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Flashback Friday - War of the Ring

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War of the ring board game

Game Information

Publisher
There Will Be Games

Love it or hate it? Do you still play it?

Last week I got to visit The Eagle & Child pub in Oxford, England, where Tolkien and CS Lewis used to hang out together and ostensibly discuss writing, although I suspect there was some beer dringking going on as well. There was also an awesome Tolkien exhibition in the library, but I totally screwed up and didn't reserve tickets, so I didn't get to see it. Bummer.

Anyway, after walking in the foot steps of Tolkien, I'm in the mood for talking War of the Ring. It's a much loved game on this site and needs no introduction.

So what do you think? Do you love it or hate it? Do you still play it?

There Will Be Games War of the ring board game

War of the ring board game
Shellie "ubarose" Rose  (She/Her)
Managing Editor & Web Admin

Plays boardgames. Drinks bourbon. Writes code.

Articles by Shellie

 

War of the ring board game
Shellie "ubarose" Rose
Managing Editor & Web Admin

Articles by Shellie

 

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Black Barney's Avatar
Black Barney replied the topic: #280297 24 Aug 2018 12:54
I got asked yesterday on an internal work-based social media space what people's favourite board game of all time was. Although I didn't put War of the Ring first, I felt I had to make an honourable mention of it. It's probably the most thematic game I've ever played. I used to love playing it and even though i don't play it anymore, I absolutely have to say that I still love this game. It's the best DOAM game I've played. I love all the feelings it evokes. A mastahpeece.
Gary Sax's Avatar
Gary Sax replied the topic: #280300 24 Aug 2018 13:32
So, to begin, I have this game on my shelf and I think it's ultra cool.

That said, I think people undersell the importance of card knowledge in this game. There are like a million cards and many of them have vital pop-up invasions of random spots that you wouldn't necessarily know are coming. In that way, the game has some Twilight Struggle elements. It's definitely a game that you need to play a number of times to internalize key card contents.
Shellhead's Avatar
Shellhead replied the topic: #280301 24 Aug 2018 13:33
I have never played War of the Ring, at least not the edition under discussion here. I did play the original by SPI, and that was a messy and overly complicated game that has deservedly been forgotten. However, there was another SPI game from that time (Freedom in the Galaxy) with a very similar design that was brought back in modern times as Star Wars: Rebellion.

Anyway, while I haven't played War of the Ring 2nd edition, I watched a full game of it. It didn't impress me. The components were a failure from a practical standpoint. The minis were usually too big for the map spaces, and the small cards appeared to be using a 4 pt font that I couldn't read. The game tried so hard to follow the books that the game was essentially scripted, which left players with an inconsequential number of meaningful decisions to make. And it was a long game, which magnified all the other shortcomings.
Black Barney's Avatar
Black Barney replied the topic: #280302 24 Aug 2018 13:37
Like Agricola and Through the Ages, it has a good beginner version which you absolutely HAVE to play first as both sides before trying the advanced/full version. Everyone that I know that started with the advanced version never played the game again. It's just too overwhelming. The beginner version is fun because it's actually possible for the freeps to get a military victory which is fun to pull off. It's a very different game. Then when you go full version, the cards become so much fun.

I think Gary is very right. Isengard is either a thing or it isn't, depending on the cards.

The heroes/fellowship become such beasts with the right cards too, most notably Gandalf. Getting him to become the White Wixard is a fun mini-goal to get that precious extra die.

I also love how players have to tip-toe to not 'awaken' certain factions too early.

And i totally loved how unbalanced the game was at first. Really hard to win as the free peoples. I like that built-in handicap.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #280303 24 Aug 2018 14:47
War of the Ring is the kind of game I’m glad I committed to learning when I did. There’s no way in hell I’d ever commit to learning a game like it nowadays, and for as much of a mess (needlessly so, I might add), I can still enjoy it now because I know it so well. It was the first game that I really dug in and said I was going to learn how to play correctly, like how ASL or 2nd edition Arkham Horror fantatics do with those games.

All this being said, I haven’t played it in awhile, and I’m okay with that. I’m a rare case of someone who got the chance to play it all the time. It was the go to for Repo and I when we started hanging out together and I used to have a downstairs neighbor who was really into when I lived in my apartment. I need to give it a very long break. I’ll come back to it someday and I’m sure it will be just as exciting as I remember. It’s a great game.

In the meantime, Star Wars Rebellion (with the _excellent_ expansion) fits that niche of an IP I love with all the “what if” scenarios that can play out, without any of the convoluted, poorly written rules we’ve come to expect out of Nexus/Ares.
Msample's Avatar
Msample replied the topic: #280304 24 Aug 2018 15:16

Shellhead wrote: I have never played War of the Ring, at least not the edition under discussion here. I did play the original by SPI, and that was a messy and overly complicated game that has deservedly been forgotten. However, there was another SPI game from that time (Freedom in the Galaxy) with a very similar design that was brought back in modern times as Star Wars: Rebellion.

Anyway, while I haven't played War of the Ring 2nd edition, I watched a full game of it. It didn't impress me. The components were a failure from a practical standpoint. The minis were usually too big for the map spaces, and the small cards appeared to be using a 4 pt font that I couldn't read. The game tried so hard to follow the books that the game was essentially scripted, which left players with an inconsequential number of meaningful decisions to make. And it was a long game, which magnified all the other shortcomings.



It sounds like you played the first edition, which had the smaller format cards.

The second edition has the tarot sized cards, as well as holding boxes for larger armies as well as defenders hiding out in besieged fortresses. This pretty eliminated the stacking/congestion issue. I've played OCS Enemy at the Gates; any whining about stacking pales in comparison to that game around Stalingrad.

I do agree with others that today the game would probably have a somewhat harder time gaining traction amidst the onslaught of Cult of the New, but the IP is certainly compelling to fight the tide. Star Wars Rebellion seems to be holding up well in this regard and the strategy discussion in the BGG forum is not dissimilar to those that took place when WotR first came out.

Play time does come down somewhat dramatically once you get the hang of the game. I got in three games at WBC and none came in over three hours. For me that playing time is not out of line considering the game play. If you're read the books, nothing card event wise should come as a huge shock for the most part.

I think mechanically the Hunt mechanic for hiding the Fellowship is brilliant and prevents the perfect knowledge that hamstrung play in the SPI game where the end game was just a pile of Nazgul waiting on Mt Doom. In this game, you can often replicate the Fellowship staggering up the slopes of Mt Doom while some citadel is being attacked by the Witch King.
Black Barney's Avatar
Black Barney replied the topic: #280305 24 Aug 2018 15:20
I always saw the clumsiness of the massive piles of dudes as an actual plus to the game. When Mordor FULLY musters and they start pouring out of the black gate towards Osgiliath and beyond... it is an amazing look to the map on how much doom is coming towards Gondor. Can they hold out long enough to give the fellowship a real shot at dunking the ring? I just love the visual of all those little figures massing in that area. It's terrifying.

And I like how everyone always knocks down the tall Nazgul figures by accident whenever they want to move anything at all on the board.
Gary Sax's Avatar
Gary Sax replied the topic: #280309 24 Aug 2018 16:00

Msample wrote: I do agree with others that today the game would probably have a somewhat harder time gaining traction amidst the onslaught of Cult of the New, but the IP is certainly compelling to fight the tide. Star Wars Rebellion seems to be holding up well in this regard and the strategy discussion in the BGG forum is not dissimilar to those that took place when WotR first came out.


This brings up a really good point. One of my big fears with all the huge (I mean playtime and contentwise) games coming out these days is that you might get the game, play 3 times... and realize the game hasn't really been designed for the long haul and is pretty shallow. It's a distinct problem with seeing these kickstarters, who knows if they really designed the thing all the way out or they knew that people are only likely to play it at most 1-2 times and take all the minis out of the box and go "oooooh."

By contrast, War of the Ring came out at a time when there weren't many of these types of games and there had been a lot of other people grinding through a lot of games of it.
DarthJoJo's Avatar
DarthJoJo replied the topic: #280310 24 Aug 2018 16:24
So I picked up my first edition in a trade with the Battles of the Third Age expansion. I’ve played most of one core game, but any thoughts on the new units and armies or Helm’s Deep and Minas Tirith scenarios?
Michael Barnes's Avatar
Michael Barnes replied the topic: #280315 24 Aug 2018 17:02
I played first edition a lot. In fact, I had one of the first copies of the game in the US- my editor at Games International knew some people and pulled some strings.

I loved the game, and I think it is still one of the best big scale DOAM games. But I have utterly no desire to ever play it again. The themes I want from a LOTR game are in the Knizia one, not this one.

I remember thinking even at the time “wow, this is like a GMT war game but with LOTR artwork”...it is a very complicated game. Totally agree that it would have trouble finding traction today.
dysjunct's Avatar
dysjunct replied the topic: #280319 24 Aug 2018 17:23
I think it’s one of the greatest games from the 2nd-wave of classic AT, but yeah, too long, quirky, and limited to get table time these days. Glad I played it though.
Frohike's Avatar
Frohike replied the topic: #280320 24 Aug 2018 17:45
Now that asymmetry is the hot new thing, it's interesting to look back on a design that experimented with this but not purely in the way of mechanisms. There are certainly differences in this respect on both sides but I actually think the asymmetrical tempo on either side (and its thematic tie-in) is what makes this special for me. The Free Peoples are handling two fronts with the Fellowship striking out quickly, then gradually slowing to a crawl once they hit Mordor, while the rest of Middle Earth is slow to react and gradually becomes a juggernaut as each race "awakens" in reaction to the Shadow's aggression. On the other side, the Shadow is poised to flood the board and crush FP cities but has to deal with traversal issues, and his/her Hunt actions against the Fellowship begins to compress and accelerate once they hit the Mordor track (the opposite of the tempo that the FP player experiences). It's really pretty damned brilliant.

Also, in light of todays one-and-done climate, I think it's telling that the SUSD folks picked this one up and really enjoyed it, even going so far as to say that it outclasses SW: Rebellion.

If it weren't strictly two-player, I'd venture to say that anyone cutting their teeth on Root could look to this one as another step down the rabbit hole (or COIN but that seems like a pretty big jump).

I picked up the Anniversary edition awhile ago, not because I'm a collector but because I honestly think I'll still play this with my kids when they visit as adults, or maybe even with the grandkids. It's still thematically beautiful and a joy to play and I don't expect that to change.
Jackwraith's Avatar
Jackwraith replied the topic: #280323 24 Aug 2018 17:55
Still own it (and the Battles of the Third Age expansion.) Still love it. Like many have already mentioned, it was one of the first AT-style board games that I really got into and which started me down the path back into serious boardgaming. I haven't played in years, but I could still see myself pulling it out for a game with my regular 2-player partner or with someone who really appreciates the theme. Like Frohike said, the design and asymmetry of the two sides is actually pretty amazing for the time in which it was released. I'll never part with it, even if it is a shelf toad.
repoman's Avatar
repoman replied the topic: #280326 24 Aug 2018 18:10
"I never played it but I think it sucks."

Did somebody actually say that and not get laughed out of the room?

Listen you whiny bastards. This game is great. It was great. It is great. It will be great. Certainly the best Lord of the Rings game ever made.

Knizia? Gimme a damn break. Might as well say how Stratego really captures the themes of the Napoleonic Wars.

It's got a long play time? Oh lets jump up on a chair and lift our skirt hems as we shriek in terror. Ya know what has a long play time and is all the rage? Any one of a ton of crap in a box games rolling off the kickstarter treadmill. OMG...Gloomhaven is a freakin modern classic! People will still be talking about it next week!

Bah! I spiritually flip all your tables and storm out the door.
SaMoKo's Avatar
SaMoKo replied the topic: #280336 24 Aug 2018 20:15
Just mentioned in the game thread I want to pull this out again soon, so yup! I still play it.

It’s probably worse in most ways than Twilight Struggle. It’s clunkier, less balanced, and there are more fiddle rules and moving pieces. It’s like comparing Claustrophobia to Mutant Chronicles.

At the end of the day, blasting a mutant apart with my Buhaus dudes gives me the same feeling of fullness this game does in comparison to the more elegant newer games; the swingy battles, tide turning card flips, chrome, and fiddle bits allow for almost unlimited potential. In one game, Isengard and the Ents may be key, in another, the focus is on a previously unimportant side of the board. Twilight Struggle has this, but a shriveled and ghastly Gollum like comparison; interesting in its own right, but a pale shadow of the giant metal-as-fuck wizard who is the real master of the ring.

This game is a damn masterpiece of Trash which combines unwieldy unlimited potential with an actually sensible system.
san il defanso's Avatar
san il defanso replied the topic: #280339 24 Aug 2018 21:02
This was my first game when I started to take chances on larger more complex Ameritrash. I played several times, and I did enjoy it. But it was petty complicated for my Euro brain, and I was routinely boggled by its weirdly written rules. It eventually was moved on.

I played the revised version with a friend years later and really enjoyed it. I almost wish I still had it, but like many long two-player games, it would never get played.

I think what I really want in a Tolkien game is similar to Barnes, less focused on war and more on characters. That's not to say this isn't a good representation of the source material, but it's not a genre I like as much.
KingPut's Avatar
KingPut replied the topic: #280341 24 Aug 2018 21:16

repoman wrote: "I never played it but I think it sucks."

Did somebody actually say that and not get laughed out of the room?

Listen you whiny bastards. This game is great. It was great. It is great. It will be great. Certainly the best Lord of the Rings game ever made.

Knizia? Gimme a damn break. Might as well say how Stratego really captures the themes of the Napoleonic Wars.

It's got a long play time? Oh lets jump up on a chair and lift our skirt hems as we shriek in terror. Ya know what has a long play time and is all the rage? Any one of a ton of crap in a box games rolling off the kickstarter treadmill. OMG...Gloomhaven is a freakin modern classic! People will still be talking about it next week!

Bah! I spiritually flip all your tables and storm out the door.


Thank Fraking god somebody has some gaming balls on this site. I was about ready to delete my account until I read Repoman’s post.
Chaz's Avatar
Chaz replied the topic: #280343 24 Aug 2018 23:33
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.
ChristopherMD's Avatar
ChristopherMD replied the topic: #280344 24 Aug 2018 23:34
I'll still happily play this and it's not leaving my collection anytime soon.

I'm also a little shocked people are complaining about a 3 hour game. This is an epic game based on an epic story. It deserves and is worth that time.
Gary Sax's Avatar
Gary Sax replied the topic: #280348 25 Aug 2018 06:47
Yeah, length isn't something that sticks out about this game as notable, to me.
Black Barney's Avatar
Black Barney replied the topic: #280351 25 Aug 2018 09:32
Same here, I despise long games and War of the Ring has never felt long to me , ever.

Return of the King feels long though
southernman's Avatar
southernman replied the topic: #280391 25 Aug 2018 16:11
First, Shellie why did you not mention you had no tickets. I was looked it up online when you mentioned you were going and saw you had to reserve tickets to see it and since I didn't know when you were going I didn't bother anymore - I could have booked tickets for everyone and come and met up ...then you would have been the second one in your family I met up with in Oxford because ......

I played KingPut in a game of WotR in the bar of his Oxford hotel half a dozen or so years ago in the first Intercontinental FatDome.

How's that for hooking up WotR, Oxford and the Put clan in one post ;-)


Anyway I had first edition when it came out and liked playing it but probably the crowded board, the not great rulebook, and small cards and possibly lack of interested opponents (oh, and some shit going on in my life) meant it didn't connect that well and I sold it on.
I then bought 2E when it came out after hearing about the improvements and getting a second wind for it again and have never regretted it. It doesn't get out that often as most of my gaming days there are more than two and when I do have two I have a good selection of games to rotate through, but when it is out it is appreciated - length is not an issue as the game usually gets so intense time goes un-noticed and the asymmetrical design of the game with a feeling of hopelessness for one and the stress of ocnquering Middle Earth quick enough is necessary and done well.
This is a game that will be one of the last I sell when the time comes to move on a bit from this hobby.
Ken B.'s Avatar
Ken B. replied the topic: #280453 27 Aug 2018 12:52
I will love this game, probably forever. Even if I became a monk, my little tiny dwelling would have a copy of this game under the bed.

I have not played it in a few years now, mostly because the opportunity has not arisen.

But, I respect the game design and thematic elements so very much. And I will gladly play it again when that chance arises. Because it's that damned good.
Black Barney's Avatar
Black Barney replied the topic: #280456 27 Aug 2018 13:02
even before coming to this site, I remember Ken B talking about War of the Ring and Queen's Gambit all the time
Ken B.'s Avatar
Ken B. replied the topic: #280457 27 Aug 2018 13:06

Black Barney wrote: even before coming to this site, I remember Ken B talking about War of the Ring and Queen's Gambit all the time



Yah man I found those games when I was still on Decktech back in the day. They're still in my collection and they ain't goin' NOWEHERE baby.

They feel like kissing cousins, to be fair, and are some of the best treatments of their respective IPs ever.