This is really a case of trying to sell the IP so hard, because Frodo Baggins is a single character card that you’ll see maybe on 4 paths a game if FP play very efficiently. Oh and no point is the actual 1 ring a mechanic during gameplay where Frodo himself is getting corrupted- corruption is just a generic VP for the Shadow. So yeah sorry WOTR fans, this game is just about maximizing VP on different locations flips before the game ends, not about going invisible, charting a proper path or anything like that.

When we put it all together, path 6 becomes a huge contention for both teams, because the Shadow wants to use Gollum to spam the Shadow favored effects, whereas Free People are trying to move the paths to 7 as fast as possible, which are all Free people favored, AND they can use this Gondor homie to start scoring them for free. With so many Lord of the Ring games on the market, I really feel this does enough to elevate it above others to warrant a place in your collection. This is certainly a game that benefits from multiple plays and trying the various game modes and it’s fantastic that you can play a shorter 1v1 scenario or a larger full scale sprawling recreation of the trilogy story as a 2v2 or 2v1 straight from the box. Once you’ve got your head around the rules and understand the terminology and interplay between the cards there is a deep and rewarding card game here that feels epic compared to the sum of its parts. Each round is full of tough and meaningful choices that will impact on how you can approach subsequent rounds keeping a high level of tension throughout. It might not have the table presence of War of the Ring but then why shouldn’t I keep it? My Comments: I like how the mechanisms of this game create a lot of hard choices. There are never enough cards to do everything, and every choice to do something is also a default choice not to do something else. Trying to figure out the best course of action is an engaging challenge. I also like asymmetry that is built into the game. Cards are played to one of the two locations, or into your reserve for use in future rounds, and this is done through cycling another card from your hand. I really like the simplicity here in not having to worry about the cost of cards in my hand but also knowing the agonising decision that I have to get rid of something I might want to play another card.

War of the Ring Card Game is not to be confused with the Fantasy Flight Lord of the Rings Living Card Game, or this game’s bigger older sibling ‘The War of The Ring’, Ian Brody brings us this two to four player card game. A card game inspired by both the novels and the game that came before it, distilling the War of The Ring board game experience into a more palatable game length. This is simpler and shorter than its predecessor but make no mistake that this is not a simple or short game.

For the Free People, how about Gandalf who says you shall not freaking pass on a path to get a new one! Then he can die there, no problem, because Gandalf 2.0 can ride Shadowfax to rush to defend Minis Tirith for insane stats!War of the Ring: The Card Game has launched an interest in Tolkien in my kids that I’ve been quietly hoping would come along for about 15 years. (Admittedly, my oldest was 2 then, so I was perhaps being a little premature.) I played the game with my 3 boys, 17, 13, and 10. They were all very taken with it. My youngest in particular has now wanted to learn more about Middle Earth ,its stories, and characters. I am in clover! Item Cards are played onto characters that have already been played. They usually convey buffs or alter some of the game rules so that they don’t affect the character they are played to. Path cards follow the story of Frodo and the Fellowship, while battlegrounds represent the wider conflict across Middle-earth.

War of the Ring: The Card Game centres around two locations played in the middle of the table each round. One is a battleground representing one of the key battles between the Free Peoples of Middle-earth - elves, dwarves and the nations of Rohan and Gondor, as well as the Fellowship of the Ring - and the orc and Uruk-hai forces of Shadow, while the other is a path card that divides the journey of Frodo into nine key chapters, from the Shire to Mount Doom. Her Comments: There is enough variety in the cards and locations that the game will often play out differently. I also appreciate that the two player game and the team game are different experiences. Sauron also play this attrition control game, since they can KEEP forsaking FP cards, and even forcing opponent discards through Beguiler is an incredible Nazgul to spam to reduce FP action possibilities. Going from 4 cards to 3 cards is no joke because of the cost to play every card, and many Nazgul abilities don’t eliminate the Nazgul after using them from reserve. You can combo it with other Nazgul to keep spamming abilities! While War of the Ring: The Card Game is as richly thematic as its predecessor, it’s a much faster-moving game than the multi-hour epic.

Players will take turns playing cards that represent the people, armies, items, and events of the War of the Ring during the course of the game. Each card they play will either aid or obstruct the Fellowship’s progress down its Path or be used to defend or seize Middle-earth’s strongholds as they contend for possession of the fresh Battleground cards that are activated each round. Here’s more non-items, the Great Gate or the Dead Men of Dunharrow… which of course is pretty much only good on Minas Tirith and next to Aragorn respectively. Or Shelob, who can ONLY be played on paths 7-8, so she’s probably discard fodder for most of the game.

Also also, instead of doing an action, you can choose to pass if you have 2 or less cards, OR you can pass if both of your opponents have more cards than you in hand. Playing a four-player demo at Gen Con 2022 ahead of a planned release later this year, the upcoming card game spin-off from War of the Ring proved itself to be far more than a basic simplification of the richly thematic and strategic board game. With more than 100 original illustrations from the greatest Tolkienian artists in the world, including an amazing gallery of landscapes from The Shire to Mordor by John and Fataneh Howe, War of the Ring - The Card Game is more than a game – it's also a memorable collection for all lovers of the world imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien.With more than 100 original illustrations from the greatest Tolkienian artists in the world, including an amazing gallery of landscapes from The Shire to Mordor by John and Fataneh Howe, War of the Ring: The Card Game is more than a game – it also a memorable collection for all lovers of the world imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien. Well, to start out with, I think that this WotR card game shares much thematically with the boardgame of the same name – which should be obvious as both try to recapture the adventure and strife of the classic Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, past the theme, the games are not much like each other.