Recently, in a 4-player game, one of my friends received resources from a card effect mid-combat phase, which he then used to summon an ally and let him defend against the attack of a powerful monster. I am fairly convinced that you may only summon allies and attachments in the Planning phase, but I didn't want to make him kill one of his heroes.

And what about event cards? Another guy in the game played an event card from his hand to alleviate the damage from a monster attack. We had agreed that event cards can be played from the hand even after the Planning phase is at an end (right?), but I objected that there is no action window between defending and attacking in the combat phase.

If you guys could help us sort this out, we'd be very grateful.

allies and attatchments can only ever be played in the planning phase.

events can be played in any green window in the phase sheet at the back of the rules book, and those events with 'response' can be played anytime their response requirement is fullfilled....i.e. usually you couldnt play an event directly after a treachery comes out during the staging step, however test of will allows this

rich

There is an action windows between defending and attackig. There is one at the end of defending, after any "After X attacks/After attack resolves/After X leaved play/After damage is dealt" Forced effects that occur after you determine your damage. Actually you have an action window after each of the 4 steps of defending, and after each of the 3 steps of attacking.

Note that when effects are triggered during the red windows, you need to respect the order Passive -> Forced -> (Player) Responses, and within them, "When" occurs before "After". Then you can do Actions during the green windows.

This excellent article has another method to remember the green action windows: http://talesfromthecards.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/5-things-i-wish-i-wouldve-known-when-i-started-playing-lotr-lcg/ It says it is easier to remember when you cannot take actions (therefore when the red windows are).

Yes, some cards have effect that can be activated between defending and attacking. What I mean by an action window is space for players perform actions such as playing a card or exhausting a card. For instance, can I exhaust unexpected courage after defending to ready a hero and attack with him? There is no action window there in the rulebook.

You are mistaken. From the rulebook (p 18):

When resolving enemy attacks, the players follow these
4 steps, in order. Players may play event cards and take
actions at the end of each step .

So you have an action window at the end of step 4 of enemy attack (what you call defending) and before step 1 of player attack. Actually you have an action window at the end of each step of enemy (4 steps) and player attacks (3 steps).

Note you cannot attack the same enemy twice each round (except using special card effects).

Look at these threads for suggestions on readying character strategies:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/901471/ever-vigilanttiming

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/783354/unexpected-courage-attachment

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/663131/question-about-unexpected-courage

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/754441/beravor-unexpected-courage

So you can use such cards to ready characters at the end of uninterruptible steps and have multiple defendings, multiple draws, etc. as long as you respect explicit limitations (such as attacking the same target once per round the normal way). Read also http://talesfromthecards.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/5-things-i-wish-i-wouldve-known-when-i-started-playing-lotr-lcg/ which I mentioned before for further suggestions on using UC or Fast Hitch.

Last but not least, you can watch Let's Play videos on Youtube, they help a lot learning the game flow and strategies.

Thank for the links.

This is not very clear in the Turn Sequence table at the back of the rulebook. There is no "Player actions" window between defending and attacking there, only at the end of the combat phase. Thank you for pointing out p 18.

Well, these attack/defend phases are in green in the turn sequence of the rulebook, so you can play actions. However, their granularity is terrible (they do not break down the different steps of the defend/attack phases). Refer to the written rules of the rulebook instead, plus the errata, which corrects the rulebook.

Furthermore, you have a few sequence sheets on BGG, the most precise ones being:

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/93105/solo-player-rule-sheet-pdf (correct and up to date)

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/75448/lotr-turn-sequence-and-faq-player-aid (correct, up to FAQ 1.3)