Merry & Pippin

Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck and Peregrin "Pippin" Took begin the quest exactly where the whole story starts — in The Shire, right alongside Frodo & Sam. They are the youngest and least worldly of the Fellowship, more fond of second breakfast than of swords, and no one at the outset would call them heroes. Yet these two will grow into their courage before the tale is done: one will ride with the Rohirrim, the other will stand guard in the tower of Gondor.

On the board they are your team's escort and support piece. Starting in the far northwest with the Ring-bearers, their earliest and most important duty is simply to stay close — to travel with Frodo, keep him hidden, and hand along the cards and symbols he needs. They bring no army and little muscle, but a well-played pair of hobbits smooths the Ring-bearer's road through Eriador and buys the rest of the Fellowship the time it needs to rally.

There is only one shared victory: the whole team must complete every Objective — with Destroy the One Ring always last, when Frodo casts it into Mount Doom. You don't win alone, and you don't win by fighting; you win by keeping Frodo alive, hidden, and supplied all the way to the end.

Your contribution is protection and logistics. Every turn Frodo travels he risks a search that can bleed away Hope — the team's shared life total — and your job is to make those journeys as painless as possible. Cover his movement with Stealth, feed him the symbols he needs, and shepherd him past the Nazgûl's gaze. Keep the Hope marker off the bottom of the track and you keep the whole team in the game.

As two characters counting as one hero, you get the usual turn: up to 4 actions with one hobbit and 1 action with the other, then draw player cards and resolve the shadow. You are a support hero, so you'll lean on the gentler actions rather than Attack or Capture:

• Travel — move with Frodo so friendly characters come along, and spend Stealth to cover his search when he moves
• Prepare — at a haven, discard a region card to bank a matching symbol token (like Stealth or Friendship) so it's ready when the Ring-bearer needs it
• Fellowship — when you share a location with another player, hand off a card matching your region to feed Frodo the exact symbols he needs

Think of your two hobbits as a relay: one stays glued to Frodo as his shadow, the other ranges a step ahead to gather cards and scout the safest path. You rarely swing the battle dice yourself — your power is keeping the peril off Frodo and putting the right card in the right hand at the right moment.