War of the Ring – Warriors of Middle Earth
Expansion of: War of the Ring (Second Edition)Warriors of Middle-Earth, the new expansion for War of the Ring Second Edition, brings a whole new level of strategy to all players of the award-winning Lord of the Rings boardgame, with many fresh and exciting gameplay possibilities to explore.
2 - 4 Players
Ages 13+
CaptBackslap
This expansion adds a lot of extra hand management, fiddly mechanics (such as CCG-style card filtering), and needed table space, and just doesn't give a lot in return.
ajewo
This expansion adds six factions represented by mythical creates of Middle-earth. Each faction has its own set of rules and how it comes into play. When a faction enters play, a player also gains an additional faction die that can be used to recruit or play factions in play. There are new rules for each factions which are somehow similar. Overall, I find the new rules less overwhelming than the new rules/mechanics in the Lords of Middle-earth expansion because the new factions come out one by one instead all at once. The factions usually do not count as armies and act more like companions. They can be called to a battle if their conditions are met (usually based on the distance between the battlefield and the faction figures on the map). If factions take part in a battle, a player can draw corresponding faction battle cards and play them instead of normal event cards. The interaction with factions thus feels very indirect, mainly because the factions are not considered armies and they use a parallel game system movement and event card system (although, the Shadow factions travel along with armies like minions). In the base game, the factions were only represented by event cards without miniatures on the map, which was simple and fine. This expansion removes those event cards and adds a completely new faction event deck. The faction events depend on the location of the faction figures. Basically, you have now to consider the location of factions to play faction events. You also have to spend some time to built up and recruit faction figures to make use of them. While factions were only occasionally activated by event cards in the base game, they become an ongoing part with this expansion. In my opinion, this distracts too much from the core game. The most annoying new mechanic about this expansion is the additional faction deck with an additional hand limit of four faction cards. Firstly, the four cards add an additional mental load to the other six event cards in your hand. Secondly, the faction cards are designed in such a way that you constantly draw new ones to find the right one. If you apply a faction event at the right moment, you can do quite a lot of damage to an enemy army. There is little you can do to defend against factions, although, they are now part of the world map. I would recommend the Lords of Middle-earth expansion instead.
cradleofmilk
Doesn't add much complexity, but it certainly gives more options. Together with LoME, WoME creates a very open game. The pairs of Battle Cards bring some good bluffing to combats too. Definitely an hour longer when the first two expansions are included. After 4 games of WotR with LoME and WoME incorporated, I can say that I would probably prefer to play with only LoME added (or just the base game alone). But only by a little. I do like the factions. I like that the WoME Ents help keep Isengard in check, and that the SP has greater mobility options with the Corsairs. Eagles battling Nazgûl is great thematically. However, the game becomes a bit fiddly, sprawling, and unfocused. Will have to play without WoME and see if I miss it.