Lord of the Rings the Board Game

There are plenty of good games out there, and some cooperative ones, but good cooperative games that don't take forever to play are hard to come by.This is one.

I've seen complaints that the rules are hard to understand.I'd like to clarify that a little.If you just open up the rules and read them by themselves, they ARE hard to understand.That's okay.Just follow the setup instructions at the front of the rulebook first.THEN read the rules, looking often at the board & other components, and it all starts to make sense; in fact, virtually everything about the game is very cleverly designed.The only question that I haven't yet found an answer to is when, exactly, the event tiles are supposed to be reshuffled (I think after each location is complete is probably the best time, but it could be that you're supposed to wait until they run out; I'm just not sure).

The basic ideas aren't that difficult.On your turn, you turn up tiles until you get a good one (suffering the consequences of the bad along the way) and then you either play one or two cards to advance the group, or you recover by drawing two cards or healing yourself one space on the Corruption track (as the game progresses, the Hobbits and Sauron advance toward each other on this track, and if a Hobbit and Sauron meet, the Hobbit dies).There are four location boards: Moria, Helm's Deep, Shelob's Lair, and Mordor, each with several tracks; on each board, one of the tracks is the "main" track, and you advance to the next when it is complete or when time runs out, with nasty consequences ranging from the moderately bad "Fly, you fools" in Moria to "The Ring is MINE!" in Mordor, ending the game as Sauron recovers the Ring.That said, there are great benefits to advancing the secondary tracks as well; if you concentrate solely on the main one, you'll never make it TO Mordor, let alone through it.

At every turn, there are meaningful decisions to be made.Adding to the tension, you never know how much time you have to achieve important results (such as obtaining Eowyn's help before the Lord of the Nazgul arrives which, by the way, is very hard to do or getting the Riders of Rohan to reinforce Helm's Deep before it is too late).You can go from being in good condition to in deep trouble in a heartbeat with a few bad tile draws, and that goes double in Mordor.You also need to actively cooperate with the other Hobbits, or you may find yourself half way to Mordor and all your friends have expired, leaving you too weak to get to Mount Doom and dunk the ring.Particularly, make sure you DON'T take all of one type of life token, because anyone who is missing a certain type at the end of a location board moves toward Sauron on the Corruption track.There are also many opportunities for a player to make a sacrifice to prevent something bad from happening to the entire group.

The game has three built-in difficulty levels (you just start Sauron in a different space on the Corruption track, to give you more or less leeway), and the difficulty also varies depending on the number of players.I suspect three, four, and five are probably not dramatically different in difficulty, but I got the distinct impression that the game is much more difficult with only two.There is also a competitive variant, but a lot of cooperation is still required.

Although the box says the game is intended for players 12 and up, I think that with a well-behaved player to lead (in other words, one who won't just order the others around but will actively involve them in the decision making; you might want to play with all cards face up instead of hidden as the rules say), younger children could easily play and have fun, IF they are prepared to cooperate.I played tonight with my (very smart) four year old daughter, and although she certainly didn't understand everything that was going on, she had the basic ideas down and volunteered to take just about every hit imaginable to help.She also LOVED rolling the die (which is a punishment of sorts you roll to see just what bad thing befalls you in many situations; you may take one to three points of damage, advance Sauron one space, discard two cards, or nothing), so it was fortunate she drew Sam, as each Hobbit has a special ability and Sam's is that he never suffers more than one point of damage from a die roll.We ended up one space from Mount Doom when Sauron seized the ring, and we had a great time.As an added bonus, she asked a ton of questions about the background, from why we were trying to destroy the ring to why Sauron was so powerful (I've rated it up for educational because it has sparked my daughter's interest in the books; I'm pretty sure that as soon as she's able, she'll want to read them).

I highly recommend the game.It's not only a very good game, but the theme ties in very well.It's not just a random game with a theme pasted on there was a lot of thought given to the events, like the final event in Moria called "Fly, you fools!" where one player can take a big hit (three points of damage) or everyone can roll the die and suffer the consequences.It's pretty much a no-brainer to decide that SOMEBODY should take the three hits (except with only two players, where it is arguable), but who will volunteer?That's just one of the ways the game makes the players put the overall quest above themselves even if your Hobbit dies, you still win with everybody else if the ring is destroyed.

Even if you have no idea what a German game is, or why a name like Reiner Knizia is important, this is a great, original and fun game.If you think this is just another attempt to make money from the cash cow that Tolkien's works have become, you're dead wrong.

Even if you're already a boardgaming veteran you've probably not seen mechanics like this very often. Instead of competing against each other, players must cooperate as the Fellowship to destroy the one ring before Sauron destroys them all. Sometime this means a player must sacrifice him/herself for the benefit of everyone in the game.Amazingly, it works and even players who get eliminated feel as if they contributed to something worthwhile (and in many cases stay very focused on the outcome of the game, as they have a vested interest in seeing the Fellowship survive).The game is even fun with two players but be warned that the difficulty ramps up quite a bit when the Fellowship is so small.

The components are impressive and are endowed with the great John Howe's artwork. There are no movie images to be found here which may depress or delight you, but it does add to the sense that this game holds its own without needing to resort to pandering.

Does the game have any educational value?Hmmmm...I dunno about that one. I suppose it could encourage older kids to value cooperation a bit more than they usually do, and any kid who hasn't been enthralled by Tolkien's work might have a nice introduction with this game, but the ultimate goal here is to have a good time not necessarily to educate.

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I almost didn't give it 5 stars. Why didn't I? Bitterness. Yes, I'm bitter because my wife and I have attempted the two player game as Frodo and Sam FIVE times and have NOT yet won once!! (I'm AM grinning as I write this, in case you're wondering...)

It's okay. I'll get over it. It may be tough for two players... but it's still fun to lose the game WITH my wife, rather that try to compete against her. We HAVE, however, successfully destroyed the One Ring in three, four, and five player games. It's really a neat experience to play a game in which a group has to cooperate with each other in order to win TOGETHER rather than compete in order to... well... destroy everyone else.

This game combines many elements of group strategy with some elements of luck (i.e. mostly in wondering which tile you're about to turn over). It really seems to capture a bit of the feeling that Sam and Frodo must have felt as they struggled to Mordor. (My wife and I felt it today as the game pummeled us relentlessly... talk about bad luck in this case. Whew.)

Grab a group of four or five friends a larger group is better since each player/Hobbit has a special "ability" to add to the group/Fellowship. Be patient, plan carefully, talk about strategies, and just have a great time.

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This is a well-crafted board game that succeeds on several levels, being both intellectually engaging and fun. It combines the different playing styles of cards, dice, figures and multiple boards. The theme of "The Lord of the Rings" adds a nice familiar element to it, although I am not sure where the character "Fatty" comes from. He is one hobbit I have never heard of. The main theme of the game is co-operation, but there are some competitive options as well.

I have played this game with a broad class of people, including people that have never read the books and people that generally don't enjoy games. Everyone had a really good time and agreed that this was an excellent game. So far, I have done some two-player games and a four-player game. A larger group is definitely more fun.

As draw backs, the game does have several components and takes some set-up. However, the more familiar you become with the game, the shorter the set-up. Also, the game is not so variable that it can be played several times in a row. This is a game to pull out a few times a year. With that in mind, it is one of the best games of this type that I have played.

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In LotR, the board game, Kniza has done a masterful job of creating a form of team-solitaire.The many players compete not against each other, but against the game itself.Luck, familiarity, planning, and team communication are all important.

The game is difficult: while "winning" is defined in the game, it's far more common to come close but sputter out most of the way to the finish line. (At this point, you record how far you made it on the provided roster and try again!)

There are a couple problems with the game: First, while the rules are simple, the rulebook is easy to misread in a few places.If it seems like the game is too easy or too hard, you've probably misread one of the rules.The other problem is that one player who knows the game much better than the rest can get frustrated.There's nothing to stop an expert at the game from bossing around neophyte teammates.If the neophytes want to win, they'd do well to heed the expert's advice, even.The 'Sauron' expansion set fixes this problem.

On the whole, this is a good game.The production values are excellent, with beautiful art and pleasing props.The rules are simple enough to teach a youngster, yet the game is challenging enough to intrigue an adult.A good addition to any game-player's library.

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