Sauron the Great, the Dark Lord of Mordor, has returned to his ancient fastness of Barad-Dur. From there, his evil and corruption has spread once more across the lands. It is a dark time and despair weighs heavy over Middle-earth.

All is not lost though!

Gandalf the Grey, member of the White Council and Istari, has recruited brave heroes to aid him in his hunt for the creature Gollum, and his quest for the lost knowledge of Isildur’s Bane. Heroes, strong in arms and spirit, who will travel across the Lands of Middle-earth, even into the Land of Shadow itself to disrupt the schemes of Sauron.

Middle-earth Quest is set in the seventeen year period between Bilbo’s birthday party and the Ring’s departure from the Shire, as described in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings.

Middle-earth Quest gives players the ability to directly influence the previously unexplored events leading up to the great quest of the Fellowship and the War of the Ring.

Up to three heroes will work together to oppose the plans and minions of the Dark Lord. During their quests and travels they will have the chance to interact with such key figures as Gandalf, Aragorn, Denethor, and even Saruman, gaining them valuable favor and knowledge to help them in their struggle. Success for the heroes means that Gandalf will gain the knowledge he needs in time to set Frodo on the perilous path that will ultimately lead to the destruction of the One Ring and victory for the free peoples of Middle-earth.

One player will take on the role the Dark Lord Sauron himself! The Dark Lord will use all of his cunning to thwart the heroes at every turn in his campaign to dominate Middle-earth. He will use every recourse he can muster, from nefarious plots to his seemly endless hordes of minions to succeed. Victory for the Dark Lord means he has regained the One Ring before Gandalf was able learn what was necessary to set events in motion and have Frodo spirit the Ring away in time. Coming back into his full power Sauron will cast a darkness across the lands, from which no dawn will rise.

Freedom or domination, the fate of Middle-earth rests with you!

Middle-earth Quest includes:

• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Gameboard
• 5 Character cards
• Over 470 game cards
• More than 225 game tokens
• High-quality, fully detailed plastic playing pieces, including:
• 5 hero figures
• 5 minion figures

The coming weeks hold much in store, keep an eye on this space. More details can be found here .