Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring Deck Building Game

An Entertaining Game
If you’ve never played a deck-building game, it’s a fun pastime that requires a bit of strategy. Unlike traditional playing cards, these cards contain enemies and allies, locations, artifacts, and maneuvers, all of which do different things when you play them. Each card is worth a certain number of points, which can be combined in order to “buy” more cards from the main deck. Some cards can be used to your advantage (such as drawing an extra card during your turn) and some can be used against other players (such as forcing them to discard cards from their hands). Each card also has assigned value points, which you add up at the end of the game to determine the winner. There are no dice or markers, as the goal is simply to collect as many cards as possible. The rules are not terribly complicated, but because of the strategies required, it’s really more for teenagers and adults, not kids.This game happens to have a theme of “The Lord of the Rings,” so your heroes are Gandalf, Frodo, Gimli, Legolas, and the rest of the Fellowship, while your archenemies are the Balrog and other nasties from the movie. There is a similar game with a DC comic book superhero theme (DC Comics Deck Building Game) which is pretty fun, too.Unlike some games that cannot be enjoyed unless you have a large group, this one works just fine if you only have two players. My husband and I play it together frequently. I’ve also played with more people, which is just as fun, though it takes longer, of course, since you have to sit through each player’s turn.The game includes a large deck of cards, as well as a slotted holder, so you can keep the various types of cards separate. The rule booklet is easy to read, though it can get a bit confusing at times, simply because the game is rather complex. Once you get going, though, you’ll figure it out.I give this product five stars and highly recommend it, especially if you’re looking for something a little different for game night.

Can’t Play It Enough
Definitely my favorite deck building game thus far (of course I’m a little bias being a Tolkien fan). Same basic game engine as other common deck building games like Dominion or Legendary, but with enough difference in some of the card mechanics to keep it interesting (at least for me). I love the way archenemies work and affect the game both when revealed and when played from your hand.Easy to learn and to teach and even friends who don’t normally play game a lot have enjoyed playing this and often ask when we can play again.The only real complaint I have, if any, is with the storage slots for the different cards. The cards do not sit in some of the slots very evenly and this is very true if you sleeve the cards. With sleeves it is very tight. This has more to do with the way Cryptozoic molds their holder than the game itself. I have seen several reviews of other Cryptozoic games where they have the exact same problem with the holder.The game itself though is very enjoyable, I recommend it to anyone who likes just having some great fun around a well designed game with some friends and/or new faces .

Good game. Worth the investment. The more players the better.
Have played this a few times- several 2 player games which was entertaining. Have played a single 5 player game which was exceptionally fun. It does seem difficult to “catch up” if you get a slow start, however, which may put off some players. The 5 player game was with several young teens (2 girls) and they didn’t want the game to end and insisted we play again. Aside from the play time in that scenario (about 2.5 hours with instruction), we probably would have played again if time had permitted.Of particular note was that it seemed that each player had a different combo scenario that they shot for. We didn’t see that one dominated over another. Maybe this was just the way the game played for us…This one is a keeper for me- someone who is easily distracted and hard to please in games. I prefer that the cards have the movie stills instead of art. In my opinion, when designers use art, it seems to me that it usually ends up being cartoonish.

Für alle, welche die Geschichte lieben und die vor allem die Filme gesehen haben ein MUSS. Gameplay ala Dominion, vielleicht etwas mehr interaktiver – aber gute Kost mit einem relativ hohen Glücksfaktor. Bin gespannt wie Teil 2 und 3 umgesetzt werden.