The War of the Ring Board Game Review

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(More customer reviews)War of the Ring may be the finest board game I have ever owned (and I own many). And if not, it's certainly the best war game. And it's not just the Tolkien fanatic in my talking; this is some of the most fun unplugged gaming you can have.
This is primarily a two player game, but up to four can play. One player/team plays the Free Peoples of Middle Earth (Rohan, Gondor, The North, Elves, and Dwarves), the other plays the Shadow (Sauron, Isengard, and Southrons and Easterlins). There are two was to win: Military of Ring victories. A ring victory means that the Free Peoples player will need to get the Fellowship to Mordor and cast the ring into Mount Doom, or the Shadow player will need to get 12 corruption points on the ring bearers. A military victory means that you will need to capture enemy settlements to gain victory points (10 for Shadow, 4 for Free Peoples...it's not as easy as it sounds!).
The thing I like most about this game is that it stays interesting through the whole game. Every turn is exciting. This is due to the core mechanic. Each turn, players will roll dice with symbols on them. Each symbol gives the player a variety for options they can take with that die. Players take turns choosing actions based on what they rolled (one at a time, so there's hardly any player downtime). The number options available would be overwhelming, but the game includes two reference sheets that makes things very easy. All the options you'd want in a war game based on LOTR are here. The game starts will all nine companions in the fellowship, but you'll be able to break them up, so they can persuade the nations of the Free Peoples to go to war. Which brings me to the Political Track. The game starts with each nation in the political position they are in in the books. Companions can activate them, and by using dice or being attacked will push them closer to war. Combat is similar to Risk, but with a few added twists, such as leaders, characters, and defending Strongholds. There's alot going on in this game, but it's all fun.
As far as the rules go, there really isn't anything that brings the game down. The odds are against the Free Peoples, but it is possible to win. (The Expansion fixes this) But there are flaws with the production and presentation. The rulebook itself is somewhat confusing. Not until you've finished reading it will you understand things you read in the beginning. This will cause your first few sessions to be a "feeling it out" experience. The pieces are another problem. All of the Free Peoples pieces are either blue or grey, and all the Shadow pieces are orange. It's difficult at a quick glance to tell which piece belongs to which nation. To add insult to injury, there's colored borders around each nation, so it make you wonder why FFG just didn't mold them in the corresponding colored plastic. I (and many other players) paint their pieces to fix this.
But again, none of the flaws found really bring the game down in the long end. The game is a total blast, and the 2-3 hours it takes just fly by. Every aspect is intensely interesting, and is fun regardless of who wins.Aside from the afore mentioned problems, the rest of the production and presentation is extremely high (what else would you expect from FFG?) Tolkien fans, this is a MUST buy, but everyone else will still find alot to enjoy. I love this game, and give it the highest possible recommendation.

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While the Fellowship of the Ring advances towards Mordor, the Dark Lord Sauron seeks the location of the Ring-bearer, while unleashing his armies against the last strongholds of the Free Peoples in this grand strategic simulation of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Featuring easy-to-learn, dice-based mechanics, this impressive game comes complete with a massive gameboard depicting a large full-color map of Middle-Earth; 200+ plastic miniatures representing the armies and characters of the War of the Ring, including the Nazgul, each member of the Fellowship of the Ring, and the Minions of Shadow; 135 die-cut cardboard counters; 100+ Event and Character cards; and over 20 dice.

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