This is still probably my favorite board game. It's that big, fat, kinda beat up box that'll always be sitting on my shelf, and one day, my son is going to see it, ask "Dad, what's that?", and I'll bring it down and say "Son, let me show you something."
What I love about this thing is the way that the cards mean that your game might come out exactly like the book, or might be totally off the rails and hilarious. I had one game where Wormtongue came out very early, and suddenly the Freeps had to change their whole plan because Rohan needed special attention. I had an amazing game where I verbally goaded the shadow player to emptying out Isengard, while I sat there with a handful of Ent cards, who did exactly the thing they were supposed to do. Then I had the game where Aragorn beelined down to Minas Tirith, got crowned, and proceeded to spend the rest of the game sitting around the throne room drinking, telling everyone how the army had to stay RIGHT THERE because the orcs were coming ANY MINUTE, while the entire war happened up north, with Gimli and Pippin leading a heroic defense at the head of a dwarven army.
Yes, the areas around the major cities are too small to hold the armies that'll be there, and yes the first edition cards aren't big enough to hold all the words (I did upgrade to the tarot cards), but for all that,
War of the Ring is a box full of amazing potential stories, and my worn, janky, crammed full of notes and player aids copy is also full of a bunch of memories, and you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.