I have the Tower one with helms deep and the forest, does the other one break game?

If you have the extra player to play Sauron, then it's fantastic.

If not, then you can pass.

Playing as Sauron is great, especially when the others are discussing what they're going to do then suddenly realise that you're right there and are also listening in.

Seriously laughed at that. I love when my DnD players or Descent/Twilight players go into another room to talk strat.

I have only played the Sauron expansion a few times because of the 6 player minimum. This seems to be the biggest obstacle to getting that set out.

There are some components that can be used in a smaller game (resource tokens, new Gandalf cards, a few special rules)

Sauron does not break the game, but it does make it quite a bit harder.

Sam Gamgee said:

As the Sauron expansion moves this game from co-op to people against Sauron player, couldn't you just have 1 on 1 games, 1 plays Sauron, other plays multiple hobbits (depending on how easy/hard/experienced people are)? Thus it would work like Fury of Dracula (1 Dracula player, divide 4 hunters evenly among 1-4 other players). When playing Arkham Horror with a friend, we play 2 investigators each, in Doom I play Invader and he plays 2 Marines.

You could, i suppose. But you'd need to tweak the rules somehow as hand management for 5 hobbits would be brutal. Also, the Sauron player as about as much to do as 1 hobbit in any given turn. So I think you'd end up with one person playing 80% of the game and Sauron playing about 20%.

Sam Gamgee said:

How do you figure about hand management? I play solo with 2-4 hobbits, just keep the piles on top the each hobbit's character card. Similarly, does using Sauron require 5 hobbits? Sauron is the one expansion I don't yet have, so don't know that much about it, play balance, etc. As to the amount of stuff each player gets to do, say you play with 4 hobbits, doesn't the turn sequence go: Sauron-Frodo-Sauron-Sam-Sauron-Pippin-Sauron-Merry? Or do you mean that Sauron has very little to do at the beginning, while he is trying to get more cards, etc.?

The flow of the game is Hobbit 1 - Sauron - Hobbit 2 - Sauron - Hobbit 3 - Sauron, etc but Sauron is basically deciding whether or not to play a card, so his turn is passing very quickly for the most part. I wouldn't find it much fun to hand manage separate piles of cards for each hobbit, and 90% of the game for me is about not knowing exactly what's in each player's hand. The rules-as-written have Sauron as the 6th player, but I'm thiking of adding him in at 5 players (4 hobbits, 1 Sauron) just so we use the expansion a little more. If necessary, I'll give each hobbit an extra card or two. Hope this helps on your decision to purchase.

Wow. A month since I visited last - its been a while.

I think that the flair of the game is that all players work together and thats why I don´t have the sauron expansion.

Don´t get me wrong I like the idea of one player playing against a group like it is done in battlestar galactica or fury of dracula... but lord of the rings is already quite hard...

OldUrmel said:

After 30+ plays, can't really agree fully. Base can only mess you up if you have horrible luck. Base + F&F is very beatable with just 2 hobbits and Sauron at 12 (or even 10). Base + F&F + BF I've beaten with 3 hobbits. Only thing that I find really hard is Base + BF with 2 hobbits, even with Sauron at 15 it remains elusive. Of course, that's not helped by my regular 50+ % Sundial draws .

Haven't yet bought Sauron exp myself, just doesn't see it adding enough to justify the price.

Best expansion IMHO. You gotta love big bad villain Also John Howe artwork is stunning as usual.

regards

Well, someone bumped this, so I don't feel so guilty . Sauron is proving a tough nut to crack, though only 6 games done. Today, a perfect game until Mordor: Moria completed in 5 Event tiles, HD in 4, SL in 4, all with Events 0 of 6. Then Mordor, still looking very doable at the end, but Pippin puts on the ring and rolls the one result that doesn't finish the scenario: triple dot . Which means Sauron gets activated for the last space AND then on the ring-toss, rushing the Black Rider back to Mordor.