Perilous adventures and conflicts are seemingly everywhere in Middle Earth, and take center stage in more than a few excellent board games and tabletop RPGs. Today we’re highlighting the best of these adaptions of Tolkien’s work, based on both gameplay mechanics and how well each title uses this epic fantasy world to its adva??ntage. If you’ve read the books or seen any of the films, then chances are you’ll ?enjoy every ounce of the thematic tension that each of the games on this list has to offer.

10. War of the Ring: the Card Game

War of the Ring: the Card Game is a great adaption of the acclaimed board game that goes by the same name. The card game is arguably more accessible than the original; game time is shorter, and in my experience, works best with four players. One team plays as Sauron and the other tries to keep them at bay while Frodo completes his epic hiking trip. Battles are fought over location cards, with characters contributing swords and shields to the conflict. The game ends after nine rounds or if one team is m?ore than ten points ahead. 

9. Lord of the Rings: the Confrontation

Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is a short and snappy game of Stratego-like unit placement that experienc?ed players can complete in under 30 minutes. It’s the classic tale of Middle Earth good vs. evil, but with characters bringing thematic powers to the table that com??plement each player’s tactics cards. I’ve ranked it a bit lower on this list because it can be tricky to get your hands on these days, but it absolutely deserves a place on this list.

8. The Fellowship of the Ring: Deck-Building Game

In The Fellowship of the Ring deck-building game, you’ll play as one of the most iconic heroes in Middle Earth and gather a mix of allies, artifacts, and location cards. Each increases the strength of your deck and moves you closer to victory. Many elements of the game will feel familiar to fans of the popular deck builder Dominion, but the cards here are admittedly more flavourful??, showcasing character images and quotes from the movie.

7. The Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom

If you’re looking for an easy to learn cooperative tabletop game that takes place in Middle Earth, Adventure to Mount Doom is a solid choice. It relies heavily on rolling dice to move the members of the Fellowship towards Mount Doom, balancing luck with reasonable strategic decision making. W??hile the game’s map-style board is definitely a far-cry from canon, it still offers many fun thematic elements, including separate card decks for locations like Gondor, Rohan, and Minas Morgul. 

6. The Battle of the Five Armies

The climactic final battle of The Hobbit takes center stage in this game, which is a sequel to the acclaimed War of the Ring board game. In The Battle of the Five Armies board game, one player takes on the role of Bolg and his host of orcs, while the other player controls the Free Peoples of Middle?????????????????????????? Earth. Gandalf, Bilbo, and Beorn can play a key role in gameplay, though for the most part you’ll be commanding armies rather than individual characters. 

5. The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Book Game

The LOTR Adventure Book Game is a surprisingly enjoyable walkthrough of all the major events of Lord of the Rings, and adheres more closely to the films. The game is a great pick for fans of the franchise who aren’t feeling up to playing the more complicated games on this list. Each player grabs a character token and begins their journey on their star??ting position at Bag End, on the first page. Over the course of eight chapters, they’ll move the Ring closer to its destruction.

4. The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth

Journeys in Middle Earth is a cooperative campaign game that perfectly balances exploration and combat. It leans significantly on its companion app, which tells players how to set up tiles and resolve location discovery and combat. It would be nice if more of these functions could be completed on the table, but overall, Journeys in Middle Earth in an excellent experience for series fans.?? As an added bonus, the minatures look great a??nd there plenty of fun expansions.

3. War of the Ring (2nd Edition)

The second edition of War of the Ring is a downright classic that pits the Free Peoples against th??e forces of Sauron in an epic, large-scale conflict. If you’re playing as Sauron, you’ll need to strike hard and fast, before Gondor and Rohan have ti??me to rally troops. If you’re facing off against the shadow, you’ll instead need to hold fast and wait for the Ring to reach the fires of Mount Doom.

2. The Lord of the Rings RPG 5e

The world of Middle Earth is undeniably an excellent setting for a tabletop roleplaying campaign, and The Lord of the Rings RPG 5e gives players the perfect starting point for such a journey. The rules of the original DnD 5e are adapted to match Tolkien’s fantasy world, with easy-to-use stat lines available for just about any adversary in Middle Earth. There is also an exciting new expansion book, Moria: Shadow of Khazad-dûm, which offers even more incredible map??s and ?artwork.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Lord of the Rings: The Card Game takes players to every corner of Middle Earth with incredible story-based quests and campaigns. Gameplay is cooperative, and player decks are endlessly customizable and easy to build thematically. The game rewards players for prioritizing their favorite factions and playing the quests that explore the regions of Middle Earth that most interest them. Some of the LOTR LCG expansions allow players to recreate the most iconic scenes from the books, while others explore territories as far reaching as the Iron Hills and the depths of Moria. In terms of scale, customization, and adventure, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game rules them all.

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The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is an expansive, immersive, and cooperative delve into the world of Middle Earth. With the heroes you choose and the deck you build, you’ll explore all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world, f??rom the lowest dungeon to the highest peak. There are more than a hundred available scenarios to play spread across the game’s expansions, along with near-limitless customization options when it comes to selecting player cards.

With the recent release of the repackaged Ered Mithrin campaign, there’s a wide selection of LOTR LCG expansions to choose from, even in 2024. While some expansions may have limited availability, Fantasy Flight Games has, for the most part, reprinted the game’s best content. Let’s take a?? look at some of the best overall additions to the game you should consider purchasing after beating the core set.

10. Lord of the Rings Starter Decks

To discover more of the game’s variability in terms of deck-building, you may first want to consider purchasing a few of the game’s starter decks. The Elves of Lorien is in my opinion the best of the bunch, while the Riders of Rohan stalls a bit more than the others. Thankfully, you can look at exactly what’s inside each of them on the community website Hall of Beorn.

9. The Dream-chaser Hero Expansion

Repackaged content in the Lord of the Rings living card game is often divided between campaign and hero expansions, with the latter containing only player cards. The Dream-chaser’s player cards feature a wide blend of traits and archetype??s, which can be tougher for new players when deck-building.

8. The Steward’s Fear

Though you won’t be able to play the scenario in The Steward’s Fear box without the Heirs of Númenor deluxe expansion, the player cards alone make this purchase? worth it. Inside, you’ll find a near-complete Outlands deck.

7. Angmar Awakened Campaign Expansion

The Angmar Awakened campaign is mercilessly difficult, even for long-time players. However, if you enjoy the game’s more challenging scenarios??, you might want to consider picking this one up. I’d advise owning at least a starter deck or hero expansion alongside it.

6. Angmar Awakened Hero Expansion

The player cards from the Angmar Awakened cycle include a handful of all-star heroes, includi??ng Arwen, Erestor, and Merr??y. The box also comes with a new mechanic in player side quests. 

5. The Dream-chaser Campaign Expansion

Scenarios in the Dream-chaser campaign expansion take players across the vast expanses of Middle Earth’s oceans to the ruins of Númenor. The sailin?g mechanics, underwater locations, and overall storyline are very immersive.

4. Ered Mithrin Campaign Expansion 

In your journey across the wilds of Rho?vanion, you’ll get lost in Mirkwood, battle ?dragons, and explore the depths of Mount Gundabad. Almost every scenario here is a home run.

3. Ered Mithrin Hero Expansion

The Ered Mithrin hero expansion is a great place to start expanding your player card collection. The bo?x allows you to create a Dale-archetype deck that’s arguably stronger than the starter decks. You’ll also be able to tinker with “guarded�player cards.

2. The Two Towers Saga Expansion

The best Lord of the Rings card game expansions are of course those that follo??w the main story of J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece novels. The Battle of Helm’s Deep is an iconic scenario for the game, as is Shelob’s Lair. The box contains both player cards ??and quests.  

1. The Fellowship of the Ring Saga Expansion

The Fellowship of the Ring expansion takes players from the rolling hills of the ?Shire, to Bree and Rivendell, and through the dark of Moria. The t??hematics of this expansion are incredible, as are the heroes, attachments, allies, and events.

If you’ve completed the core set and want to start expanding your game, I’d recommend starting here. Like The Two Towers saga ex??pansion, you?’ll get a mix of player cards and quests.

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Based on the more expansive tabletop LCG

Digital card games are making a stand. Although they've existed long before Hearthstone (Triple Triad or Solitaire anyone?), Blizzard's behemoth was the big call to arms, leading to all sorts of competitors.

One game I've cycled into my repertoire this past year is The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game (formerly known as The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game in Early Access), primarily because it takes a completely diff??erent approach with co-op.

Having primarily played it on PC for the past year and change in Early Access (it arrived in earnest this past summer), I had a chan??ce to check out the brand new Switch version, which launched alongside of the PS4 and Xbox One editions this week. With the boon of portable mode (and offline play, since the PC edition is firmly rooted in Asmodee's system for now) I was drawn back into its clutches yet again, crafting decks (parties, really) and cutting through Sauron's minions all over again.

The gist is that like the real-life tabletop LCG, the game pits you against a "Sauron Deck/AI" in co-op fashion. You can take on quests with a friend or by yourself, which follow a loose storyline that takes place between the events of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings proper. But while there's certainly an opportunity to lift from the iconic Jackson film trilogy wholesale, developer Fantasy Flight Interactive does its own thing, drawing upon the vast amounts of lore from the source material, ??as well as all of the gorgeous art from the LCG.

Speaking of, the [four-player co-op] LCG is probably my favorite tabletop game ever made. At this point there's nearly a decade of content spread across it (though it is taking a hiatus in 2020), and the deckbuilding potential is so deep?, you could spend literal hours poring over each and every nuanced detail in an effort to create something the communi?ty has never seen before.

Nearly every character or region, no matter how small, is represented in the LCG, to the point where you could have an entire party and army of Hobbits as your deck, based on mechanics like secrecy and sneaking to avoid combat altogether. Or, you can opt for a Silvan-based deck that shoots enemies from a??cross the table and bounces back into the treetops (your hand) for safety.

Right now the dig??ital rendition isn't quite so expansive or deep. The hero pool is more limited, and cards are often simplified to prevent excessive amounts of required reading. Instead, the pacing is more action-oriented, though there's plenty of room for thinking and strat?egy between every play.

You'll take turns playing cards — or actions like guard, attack, or quest with units — then Sauron will take his turn (doing the same thing), and so on. Quests often throw calamities into the mix that you have to re??spond to on the fly, and you have to constantly manage a looming "threat" meter, which can force a loss if you linger too long. You can really see how the Sauron AI has grown since Early Access, and he can screw you over ?in the best ways, especially on higher difficulty settings (there is an easy mode, but like the LCG, the point is to really test the limits of your strategic worth).

Although the UI is still a little rough a year on (especially on consoles), the art is fantastic, and adds to the allure of the Digital Card Game. The same goes for the memorable voiceover portions and earnest attempt to tell a story through textual ruins, which you can just as easily skip b?ut would get a lot out of if you ??read it all. It's all lovely fluff (including the "preparing second breakfast" loading screen at the start), coupled with a great score that doesn't just ape Howard Shore like everything before it.

Since card games can be confusing from a monetary standpoint, I'm happy that FFI opted to drop any semblance of loot box systems from the Early Access period and just go full premium. For $25, you get a huge campaign with a handful of heroes (you choose three each quest) and cards, with premium expansions (quests, heroes) coming after that. You'll use non-premium Fellowship points to unlock avatars, cards, and card backs in-game, and everything you buy will be explained — no random card packs or card pulls.

Knowing exactly what you get (just like the LCG, which stands for "living card game" where the contents of every pack is a known fact) is a large part of the appeal, as is deckbuilding. The benefit of coming in late with the console editions is that the community is already thriving, having crafted hundreds of po??tential decks that will help you on your way if you have no interest in that aspect of the game. One of the only real downsides of the console versions is a lack of an easy d??eck importing tool (I like to make around 10 or more decks and swap between them constantly), and the lack of touch screen support on Switch doesn't help matters.

Still, the co-op angle alone is enough for The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game to stand out above the crowd, especially on consoles with cross-play support. Although it might look overly familiar, I suggest you go in with an open mind, so long as you have some affinity toward Tolkien's work to help you through some of the rough edges.

_{[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher. 8.0.]}

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Consoles pushed to later in the year

The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game (which was smartly renamed from The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game to ?prevent confus??ing with the existing tabletop source material) Has been in Early Access for roughly a year now, and Fantasy Flight Interactive is ready to unleash it upon the world on PC.

For those o??f you who haven't been following along, it's a single-player story-oriented RPG card game (with co-op support) formed around the idea of deckbuilding and hero powers. While the digital adaptation didn't get everything right the paper source is fantastic, and one of the best games I've ever played (physical or digital).

It was free-to-play with Early Access "buy-in" Founder Packs, but that has since changed as well: it's a premium game wi??th add-ons (again, similar to the source). The best part is that the LCG model is mostly maintained, and there's no random elements involved when it comes to card acquisition: you know exactly what you're buying (a large reason why I dig FFG's original tabletop vision).

The? game was supposed to hit consoles (PS4/Xbox One/Switch) on August 8 as of several months ago (various sites like the PlayStation Blog even announced it officially), but those versions have been pushed pack until later in the year. The change in plan is seemingly last minute, as there was no concrete info of the delay until this week.

Game Day [Steam]

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Now in Early Access

Over the course of the last eight months I've become engrossed in the world of Fantasy Flight Games' Lord of the Rings LCG, despite the fact that it was released?? all ??the way back in 2011. For those of you who aren't familiar with the concept "LCG" stands for "Living Card Game," which is basically a fancy way to say "there's no blind boxes."

This adaptation is built upon the foundation of co-op, and each pack is a fixed list of cards of the player and encounter (enemy) variety. You can play?? either solo or with a group with your own custom built deck and take on Sauron who's represented by a stack of said encounter cards that interact with one another in very unique ways.

Over the past seven years it's become a flagship product of the LCG line, and now Fantasy Flight Interactive feels that it's f?inally ready to unleash a digital version on the world. It's in early access and needs work??, but it does manage to capture the essence of the physical game.

As soon as it was unveiled its art style and "bubble" icons drew many comparisons to a certain card game from Blizzard, but in practice it couldn't be more different. Think of it like an entirely adventure-based co-op Hearthstone with questing elements instead of straight combat and you're in the same ballpark. Commanding three heroes instead of one, all of which dictate which cards you're allowed to use (spheres), also mak?es for a distinctly different feel.

Just like the real life version of the LCG, your job is to essentially defeat Sauron's forces from mission to mission. But here instead of drawing cards and following directions via a neutral "Sauron deck," you're facing off against an AI. You and Sauron will ta??ke turns either attacking, defending, or playing cards until both of you pass, then a new round begins. It's that simple. Well, kinda.

The above picture, which I took from the tutorial, perfectly explains what's happening if you were to look at any given board state. Heroes are balanced by threat values, which are pragmatic (better heroes cost more threat) and thematic (more prominent characters draw the ire of Sauron). Most cards have attack values, willpower (called "questing" in the LCG), health, a sphere (used to build decks), and a self-explained ability (like Arwen's healing at the start of each turn). The general flow is unique as are many smaller nuances like bonus events that deal tw??o damage to a random character after Sauron reaches a certain threat limit, and so on.

Enemies generally need to be defeated but you can also make progress by way of questing, or, "?attacking" objectives that pop up. Some objectives will let you travel to the next phase of a quest and exit that location altogether, and some will grant bonuses like extra allies (by freeing them from a web or something similar). This is where deckbuilding comes in, as you'll need to balance both combat and questing. Gimli might absolutely rock at the former but Arwen for example excels at the latter. Or you might employ a diffe?rent hero that's strikes more of a balance like Eowyn.

It gets even trickier when you add in keywords, most of which? differ from the LCG and from digital card games in general. No cross-damage is dealt by bumping (read: attacking) unless they have the "guard" keyword on (a form of sentinel from the card game), and ranged can bypass guard requirement??s. That sort of thing. Understanding how each and every keyword interacts is, well, key, and you can remind yourself what's what with a quick mouse hover over card text.

Speaking of a learning curve, the tutorial is a little long and a little dry (which is allegedly subject to change), but it really does a great job of explaining card interactions while leaving room for experimentation. Ag?ain, deckbuilding is where the long term legs will come from. This digital adaptation is extremely difficult, even on easy. Health is carried over from step to step within a quest, and without some form of hard mitigation or healing (or smart play) your heroes are eventually going to die.

Quests consist of multiple phases, and enemies with the "pursuit" keyword follow you into the next phase if you don't take care of them. One thing I learned quickly is that you can't rush things in this edition. Given that events happen at certain threat levels if you don't properly equip your characters or set up your board state, rushing into bosses will co??mpletely gut you.

The problem was I was playing The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game on PC like Hearthstone, but really I should have been playing it more like the actual tabletop LCG. I don't know if people are going to get on board with this ??strategic long game concept, but as someone who al??ready adores the physical edition I'm game. All it means is hours upon hours of theorycrafting and deckbuilding to get it right, which is exactly the kind of experience I'm looking for (for everyone else, I'm sure netdecks will exist soon enough that you can just use).

All of this is backed by a fantastic score and full voice acting (that you can turn off if you wish), lovely card art (most of which? is drawn from the LCG) and decent voice acting coupled with full quest narration. FFG is noteworthy for their adherence to Tolkien's vision, and that shows even in the pronunciations (Gloin is "Glow-in," the accepted Tolkien scholar form). The few qualms I have with the current state of the game mostly lie in the semi-confusing monetization strategy (which has been improved from its initial announcement) and the lack of options (a windowed fullscreen tickbox would be appreciated).

Right now cards cost various forms of valor points, which are earned at a rather sluggish pace (if you buy the top tier Mithril bundle you can basically get every card). It also uses a randomized "Palantir" system to grant you cards you don't own, which thankfully can't be purchased outright to avoid gambling comparisons, but still feels out of place. I understand the need to provide some sort of long term support system for the game but I really would prefer the full LCG mode??l to be employed here as it could reshape the way we look at blind packs entirely in the card game market. It's kind of there as buying defined hero packs and quests outright is great, but I'd like to see those packs to be expanded entirely -- bundl?e the quests, heroes, and more player cards together.

FFG is already doing this physically, why not digitally? Asmodee is also super keen on their proprietary account system, and to gain access to the core set you'll need to register with them. This is now par for the course for card-based ecosystems like Hearthstone (a Blizzard account) or Elder Scrolls Legends ?;(Bethesda account), but it's something to be aware ??of.

The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game is crafted by a company that loves Tolkien, and understands both the lore and how to craft a unique world around the source material. If you're at all curious about the prospect of a single player card game it's worth a shot, just note that Early Access is c??urrently in effect; you'll have to buy into by way of several pricing tiers. More enhancements like co-op, additional quests (there's five right now in Early Access, each with multiple stages), and more heroes are also in the pipeline but not active right now.

_{[This assessment is based on a retail build of the Early Access game provided by the publisher.]}

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I'm done with blind boxes

I've been playing a lot of the Lord of the Rings LCG (Living Card Game). In the past two months I went from not even being aware that it exists, to creating my own dec?ks in my spare time, to having a ded?icated group to play with. It's one of the most enjoyable games I've ever experienced, tabletop or otherwise.

The reason it appeals to me so much (outside of the co-op angle) is the LCG aspect. Although it's been used many times over in other mediums, Fantasy Flight Games is utilizing this system to peddle cards i??n fixed sets. There's no booster packs, blind box randomization, or single-hunting on eBay, you know what you're getting in every box.

Fantasy Flight and publisher Asmodee Digital are keen to bring that ?same concept over to the digital edition that's set t??o arrive on Steam this year, and I hope every other studio follows suit.

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Both the physical card game (above) and the digital conversion (below) are co-op oriented and share some of the same card art, but after watching several demos of the latter, it's easy to spot the differences. While the former involves more statlines, additional strategies like engagement and location manipulation, and more tactical nuance, the digital rendition is a little more combat focused. Just like Hearthstone cards (or little circle-shaped icons) bump into each other and dole out damage -- impacting each other based on their attack values and potentially "exhausting" one another so they can no ??longer act that round.

Another big gap between the two is that Sauron is now a player, rather than a simulated force based on the order of a pre-shuffled physical encounter deck. He'll get his own set of cards to use from his hand and he has resources (read: mana) to play them, which will fluctuate based on the difficulty setting. You'll have to balance your own party (unlike Hearthstone you get three heroes, all of which are far more impactful) to take? down each version of Sauron, who sports different cards and enemies in each adventure.

Although I haven't gotten my hands on the current build yet it looks fun, mostly because I enjoy playing solo experiences on a whim rather than constantly catering to? a meta that involves buying more and more blind packs until I have specific cards that I need. With the co-op angle I won't feel ne??arly as pressured to buy in and can go at my own pace, deckbuilding and trying out new tactics.

So?lo play is going to be supported out of the gate in Early Access with two-player co-op to arrive later. A chat system is in the works, starting with an ??emote system and then with a full-on player chat that two players can agree to enter. Basically both players have to "check a box," to enable voice chat and you're good to go. There "probably" won't be a text chat system according to FFI.

Fantasy Flight intends to sell "hero packs," for specific characters, which come with their own sets of cards, bolstered by the earned currency of Valor. Just like the LCG you can buy whatever you want knowing what you're getting, but there is a caveat. Fantasy Flight Interactive is very clear that they intend to make money to support the game long term, so there are going to be cosmetics involved by way of the "Palantir" system -- magical stones in Tolkien's lore that aren't inherently evil but are most commonly associated with Sauron. (Which is kin??d of funny to me -- imagine if a game's lootbox menu was called "the bad place" or something). You can't buy Valor outright, but you can earn it randomly from the Palantir.

The jury is out on just how predatory ??this system will be. If you can buy into each season with a "season pass" style purchase and own most, if not all of the cards (something FFI told me is basically possible if you get several tiers in Early Access) that's fine. If you can't, I'll be vocal about it when the Early Access build hits in hopes that the LCG model is preserved in digital form. (Either way the physical card game will still be there, and is still very much alive, hosting a new Rhovanion expansion later this year). 

Luke Walaszek, Community Manager for Fantasy Flight Interactive informed me that they're "specifically looking to not make the system predatory." They've already taken this mantra to heart?? when removing favor cards from any sort of monetization system -- now they're merely optional seasonal bonuses that you just get depending on the difficulty setting when starting a match. (Things like an extra card or whatn??ot). Walaszek also says that all progress will carry over from Early Access, with no plans to reset accounts, though anything can happen.

I'm not just jazzed to travel through the forest of Mirkwood with my own digital Fellowship, I'm excited for the future that The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game might bring if it catches on. Provided that they balance out the Palantir system and keep the monetization scheme true to its source material, it could be a guiding light in an increasingly predatory industry. With loot box legislation around the corner (it's already being self-legislated in companies like Apple and across the world in China), it may launch at a perfe??ct time.

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It's not going to be a 1:1 conversion

"If we just did a perfect translation of the physical game, it could work, until it doesn't," studio head of Fantasy Flight Interactive Tim Gerritsen told me in a phone interview. "We're inspired by the tabletop edition of The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game, with ma?ny nods, but we're not a one-to-one translat??ion of it."

With some famili?arity with the card rendition and the LCG concept, I could see that first-hand after viewing? a developer demo. It's not exactly the same, but the entire core of the "living" concept, which involves buying pre-set cards and no blind boxes, is going to appeal to a lot of people.

Upon viewing the game's storefront, I saw a lot of similarities to Hearthstone. Card backs, valor points (which are essentially the coin currency of LOTR LCG), and quests that mirror adventures are all familiar aspects of Blizzard's popular card game. Yet, LCGs predate Hearthstone by about a decade, and the LOTR version actually came out in 2011. The big difference is that you can buy whatever you want outright. Packs will show exactly what's in them before you buy them, include detailed information and a general breakdown. Player??s will also earn Valor points by playing the game, and you can either get the ca??rds you want from hero packs, or directly with Valor.

There's another huge unique selling point for this project -- it's built entirely on the concept of co-op, just like the tabletop version. Luke Walaszek, Community Manager for Fantasy Flight Interactive explained it best, stating: "Players might see that other cards are in play and want them, but they aren't required, and there won't be a certain meta that you need to chase each season." It's a relief, because the chill aspect of playing PVE/co-op games has appealed to me since I walked into my first raid in World of Warcraft years back.

Based on the first few missions I was able to witness in a live demo, I saw a variety of strategies play out in front of me. The gist is that each hero can attack once, and has attack stats (damage), willpower (objective), and health (hitpoints) attached to it. Attacking an enemy "exhausts" it, but you also take damage based on their attack stat (just like Hearthstone). Players will be comp??eting against Sauron, who has his own deck and AI rulesets that ?change quest to quest.

The first objective involved a journey through Mirkwood, with Aragorn, Gimli, and Elrond in tow. Aragorn's power is re-activation to take another action, Elrond can heal at the start of each turn, and Gimli gets stronger as he takes damage. You have to use these powers, plus minions and buff cards from your deck (that you can customize from your library), to take down Sauron. Just like the real thing, this game is brutal.

Even the developers had some trouble with the first few quests on normal mode, as you'll need to complete s?everal locations in succession to complete a quest -- if you die, you start all over. Like any challenge in life, even though I wasn't playing the game directly, I could feel that sense of accomplishment after you conquer a set of these challenge?s. Watching it made me want to play it, which is a great thing.

I was able to break down exactly what Fantasy Flight's plan is for the Steam version, and it seems like a simple enough concept to follow. Early Access will have one campaign, with another to follow in the full release, and one more each quarter. Campaigns include five quests, with three to six locations per quest, making them rather meaty??. Each ca??mpaign will include the first quest for free, and the rest can be purchased.

Quests mostly mirror the tabletop version (which take place between Bilbo's 111th birthday and when Frodo first leaves The Shire), but will also veer off c??ourse every so often (part of that "different" mentality I keep mentioning). Although Early Access is a standard paid entry type deal, when the game actuall??y arrives it'll be free-to-play. Players can expect to unlock the "core set" 42 cards (21 uniques, doubled), as well as the core heroes of Arwen, Frodo, Aragorn, and Gimli.

Because it's a co-op game, Fantasy Flight Interactive is banking on players replaying t??hese massive campaigns to find the best possible deck and go score-chasing. There are also three difficulty settings to choose from, which will influence the amount of actions Sauron (again, the AI) will be able to use in any given turn. The developers are also toying with the "Nightmare Deck" concept from the tabletop version??, which would make things even crazier.

There are going to be a few Hearthstone comparisons at first, but so far, The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game has differentiated itself from the pack. I hope the LCG concept takes off, because I'm really tired of the industry standard of gambling on cards. Although Fantasy Flight Interactive is keeping what's next close to the chest, there's plenty of other LCGs with recognizable franchises in the mix, including Star Wars, Arkham Horror, and Game of Thrones. Asmodee Digital, who has been working on a ton of digital conversions recently, wi??ll be handling publishing ?duties.

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It's based on the LCG

As I've communicated in the past, I'm not big on blind box items, whether they're in games or in physical form. That includes collectible card games (CCG), which often rely on pricey randomized booster packs that can dictate how well your deck performs. That's why I've gravitated toward the idea of card games with set decks (like Dominion), or, in Fantasy Flight's case, Li?ving Card Games (LCGs).

The idea is that LGCs operate a lot like a CCG, but the boxes and expansions are set in stone. And now, Fantasy Flight and Asmodee Digital are partnering up to deliver one of the most popular realizations of that concept to the PC -- The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game.

Right now the plan is to de?liver a solo play experience in Early Access form "in the coming months" for testing, with one player controlling multiple characters (note: this is easily ripe for pass-and-play). After that, it'll arrive as a "full free-to-play release" in 2018. As long as the IAP/expansions are inline with how it is already (pricey, but not random and worth it if you play often), this should be a good time. We'll know more about all of that nitty gritty stuff early next year.

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