War of the Ring: 2nd Ed Review
Throw away your dusty copy of Risk. Forget it exists. If you want a sprawling war game played out on an enormous map, this is it. War of the Ring: 2nd Edition, designed by Roberto Di Meglio, Marco Maggi, and Francesco Nepitello, and published by Ares Games, takes the entire scope of Tolkien’s magnum opus and squashes it into a gigantic box.
It is an epic masterpiece of two sides battling with completely different priorities. It’s like being the conductor of a massive, high-stakes orchestra where half the musicians are trying to set fire to their instruments while the other half is trying to perform a solo on a harmonica.
The Hunt for the Ring
If you play as the Free Peoples, you are fighting a terrified delaying action. You are overwhelmingly outnumbered. The Shadow player has endless legions of Orcs swarming like an unstoppable tide of darkness. Your only real hope is to hold the line at Helm's Deep just long enough for two tiny Hobbits to drag an incredibly dangerous piece of jewelry thousands of miles.
You will sweat and you will panic. And if you play the Shadow? You have infinite armies, but they are incredibly slow, and you are terrified that those Hobbits are slipping through your fingers. The dice system is utterly fascinating. You roll action dice that dictate exactly what you are allowed to do. Need to move an army? Better hope you rolled an army result, or you are stuck sitting there while the Fellowship inches closer to victory!
Suitability: Family vs. Friends
Family Sessions
Could you play this after Sunday lunch? Absolutely not. Unless your kids are incredibly patient military historians, the massive rulebook and complex combat resolution will leave them bored to tears. It’s as suitable for a family evening as a five-hour lecture on 20th-century geopolitical conflict delivered in total silence.
Hardcore Gamers
This is strictly for two hardcore gamers who want to lock themselves in a room for three-to-four hours and wage a sprawling war over the fate of Middle-earth. The action-dice mechanic forces brilliant, agonizing tactical compromises every turn. Captures the specific narrative tension perfectly. Just make sure you label the hundreds of tiny figures, because trying to distinguish an elite Gondor soldier at 2 AM is an absolute nightmare.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Captures the specific, desperate narrative tension of the LotR perfectly. | Setting up the hundreds of tiny grey and blue plastics takes an eternity. |
Action-dice mechanic forces brilliant, agonizing tactical compromises. | The rulebook is thick, deeply complex, and entirely unforgiving to learn. |
Incredible dramatic moments of holding sieges or hunting the ring. | The board is so massive you effectively need a custom-built table. |
Final Thoughts
War of the Ring is the absolute pinnacle of the genre. It is grand, it is tense, and it is perfectly thematic. If you have any love for Tolkien or heavy asymmetric war games, this is a mandatory purchase.
Final Verdict: Buy it yourself. If you are even remotely a fan of Tolkien or heavy two-player asymmetric war games, this is the absolute pinnacle of the genre. Just make sure you label the hundreds of tiny plastic figures, because trying to distinguish an elite Gondor soldier from a regular Rohan infantryman at 2 AM is an absolute nightmare.
