War of the Ring

[Gil-Estel]

Wow! Last week I got this game from the highly appreciated Elrohir, and man it is great. Great in almost every aspect of it. It takes GREAT patience to read all the rules (especially when you are Dutch and have to read German manual), it takes a GREAT deal of time, just sorting the characters out, it takes an even GREATer deal of time to set things up and try to figure out what everyone should do and man, don't get me started on the GREATness of the actual playing time. I think we spend 5 hours and came to the conclusion we played it entirely wrong, hahaha. No biggies though, I won, by cheating and it was for the Freeps side, so who cares how they won. I mean, if Frodo could have destroyed the by cheating sobody would bother.

But the question is this: any players here familiar with the game? And if so, could you give some overall tips?

Thanks in advance...

Oh and Merry Christmas to all!

[Ringbearer]

I have the game for quite some time, and the advice is: shadow is better.

As a shadow player, focus on the strongholds. Lorien is usually an easy conquest. ALso, dont forget to keep isengard guarded, there are 3! ent cards in the free peoples deck.

Also, dont forget to reduce elite units to prolong a siege. This can save valuable turns when the free peoples run for a dunk, and the shadow player can redeply his casualties.

[jdizzy001]

I've only played once, but it is easier to win with shadow

[Gil-Estel]

Ok, but how to win with Freeps? That is the main question, haha.

[Witchkingx5]

Well, that's pretty hard, but I can give you an idea:
Move with the fellowship as fast as you can to the Elves and the Dwarfs (Ered Lindon is possible) so that they will be able to "produce" some units. Well then, split Aragorn and Gandalf from the Fellowship and try to attack Moria and Gundadberg (or Angmar). These two fortresses aren't defended so good. Just sacrifice Gondor, Rohan and Lothlorien, maybe put some units in there and let the opponent siege your fortresses. This lasts long and takes many reserves from the Shadow. Don't move with the fellowship, just concentrate on the North to win, cus' you just need to catch Moria and Gundadberg. I haven't found anything else, playing the game a lot of times. It's impossible to hold both ROhan and Gondor, cus' Mordor is to near and there are to many troops over there. Forget it.
Also, use your fellowship just to split also the others up, later. Gimli and Legolas are both pretty useful as Commanders.
Hope that will help you next time.

Witchkingx5

[CCCORNIV]

  I had been thinking about ordering the collector's edition for quite some time, it's quite expensive though.  To me it's worth it because all of the figures come pre-painted and painting my figures alone would be a daunting task for me because I'm color blind.  

  I mentioned ordering the $400 game to my wife and she looked at me like I was crazy.  I then showed her a clip of the game on youtube and not only did she change her mind and say it was worth every penny, she also said she couldn't wait to learn how to play it.

  The second run of this game can still be preordered but there are only going to be 1,500 in English and 500 in German.  I hope to have mine sometime in February.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/60153/war-of-the-ring-collectors-edition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4hoi45ZVLw

[Gil-Estel]

Lucky you, my wife was almost kicking me, for just mentioning the idea, haha