Build your fellowships to defeat the evil forces of Sauron.
SETUP
LotR: BfME is a small box game with a small board (nice but unnecessary) & a couple of stacks of cards. To set up the game, layout the board, shuffle the Eye of Sauron deck, laying out 3 cards to the right of the stack, shuffle the Companion cards, dealing 3 cards to each player, then shuffling in the Mordor cards into the Companion Deck. Stack this deck on the lower portion of the board. You’re ready to play.
GAMEPLAY/OVERVIEW
The object of the game is to gain the most points by defeating the Sauron forces, each card offering points from 1-10. On each card are several colored “gems”. To “defeat” them, you must form fellowships with your companion cards, then send that fellowship out to conquer them (by matching the gems from the companion cards to the Sauron cards). You can defeat multiple cards if you have the required gems (each gem can only be used once). Once defeated, take those cards into your scoring pile & discard the fellowship you used to the discard pile (unused gems are lost).
Let me back up a bit. Although you start with 3 cards in your hand, you have 2 options on your turn.
- Draw a card from the deck & add it to your hand (hand limit of 5 unless a companion card tells you differently). If you draw a Mordor card, place it to the right of the draw deck & continue drawing. When more Mordor cards are drawn, slide the present cards to the right & add the new card to the left of them. When there are 3 Mordor cards on the board, there is a counterattack. Read the text on the far-right Mordor card & do what it says. Then discard the card that was read along with the Sauron card directly above it, to the “Dead Cards” pile (on the left of the Sauron deck). The other 2 Mordor cards are added to the discard pile. Slide the remaining Sauron cards to the right & add a new one (there are always 3 Sauron cards available to defeat, at least until the deck runs out).
- Add a card from your hand to a fellowship. Once a card is added to a group of other cards, it cannot be moved. After adding a card, you can take one fellowship to defeat Sauron cards.
The game is played until the deck of Sauron cards is exhausted. At that point, add up the points in your scoring pile & the player with the most points, wins.
THOUGHTS ON THE GAME
When I first received the game, I was hesitant, for a couple of reasons. 1) I’m not a huge Lord of the Rings fan. It’s okay, just not a big fantasy guy (those that know me or have read my other reviews know I’m a Eurogamer at heart). 2) There just didn’t seem to be much to this game.
Well, I can tell you, each time I’ve played this, it’s been multiple games in a row. Each game lasts maybe 20-30 minutes and even though it’s a simple game, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it’s not the game I’m planning a game night around, but it certainly fits the bill for something in between games or while you’re waiting for others to show up. I enjoyed it more than I had expected.
Also, I mentioned that the board is pointless, but it is nice to have & even more impressive is the fact that the folds of the board are made such that you can bend it back & forth to lay it completely flat, without worrying about snapping the sections. This really is one of the best game boards I’ve ever seen. I love this type of board (yes, I have snapped boards before, trying to flatten them out). Kudos for that.
FINAL VERDICT
As much as I wasn’t thrilled about even trying this game, it turned into a game that will stick around for a while. Sure, it’s not a deep, heavy game (the theme is pasted on) but for a quick filler that even non-gamers can play, it fits the bill nicely.
7 out of 10
You can find Ultra PRO online at corp.ultrapro.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/ultraprointernational.
TheRatHole.ca does not accept payments for our reviews but may have received a promotional copy of this product for review.