inconsequential ruminations

My brother and I played War of the Ring for the first time the other day. I will only give my initial feelings about it as our first game was more about learning the rules than anything else, plus War of the Rings zealots will probably start a blood feud with me.

Bear in mind that I have never really played any wargames, so this is a massive step up for me:

• There is an overwhelming amount of stuff to consider when taking a go.
• The combat system does feel a little like Risk in that you are fighting with dice, moderated by Combat Cards.
• I lost, by missing the possibility of the Free People capturing four victory points worth of cities. Apparently, that’s difficult to do if you know what you are doing.
• There were no serious problems with the components. I will probably spray the figures different colours, depending on their race, but it is unnecessary.
• The theme is handled sensitively. It could have been mucked up by a clumsy implementation.
• There are a few rules ambiguities and the FAQ is not great.
• The War of the Rings page on the Geek is almost unusable, due to the massive amounts of rubbish posted to it.
• We played for about five hours. If I had not been suckered into a quick loss, we felt it could have taken longer. Of course, if we had both read the rules thoroughly beforehand or been experienced wargamers, it would have been shorter.
• I suspect it is OK with three or four players, but the game was primarily designed for two. It is the opposite/same problem playing Tigris & Euphrates with two.

I have never been really interested in wargames because of the subject matter, but finally here is a wargame that fascinates me. I am surprised it is now the third highest rated game on the Geek, but it might eventually live up to that after a few more plays.