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Gandalf

The wandering counselor who turns up right where the road is darkest — and lights it.

Medium

Background

Gandalf the Grey is the great wanderer of Middle-earth — a wizard who belongs to no single land and turns up wherever the need is greatest. He begins the game at Tharbad, the old river-crossing on the Greyflood in central Eriador, planted squarely between the Shire in the north and the roads that run down toward Rohan and Gondor. It is the perfect perch for a figure whose whole gift is being in the right place at the right moment.

On the board Gandalf is the team's flexible enabler — mobility, guidance, and above all hope. He is tied to no one of the four Free Peoples armies, which frees him to serve the whole Fellowship: escorting Frodo through the early wilds, carrying the right card to the right ally, and steadying morale when the Eye of Sauron turns its gaze on the Ring-bearer. Where others hold a front, Gandalf rides between fronts.

How you win

There is one shared victory: the team completes every selected Objective, ending with Destroy the One Ring as Frodo casts it into Mount Doom. Gandalf helps you get there not by holding a line but by keeping the whole plan moving and Frodo's Hope off the floor.

Your contribution is glue. You escort Frodo through his most dangerous early stretches, you shuttle cards and symbols to whoever needs them next, and you show up to steady a battle or a search that would otherwise cost precious hope. Think of yourself as the player who makes every other hero's turn better — a point of pressure relieved here, a symbol delivered there, a Nazgûl-threatened search survived because you were standing beside Frodo when it mattered.

How they play

Each turn you take up to 4 actions with one character and up to 1 with the other. Gandalf leans hardest into Travel — his mobility is his whole identity, and from Tharbad he can slide north to meet Frodo or south to reinforce a threatened region. His other pillars are the support actions:

Travel — cover ground fast; when Frodo is with you, spend a Stealth to cover his move so no search is rolled.
Fellowship — when you share a location with another player, hand off a card matching the region — ideal for feeding Frodo the symbols he needs, or arming an ally for their next action.
Prepare — at a haven, bank the symbol tokens the team is short on before the road demands them.

Because he isn't bound to one army, Gandalf isn't your dedicated Musterer or stronghold-taker — he's the connective piece. Lean on Stealth to hide Frodo's steps and on Resistance (Fate) to reroll a search or battle that goes wrong. You are the hero who arrives, fixes the immediate crisis, and rides on.

Strengths

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Gandalf's central Tharbad start and his focus on Travel make him the fastest responder on the team. He can be at Frodo's side one turn and shoring up a distant region the next, plugging whichever gap has become the emergency.
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As Middle-earth's great bringer of Hope, Gandalf is at his best keeping Frodo's morale off the bottom of the track. Escorting the Ring-bearer and spending Stealth on his travels prevents the searches that bleed hope away.
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Because he isn't tied to Gondor, Elves, Rohirrim, or Dwarves, Gandalf can support any front. He hands cards through Fellowship, banks symbols with Prepare, and fights where needed without being anchored to one color of troop.

Weaknesses

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That same freedom means Gandalf brings no home army of his own. He isn't a natural Musterer and can't build up a standing force the way an army-bound hero can, so lean on teammates like Éowyn or Boromir to hold the military lines.
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A hero who can be anywhere is tempted to be everywhere. Chasing every fire across the map burns your limited actions and leaves Frodo unescorted at the worst moment — presence beats motion when the Ring-bearer is exposed.
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Gandalf's best plays — covering Frodo with Stealth, rerolling with Resistance, feeding allies through Fellowship — all spend cards and tokens. Run your hand dry and the wizard becomes just another traveler with nothing to give.

Tips & tricks

Tip
In the opening turns, race up from Tharbad to meet Frodo and travel with him. Every step you cover with Stealth is a search not rolled — and early hope saved is the cheapest hope you'll ever bank.
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Use Prepare at havens to bank Stealth for Frodo's marches and Resistance for Fate rerolls. Walking into a Nazgûl-heavy region with those tokens in reserve turns a dangerous search into a manageable one.
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Position so you can trigger Fellowship each turn — share a location with the ally who needs a region-matched card most. Delivering Frodo the exact symbols for his objective, or an ally the card for their next big action, is often worth more than anything Gandalf could do alone.
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Your mobility is a rescue tool. When a haven is about to fall or a battle is about to cost hope, Gandalf is the hero who can arrive in time — but pick one crisis per turn and commit, rather than half-solving three.

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