area for the first player using that stage. If there are no other players in the game, discard this stage and each card in the staging area. All other players advance to stage 4.
... the cries of the others got steadily further and fainter, and though after a while it seemed to him they changed to yells and cries for help in the far distance, all noise at last died right away, and he was left alone in complete silence and darkness. –The Hobbit
Bilbo was horrified, now that he noticed them for the first time dangling in the shadows, to see a dwarvish foot sticking out from the bottoms of some of the bundles, or here and there the tip of a nose, or a bit of beard or of a hood. –The Hobbit
When Revealed: Remove all resources from each hero's resource pool. Then, make each character you control (except Bilbo Baggins) unconscious.
Unconscious characters cannot quest, attack, defend, collect resources, trigger abilities, be poisoned, or ready (except by effects that target unconscious character).
Do not pass the first player token. When this stage is complete, do not advance to stage 4 until the end of the quest phase. (Combine staging areas if necessary.)
Action: Spend 2 resources to ready an unconscious character you control.
Then the battle began. Some of the dwarves had knives, and some had sticks, and all of them could get stones; and Bilbo had his elvish dagger. Again and again the spiders were beaten off, and many of them were killed. But it could not go on for long. –The Hobbit
When Revealed: Add The Spider's Glade to the staging area.
Unconscious characters cannot quest, attack, defend, collect resources, trigger abilities, be poisoned, or ready (except by effects that target unconscious character).
Progress cannot be placed on this stage while The Spider's Glade is in play.
Action: Spend 2 resources to ready an unconscious character you control.
If the players defeat this stage, they have won the game and discovered the treasure card Bilbo's Magic Ring.
Setup: Search the encounter deck for Smaug the Golden, Smaug the Magnificent, The Lonely Mountain and A Bare Patch. Set Smaug the Magnificent and A Bare Patch aside, out of play. Add Smaug the Golden and The Lonely Mountain to the staging area. Shuffle the five Erebor treasure cards and stack them facedown under The Lonely Mountain.
Skip the Quest phase.
Forced: At the end of the round, advance to stage 2.
So one day, although autumn was now getting far on, and winds were cold, and leaves were falling fast, three large boats left Lake–town, laden with rowers, dwarves, Mr. Baggins, and many provisions. –The Hobbit
There he lay, a vast red–golden dragon, fast asleep; thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red–stained in the ruddy light. –The Hobbit
Forced: After questing successfully, place 1 progress on Smaug the Golden. Then, he first player makes a burgle attempt. If successful, the first player takes the top card from under The Lonely Mountain into his hand. Then, the players may advance to stage 3.
Forced: After the first player makes an unsuccessful burgle attempt, Smaug the Golden attacks the first player.
They debated long on what was to be done, but they could think of no way of getting rid of Smaug – which had always been a weak point in their plans, as Bilbo felt inclined to point out. – The Hobbit
When Revealed: Set Smaug the Golden aside, out of play. Add Smaug the Magnificent and A Bare Patch to the staging area.
Players cannot defeat this stage while Smaug the Magnificent is in play.
Forced: If the total number of progress on this stage is greater than the total remaining hit points on Smaug the Magnificent, remove Smaug the Magnificent from play.
If the players defeat this stage, they have won the game and discovered any treasure successfully burgled from The Lonely Mountain.
He issued from the Gate, the waters rose in fierce whistling steam and up he soared blazing into the air and settled on the mountain–top in a spout of green and scarlet flame –The Hobbit
When Revealed: Remove all progress from Smaug the Golden and set him aside, out of play. Then, add Smaug the Magnificent to the staging area.
Forced: After placing the 7th progress token on this stage, remove all damage from Smaug the Magnificent and set him aside, out of play. Then, add Smaug the Golden to the staging area and reset the quest deck to stage 2B.
To hunt the whole mountain till he had caught the thief and had torn and trampled him was his one thought –The Hobbit
"Dread has come upon you all! Alas! It has come more swiftly than I guessed. The Goblins are upon you! Bolg of the North is coming. O Dain! whose father you slew in Moria. Beehold! the bats are above his army like a sea of locusts. They ride upon wolves and Wargs are in their train!" – Gandalf, The Hobbit
Setup: Search the encounter deck for Bolg and add it to the staging area. Then, shuffle the encounter deck and reveal 1 encounter card per player.
When Revealed: Put stage 2, stage 3 and stage 4 into play at the same time. Then remove this stage from play.
Ever since the fall of the Great Goblin of the Misty Mountains the hatred of their race for the dwarves had been rekindled to fury. Messengers had passed to and from between all their cities, colonies and strongholds; for they resolved now to win the dominion of the north. –The Hobbit
Bard and some of the nimblest of men and elves climbed to the height of the Eastern shoulder to gain a view of the North. Soon they could see the lands before the Mountain's feet black with a hurrying multitude. –The Hobbit
Players cannot advance from this stage unless stage 3 and stage 4 are complete.
Forced: If there is no progress on this stage at the end of the round, each player must discard 1 random card from his hand.
As soon as the host of their enemies was dense in the valley, they sent against it a shower of arrows, and each flickered as it fled as if with stinging fire. Behind the arrows a thousand of their spearmen leapt down and charged. The yells were deafening. The rocks were stained black with goblin blood. –The Hobbit
Battle. (Characters may use instead of when questing here.)
Players cannot advance from this stage unless stage 2 and stage 4 are complete.
Forced: If there is no progress on this stage at the end of the round, the first player adds the topmost enemy in the discard pile to the staging area, if able.
On all this Bilbo looked with misery. He had taken his stand on Ravenhill among the Elves – partly because there was more chance of escape from that point, and partly (with the more Tookish part of his mind) because if he was going to be in a last desperate stand, he preferred on the whole to defend the Elvenking. –The Hobbit
Siege. Characters may use instead of when questing here.)
Players cannot advance from this stage unless stage 2 and stage 3 are complete.
Forced: If there is no progress on this stage at the end of the round, each player must discard all resources from each hero's resource pool.
Soon the attackers were attacked, and they were forced into a great ring, facing every way, hemmed all about with goblins and wolves returning to the assault. The bodyguard of Bolg came howling against them, and drove in upon their ranks like waves upon cliffs of sand. –The Hobbit
When Revealed: Each player must search the encounter deck and discard pile for a copy of Bodyguard of Bolg and add it to the staging area, if able. Shuffle the encounter deck.
Progress cannot be placed in this stage. While Bolg is in the staging area, it is considered to be engaged with the first player.
If Bolg is destroyed, the players win the game.
While attached, Smaug the Magnificent gets -3 .
Response: After the players quest successfully, the first player makes a burgle attempt. If successful, attach A Bare Patch to Smaug the Magnificent.
"Old fool! Why there is a large patch in the hollow of this left breast as bare as a snail out of its shell!
—Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit
When Revealed: Each Dragon enemy in the staging area makes an immediate attack against the player with the highest total committed to the quest. (Do not deal a shadow card for this attack.)
Burgle: The first player shuffles his deck and reveals the top card. He may discard 1 card from his hand that matches the revealed card's type and cost.
Bolg cannot take damage.
Forced: When this enemy attacks, deal it an additional shadow card for each quest stage in play with no progress tokens on it.
...with them came the bodyguard of Bolg, goblins of huge size with scimitars of steel. –The Hobbit
When Revealed: Choose a hero to be removed from the quest and make that hero unconscious. If no hero was removed from the quest by this effect, this card gains surge.
"What nasty thick skins they have to be sure, but I'll wager there is good juice inside." –Spider, The Hobbit
Forced: When a location is revealed from the encounter deck, put 1 progress on Smaug the Golden.
Burgle: The first player shuffles his deck and reveals the top card. He may discard 1 card from his hand that matches the revealed card's sphere and type.
Forced: After Dark Bats damages a character, attach it to that character. (While attached, counts as a Condition attachment with the text: 'Attached character gets -1 , -1 , and -1 .")
Shadow: Attach this card to the defending character.
While Desolation of Smaug is the active location, the first treachery card revealed each round gains surge.
Burgle: The first player shuffles his deck and reveals the top card. He may discard 2 cards from his hand that match the revealed card's cost.
When Revealed: Attach to the hero with the most resources without Dragon-Spell attached. (Counts as a Condition attachment with the text:
"Attached hero gets -1 for each resource in its resource pool.
Forced: When attached hero spends resources, attached hero takes X damage. X is equal to the number of resources spent.")
This enemy gets +3 while engaged with a player who controls at least 1 poisoned character.
Shadow: Defending character gets 1 poison. (Give 2 poison to a character you control if undefended.)
While Forest Stream is the active location, poisoned characters cannot quest.
Response: After Forest Stream leaves play as an explored location, discard 4 poison.
It flowed fast and strong but not very wide right across the way, and it was black, or looked it in the gloom. –The Hobbit