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Author Topic: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?  (Read 1856 times)

Offline Warwhore

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Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« on: November 29, 2012, 03:39:07 AM »
I would like to get the forums opinion on this game. Thanks for posting! :::cheers:::
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Offline Michael W

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2012, 04:04:04 AM »
Seems like I've put my opinion in on this recently...but I'll try again.  :)

Short answer:  Yeah, it's decent.
Caveat:  If you don't have to buy an army at GW's current prices.

Longer Answer:
It's a fun game system, a few kinks to work out via house-rules but nothing bad.  Large-scale games can take quite a while, though, given that every model moves individually.  But there's less of the "roll this, then that, then this, then that...okay, you almost killed a guy" nonsense than in many other game systems.  It's strongest aspect is probably the way that heroes are more than just more powerful warriors - often the proper use of a character's Might or Will can be as important as loosing your arrows at the light cavalry instead of the heavy infantry.

That said, GW's prices on the current LotR range - particularly heroes - are so absurdly high that I wouldn't recommend starting to get into the game if you don't have access to a cheap army and rulebook.  For the price of a Lord of the Rings warband I could probably buy everything necessary to put on a game of SAGA for four friends.
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Offline oak_prince

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2012, 05:57:28 AM »
The War of the Rings mass-battle variant is good. You form your troops into companies represented by 4 X 2 units.

But yeah, definitely don't pay full price. There's a ton of stuff on Ebay and the like.
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Offline Delthos

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2012, 12:28:54 PM »
It is a good game.

The Strategy Battle Game (many people would call it a skirmish level game) really doesn't rely on your models fighting skills so much though. On the surface it looks like winning a combat is purely up to chance. To a certain extent that is true. It really depends on how well you can make use of heroic actions, magic, and your ability to get models into good positions.

The War of the Ring game is the mass battles version and is really what I was looking for when the Strategy Battle Game was released. It is pretty good from what I saw of the people playing it. It uses many of the same mechanics as the Strategy Battle Game, they just expanded it to use formed units.
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Offline Darknight

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2012, 12:57:47 PM »
I think it is one of the best things GW have ever released. It is a superb system which captures the feel of the movies and books perfectly.
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Offline Maza

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2012, 07:42:23 PM »
Really? I may be missing out on something, but I'm just not attracted to it. I think the themes and characters are so much tied into the particular narrative of the books (and movies). And it's something about just copying the aesthetics of the movies that feels a little flat. Or so.

Offline Darknight

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2012, 07:58:36 PM »
I have always been a HUGE Tolkien fan, though - and the movies were really exciting for me. The new Hobbit thing, meh. But the LotR movies were a real event, very exciting. I also used the game as a support for the Decipher LotR RPG (which is, without exception, the very best Middle Earth RPG bar none - perfectly captures the tone of the books), and there was a fantastic campaign I ran where my girlfriend of the time played Arwen Evenstar flawlessly.

So, there are personal reasons I might be biased :)
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Offline TexasYankee

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2012, 12:04:36 AM »
It's OK, I'm not going to bad-mouth it. Played two skirmish games between Lothlorien Elves and Moria Goblins, and it was fun. Not super awesome amazing fun, but fun. I'm personally biased towards it, because, for every hour they spend doing something for LOTR/Hobbit, is an hour they could be spending on Fantasy and updating army books from 2003.
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Offline Clarkarias

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2012, 06:53:58 PM »
Good or bad, I call it different.
I've never played the War of the Ring but I've had some fun times with the Battle Strategy game.  It's easy to fight single combats but can get very in depth with all of the little extras (banners and might especially).

Personally, I think the best Tolkien game put out by GW is the Battle of Five Armies.  That's a great game!
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Offline Paladin Commander

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #9 on: December 08, 2012, 09:42:45 AM »
I started my GW experiance with LOTR back in 2001. Ihave a large selection of various figures but am currently using 6 armies
: a 1,000pt Minas Tirith army
  a 1,000pt Mordor army
 a 750pt Grey Company army (namely Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and army of the Dead 16 models)
 a 750pt Harad army (with Mumakil)
 a 750pt High elf army
 a 750pt Moria goblin army

Overall it is a good game but could use some cleaning up of minor rules, mainly spells and line of sight. They should drop stupid spells like 'your staff is broken'. When I play I use the house rule that a person on a horse/warg cannot dismount at all (basically work like the fantasy cavalry). This cuts out on needing models for foot versions. I would also drop all the non movie/book related characters or warriors such as Isengard trolls and what not. They also have this irritating habit of writing in a models wargear "such and such carries a sword (hand weapon)' or "carries an axe (hand weapon)'. They should just say hand weapon!


I bought the War of the Ring book but never played a game (if I want to fight in formations I'll play fantasy)
 I do not know too much about the newer LOTR models like the newer ringwraiths (I personally prefer the non named versions but it doesn't really matter). I'm not so interested in the Hobbit stuff or the Hobbit movies, mainly because of all the hype around it which kind of killed it for me.

Offline Ludwig von Blucher

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #10 on: December 08, 2012, 08:58:01 PM »
I think it is one of the best things GW have ever released. It is a superb system which captures the feel of the movies and books perfectly.

I agree, it's the easiest to learn, the hardest to master, the exact positioning of each and every model is vital, really, really great game. Ebay is your friend!

(also check out if your GW has some of the 'old style' boxes. They've got 24 models in for about £18, much better value).

Offline Ludwig von Blucher

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Re: Is the Lord of the Rings game any good?
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2012, 09:01:13 PM »
ps, War of the Ring is in no way balanced, it's got the makings of a great game, but it really is shocking how broken it is. I must say though, I've got massive Galadhrim Elf and Rohan armies and the games I've had with them are the funnest games I've had in years. In short, great fun but don't take it seriously (unlike Strategy Battle)