Lord of The Rings Card Game: Battle for Middle Earth - Build Your Fellowship and Defeat Your Enemies, Based on Novels by J.R.R. Tolkien

Game is fun, if not a bit simple. I can see playing it a few times with some friends, as the rules are very simple. The only thing holding this game back is the fact that because of how simple it is, it feels like once you get the lead, it'd be hard to lose the lead. There are SOME means to prevent steamrolling, such as the Mordor cards, and due to some of the cards' abilities there is an element of strategy, but ultimately, it's too straightforward to really make a difference. That being said, it is fun, simple, quick, and the artwork is great and there are a lot of cool characters. For the price, and for the fun, easygoing nature of the game, I definitely recommend this for a LotR fan.

I got this as a gift for my husband who loves LOTR! This was a quick set up game that was easy for us both to play. We will definitely be getting the expansions. Great quality!

The game is pretty good. It's easy to learn and easy to play. The idea is to build groups of units that have the strength to defeat a Mordor unit. Each villain has a set of colored markers, representing his strength. You need a group that has at least one of each of the colors on the villain. Once a group is strong enough, you trade it in and take the villain, earning his point value.Custom Tweak:Because the game is a bit simplistic and too fast, we added a layer to it. Now, when you have a group with sufficient strength to defeat a Mordor unit, it simply means that you can attack that villain, not immediate defeat it. The actual battle is done using dice, using Risk rules. The number of dice rolled for your group matches the number of colored dots in your group. The number of dice rolled for the villain aligns with the number of colored dots on the villain. Once you start the attack, you must roll until you or the villain wins - no retreat. If you win, you get the villain card and his point value. If you lose, you lose the group that you attacked him with. In this version, we also remove the Orc cards from the good unit deck.

Our grown daughter is a huge LOTR fan, and loved getting this gift for her birthday - the game is super fun and easy to learn too! My husband (another huge fan) of course picked it out for her, lol!

Does exactly what portable games should do:1. Honors the advertised LOTR theme, despite minor quibbles I'd have with some cards and points2. You can learn the basics quickly and still learn more strategies later (though luck plays a role)3. A single game/round can be played in 10 minutes if all players know the rules.4. Fairly durable. The box and board and cards have held up over multiple vacations.

She and her boyfriend played this card game and loved it. Happy to have it in her collection.

Directions were difficult for 5 very smart people to figure out. We gave up and made a house rule to get over the confusing bit, which made the game go too fast.

this is a fav of ours. READ the directions and you are SET! <3 its a great gift, good date night game too