And my app!

Video games and board games have different strengths. I have long been excited about FFG's attempts to get the best of both worlds with this hybrid model!

I finally got a chance to play Journeys in Middle Earth last night at my FLGS, and I have to say that I was very impressed. Setup was quite quick for how many pieces are involved, which meant we got into the action right away. And the action was very tense and fast-paced! Also, while I was skeptical of having to use the accompanying app, it really worked seamlessly and added more than I thought to the thematic mood of the game (it has music and sound effects if you want them on). The app also dramatically streamlines a lot of the tedious bookkeeping that can sometimes bog down the card game, which lets players focus on the game rather than keeping track of a million separate effects and statuses.

During our game, it felt the whole time that we were racing against the clock to complete the mission objectives, and there was real and constant tension between eliminating the enemies on the board and making progress toward the objectives. It definitely felt like we constantly had to make tough choices and determine how best to use our very limited resources.

There were some epic moments of success -- like when Legolas one-shotted two ambushing Brigands who had Beravor pinned down, freeing her to secure the penultimate objective or when Bilbo slipped his dagger under an Orc Captain's armor for the kill to save Aragorn -- as well as failure, such as when Legolas finally succumbed to a pack of hungry Wargs just shy of reaching the final objective.

I also really like the way that mission completion is handled. It's not a strict win/lose outcome, but rather there are gradations of success -- depending on how many objectives you complete -- that affect the next mission. Thus you don't generally waste an hour or two on a mission just to fail and have to run it over again before you can proceed to the next, AND choices you make in one mission have major effects on what happens in succeeding missions.

So, all in all, a very good experience and it seems like you get a really good value for the $100 price tag. I would definitely recommend!