Lord of the Rings trick taking game The Fellowship - Review

ODBG 0015 - Review of Lord of the Rings Trick Taking Game

What is the Lord of the Rings Trick Taking Game?

It is a cooperative trick taking game focused on taking you on a journey through the chapters of Lord of the Rings.

Good points about the Lord of the Rings Trick taking game.

Box artwork is stunning - the way the box is designed is really eye catching and it's really nice to look at on a shelf. Highly distinctive. It blends the story of LOTR well with the game play and the graphic style is enjoyable, but the Box art is in a league of its own.

Dip in and out of a campaign - the way the game is designed is quite sublime as a game that you can drift in and out of. I say this because you can play it in chunks just like a good book and you can take in chapters at your own pace. And better yet you can do play chapters between 1 and 4 players so you don't always have to have a full group together.

Great Card Manipulating Mechanics - each chapter has you in different roles of each member of the fellowship over the course of the book. It gives you a different set up and play style each chapter. The way all these characters' mechanics interconnect is the most fascinating part of the game.

Easy going play - you don't have to be a hard core gamer to start playing. This is a game that most people could play and certainly get the hang of it after a round or two. It has an easy learning curve which makes it an ideal game to teach if you have 30 minutes or hours and hours to do a few chapters.

Bad points of the Lord of the Rings trick taking game.

2 player mode is significantly harder than 4 player mode - the requirement for Frodo winning 4 ring cards in the 2 player mode throws an absolute spanner in the works because by misfortune and luck of the cards and win an loss is often decided whereas in 4 player mode this is reduced. Other chapters are also significantly harder to overcome because of this as I thoroughly believe it was always designed as a 4 player game.

Not for competitive players - competitive players don't always understand and appreciate the Je Ne Se Qua of a cooperative game where you're meant to work together. They will instead try to win as many tricks as possible and this can be very annoying.

Summary of the Lord of the Rings trick taking game.

It's a light easy going game where you're all trying to solve the puzzle together and do your bit to help the team. I always thoroughly enjoy playing it as equally I enjoy playing its sequel the two towers.

Thanks for reading.

Sam

As always if you want to be the very best board gamer in the entire world you'll have to read the biography of the Pharoh Yami “King of games”, but if you're wanting occasional emails of the latest newsletter getting On Demand Board Game content you can subscribe below.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Enjoy exclusive special deals available only to our subscribers.