Fantasy Flight Games Ares Games War of The Ring 2nd Edition, Multi-Colored (AGS WOTR001), 2 to 4 Players

The rules are complex and I doubt even the most seasoned board game player can get through this game without referencing the rules every so often. The game Itself can take a long time to set up and can easily take up to 4 hours to complete. It does come with 2 handy rules reference sheets that outline the core game mechanics as well as providing a glossary for key words. Despite the games convolution I found that my second time playing the game was much easier and faster.However, if you make it past the daunting rules you'll find an incredible board game that provides a genuine middle earth experience. As players of the free people, you'll feel the sense of impending doom of invasion from the shadow player, you'll share the same frustrations as the fellowship and you'll celebrate the smallest victories from huge sacrifices. The free people's army's are significantly smaller and when defeated leave the game forever, a representation of the limited population of Elves, dwarves and humans. As well as the time it takes for someone to reach adulthood and because of this, every army feels valuable and every sacrifice meaningful. Because of these limitations, your greatest hope in winning the game is getting the ring to Mount Doom which in itself is a long and difficult journey.Alternatively the shadow player has a massive military advantage. Larger and more prepared armies, an endless amount of batch born orcs and the Nazgul on fell beasts who can traverse middle earth near instantaneously. However finding the fellowship isn't easy and conquering middle earth can become difficult when Saurons greed for the ring interferes with the players plans.Each player must play into their strengths and with event cards there is a good deal of surprising twists and turns. This game tells a story of how lord of the rings could have been and builds a massive appreciation for the source material. What if Boromir left the fellowship at Rivendell and went to Gondor? What if Isengard won at Helms deep? The game begins with the founding of the fellowship in Rivendell and from there the story is told by the players choices and strategies with great depth and an even greater amount of possibilities.I consider myself a board game enthusiast and this is my favorite with no close second. If you're a fan of lord of the rings and board games this is an absolute must.

I love this game. In fact, I wish I had someone to play it with weekly I love it so much. I bought all the expansions. That said, this is a game review for people who are wondering if they should invest in War of the Ring:Some potential turnoffs:- The game takes a long time to set up. If this isn't something you are willing to spend at least 20-30 minutes just with setup then this game may not be for you.- Lots of rules. It's not necessarily a complicated rule set, but the rules are very "deep" in that, you will be referencing the rule book almost every turn, if not every other turn for your first few playthroughs. We were well into our 5th or 6th game and were still asking things like "wait, what's a sortie again and why do I want to do it?"- The game will make a LOT more sense if you are familiar with the LOTR world. If you are not, I can imagine you may miss some nuance in the gameplay and rules.- You will spend time looking over the map trying to find out the locations referenced during gameplay. I am LOTR fan and have poured over the appendices and maps for many years. Even I found myself asking, "where's Mount Gundabad again?"- Differentiation of the little figurines and markers can be hard. We often would reference the rule book to figure out which elites were Rohan or which political marker was what. We finally took different colored Sharpie markers and colored around the bases of the miniatures to assist.- Luck. There is a serious element of luck in this game. Whatever strategy you work towards in this game could be thwarted by a series of poor dice rolls. On a scale of chess to Monopoly, War of the Ring is Risk.- Some may consider this game long - block out 4+ hours your first few run throughs.- It's not really a four player game even though it is advertised 2-4 players. Yes it does have four player rules, but it is best played with two people.Cool things:- This game is a truly amazing adaptation of the tension associated with the story in the original Lord of the Rings books. My long history spent with the books (and movies of course) was rewarded in this game through their skillful application of everything from political drama or the power of the ring to corrupt, to Sauron's feverish search for the ring, on and on. I am amazed at how the game designers made this work.- Balance - This game has great balance. Every time I have played, against multiple opponents, there has never been a blowout victory. In fact, 9/10 times it has come down to the last few turns to decide the victor. We found that highly satisfying.- Design quality - the artwork, figure design, board, almost everything is of a very high quality. You will feel you got your money's worth when you unbox, set up, and ultimately play through this game.- Not too long. Yes, I said above that this is a long game, but I have played other games that can post 6-12 hours (Risk, Axis & Allies, Diplomacy). This game, once you get the hang of it, can be knocked out in 2+ hours. That is a fantastic game length and totally worth the set up and tear down time.- It is a really great 2-player game, which sometimes is hard to find.I hope this helps some of you decide if you should go all in on War of the Ring.