You are playing Nightmare mode.
Setup: Place 1 Southron Warrior per player facedown under The Cross-roads, then shuffle the facedown cards under The Cross-roads. Set any remaining Southron Warriors aside, out of play.
"Great strength of them was reported to us some days ago, marching north. One of their regiments is due by our reckoning to pass by, some time ere noon..."
–Mablung, The Two Towers
Begin with the standard quest deck and encounter deck for The Journey to the Cross-roads scenario.
Remove the following cards, in the specified quantities, from the standard encounter deck:
1x Captain of Harad
1x Henneth Annun
2x Southward Road
4x Hills of Ithilien
3x The Dark Lord's Summons
Then, shuffle the encounter cards in this Nightmare Deck into the remainder of the standard the Journey to the Cross-roads encounter deck.
Finally, flip this setup card over and place it next to the quest deck. Its effect remains active throughout the game, which is now ready to begin.
4
2
5
Forced: After Southron Warrior engages you, discard an ally you control.
Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +1 (+2 instead if the defending character is damaged.
6
4
8
Cannot have attachments or be placed under The Black Gate.
Southron Rearguard gets -1 engagement cost for each progress token on stage 1B.
Shadow: Return attacking enemy to the staging area.
While Wooded Glade is the active location, treat each non-objective attachment's text box as if it were blank.
Shadow: Discard a non-objective attachment you control.
While Dense Fern-brake is the active location, enemies in the staging area are immune to player card effects.
Shadow: Exhaust a character you control.
Shadowy Thicket gets +2 for each facedown card under The Black Gate.
Travel: The first player reveals the top facedown card under The Cross-roads and adds it to the staging area to travel here.
...presently the noise of fighting broke out near at hand, just above their hiding–place.
–The Two Towers
When Revealed: Until the end of the round, each Harad enemy in the staging area gets +2 -30 engagement cost, and cannot be optionally engaged.
Shadow: Attacking enemy gets +1 If this attack destroys a character, return attacking enemy to the staging area.
