It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.
I explore some Lord of the Rings-themed games—as requested by Magician-level supporter Joseph Bromley!
If you sign up as a Magician-level supporter of the EOG, one of the special perks you’ll receive is the ability to choose the subject for a video three times a year. The excellent Joseph Bromley chose his first subject wisely, and here’s the video—a look at the Lord of the Rings-themed games in my collection!
It surprised me how many I had actually, and it was fun to look through this collection of games and realise that they are all really good and fun to play. So thankyou Joseph for your brilliant choice!
I hope you enjoy the video. And of course I’ve created rules summaries for all of these videos; you can find them here: Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings The Confrontation, The Lord of the Rings Card Game, The Battle of Five Armies, Hunt for the Ring, and of course War of the Ring. Enjoy!
Ha! I own that very edition of the trilogy, though it wasn’t my first (nor my last!). I adore its overall look and feel, especially the yellow spine, evocative illustration, and onion-skin pages. Thanks for sharing, Peter!
It is a great edition, and yes, there’s something special about those thin pages. Also, being in one book, I didn’t get that idea of the separation of three books in my head; it felt more like one huge epic. But mostly, I loved the mystery and excitement of it, back when there were so few visual interpretations of the world and the characters in mainstream popular culture.
Nice overview of the recent Tolkien-themed games out there for EOG players to try out. I too had some of the these games but unfortunately I have had to, sadly, down-size my collection – selling my copies of: War of the Ring (1st edition) and the expansion; Reiner Knizier’s The Lord of the Rings (co-op version) and all the expansions; Confrontation (both versions); The Search;
The Duel; LOTR Risk (two versions); the three LOTR games based on the films; Middle-earth Quest and two Hobbit board games.
Fortunately I still have a few left, notably: Hunt for the Ring; the two Hobbit dice-games by Cryptozoic Games; S.P.I.’s War of the Ring (with mounted boards); I.C.E.’s Fellowship of the Ring, Riddle of the Ring, The Hobbit (Adventure Board Game), The Lonely Mountain and The Battle of the Five Armies. It’s funny how, over the years, a few games turns into more than just a collection, particularly when you were introduced to Tolkien as a teenager in the late 1970’s, like yourself.
Green with envy with your collectors edition of FFG’s War of the Ring – still I don’t know where I’d store it if I purchased a copy anyway. Lovely collection of games though.
Best regards from an EOG follower from the UK…
So Jeff, how did you decide which games to keep and which games to sell?
It wasn’t easy that’s for sure. Many I’ve kept because of nostalgic reasons, particularly the S.P.I and I.C.E. games as they go way back (probably their time as games is over but it’s difficult to let them go yet awhile). The others I had to let go as they weren’t being played any more – including War of the Ring which also has a very large tabletop footprint. I actually had intended to get a copy of the 2nd edition with the larger ‘Tarot’ size cards but it was the board-size that finally put me off. ‘Hunt for the Ring’ still remains a favourite at the moment, as is ‘Letters from Whitechapel’ and ‘Scotland Yard’ and the Hobbit dice games from Cryptozoic games offer an abstracted solitaire puzzle-challenge (a little like ‘yahtzee’ perhaps).
I suppose the answer is to do what you can to try and keep all of your games but unfortunately that isn’t always possible. Regretfully, it’s sometimes best to move them on to another home where hopefully they can be enjoyed. Just don’t get me started on the 24+ Victory Point Games I’ve currently got….
Best wishes. Jeff…