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

[@meteguel2831]

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

[@Shelfside]

Grinding out Frosthaven review lol -Daniel

[@Bearbok]

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

[@glassjaw328]

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]

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

[@magjo665]

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.

[@themuricandictator992]

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.

[@aaronhandleman7277]

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]

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

[@WideMouth]

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.

[@vladimiralbu7340]

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

[@Shelfside]

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

[@opperhoofdrampeneer8324]

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

[@Shelfside]

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

[@abesapien9930]

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]

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

[@musta00]

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

[@brandobombchu8827]

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

[@eggius]

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

[@thElBarto9670]

Thank you for your review. Thanks it I will not buy WOTR:CG. I was reading a lot of reviews and trying to decide, but your opinion was very decisive to me. Every cons that you said and your last opinion was crucial for me. Thanks for save my money!

[@CitizenRare]

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]

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

[@mccthibbit]

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]

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

[@abruwer08]

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?

[@Talliesyn]

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]

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

[@derek_davidson]

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

[@IHeart16Bit]

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

[@WideMouth]

@@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.

[@joshuamills8335]

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!

[@RolandIronfist13]

Nice tease for The Battle of Five Armies

[@Shelfside]

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

[@cyprianz9793]

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

[@Janisurai]

I loved this game so much

[@elqord.1118]

Feeling the same exact way about this

[@lukeanzilotti9090]

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

[@Shelfside]

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

[@cvok34]

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

[@TotallyBoard]

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]

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

[@Spilzu]

The intros never disappoint 🙏🙏🙏

[@dawidjanik545]

GROND

[@SeanUCF]

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

[@WideMouth]

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

[@jessevarney3298]

Aragorn looks vaguely like Nicolas Cage in this artwork.

[@ilqrd.6608]

I was so disappointed by the 2p modes. Can’t believe people are defending it. What a letdown.

[@psicologiasocialporjoaowac9856]

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]

I totally agree

[@Jorn2u]

The art seems pretty mediocre. Either a real good amateur, or an amateur pro...

[@vandor4085]

It's just John Howe, pretty much amateur's work, imaright?

[@christosLz]

Why does legolas 03:31 looks like Jennifer Aniston?

[@Shelfside]

hahahahha. now I can't unsee it -ashton

[@vojtahanus6217]

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.

[@G36Sperrfeuer]

Such an awesome intro!

[@benjaminloyd6056]

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]

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

[@inttruders]

That game already exists no need to make it again.

[@Shelfside]

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

[@bulletsunderpressure]

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.

[@robertthurman9866]

I think the game would have been better if it were not a LotR themed game. But it would not sell as much. GoT would have been better.

[@mnBroncos1]

How do you figure that? I love GoT but this fits the lotr theme perfectly with going on the paths and battlefields at the same time

[@NATOnova]

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

[@Kartmennnnnnnnnnnnnn]

You cant play any event even twice dude

[@Shelfside]

yep, I had to make a correction on that in the pinned comment! -Ashton

[@simonmtkwong]

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]

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]

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!

[@Jorn2u]

Sick intro

[@Shelfside]

thanks man! -Ashton

[@raskolnikov6443]

Game is better with 4 players

[@GGdeTOURS37]

This game is so great and much better than the long & boring boardgame!

[@bushibayushi]

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 ;).

[@joonasvahasalo6635]

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

[@caliijack]

first!