I am wondering whether to buy that game or not. i like the Lord of the rings theme very much with all the charatcers and so on. and i laso like the idea of two side playing against each other. i have middle earth quest at home but its not so good for me since i always have to play suroun and its really hard to defeat the "good player"

So can anyone tell me what's very good about this game and whats not so good, i mean what could be improved

And i would also liek to hear your opinion about the exnasion, is it worth buying, does it add a lot in this game i only know about two scenarios ( Helm's deep and Minas tirith) etc.

The game is worth buying with a couple of points to consider: Firstly, it is a war game. There are a lot of troops that start on the board, and a great deal of planning goes into a good game. Secondly, the rules for 3+ players may make the game boring for some players, because you'll have to wait through three other people thinking about moves.

I can't speak about the expansion, I've only got the base game (though, I intensely enjoy it).

good thx

War of the Ring is hands down, my favorite two-player game (I have never played the 3 or 4-player variants). The theme really comes through. Although there are some key strategies, no two games are ever the same because of the action dice and event cards. Some people are turned off because of the perceived length of setup and play. However, once you have a few games under your belt, the time is very reasonable.

The first game I played, neither me nor my opponent had played before. This game took about 6 hours, it was rife with mistakes, but very enjoyable. The length was due to looking through the rules, but mostly reading/interpreting the event cards. Our second game took half as long with considerably fewer rules errors. Our third game probably ran a similar length, with only a few noticeable mistakes, but was an absolute blast.

After about 6 or so sessions, our games run an average of 90 minutes, which includes 5 minutes of set up, and about the same to put everything away.

Tsugo said:

Yeah, there are some things you'll do every game, like move troops out of Mordor, or spend one muster die pushing Gondor towards At War, but the each game can be really different. I have a fond memory of actually getting the Last Battle card to work, and racing with the fellowship toward the finish line before the shadow player could find enough victory points.

Tsugo said:

Wow! That sounds like my first game with my son except we left it set up on the table for about 3 weeks and never finished it and unfortunately, never got it out again. You've just given me the encouragement I needed to try it out more. Thanks for that.

One other thing to add. After about a dozen or so plays, I managed to nab a copy of the expansion. It greatly adds to the overall game play (I'm only talking about the components that are added to the base game). The additions balance the game in favor of the free peoples player. Because it increases the options that both sides can make, the average game time now is about 2 hours. We still have some 60-90 minute blowouts and the occasional 3+ hour knockdown-dragouts, but they are all amazingly fun.

The expansion is currently out of print, but hopefully it will be back on the shelves at some point in the future.

War of the Ring is a great game but you have to consider several things if it meets your expectations and if you have the proper people to play with:

1) It's a war game: no trade, no real building/exlporation. The tactical options are more like which troops to move when, which cities/regions to attack, stealth approach or not (for the fellowship), do I hold back the attack in order to raise more troops etc

2) Its a two player game: the optional rules for 3 players don't really work. WotR is a solid two-players experience

3) It takes time: Especially if you don't play it regularly, the set-up takes time and you will spend time browsing the rules during the game. 6 hours is normal but that time can be reduced significantly when both players know the game very well.

4) It has a strong LotR-Theme (well thats obvious): people knowing all the Middel Earth books etc will love every event card and all the Tolkien lore found throughout the game. Players who lack the lore background and just want "to conquer" won't take that much delight from all the details.

5) I decided against the add-on because I play it not more than 1-2 per year and compexity and play time as it is in the basic game is sufficient for me.

6) in a nutshell: this game is overwhelmingly good but its a game for gaming geeks, not casual players.

Shelfwear said:

I agree with practically all the above - except to say that the expansion adds significantly to the base game and is definately worth getting. However play your first game or 2 without using the expansion elements.

I found the rule book to be a large hang up for me when starting out. I have read some pretty complex war game rules and figured them out much faster than I did with this one. I never felt they flowed through game play very well.

However there is a lot of material out there that will help get you going and I recommend reading through as many forums as you can in addition to the rules.

I really like using the dice for troop activation, it is a mechanic similar to the "chit pull" systems found in many war games.

I have found new players can catch on pretty quickly especially if they are fans of the books, and have played some simpler games like "Axis and Allies" and even "Risk".