War of the Ring: The Card Game Review - A Lord of the Rings Surprise

Рет қаралды 29,670

Күн бұрын

We reviewed the original area control board game, so onto this card game version! War of the Ring: The Card Game is a 2022 release from Ares Games, designed by Ian Brody, trying to capture the magic of the Lord of the Rings fantasy trilogy, with 4 decks of cards and a shorter runtime. Play as Gandalf or Frodo in the decks to protect Middle Earth, or Saruman and the Witch King to spread corruption in the form of tabletop chits. With plenty of thematic rules, mechanics, and interactions that make Tolkien fans happy, including stars of the fellowship like Legolas, Strider, Gimli, and more, War of the Ring CG seeks to create the same epic tensions as the original tabletop war game. Does it create amazing stories like the predecessor? Does it need to? How much are the hand and randomness mechanics affected by trying so hard to be faithful to the original? Are the Shadow even depicted in a similar way as in the board game or original lore?
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Table of Contents:
Intro & Overview - (0:00)
How to Play - (2:51)
Pros - (5:26)
Cons - (17:31)
Nitpicks - (29:15)
Recommender Score - (29:58)
Grinding Gamers - (35:20)
Ashton's Personal Score - (35:54)
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#boardgames #tabletop #review

Пікірлер: 79

@glassjaw328 Жыл бұрын

That intro made me laugh harder than any recent NPI or SU&SU video. You guys are seriously underrated. Wish you all the best.

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

RULES CORRECTION: Events are eliminated right after played, so you cannot spam events (e.g. The Black Captain). But you can spam Gollum! And hobbits abilities! This review took a little longer than anticipated because we had to play it 7 times! Let me know what you think of the Shadow's role. Written review: www.shelfside.co/reviews-2023/wotrcardgame-review

@meteguel2831 Жыл бұрын

Where is Daniel? What happend? I alway cared alot about his recommender score.

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

Grinding out Frosthaven review lol -Daniel

@WideMouth 7 ай бұрын

To be fair, in the actual LotR story, the shadow didn’t launch any major assaults until halfway through the second book (the battle of Helms Deep). For most of the story, Sauron was mustering his forces in Mordor to launch a quick and decisive assault. If Sauron had sent forces out at the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring, his forces would probably have been stretched too thin to overwhelm the free people. My only gripe with WotR CG is how battlegrounds are chosen randomly. However, the game also includes a Fellowship of the Ring scenario where the battlegrounds aren’t random. I think a home brew scenario where the Trilogy rule set is combined with a player chosen order of battlegrounds would fix that. Maybe after drawing their hands, an attacking player could choose which battleground is next? Maybe the attacker could forfeit the right to choose the battleground in order to recharge their ring token.

@julienmarneffe3716 Ай бұрын

I like how this sounds. Did you try it out?

@joshuamills8335 Жыл бұрын

Wow, just discovered this channel! Your videos are really well done! The quick overview was spot on! You should make a playlist of quick 5 minute “how to play videos” for a bunch of games!! You do it better than most channels out there!

@themuricandictator992 Жыл бұрын

I felt the cooperative parts of the game really added something that doesn’t really work at the scale of WOTR. My favorite moments were where my attempted read of my teammate’s plan went horribly wrong, or amazingly right.

@eggius Жыл бұрын

Great review, love the work you put into them. No one needs a review based on one or two plays.

@Bearbok 7 ай бұрын

Never understood the "set up" complaint on big games. Crack a beer and chat for the 15 - 30 minutes or whatever it takes to set up. You are into board games. It comes with the territory. Feels like almost something you are supposed to complain about if you are into board games

@brandobombchu8827 Жыл бұрын

The effort you put into this was fantastic. Well done.

@abesapien9930 Жыл бұрын

I just watched your review of War of the Ring tonight, subbed, and wouldn't you know my luck--you just put out a review of the card game!

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

haha awesome. They're both thematic for sure! -Ashton

@Spilzu Жыл бұрын

The intros never disappoint 🙏🙏🙏

@G36Sperrfeuer 6 ай бұрын

Such an awesome intro!

@julienmarneffe3716 Ай бұрын

Great video as always !!!

@vladimiralbu7340 Жыл бұрын

Events played are always eliminated afterwards, so you can not use The Black Captain multiple times per game.

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

Oh my goodness, thank you for telling me that. I will make a pinned comment note! -Ashton

@opperhoofdrampeneer8324 Жыл бұрын

@@Shelfside Friendly reminder to pin that comment, since it is VERY game changing.

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

@@opperhoofdrampeneer8324 I have it written in my pinned note above! -Ashton

@NATOnova Жыл бұрын

best intro yet! and as always great in depth balanced review

@aaronhandleman7277 Жыл бұрын

Will you guys ever do a review of Sidereal Confluence? I'd love to hear your opinions and your opinions on the new expansion.

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

Definitely interested, got the expansion sitting there but haven't tried it yet -Daniel

@RolandIronfist13 Жыл бұрын

Nice tease for The Battle of Five Armies

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

haha nice try, I doubt I will cover it anymore soon -Ashton

@elqord.1118 Жыл бұрын

Feeling the same exact way about this

@cyprianz9793 Жыл бұрын

I recommend you to try the Titans from łukasz woźniak seems to be scythe but with more actions of fighting not gathering resources

@mccthibbit Жыл бұрын

You should definitely do a comparison between War the Ring the Card Game and The Lord of the Rings Card Game, which focuses more on cooperative questing in Middle Earth with deckbuilding and a mana system similar to MTG.

@RolandIronfist13 Жыл бұрын

The only comparison is that they're vastly different games? It isn't like comparing pandemic versions

@cvok34 Жыл бұрын

Did the color grading just got better? Video looks sharper. As always great content, thanks!

@Janisurai Жыл бұрын

I loved this game so much

@abruwer08 Жыл бұрын

Like other people has mentioned on here as well, maybe look at Lord of the Rings The Card game as well. It's not a replacement for WoTR, but it does some thematic things well as well as engaging with the larger context of Middle-Earth. The only downsides are it's expensive as hell and the deckbuilding is hard. I'm also not convinced that one should compress WoTR into a smaller game as it is such an odd and unique game to start off with. Have you guys looked at Hunt for the Ring yet?

@TotallyBoard Жыл бұрын

Do you use a filter or change your color grading? Looks great - I'm trying to make my videos look sharper with the camera I have

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

color grading hasn't changed! Perhaps us using an additional light is helping? One way to get sharper video is to also use a new lens, yet that can be a bit pricey even if you go for used. Let me know if you have any more questions! -Ashton

@lukeanzilotti9090 Жыл бұрын

Curious if you could do a review on battle of the 5 armies or hunt for the ring as well

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

Hmm, hunt for the ring is more likely as a review. Battle of the 5 Armies has always felt like a really weird middle ground of still being long while not epic enough at a glance. I think a review for the expansions of WOTR are the most likely -Ashton

@Talliesyn 5 ай бұрын

When you said 7/10 I was like there's no way this game is 7, sounds more like 6. Then you reveal your real score. LOL

@goldengriffon Ай бұрын

yeah. Like, 4/10? Hahah. So sad, but I'm gonna pass.

@Jorn2u Жыл бұрын

Sick intro

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

thanks man! -Ashton

@magjo665 Жыл бұрын

sounds like you're playing really weird, all our games either the shadow player has the upper hand a lot of the game, or it's really balanced and tight. also, playing the shadow player in the card game really feels like you have a lot of dispensable armies to throw around, so don't know how you play to have the opposite experience.

@derek_davidson Жыл бұрын

You should play Fantasy Flight Games' LOTR. It's a cooperative card game and I really like it

@IHeart16Bit Жыл бұрын

It's also an extraordinary money sink and difficult to find.

@WideMouth 7 ай бұрын

@@IHeart16Bit It took me years, but I finally have all the expansions for that game (minus 1 promo card, but I printed a proxy). It’s a fantastic co-op game, and an interesting 1 versus many game if you have the Sauron expansion. Playing co-op with all the expansion content is brutally hard to win though.

@CitizenRare Жыл бұрын

Your War of the Ring box is looking a little worse for wear there Ashton haha good sign that it’s been well-loved and weathered many plays since we first saw it in your original review 🥲

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

ahaha cheers, I've gotten a ton out of it! -Ashton

@SeanUCF 10 ай бұрын

Did you get a chance to play the simplified 1v1 ruels in the back of the manual?

@WideMouth 7 ай бұрын

It’s a great scenario for teaching/learning the game. However, I don’t think it’s as fun or strategic as the full 2v2 rule set. However, it does play in half the time - so that’s an upside

@vojtahanus6217 Жыл бұрын

Man I got War of the Ring for Christmas and it is SO GOOD. I have played it like 6 times in 2 weeks after I got it and I fell in love with it. We also got pretty efficient at setup and the lenght does not bother you when the game is that epic. This card game seemed really cool when you were mentioning the pros but the cons... I cant wrap my head around that the shadow does not have many units :D. Also the randomness in locations seemed cool at first because of replayability, but giving a free people 3 points first turn seems boring. Thank you for the review.

@musta00 3 ай бұрын

I think the miss playing of event cards change the game so much, that maybe you should reevaluate it.

@jessevarney3298 Жыл бұрын

Aragorn looks vaguely like Nicolas Cage in this artwork.

@julienmarneffe3716 Ай бұрын

Have you got the chance to play the expansions ?

@benjaminloyd6056 Жыл бұрын

Sounds like LOTR needs to be made as a COIN game. I don't know if you are familiar with them, but it is a fusion of board and card game where each player plays cards to either take generic actions (move troops, fight, etc.) But also activate special events. (Awaken the Ents! Place 3 troops in Fangorn Forrest until end of round. You may move them once and fight.) Never played one, but it seems like it would work. Also COIN games are usually asymetric.

@abruwer08 Жыл бұрын

That's basically what War of the Ring (the board game version) does even though it does not say it on the box.

@inttruders Жыл бұрын

That game already exists no need to make it again.

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

haha that would be pretty funny as pure COIN, like an area control free for all. But yep I did play Cuba Libre and quite enjoyed it -Ashton

@joonasvahasalo6635 Жыл бұрын

Have you considered some kind of mulligan rule for starting hand if you feel its too random

@simonmtkwong Жыл бұрын

People complain that Axis is extremely hard to win in QMG but you get 6 experienced players and they will have the edge. I've not played this yet, but I feel that if it's like the Axis in QMG then the shadow side need to play both aggressively and seek double actions, it's a theme of all Brody games where you play as the "bad guys".

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

Yeah, never felt like QMG had too much of a balance issue. I actually wish Brody took more from QMG and had a board for this game, with starting troops -Ashton

@simonmtkwong Жыл бұрын

Finally got to play this and had a tight 2 point difference to the Free People on the 1st game, the fact that Shadow can score unlimited points on a given path means you have to wait for your moment to strike, also you seem really bummed on the forsaken mechanic... yeah you really don't want to top deck unless you must, perhaps if you're losing and have to go high risk but definitely not when you're ahead. Re-contesting scored locations is an absolute integral part of winning too - a 2 point card is a 4 point swing so is massive. Glad you manage to work it out in the end though, far more interesting to play Shadow where you have thematically "pick where to strike" and do lots of scheming!

@bulletsunderpressure Жыл бұрын

the looks like a car you buy to only go down the street rather than getting to work. It doesnt look like it realizes its true pontential.

@christosLz Жыл бұрын

Why does legolas 03:31 looks like Jennifer Aniston?

@Shelfside Жыл бұрын

hahahahha. now I can't unsee it -ashton

@dawidjanik545 9 ай бұрын

GROND

@bushibayushi Жыл бұрын

I played the board game 20+ times, and I have never exceeded 3 hour playtime. Most of my games last between 120 and 150 minutes, including setup ;).

@psicologiasocialporjoaowac9856 Жыл бұрын

I feel that the game misses heavily thematically, with the Mordor side seeming to have the disadvantage and the weaker part for much of the game. Your review considered that and was very informative for me, convincing me not to get the game - I was sold on it at first. Thanks. I find that other reviews of the game are overly positive and misleading, actually not only of this game...

@namynikki 8 ай бұрын

I totally agree