Return To A Fantasy Flight Classic For The Lord Of The Rings
July 6, 2020 by brennon
Reiner Knizia's classic The Lord Of The Rings: The Board Game is coming back from Fantasy Flight Games soon. It might be an older game but it is getting a new lease of life with tweaks to the components!
The Lord Of The Rings Anniversary Edition // Fantasy Flight Games
At its core, The Lord Of The Rings: The Board Game is a cooperative affair where four players work through every step of the book series. You will rush through Moria against all the odds, battle at Helm's Deep, tackle Shelob's Lair and even make your way up the dangerous slopes of Mount Doom as you seek to destroy The One Ring.
Taking on the role of the Hobbits from the series, you'll meet familiar faces along the way and have to work out when best to use your resources and cards in order to push on and complete your journey. You can of course also draw on the power of The One Ring but that could bring threats knocking on your door.
The Lord Of The Rings Anniversary Edition Layout // Fantasy Flight Games
One of the biggest things about this Anniversary Edition of the game is that it comes with upgrade components. Mainly, this focuses in on the player pieces. Instead of cardboard standees, you've now got plastic miniatures with the dice and The One Ring itself also being tweaked too.
The Lord Of The Rings Anniversary Edition Upgrades // Fantasy Flight Games
The ominous Black Rider which symbolises the whims of Sauron is also crafted in plastic now and is a threatening force that will dog all of your adventures from The Shire onwards. As someone who loves The Lord Of The Rings, I could see myself snapping this up. Game design many have moved on from here now but I think Reiner Knizia might have sprinkled just enough magic on this to make it worth revisiting.
What do you think?
"I think Reiner Knizia might have sprinkled just enough magic on this to make it worth revisiting..."
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Never played the old game but saw it in other peoples cabinets… but then again same goes for risk and monopoly… is this game any good?
No, it is not.
So you don’t recommend playing the game @fightcitymayor
It’s a gateway Euro. Accessible to non-gamers, but, if you’re a wargamer, you probably want a game that’s less abstract.
The game is an extremely difficult to win type of game. You can see various reddit and forum posts where people are saying this is the game you play if you are happy to loose. If you do win it is just by a hair and with a single character to survive. I welcome this classic back and happy to put it back on the table this Xmas. I had it when I was in college but I was moving for a job and sold it off along with a bunch of confrontation miniatures because I only had so much… Read more »
Mmm I think my brother has the original game somewhere or something with the same art box cover I don’t remember ever playing the game.
This is ironic… the “original” version did have minis, though low quality:
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/407691/lord-rings
It was the more recent Fantasy Flight Silver Line cost-cutting editions that they reduced it to standees.
But I have to agree. 20 years ago and even up to about 10 years ago, the gameplay design was good and worth playing even if overly difficult, but these days, it’s not worth the effort.