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Flashback Friday - War of the Ring - Love it or Hate It? Do you Still Play It?

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28 Aug 2018 01:29 #280472 by SuperflyPete
Love it. Sold it because we have 0.0000% chance of playing it.
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28 Aug 2018 01:54 #280473 by Frohike
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28 Aug 2018 12:04 #280494 by waddball
I still love the game, but only play it once, maybe twice a year if lucky. My youngest daughter is into nearly all things LOTR (esp. the movies, ugh), and she picked it up pretty well (she's 16 now but first played this at...13 or 14).

I don't think it's flawless. I'm less and less a fan of Hunt shenanigans, akin to Anakin's track in Queen's Gambit, where sometimes you really wonder why you bothered with the rest of the game. I increasingly dread the rules refresh, and there are some clunky things (Level vs Leadership and separating companions always trips me).

But overall, it's still playable, and is the definitive "high-level" LOTR game for me. My daughters and I also love Knizia's LOTR and have played it much more (so simple and yes, thematic).
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28 Aug 2018 13:03 #280507 by Gary Sax
To me, a couple times a year on a big game completely justifies its existence in the collection.
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29 Aug 2018 09:46 #280605 by JoelCFC25
I own both the 1st and 2nd Edition, which is not something I would ever dream of doing, ordinarily--but I talked myself into wanting the dramatically improved (art and function) map, the better Nazgul minis, the bigger cards, etc before it suddenly went out of print forever.

It's still a game I play and will readily do so any time, any place. WOTR is firmly ensconced on my Mount Rushmore and I have a hard time imagining what set of circumstances would dislodge it.
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29 Aug 2018 10:06 #280610 by Black Barney
I actually bought it once as a wedding gift for a gaming couple. True story.

...they played it once :(
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29 Aug 2018 11:05 #280615 by Ken B.

JoelCFC25 wrote: I own both the 1st and 2nd Edition, which is not something I would ever dream of doing, ordinarily--but I talked myself into wanting the dramatically improved (art and function) map, the better Nazgul minis, the bigger cards, etc before it suddenly went out of print forever.

It's still a game I play and will readily do so any time, any place. WOTR is firmly ensconced on my Mount Rushmore and I have a hard time imagining what set of circumstances would dislodge it.



I have both 1st and 2nd edition as well. The luxury of having both is that you can take the necessary minis from 1st edition, couple it with Battles of the Third Age 1st edition, and have two fully playable games there without worrying about disrupting your main copy or having to move miniatures back and forth. Pretty sweet.

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29 Aug 2018 11:27 - 29 Aug 2018 11:28 #280618 by Black Barney
Ken B has 2 copies of War of the Ring.
Joel has 2 copies of War of the Ring.
Barney has 0 copies of War of the Ring.


...i'm not Socialist but...

Last edit: 29 Aug 2018 11:28 by Black Barney.
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13 Sep 2018 03:05 #281521 by ModelVillain
Love it. Played the hell out of 1st edition w/ BotTA, and was fortunate to preorder a Collector's edition, which is what I play with now whenever hosting a game. CE is by far the crowning gem in my game library, in substance and regard -- for a Tolkein enthusiast and gamer, this is it. Few other games in my collection are as narratively rich, yet offer a fictional sandbox via wargame with as many what-if options.

This is a game with the kind of sheer gravity that has actually pulled several of my friends into gaming altogether!

I agree with the comments about Kickstarters - the more I play, the more I realize that despite the chrome they appear weakly playtested or designed with replay/mastery in mind. With WotR, it has worn well after scores of games, and seems to keep rewarding repeat play -- I'm glad I have the opportunity to play a least a few times a year. It's become something of a sacred gaming ritual among distant friends, whenever we manage get together.

In terms of the heavier-weight "new classics" this is numero uno in my book.
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13 Sep 2018 10:18 #281528 by jpat
I have the Anniversary (after having sold the standard 2e), and I wish I'd played it more. Maybe I'll put that on the vacation list for when I'm off from work in a couple of weeks (I hope). I taught it to my wife, but she was ill at the time, so it didn't mesh very well. Honestly, I knew the AE would be more to consider than to play, but the painted figures and differentiated bases do help actually facilitate gameplay, which is partly how I justified it. I do feel like I have to relearn a bulky set of rules each time, though, as others have said, which is one thing that makes it more like an annual thing instead of a more frequent thing (though obviously there's a bit of chicken-and-egg going on).
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13 Sep 2018 11:31 #281532 by Jackwraith
So, someone educate me (Bonus round: Who remembers what cartoon film had the line: "I'm'a get me some edjimication!"?)

What differences are there between the original game (which I have) and the Revised and/or Collector's editions? Is the latter all cosmetic? Does the revised edition change the way the game plays? I've played an assload (HT: Master Shake) of War of the Ring, but despite owning the expansion, have never played with it. I've also never played revised, so I don't know what it's actual impact was. Thanks for any feedback.

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13 Sep 2018 15:35 #281557 by Black Barney
Original game heavily favours the Shadow player, which i LOVE. The fellowship shouldn't have a coin-flip shot at dunking the ring and winning. it's a MONUMENTAL feat for the free people to win here. So when they do manage to win, it FEELS big. yeah, I guess that sucks for people that want a fair match, but I actually prefer this. It's a great handicap so that the lessor player can play as the Shadow player and have a better shot at winning.

But moreover, it just makes it even MORE thematic when freeps win.

I've always liked imbalances in games, I don't know why.
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13 Sep 2018 16:39 #281564 by Jackwraith
That was always my impression. If the Shadow player played it like a straight up wargame and the Free People player played it like an adventure game, it was almost always a win for the Shadow. The FP just couldn't compete with the horde in multiple locations. I never lost as Shadow and only won a couple times as the FP.

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13 Sep 2018 22:01 #281573 by Black Barney
Yeah as the freeps you gotta play the delay and distraction game as much as possible to buy Frodo some time. You get aggressive and you’re finished unless the shadow player is a real dummy

You can play the beginner version like a straight up wargame though, it’s fun

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12 Jan 2020 19:14 #306071 by Road Judge
I still play it and love it. Got second edition and expansions for Christmas and played it over Christmas break. Like the larger cards! Much easier to read.

I still have the 1st edition plus Battles expansion. We actually played the two battles from the expansion more than base game and I decided to get new edition to play WoTR again and really enjoyed it. I l like the new non-tippy Nazgul and some updates to Gandalf's character card especially. The battle dice (you only get white dice...no black) I dislike. But my son and I just grab our own d 6s and use those. The board is much easier to see the different regions and overall easier to read than first edition. As "art" I prefer the first edition board though

We own Battle of Five armies too so between WoTR, the battles expansion and BoFA, we play them all a couple times a year.
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