Ares Games War of the Ring 2nd Edition Board Game

Product Information

Special Actions: The FP’s “Will of the West” is a wildcard that can be set to any other face, while the SP’s “Eye” is added to the hunt box. (more on hunting later) More Key Concepts As the Free Peoples player you command the proud hosts of the most important kingdoms of the Third Age. From the horse-lords of Rohan to the soldiers of Gondor and the Elven lords of Rivendell, you lead the defense of the last free realms of Middle-earth. Beyond the military conflict side is the quest of the Fellowship of the Ring to get to Mount Doom and throw the ring into the fires, destroying the power of the dark lord forever. The Fellowship consists of all of the characters from the books and movies, at least in the beginning. You may lose companions along the way, or they could be forced to leave to try to save another part of Middle Earth from the unrelenting march of the Shadow’s armies. In 2004 we saw the release of a new War of the Ring from NG International (Nexus) and published in the USA by Fantasy Flight Games. It was a beautiful game, complex, and had victory conditions achievable by either side.

Fast forward to 2011, Ares games received the rights from defunct NG International and decided to publish the game in the United States on their own. The FFG version has long been considered one of the best adaptations of the struggle between the shadow and the inhabitants of Middle Earth ever made. So how can you improve on that? The predominantly verdant land with its dark green woods and now much more strongly contrasting region of Mordor seems a more accurate depiction. The mountainsstand out more and the various regions are better delineated and so easier to spot during game play. My only wish is that Mordor had been made even grimmer and louring in its shading!While armies clash, the nine Companions of the Fellowship of the Ring travel towards the very heart of the domains of the Dark Lord—Mount Doom—to destroy the One Ring in the Mountain of Fire. Here once more you can also see the new size and quality of the Character and Event cards for both sides. As before, the game can be played as a two player or four player working in teams of twoand I must confess to much preferring to play two-player. However, this is very much a personal choice, mainly because I only tend to like such teaming of players on one side when there can still only be one winner. So, Wars of The Roses by Z-man Games and Ragnar Brothers' Promised Land are both games I hugely enjoy, whereas WOTR is definitely a 2 player for my money! War of the Ring is everything a fan of Lord of the Rings could want in a board game. It has strategic warfare where heroes can lead forces to victory and the legendary fortresses and cities from the stories will have a huge impact in battle. War of the Ring also has the hope of the free peoples pinned to the ringbearers reaching Mount Doom. The cat and mouse chase for the Ring keeps each turn exciting and influences a lot of macro decisions when armies are being recruited and moved. Ares also announced that it has plans to release the first expansion for the Lord of the Rings hidden movement game Hunt for the Ring, Light and Shadow, this year, following the game’s release in 2017. Following Frodo’s journey from the Shire to Rivendell as he’s chased by the Nazgul at the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring, the two-chapter game can be played as a prologue to War of the Ring, with specific gameplay implications.

An impressively sized war game, War of the Ring pits 2 players (or 4) against each other in a battle for Middle Earth comprised of all the favourite races and characters you love from the original trilogy. So, grab your Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves and Men. And an ungodly amount of Goblins. It’s time for War!

Due out this September is a deluxe special edition of The Battle of Five Armies, the War of the Ring spin-off based on prequel The Hobbit. As with the limited edition of War of the Ring and its two expansions, the set will include 126 fully painted miniatures, plus the previously unreleased mini-expansion The Fate of Erebor. Definitely! I’m no stranger to big war games after having played regular games of Twilight Imperium, dabbling in old classics like Warrior Knights, and loving an epic miniatures game when you have a free day. And with all that said, this has got to be one of the best out there. The mechanics used for your actions are the classic dice roll, requiring different symbols to be revealed to allow them to be spent as those actions. Sauron’s side start with more dice as they are more prepared to take the world by force. The Fellowship have an extra symbol on their dice that allows it to be spent as any other symbol, giving them more flexibility to react to impending doom! War of the Ring is a 2 to 4 player area of control and hidden movement game that takes about 2 hours to play. War of the Ring captures the epic battles between good and evil featured in the Lord of the Rings and the perilous quest of the fellowship of the ring as they try to avoid the Nazgul on their way to destroy the ring in Mt. Doom. Gameplay Overview: The game turn is broken down into 6 phases with most of the game occurring in the Action Resolution phase. The Fellowship of the Ring area with character guide cards. So if the FP decides to move the Fellowship a second time in a round, the SP then only needs to roll a “5” the second time around to be successful. Going a third time, like hiring Gollum as your sous chef, is even riskier. That’s not how you make a tuna tartare.

If you aren’t a fan of Lord of the Rings and think playing one game for roughly 6 hours with only one friend (the rules allow 4, but it’s just two teams so it might not work as well) is a bit too much, then I wouldn’t advise it. The game is long and can be a bit dry when learning it/teaching it to others. What is it in WOTR that achieves this success? For me, it is the perfect mixture of the following vital elements. Conventional area movement, combat and sieges. Character figures with functions that inevitably mirror the break-up of the Fellowship as individuals need to be sent to rouse the Free Peoples and bring them in to the war. The separate journey of the Ring-Bearers with its hidden element and the accompanying Hunt for the Ring. Just as in thebooks the One Ring binds them all,so in the game the Action dice brings together all these elements. The limitations and uncertainty of these Action dice and what potential Actions can be taken that turn combine with the Event cards that each offer a dual choice. Thismakes for the variety and multiplicity of choices in a game that I value highly in any game of substantial weight and is central to my enjoyment in playing the game.

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Kings of Middle–Earth introduces two new types of Characters to War of the Ring Second Edition: Sovereigns and Dark Chieftains. The Sovereigns of the Free Peoples were targeted by Sauron’s attempts to bend the will of the peoples opposing him - using the palantíri (the seeing stones), through emissaries, like Gríma, and possibly with other subtle and deceitful means. At the same time, it was crucial for the morale of the Free Peoples to rally around these charismatic figures - Brand, Dáin Ironfoot, Denethor, Théoden, and Thranduil - to fight against the Shadow. Each side of the war has several factions, but these factions generally are only separated by the physical differences in the models, making it challenging to immediately tell at first glance which units belong in which spaces. Over time it is something you can get used to, but it really does make getting the game out, and convincing your friends to wait for you while you set it up, more of a challenge than it needed to be. Still, on the plus side, this means you won’t miss the convenience of color-coded models if you decide to paint them, but it’s still worth bearing in mind if you’re the sort of person who enjoys small quality-of-life design decisions.

Each side of the battle also has special individuals that can either perform special actions with certain dice symbols, or upgrade dice spent to perform better with set parameters. For example, I was controlling Sauron’s minions and had been able to claim Saruman as a follower who allowed me to spawn extra troops in certain areas with stronger warriors, at the cost of Saruman himself never being able to move around the map. This gave me a good advantage for a while, spawning loads of orcish men everywhere, until the Fellowship player managed to get the help of the Ents. As Saruman was alone at the time, they beat him up and killed him. I’m told this is very true to the tales, but I liked my slightly creepy wizard man. Should I Buy It Then? An interesting aspect of the game is how different named characters, or the ring bearer, can activate and move different armies to a war footing. We really enjoyed that the heroes (or the conflict itself) had to move different Middle Earth nations to war. The action dice for both good and evil. What you roll will dictate what actions you take.At the start of the game, each player will determine whether they will control the good or evil side. If there are more than two players, the factions are further divided for easier handling. The very first thing I want to point out is that this is an area control game somewhat akin to Risk. There are strongholds and cities that help with defense but at its core, it is area control with “dudes on a map” sort of gameplay. You will spend most of your turn deciding on how to allocate the dice you rolled and what areas will need more units to take over enemy territory. This is critically important as it helps with both a conquest victory and provides safety (or danger) to the fellowship.