HoodedHawk

Another great Board Game Group evening last night: War of the Ring. I really like this game – it follows the theme of the Lord of the Rings well, and the gameplay allows for narrative description as quoted below.

We had 4 interested so we played the “multiplayer” version; two of us played the Free People, and two played Shadow. I was on the Shadow side (again). This was the first time playing with 4 (usually I’ve played 2-player). I liked the cooperative aspect of two per side.

Great game, and it flew by. I had to leave the game early -about 3 hours in (I never do that; but I had to pick up some allergy meds for Olivia who was still up and miserable at 11:30). That is one other benefit to team play: the game didn’t have to end because I had to leave.

George sent me a recap of what happened after I left. I thought his overview was fantastic; he gave permission to post his recap below. Also, he has painted (most) of the figures used in the game – great job and it really adds to the aesthetic enjoyment we get from playing!

We finished out the action dice you were using, and rolled them once more. We were finished by 1am, probably a little before.

Gondor besieged Minas Tirith to set up Rohan’s use of the “Paths of the Woses” to get Eomer & Theoden’s army to North Ithilien and within striking distance of Mordor. The orcs of Dol Guldur, having taken Dale from the Northmen, threatened both the Woodland Realm and Erebor, but didn’t do more than sword-rattling. The Rohirrim stormed the Black Gate at Morannon, slaughtering the cave troll there.

Aragorn led his army south to Pelargir, reclaiming that. Sauron mustered forces in Mordor, and Saruman raised more Dunlendings. Aragorn’s force headed south to besiege Umbar while the Rohirrim held their position in Morannon. The first battle at Umbar was a brutal one, lasting for 3 rounds. The Gondorians fought bravely, killing all but one stalwart Southron, but not without cost; over half of Gondor’s mighty army lay buried in those blood-soaked fields.

Rohan mustered a token defense in Edoras to ward off attackers from Helm’s Deep, denying Saruman an easy victory. Sauron directed another force of Southrons to relieve Umbar, but Aragorn’s leadership proved too strong for the war oliphaunts, and Gondor repelled the attack with nary a casualty. The battle proved tiring for the Gondorians, however, as they attempted 2 more attacks on Umbar. Sauron made a few last ditch recruiting efforts, but it was too little too late to claim any of the lightly defended Free People strongholds.

As the time drew short, Aragorn and his last 2 Gondorian soldiers made a final push against the gates of Umbar, and prevailed!

Final score FPMV, FP: 4, SP: 7

The Fellowship sat 4 regions outside of Rivendell for most of the game, with Gollum as their guide. The Elves and Dwarves sat on their collective butts, toasting the prowess of Men with wine and malt beer, respectively.

This was a really good game, and pretty tense.

Dylan and I played a game of Risk 2210 this weekend. I finally managed to clear space to setup a gaming table in the man cave. This allows us to leave board games in play and continue later – without the little kids or the cat demolishing things. In this case, Dylan demolished me anyway, so no loss. I do like this version of Risk even better than classic – mostly because it is limited to 5 “turn years”, so doesn’t go on forever. It still suffers from the classic Risk game mechanic of rolling dice to attack, so you can (as I found) quickly lose ground by losing dice rolls (either attacking or defending).

This new version does have added features, such as command cards, which (if you are lucky enough to draw them) can quickly turn the game around. It also features underwater (naval) territories as well as lunar territories. Game mechanics such as having commanders (land, naval, space, diplomat, or nuclear) which allow you to roll (or defend) with 8-sided die, space stations (to help defend, or get you to the moon), etc.

But all in all, it’s still Risk, and still basically a terrritory-conquering game. Fun, but only occasionally. I’m trying to use it to get Dylan into board games, as he really likes Classic Risk. Next will be to get him to play War of the Ring.

Right. Played War of the Ring again last night (my second time). Still learning the game, but more importantly, still really enjoying the game! Played the Sauron side again, and lost again. From what I hear it’s unusual for the Free People’s side to win a Military victory, but not when playing against me, apparently. I wasn’t paying enough attention (again) to the Victory points the Free Peoples (led by George again) were amassing. Angmar is worth one, and is on the other side of the board from me. George even pointed out that I should probably watch out it doesn’t get taken. What I did was misjudge how long it would take me to re-take other areas (ok, and the dice didn’t play nice). But so much fun. This time game only lasted 3.5 hours.

Mike (playing Twilight Imperium at the next table) made some comment over his shoulder about how I should read up on some strategy. Ya think?

Some of the other guys were playing Twilight Imperium. That’s a bigger setup and even more complex. I look forward to learning that one in the future… especially if I get to play the lion-faced race; they just look cool.

Last night I was introduced to War of the Ring by George from my Board Game group. I arrived at 8pm. By 12:30am George had won (2-player game), but I was enjoying the game so much that it felt like only an hour or so had passed.

It is a two-player game, though you can play 3-4 players (as teams). One side plays the Free Peoples of Middle Earth (Gondor, Rohan, Elves, Dwarves, etc.) and the other side plays the Shadows (Sauron, Isengard, Southrons, etc.). Last night I played the Shadow side. What makes the gameplay so enticing are the basic game mechanics: special action dice (with symbols) determine which actions a player can take. Play alternates between players (after rolling all dice (up to 10, I think, for Shadow and 6 for Free Peeps), each player plays one action die at a time so there is very little downtime in the game. Coupled with action, character, etc. cards the number of options can be a bit overwhelming. But George was a good teacher. :)

There are two ways to win: Military victory or Ring victory. For a military victory the Shadow side has to control enough of the board to get 10 Military points while the Free Peeps only need 4. Capturing areas is similar to other area-capture games (like Risk): roll die and inflict casualties or receive them. Again, lots of options (via character card, etc.) for increasing odds for offense or defense.

For a Ring victory, the Free Peeps have to get the Ring to Mordor (and drop it into the lava) or the Shadow side has to inflict (12?) corruption points onto the Fellowship.

Sounds complicated, and it is (due to options available for each action), but basic gameplay is easy to understand. I can imagine it will take a few more times playing before I become familiar with all (or most) of the various options/scenarios. I do look forward to playing again! Maybe I can get a copy (it’s out of print so can be pricey) and get Dylan to play – he likes Risk and reading fantasy, so…

There are something like 200 (plastic) miniatures for the game as well as 100 cards, and over 100 cardboard markers and tiles! George had started painting the miniatures for the game; he did a great job – they look so much nicer than the plain single-color original plastic pieces. Nice!

A few months ago I started attending a weekly “Board Game Night” with a bunch of guys who like good beer, good company and playing board games. I’ve been trying for years to get the family to play board games (Monopoly and Risk don’t count). So when Kirsten introduced me to one of her co-workers who was into board games: geek nirvana! We always have a great time!