Total Plays: 20 solo, 1 cooperativeI have tried so hard to love this game. I've only been a board game geek for two and a half years, but I was born and raised a Tolkien nerd. My parents didn't quite give me the middle name Gimli, but we loved the books and then (most) of the movies when they came out. A Lord of the Rings game that I could play solo? It was like a dream come true. At least, it was a dream that I tried to make come true. Did I succeed?
Lord of the Rings is a living card game and so there area a zillion expansions you can. I'm playing with the following:
- base set (duh)
- Return to Mirkwood
- Across the Ettenmoors
- Khazad-dum
- Shadow and Flame
- The Long Dark
- The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill
- The Hobbit: On the Doorstep
So yes, I have sunk (too) much money into this game. Although you can get some great deals on this (and other Fantasy Flight Games stuff) at www.bookdepository.com.
I bought this game off Kijiji a last year, tried playing it for a few months, then sold it. I just could not get into it. I asked a few questions and read some articles on www.boardgamegeek.com and decided to switch from playing single handed (one party of heroes with one deck) to double handed (two parties of heroes with two decks). This significantly increased my enjoyment of the game (after I picked up another copy from Kijiji) and so I have been slowly adding dwarf-focused expansions to my collection.
Lord of the Rings is a deck construction game. This type of mechanic requires you to build your deck before beginning play (think Magic: The Gathering). This is different from a deck building game where you build and change your deck during play. I prefer the latter over the former.
You begin with 1-3 heroes and a deck filled with allies, equipment, and events. You use these to help you accomplish the mission set before you by the quest cards and defeat the enemies and obstacles in the encounter deck. About half of your time is spent questing (each character has a questing stat) to progress through the different locations and the other half is spent fighting (each character has health, defense, and attack stats). Once all the question requirements are complete, you have won!
That's how it's played, here's how I feel about it.
COMPONENTS
I LOVE the art in this game. Seriously, I could just sit and look at the cards and read the flavour text for hours. The art is gritty, dark, and realistic. I don't know if I can fully explain it but it just feels right. Doesn't capture the quirkiness of The Hobbit but is probably closer to Lord of the Rings. The components are all good as well, except I feel like I hate "tapping" cards. I never have a big enough table to tap everything, so I just place a token on them to show that they're exhausted. But, I don't know if that really applies here or not. Cards are good quality and stand up to play. 5/5
RULES
Ok, the rules are not great. I know that more complex and deep games have complex and deep rules, but I've played this game quite a lot and I know that I do a lot of things wrong still. It's easier to follow all of the rules when you play one handed, but then I find it too hard/not fun enough. Having two decks gives you a lot more to do but then it is very difficult to keep track of what's going on. The rulebook isn't bad, better than others, with a glossary of key terms and step-by-step section of gameplay. But seriously, there is a lot going on and doing things in the right order (e.g. when to play certain cards) makes a big difference. 3/5
GAMEPLAY
I read an article a month or two ago that sort of explained what I don't like about the gameplay in Lord of the Rings. During battle, if a character is used to defend, they can't attack as well (unless you have special cards that let you ready exhausted characters). This doesn't FEEL right in Lord of the Rings. You want to be Gimli or Thorin and block the big hit and then be able to attack right back, but you can't. It takes away from some of the thematic feel of the game. I also feel like the questing is missing something. You exhaust your characters and use their questing ability and see how it stacks up against new and old cards in the staging area. Progress tokens are placed on the currently location or quest card and help you progress in the quest. It just falls flat a little bit for me. I must admit, though, that I have greatly enjoyed building up a dwarven horde and smashing through the missions, questing and fighting the crap out of everything in my path. Some missions, however, that restrict the number of allies you bring in are very difficult for my decks (i.e. Escape from Dol Goldur). 3/5
REPLAYABILITY
If you spend $1000+ and buy every single expansion, then you will have a lot of replayability. You'll have more quests and cards than you could possibly use. And you could play them all in a variety of ways with a variety of decks. The base game does come with a decent amount of cards to make your decks a few different ways and attack the three quests in different ways. It definitely picked up for me when I had added a few expansions, especially The Hobbit saga expansions which made you feel like you were more a part of the books/movies and helped me get into the theme a little bit more. So, lots of replayability, but you have to pay if you want it all. 4/5
FUN
Sigh. I really want this game to be so fun, but usually it isn't. I really didn't enjoy it with just the base game, the expansions have increased the enjoyability as I already mentioned. My last play felt "meh," although the handful of plays before that actually felt pretty good. Maybe it's just because I played it this time with a more critical eye and right after playing some of my favourite games. This game is still fun, and a lot of that is because I'm a Tolkienaholic and just can't get enough. If this were a different theme, I probably wouldn't own it. But I do still have fun playing it. 7/10
TOTAL SCORE: 22/30
Sorry, it's not you, it's me. I really want to love you, but I only like you. Can we still be friends?
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