War of the Rings Second Edition

This is the Second Edition of War of the Rings by Ares Games

Theme : In War of the Ring, Tolkien's Lord of th Rings is represented in epic style. Taking into account both the Ringbearers journey to destroy the One Ring and the Fellowship's battles to save the Free People, War of the Ring is a truly epic two-player recreation of Lord of the Rings. Players have multiple victory conditions in the game with constrained resources and the needs to do battle with the opponent on all fronts at the same time. There can only be one victor and the lives of all those in Middle Earth lie at stake. Are you up to the task?

Gameplay : In War of the Ring, players take on the role of either the Free People (Gondor, Rohan, the Elves, the North and the Dwarves) or the nations of the Shadow (Sauron, Saruman, and Southrons and Easterlings). Initially, the Free People Nations will not do battle against Sauron unless directly attacked or persuaded by Gandalf or other Companions - represented on the game board via a Political Track.

War of the Ring provides two paths to victory for each player - the Free People must either win 4 victory points worth of territory from the Shadow Nations or destroy the One Ring. The Shadow Nations need to corrupt the Ring Bearer or or capturing 10 Victory Points worth of territory.

Each game turn revolves around the roll of Action Dice; with each Action Dice dictating what a player may do during a turn. Additionally, the rolls on each Action Dice limit the players, though there are still multiple options available per roll. In addition, players will be able to gain additional Action Dice during the game, though never enough to fully develop both military and Quest tracks fully. As such, players must decide which track to aim to win through, but at the same time, must ensure the other players do not win by default in the other victory track. This gives the War of the Ring an incredible tension as play goes on.

Combat in the War of the Ring is very simple. A number of dice are rolled depending on the units available, with re-rolls from Leaders in the battle and bonuses from existing defences. Additionally, event cards can be used during combat to aid battle.

For the Ring bearer, his movement is hidden from the Shadow player. To reveal his location and to allow for corruption, the Shadow player must devote additional resources - Nazgul, event cards or Action Dice.

Overall, War of the Ring is an epic war game that combines Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novel with an array of interesting and fun rules. A definite game for the serious war-gamer or epic board gamer.