The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth Review

[@copychef]

Solid review. So happy I found this channel.

[@renatomauri9261]

probably the best review I have seen about JiME, deep and clear. Congratulations

[@arteverywhere1286]

Board Game Geek should pay you money to teach the game. This was better than anything I have seen. Thank you.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Art Everywhere that’s very kind of you, thank you!

[@billwhitteaker2722]

Well done review. Mine showed up today (could not resist the pre-order) and now more excited to play this weekend.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Bill Whitteaker awesome, have fun! Would love to hear your thoughts on the game.

[@CeresOutpost]

Great review man! Not many BG reviews satisfy me these days, but you are on the right track here! Subbed and thank you!

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Thank you, that means a lot to hear!

[@MrDharda]

I'm really on the edge on this one, for 80€ I would not doubt... but 100 it looks like too much for the content. But thanks for the video! Really well explained and made me more like it to buy it xD

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Oh man, $130 USD is rough, I don't blame you for being hesitant. I imagine once hype dies down a bit it'll be available for a much lower price, for instance Imperial Assault is on Amazon for $79.99 right now even though it's retail in the US is $100 as well. Either way, thanks for watching and even more for commenting!

[@clairvoyantmole8668]

It's Fantasy Flight. They raised the prices more and more during the last years - and as long as people are going to buy it, this sure won't stop.

[@twistedone5683]

I just got it for 80

[@guanoape27]

Thanks for this review, can't wait to get a copy and play the hell outta of it! Two things I want to respond to. 1, with regards to the characters not necessarily being in-sync with the established timeline; I see it as something similar to Star Wars Rebellion. Meaning that you are playing the characters and inhabiting the world, but you're making your own stories instead of following the ones that have already been told. And 2, when it comes to enemy figure variety, it looks like they are doing something similar with what they did in Imperial Assault/Descent, where you get the unique figures in future Figure Packs and until then the unique enemies will be represented by generic figures(instead of tokens like in IA/Descent), it kinda sucks, but from a production standpoint I can see why they're doing it this way. Cheers!

[@tyrussleightholme7261]

I thought this game was going to be really boring from watching videos. But when I finally played it it imo is actually quite fun. It definitely has a style you have to like. You are constantly resetting (shuffling) your skill deck but it was very fun for me. Only thing was side quests were odd and we just won by surviving and eventually pushing a button in the app that said "you've won" which felt Weird... I didn't know we were about to win or how it just happened

[@TheCardboardHerald]

I'm glad that you ended up liking the game, Tyrus. What characters are you playing?

[@twistedone5683]

Can't wait my copy comes tomorrow and this weekend gonna play it with my friends.

[@aorakis5795]

hi there ! as you said here, can't agree more ! To me, the game should have been around complete noob "heroes" that somewhere on the road of the campaign, might get in touch with those big names of the saga ! Just as star wars - assault on the empire. Where your are playin' perfect stranger. That would allow you not to think "euuuh wait... am i'm hunting a rabbit for a lost farmer between 2 orcs and Goblins fights... ?" Coz that's not how i see Aragorn Legolas and gimli along the way of their journey... Also. Can't agree even more on the missing of "single missions" to play ! With the poor and empty box that makes you feel like you paid 50$ in excess for the game... At least having some "quick missions" to play should be a basic content of the game ! Then... As you said... Why ... ? WHYYYYY NOT having the possibility of replaying a mission... ? WHY FFG ... ? Those are the major points for me that make this game just "middle ... good" for fan only ! Where it could be amazingly much better... ! keep up the good works ! For Middle Earth ! Stay safe out there Cheers from belgium

[@michaelbrewer9074]

Each time you come to a "Last Stand" with your character it becomes harder to overcome. So you don't want to die early in a campaign as later on your last stand attempt, maybe in a critical need to win way, might be out of reach to win the skill check.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Michael Brewer I’m not sure I have anything to add to that other than, yes. Thanks for watching!

[@michaelbrewer9074]

@@TheCardboardHerald just mentioning that they gave a penalty for characters that die. So you dont risk your neck to often!

[@jeffreyquinn9429]

What are those Tolkien boxes on the shelf behind you with the cartoon art? Games or books?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Hah, good eye! Those are actually vinyl records, specifically the soundtracks to the Hobbit and Return of the King movies made by Rankin & Bass. If you haven't seen them, at least seek out the Hobbit. It is beautifully animated, has some excellent songs, and for many people (such as myself) was their introduction to Middle Earth. The depictions of Gandalf, Smaug, and even Bilbo I consider iconic. EDIT: I just reread your question and I now think you may be familiar with the cartoons and were just wondering what those were. Yeah, I'm just a fan of records and figured I'd add some easter eggs in the background.

[@jonathanrector]

How did you find the combat between enemies? I've heard people suggesting that enemies don't really feel 'different'. Just more so ranged or melee, and then different kinds of shields. Have you felt this way?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Hmmm... Yes? I guess I went into this expecting more of an adventure game a la Arkham and Eldritch Horror, and less of a Descent / Imperial assault style game. As such, enemies have been perfectly fine, if a little bit samey (which I mention the need for diversity in the review). What I can say is that we've had to make strategic decisions about the order in which we fight enemies based on their health / armor, and it seems like there is variation in the strength and type of damage they tend towards. I'd also have to do a lot of testing, but it felt like certain enemies tended toward different types of tests to avoid injury. It could all be random, but for instance, I felt like the ranged enemies relied more on agility to reduce damage whereas the melee tended more toward strength.

[@BrianAThomas]

So the app does allow for the flow of several campaigns at once? I can have a solo one going, one with my kids, then one with the local Board Game group?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Hi Brian! Yes. I have multiple saves going right now, and each can be named so it makes it convenient to return to. Additionally, the app keeps track of party loot, experience, and Lore (the threshold in which items can be upgraded), and you can respec your experience points between any adventure, so it isn't too hard if you need to change around decks switching between campaigns.

[@trilliank.8160]

Oh I have another question how to organize the map parts so they can be set up as fast as possible.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Trill, you and I think alike. Mrs. TCbH and I keep the map pieces in numerical order for the most part. So if it requests that you pull out 203B, it's easy to find. They aren't always the friendliest to stack in this order, but we haven't had many problems. Also, I highly recommend you get a smaller hardware bit box to hold tokens like this: www.amazon.com/Plano-23500-00-Stowaway-Adjustable-Dividers/dp/B000E39T4Q/ref=pd_bxgy_200_img_2/147-1220258-6844065?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000E39T4Q&pd_rd_r=6137ca76-5bc2-11e9-88ca-6b451e78e520&pd_rd_w=LdMIv&pd_rd_wg=mJIEg&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=0S9E1A95CM8HZWYCQ6WR&psc=1&refRID=0S9E1A95CM8HZWYCQ6WR and a side loading deck box like this: www.amazon.com/Ultra-Pro-Gathering-Supplies-Loading/dp/B0081IS2AI/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=side+loading+deck+box&qid=1554922415&s=gateway&sr=8-5 I have a few old Max Pro ones that I use. The reason is that the smaller FFG cards stand up perfectly in them, and so we keep all game cards in there, mainly divided by in-game cards (damage, weakness, status effect) and between game cards (class abilities, unused characters, items...), then we keep our character decks, sheets, and mini's in a separate bag as our "saved game". Makes setup and takedown a breeze.

[@trilliank.8160]

Oh great thanks for that info, I'll have a look 👍🍻

[@MrUb3rD]

Good work man, keep it up!

[@DrakkanWoW]

Here's my question about an app used for a game like this - at what point do you just say, I wish this was a full game on an app? IE, if you are using the app to map your movement and everything why not just play a board game like video game instead? I feel like that would be constantly nagging me with a game like this. Any thoughts?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

You are not wrong for asking this. I think JiME is kind of the perfect balance to me. Some levels of app integration where the entire system (dice rolls, skills, player movement, enemy movement) is on the app feels like the cardboard just becomes an accessory. For some board game apps (Gloomhaven for example) I feel like it is too dedicated to recreating the tabletop experience yet offering conveniences that it feels like a bad video game than a good digital board game. For me, the app facilitates the game, plays the roll of the dungeon master or empire (in Imperial Assault / Descent), without inhibiting the things that I like about a board game. Player movement is decided on the board. Your deck is managed through a deck. You have the tactile experience of tokens and miniatures. The app is there to do what a DM would be doing, saying where enemies populate, telling you how they attack and how they move, though it's up to you to carry through and react to that. I have no doubt that some people will feel like the app detracts from the game, which I get to a degree. I intentionally filmed my record collection as a backdrop to one of the scenes in this because I wanted to subtly show that I'm someone who cares about physical media; I get the desire to move AWAY from when at the table. But for me, it works out.

[@DrakkanWoW]

@@TheCardboardHerald Thank you for your perspective!

[@munkyman33]

Great review

[@Alexander_Kunitz]

Nice review! I was curious to learn a bit more on the app. Would you be able to use the game through the browser, or do you have to download it through a digital storefront (Google Play, App Store, Steam)?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Great question, Alexander! I was given the app directly through FFG and I can just launch it off of my desktop, but I'm not sure if this is by nature of it being a pre-release version or not. I know there will be versions available through Steam, the Apple App Store and Google App Store, and they will all be free. I do not think you will be able to run it out of a browser because it saves information but doesn't require a log in, so they aren't storing that data on a server anywhere. In the video you can see that I used a laptop and I think it worked perfectly fine. That made it convenient to take footage for the review, too. But I think it would work particularly well on a tablet. Regrettably, the day the game came in the mail, my home was burglarized, and I lost both my wife and I's iPads, so I have yet to try it on that.

[@Alexander_Kunitz]

@@TheCardboardHerald Thanks for the heads up! Sorry about your home, that's frightening! Relieved that you are okay, though!

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Alexander Kunitz yeah, it sucks. Unfortunately, for as amazing Alaska is, there is a growing Meth & Opioid problem, though maybe that’s all of the US. Fortunately, they were only able to take a few electronics and some jewelry before a UPS driver knocked on the door, which spooked them and they bolted out the back and over the fence. What was the UPS driver delivering? You guessed it, Journeys in Middle Earth. Family and pets are safe, we have good police officers and insurance, and now much improved security on our home. So aside from the udder violation, we should be OK.

[@MonkheyBoy]

Hey! Nice video, I'm incredibly new to board games and was thinking of buying this game, but am thinking about trying other games too. Would you recommend this to someone completely new to board games? And what other board gamed could you recommend to someone new?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Thanks! That's a great big ol' question. Generally, yes. If you've watched my video and maybe you google "journeys in middle earth rules PDF" and it doesn't look overwhelming to you, this is a pretty good starting point. The app manages a lot for you, and if there's something you are identifying with here, then it will hopefully be a really positive experience. That said! People talk a lot about onboarding with less complicated games. I'm not always in agreement with this, but there is some merit to starting off with something less expensive and less complex. So, here are three recommendations based on what it is that you might find interesting about Journeys in Middle Earth. 1) If it's the Lord of the Rings or fantasy theme that most interests you, I think Lords of Waterdeep would be a great introduction to "worker placement" games, and it has a cool fantasy theme but instead of being the adventurer, you are hiring the adventurers. 2) If you are just looking for a really great introduction to cooperative gaming, there's no better starting point than Pandemic or Forbidden Desert. Both by the same designer, both excellent. I tend to prefer Forbidden Desert. 3) If you are looking for a sweeping story or campaign that continues from one game to the next, Near and Far has a great emergent narrative and is played as a campaign. Also has a great art style. That said, if you like all three of those things and don't mind learning how to play a BIG game as your first experience, Journeys could totally be a great first game. I'd just look up the rules or a proper "how to play" video first. Hope this helps!

[@MonkheyBoy]

@@TheCardboardHerald thank you so much for your reply! ❤️ I've been thinking about buying Pandemic or Forbidden desert actually! How difficult would Arkham Horror be for a newbie? It seems like a nice Eldritch horror themed game. 😁

[@TheCardboardHerald]

@@MonkheyBoy I can't speak for Arkham Horror 3rd edition (the current edition) but to me, the best example of that style of game is Eldritch Horror. That said, I think Journeys bares some resemblance to it, too. Eldritch Horror is also a BIG game with lots of components, but the complexity of actions is fairly low. I would still advice learning from someone else, but I strongly believe that someone's "gateway" game should be the game that looks and sounds the most fun to them. If the idea of piles upon piles of cards, tokens, and horrific monsters is your jam, Eldritch Horror is a great game. I don't know what part of the world you are in, but if there's a local game store, see if there is a group that plays there or nearby regularly and join up. Express an interest in a couple games and see if someone would teach you. Hell, if you were in Southeast Alaska, I'd tell you to come to our Wednesday night game night. Good luck!

[@MonkheyBoy]

@@TheCardboardHerald well I'll keep an eye out for Eldritch Horror! Unfortunately, I live in a small town in Sweden and there isn't an active board game community here as far as I know, or I would've gladly joined you! Nevertheless, I'll look up som "how to play" om KZbin, once again, thank you so much for taking the time to reply. ❤️

[@tonybowers9490]

Thanks for sharing! Well done.

[@Feralway]

Was the story satisfying so far?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Great question! As I said in the review, it's generic, but given my experience with FFG games in the past, I kind of expected that. I think the ambience and tone is the more enjoyable part of the story; the little scripts of discovery as you interact with tokens. The main plot is serviceable but nothing to write home about (so far). I would not recommend this if you were making your decision solely on story quality though.

[@jamessblues]

I'm a big Tolkien fan.. Will I be disappointed with this aspect ? Thanks fir the review I enjoyed it

[@TheCardboardHerald]

It all depends on you. I'm a big Tolkien fan and I really enjoy the game. But if you are looking for this to thematically reflect Tolkien's works, this is not it. It evokes some of the mood, and does a great job with the setting, but it feels more like another, less talented author writing a story in Middle-Earth, using some of Tolkien's characters. Probably the biggest hurdle for me is that it's all named characters from the lore. But if you just want to play around in Middle Earth with some vague echos of LOTR, this is some of the most fun I've had playing a board game in middle earth.

[@jamessblues]

@@TheCardboardHerald ok for me it's enough It seems like a good compromise. I was worried when I saw Bilbo between the characters too. I just buy it. Now I can't wait it to arrive. Thank you again . Onen i estel edain

[@marc-olivierdiserens8958]

I think I would prefer if they had used only random characters and none of the big LOTR characters, as for someone who knows well Tolkien's work, there's no way to make the campaign history and characters match in the official Middle-Earth chronology. I still have a lot of fun playing it, I mostly ignore the known names on the characters and imagine that they are some other Ranger/Elf/Dwarf/Hobbit.

[@blakecurry3880]

So if you buy a burglar card it is with you forever? So you switch to musician later but still have that burglar card? And when you buy that card, the xp earned goes away forever, or can you "sell" a card back to get the xp back?

[@blakecurry3880]

Also did you play the full campaign or just the demo one that only had 2 scenarios on it?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

You earn experience for the class that you are currently assigned for a game. That bank of experience is locked to a character and can be spent to add additional cards to your deck (which can quickly be sold back and respent between missions). So if I have 12 experience as a burglar and switch to a musician, I build my musician deck as normal but add in additional burgler cards that I choose to purchase.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

I have the full (beta) app and have played through 4 chapters, a couple of those multiple times.

[@blakecurry3880]

The Cardboard Herald okay so sticking with Burglar means being able to buy the really good 12xp card but now you won’t have the ability to cross class. Got it.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Totally, but once you have enough to buy one or two of those, it might be worth switching classes to start earning up for those more expensive cards in another class. For reference, winning a mission has generally led to 4 experience for each player, and losing has been 3 experience. This may change as the campaign goes on.

[@Steveodelux1]

Love the towel cloak

[@TheCardboardHerald]

If I can't have fun making a video about Middle Earth and board games, what am I even doing?

[@MichaelNovotny]

Great review! Going to buy it based on this :) Cheers =]

[@TheFewzz]

Not sure on this game yet, i got MoM thats app driven and in solo its horrible.

[@josephbromley3364]

How do you think it stacks up against the criminally overlooked Middle Earth Quest? I’ve always felt Mansions of Madness lost heaps of atmosphere and dread replacing the Keeper with an app for the 2nd Edition, has something similar happened here? Gone is the fiddliness of the first game, but replaced with something rather more bland and generic? Love your Lord of the Rings related reviews, keep it up!

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Oh man. This is the question that I was waiting for. From the hero perspective, I think this does a brilliant job of being an "update" to Middle Earth Quest, which is among my favorite FFG games ever made. That said, no game yet has felt as cool as the Sauron side of MEQ, whether its a LotR game or not. For the heroes, much is the same. You have a deck of cards that drives combat and actions (though not movement), you race across the board to get tokens and have interactions, and pressure is driven largely by a timer that can be interfered with by resolving certain events. In that way, this is a worthy successor, and as much as I loved the Sauron mechanic, being the owner of the game I'm happy to finally be part of the heroes for a change (though Mrs. TCbH would occasionally play as Sauron just to give me a chance to be a good guy). In a perfect world, this will have an expansion that introduces some of the corruption concepts from MEQ, making areas progressively more dangerous but allowing you to interfere with that network... at your own risk. Thanks for watching and even more for commenting!

[@josephalanbromley838]

Thanks heaps! It's a shame they abandoned the shared Movement/Combat/Health deck, the Journeys in Middle Earth mechanic looks less strategic. That mechanic should have been copied 100 times by other games by now. Care to rank your favourite Tolkien games? Where does JiME stand alongside the mother of all, War of the Ring? I'd say my five were WotR, BoFA, Hunt for the Ring, MEQ, then the Knizia coop game...

[@tyrussleightholme7261]

@@josephalanbromley838 I haaaated that mechanic now it feels like everyone actually has control over their own character. I'm glad no other games copied such a way

[@goldengriffon]

Nice video, but despite everyone seemingly enthusiastic about this game I just can't bring myself to even give it a try. I found it unpunched in a thrift store for $8, and I still can't even bring myself to try it. I downloaded the app and fiddled with it, and was immediately turned off. It's just not the sort of experience I want. Oh well.

[@ShineAqua]

What's with the writing behind you?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

ShineAqua sharp eye! I have a list of projects and doodles in my recording room.

[@ShineAqua]

@@TheCardboardHerald oops, I meant to specify the Russian writing, but cool.

[@jasona579]

The easy setting is way too hard. I play this with my 8 year old and... would be mor enjoyable if it didn't feel like fear and damage was coming down on us like an avalanche

[@ginovilleneuve6557]

Thanks for the review! i'll get the game and journey in middle earth myself !

[@trilliank.8160]

Thanks for the Video. You played different scenarios several times, were they different enough (cards and encounters) to play them several times and have fun with them?

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Great question! I played some multiple times, I wouldn't say several. The scenarios themselves are pretty much the same, though generally they are a bit larger than what you might be able to accomplish in a single session because of the threat counter, so I did see a bit of different stuff each time. That said, I think the variety in this game comes from how your characters act and the cards in your deck, the results of tests rather than the variety in the mission. For instance, I would not want to play chapter one more than 3 times in a row. But I am looking forward to playing through this campaign again with different characters and different people. I think the ideal setting for this game is playing with a 1-3 player count all the way through the campaign, then starting it again with different characters & friends down the road.

[@trilliank.8160]

Thank you for your prompt reply. Ok that's interesting, I thought Grace said in the stream of FFG that the card is partly always generated by the app again. I can not wait to play the game with my husband, your review made me even more excited 😊 Thanks

[@TheCardboardHerald]

@@trilliank.8160 I'm glad! As for the chapters, I think there may be some elements that change around, but for the most part they felt the same. The orientation of the maps and maybe individual tests were different, but the basic beats of the chapters were similar.

[@danilocezarcabral]

Great video and content! But I prefer to save money - or spend it with War of the Ring (if you don't have it already). It seems to me that is one more superficial exploitation full of cosmetics of a brand. Apparently it doesn't respect the literary work or other products produced and created with care and real dedication that were focused on Tolkien's world with admiration. (the LCG, Hunt for the Ring or the masterpiece that is War of the Ring). The power of commerce!

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Hi Danilo! Thanks for watching, and yeah, I actually have TWO copies of War of the Ring (1st and 2nd edition). That said... I'm going to be kind of sacrilegious and say that I don't really enjoy playing War of The Ring. I mean, it's fun enough, but long drawn out war games aren't really my thing. But if I have to play a long drawn out war game, I'm glad that I have War of the Ring on hand. Plus it's easily the game Tolkien game that best captures and understands the spirit of Tolkien's work, so I have immense respect for it.

[@TheMedianGam3r]

Best boardgame evermade!

[@kosterix123]

Let's wait for 4 expansions. It's too generic.

[@crushingit5128]

The app promises a richer more diverse way to deliver the plot. Yet everyone who played this game said the plot is generic and the story is average at best. To me it sounds like the use of the app completely failed.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Yeah, I can understand that. For me the story is fun but yes, ultimately fairly generic. As I've played more I've come to more branching storylines, but it's your typical FFG level of storytelling. Serviceable but not particularly noteworthy. I'm hoping that evolves with time. But the app does present other conveniences that aren't story related, and in that it absolutely succeeds.

[@timgrossman84]

I am probably in the minority here but I cannot fathom how anyone thinks this game is in any way more exciting than older ffg games. I mean the majority of the game is flipping cards over and looking for a success. I think it's very boring compared to chucking dice. Also the battle maps are a joke. The only two things I think this game has going for it is being lord of the rings and the app integration is pretty good.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Hey Tim! Being in the minority ain’t a bad thing if you are sharing your honest opinion. I’m glad you posted, and all I’ll say is that in spite of my love for older FFG games, I had a lot of fun. The dice from Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror were never the draw for me, so the card test system feels more interesting. But that may not be true for you, so I’m glad you can recognize that.

[@majkus]

"Kinda like asking an elf for advice, for they shall tell you both yes and no" compared to the original text, "Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes," (and I do not expect a reviewer to quote such matters from memory; it is not a criticism of the reviewer) puts me in mind of what increasingly discourages me about the game: it has Middle-earth names and places (and not always executed with even minimal care, as in 'Emyn Beriad' for 'Emyn Beraid' in the 'Bones of Arnor' introduction) but seemingly with barely a gleam of the world, let alone language, of Tolkien's imagination. As you remark yourself, the story telling is pretty generic; and I will add that the prose I have heard and read seems pretty flat at best. I cannot help thinking that the game was originally conceived as a Terrinoth product, but that marketing considerations dictated a Middle-earth title instead. ("OK, we have a Tank, a Captain, a Rogue, an Archer; Gimli: Aragorn, Bilbo (he was a burglar, right?), and Legolas! And we already have art from the card game, how cool is that?" "What about this Minstrel? There aren't any named minstrels in The Lord of the Rings, are there?*" "Oh, we'll use one of our original characters for that.") As a generic dungeon-crawler, it might be a fine game. As a Middle-earth game, it appears to fall disappointingly short. *Actually, Lindir probably was pretty musical. His name appears to contain 'Lind-' with a meaning of 'song', and is the Elf in Rivendell who was asked to critique Bilbo's song about Earendil. But never mind that now.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Thanks for giving a good Tolkienian point of view! Yeah, I paraphrased the elf quote, as well as a few words in the Troll song, but I figure they are both a bit more "lived in" in that way. And yes, if you are looking for deeply reverent material here, this ain't your game. Maybe War of the Ring and it's ilk (BoFA and HftR) are more suited for that situation. But for a game where you get to play with your Lord of the Rings toys in a Middle Earth playset, this works pretty darn well. I'm generally of two minds about Tolkien. The first is that I take the inspiration and impact his work has had on my life very seriously. The second is that I think that sometimes we treat him as a bit too much of a fuddy duddy. Would he be impressed with this game and how it represents ME? No, not at all. But also I don't think he would necessarily be mad at people for enjoying it. Though I could be wrong. Anyway, not trying to defend any points or anything. I think your assesment that this might have been something else to start with is spot on; but for the closest thing that I'll get to a Middle Earth Quest 2nd edition, I'll take it. My hope is that this game will become a platform for stronger and more varried storytelling. What I can say is that it blew me away that there is a mission that has absolutely no combat encounters. Not to say thats a huge deal, but it was surprising, refreshing, and a welcome change of pace; understanding Middle Earth is more than just Orc slaying. Anyway, thanks for watching and especially thanks for writing!

[@kraziel]

No. Just no. Great video but this game is dull as fuck. The choices in the story are cliche and simple as hell, the combat is not engaging AT ALL, the card play for tests is awkward and nothing about it is interesting.

[@alcovitch]

Why are so many youtubers praising this? It looks boring. The art is generic. The game is mostly skill tests and combat is ridiculously basic. Average at best. This is a blender mash up of FFG's others games. To make it worse, it's price take is really high for whats in the box.

[@TheCardboardHerald]

Hi Alcovitch. I'm not sure that you were actually looking for an answer, but the truth is that I really enjoy the game and feel like I articulated that pretty well. I find it much more accessible and easier to get into the meat of things than many other campaign games on the market. The action system is fun and fits the framework of the game well, and I enjoy leveling up characters and adventuring around Middle Earth. If you are looking for the next Gloomhaven (which I'm definitely not), this is absolutely not it. But if you are looking for something that allows you to hit some of the Imperial Assault & Eldritch Horror vibes in much less time, with it themed in Middle Earth, than I think this is exactly it. I don't expect everyone to like every game, but I would never tell anyone I'm enjoying a game that I'm not. I appreciate you commenting though. Having different opinions is important and I'm glad that people can take a critical eye to my content and the games available.