War of the Ring (2004)
War of the Ring
War of the Ring is a strategy board game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, created by Roberto Di Meglio, Marco Maggi, and Francesco Nepitello, and first produced by Nexus Editrice. The game was released in 1977 by SPI, and a second edition was released in 2012 by Ares Games. The game is a 2-player game that takes approximately 3 hours, though there are variant rules for 3 or 4 players where one or both sides play as a team.
Why is War of the Ring Popular?
War of the Ring has generally been received very positively, with an 8.5/10 rating at BoardGameGeek from over 18,000 voters, enough to earn it the eighth-highest spot on the site’s list of best board games. It has been described by reviewers as “quite simply a masterpiece” and “a remarkable game”. The game is significant because it is one of the most critically-acclaimed board game adaptations based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth works.
Game Components of War of the Ring
– 2 game boards
– Over 200 plastic figures
– Over 100 cards
– 2 player aids
– 1 rulebook
Game Setup of War of the Ring
The game concerns the War of the Ring starting from the Fellowship’s forming in Rivendell. One player controls the Shadow Peoples and tries to conquer Middle-earth or to corrupt the Fellowship’s Ringbearer. The other player controls the Free Peoples and tries to destroy the One Ring by throwing it into the fires of Mount Doom or to hold out until the end of the game, when the Ring-bearer reaches Mount Doom.
Gameplay Mechanics of War of the Ring
The game is a highly asymmetric struggle between good and evil. The Free Peoples must quickly organize themselves to mount a brave resistance against the oncoming hordes of the Shadow Armies. Vastly outnumbered, their greatest hope rests with a band of nine travelers known as the Fellowship of the Ring. The Shadow Peoples are Sauron (Mordor, Moria, Angmar, and Dol Guldur), Isengard, and the combined Southrons and Easterlings.
Game Objective of War of the Ring
The objective of the game is for the Free Peoples to destroy the One Ring by throwing it into the fires of Mount Doom or to hold out until the end of the game, when the Ring-bearer reaches Mount Doom. The objective of the Shadow Peoples is to conquer Middle-earth or to corrupt the Fellowship’s Ringbearer.
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