ames Workshop's The Lord of the Rings translates the first of the trilogy's movies into a strategy game featuring the Fellowship in their battle against the forces of Sauron.
Drawing from their experience with their legendary Warhammer and Warhammer 40k games, Games Workshop has created a tabletop game that falls somewhere between the massive scale of a wargame and the small battles common in role-playing games.
The game features the grunts of Tolkien's universe—orcs, humans and elves—as well as the champions of good and evil, including the elven archer Legolas, the ringwraiths, the noble ranger Aragorn and—of course—the hobbits. Each unit is represented by a handful of statistics, including movement, combat prowess, defensive ability, courage and wounds they can suffer. Heroes and villains are differentiated from average characters by three additional characteristics: Might, Will and Fate. Might allows characters to modify die rolls up or down, Will powers and helps resist magical effects, and Fate allows them to avoid deadly wounds. The game's play surfaces can range from mundane tabletops to custom-made terrain, and the rulebook includes advice on how to create the latter.
Combat is resolved in two ways. With ranged weapons like bows, characters have a shoot score and need to roll that number or higher on a d6. In hand-to-hand combat, fights are resolved by rolling opposing dice—units with more attacks get to roll more dice. Whoever rolls higher wins the fight, pushes back their enemy and has the chance of inflicting a wound. Magic also plays a part, with wizards like Gandalf being able to turn the tide of a battle with a few well-chosen spell effects. The game is
designed for two players, but more can be added by dividing up responsibility for managing units.
The rules governing the combat are divided into basic and advanced sections. The basic rules ignore advanced concepts like magic and courage in favor of getting people playing as quickly as possible. Games can be played based on scenarios included with the rule book, or using the game's point-buy system. The latter assigns a point value to each unit, and players determine how many points their armies will be worth.
The core game includes a rule book and plastic figurines for 24 Moria goblins, 16 elves and eight men of Gondor. Expansion sets feature pewter figurines for special characters like the Fellowship, the ringwraiths and even the fearsome balrog.
Great miniatures, but average gameplay
The Lord of the Rings trilogy encompasses the extremes of combat, from individual fights to massive armies. The challenge in a strategy game like LOTR is to offer large-scale combats while still retaining the special abilities and larger-than-life characteristics of the heroes.
The Fellowship of the Ring game does this very well, with a balanced skirmish-level game that gives the "evil" player dozens of units to control while leaving the "good" side with a few powerful units. At first glance, Legolas' hailstorm of arrows and Aragorn's impressive combat abilities would seem overwhelming to the enemy, but they are balanced by the requirements of the game's scenarios, most of which involve keeping the far weaker hobbits alive. Future expansions based on The Two Towers and The Return of the King are planned that will include more rules for larger-sized combats and siege weapons. The miniatures—be they plastic or pewter—are a high point of the game. They are beautifully crafted, mimic the artistic style of the movies and are comparably priced to other minis on the market.
The game is meant to be an introduction to wargaming, and it does a fairly good job of it. The focus is getting people playing, not obsessing about the rules, and for the most part, it's successful: gameplay is fast and true to the source material. However, the rush to get people playing does create some confusion, particularly in the differences between how ranged and melee attacks are resolved—it would be easier and quicker if both used the same mechanic. Resolving what happens when a unit loses a battle is also confusing—units are supposed to retreat, and if they can't, they become trapped. But how trapped figures are supposed to be moved after the combat isn't adequately explained.
Misinterpretations of the rules on the part of newbies are probably to blame, and a simple FAQ posted to the Games Workshop site would have gone a long way toward clearing them up. Unfortunately, one wasn't available, but Games Workshop does host online forums where gamers can post their questions.
Rule confusion aside, the game shines in its coverage of the inner depths of the hobby, including figurine painting and terrain construction. The rule book offers detailed advice on both, something long-time gamers who've wanted to paint their minis or build their own battlefields—but couldn't
figure out how—should appreciate.
The game should prove popular with wargamers, and is good for those looking for an introduction to the hobby. People more into role-playing games may find the game less appealing, but will find checking out the miniatures well worth their while.
— Kenneth
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