Right after the final The Lord of the Rings movie was released a few years ago, a series of board games were released that followed the progression of each movie in a different board game. At the time I was very interested in all sorts of different games and very into The Lord of the Rings. The back of each box for each game showed all of the pieces, as usual, but also showed the unique board system that included three dimensional mountains and towers for the pieces to climb.
Alas, the game went out of print while I was away on business, and I was never able to play it.
Until last week when I managed to find all three games at my local used bookstore (I love those places). So far I’ve played The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Each player can move any of the many characters in the game. Every few places a card is flipped up for the character that crossed it. Additional boards and characters are added as the game progresses. The game is very straight forward with little strategy.
And that’s really the biggest problem. As the characters are moved around the maps of Middle Earth, things just happen to them. There is little control over what happens or who it happens to. There are also little consequences when these things happen. It is very difficult to gain points on purpose, so the winner is decided almost entirely by luck.
I played once with my friends. There were mixed reviews from them, but mostly negative. I played again with my sons, and they enjoyed playing one of the grown up games. I didn’t get the games that I was expecting, but they should be fun for the kids for a little while before they get too much older.