War of the Ring – Lords of Middle Earth
Expansion of: War of the Ring (Second Edition)With Lords of Middle-earth, the first expansion for the War of the Ring Second Edition board game, players may explore these possibilities, together with many other ones, to create fresh gaming opportunities and new strategies. Important personalities, previously featured in the game only through Event Cards, are represented by specific figures and rules. New Characters include Elrond, Galadriel, Smeagol, Gothmog and the powerful Balrog of Moria, as well as alternate versions of Gandalf, the Witch-king and the Mouth of Sauron.
180m
2 - 4 Players
Ages 13+
bigmac33070
The big box expansion for WOTR 2nd edition adds a lot of cool new stuff to the game. It also adds extra complications. Here are the good and bad of it, in my opinion: New dice and character cards: This is awesome! You get extra dice for Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel. The bad guys get a Balrog and a Gothmog die. These are all characters now as well. The dice for the Free Peoples do the same kind of stuff but there is always a chance you can roll an Eye, which adds it to the Hunt box and removes it from the game at the end of a round. The Balrog die is neat because it has a side that can activate him. Then, he can move around the board attacking armies, etc. But be careful! The Free peoples can banish him if he is out of Moria with a Will of the West die. New Elven Ring abilities: Mehhhh. These give extra abilities to the rings if Elrond, Galadriel and/or Gandalf the Grey are in play. These powers are mediocre at best. Best to use them for their change any die result, IMO. New Event Cards: Some of these are fun. One card lets the bad guys activate the Balrog without the die. There also seems to be many new cards for the Free Peoples that let them get more units out. That is extremely important. New Fellowship companion cards: Another big plus. Each companion in the Fellowship has a new card that gives all new abilities. You can mix and match these as you like. Another cool thing with the Fellowship is that you can start the game with some companions out of the Fellowship in their home regions. Makes it easier to get the races activated and ready for war. There is also a Sméagol card. He automatically becomes the guide of the Fellowship if his tile is drawn when a Hunt for the Ring occurs. Didn't happen in my game, so I can't comment on how good he is. So, this is good. It isn't essential by any means. But, if you are a fan of the game (like me!), you should have this.
bdeink
Thematically, this expansion works great, but after several plays and much thinking, I have reached the conclusion that [i][thing=115746]War of the Ring[/thing][/i] works better for me without the inclusion of the [i]Lords of Middle-earth[/i]. I have reached the same conclusion about the [i][thing=179404]Warriors of Middle-earth[/thing][/i], but with that expansion, I have no personal experience on which to base my opinion, apart from what I have read and seen from others.
acegravity
This expansion slips seamlessly into the base game. This is a must-buy for anyone who enjoys War of the Ring and can handle a few new rules.