The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth

2019

Immerse yourself in J.R.R. Tolkien's iconic world with The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth, a fully co-operative, app-supported board game. Battle foes, explore vast landscapes, and write your own legend!

120
minutes

1 - 5
player(s)

14+

Medium

About the game

Embark on a thrilling adventure in The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth, a fully cooperative, app-supported board game set in the world-renowned fantasy universe of J.R.R. Tolkien. This game features a dynamic mix of strategic planning, exciting combat, and narrative-driven exploration that will captivate both fans of the franchise and board game enthusiasts alike.

The game takes you to the heart of Middle-Earth, a land of epic majesty and ancient lore. Whether you are braving the haunted barrows of the Witch-king or battling the spiders of Mirkwood, the rich setting and atmospheric artwork transport you directly into the world of the books. You and your fellow heroes will venture through forests, mountains, and dungeons, encountering friends and foes as you fulfil your quests.

Game components Unboxing the fun!

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth is a fully cooperative, app-supported board game set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic Middle-Earth universe. Here’s a list of all the components included in the game along with their descriptions:

1. Game Figures: This includes 6 hero miniatures and 25 enemy miniatures. They represent the characters and enemies in the game. Each figure is placed on the game board at specified locations, moving as the game progresses and battles ensue.

2. Double-sided Map Tiles: These are 22 pieces that form the playing area. Depending on the scenario in the game app, players arrange the tiles to create the game’s world.

3. Cards: The game comes with several types of cards, each serving different functions:

Role Cards: These are six cards that represent the role each hero can undertake. Each role provides unique abilities to the character.
Hero Cards: These are six unique cards representing each hero character. They provide details of the character’s abilities and attributes.
Item Cards: These are 30 cards that represent different items like weapons, artifacts, and equipment that heroes can acquire during the game.
Weakness Cards: These are 10 cards that represent potential weaknesses the heroes can acquire during the game, adding an element of risk and challenge.
Fear and Damage Cards: These are 28 fear cards and 22 damage cards that represent the psychological and physical toll the journey takes on the heroes.

4. Tokens: There are various tokens used to track and represent different elements of the game:

Exploration Tokens: These are used to mark unexplored areas on the map.
Threat Tokens: These are used to mark areas of danger or potential encounters.
Objective Tokens: These are used to mark areas or items of interest that the heroes need to investigate.
Person Tokens: These are used to represent non-player characters that the heroes might interact with.
Damage and Fear Tokens: These are used to track the amount of damage and fear each hero has accumulated.

5. Dials: These two dials are used to track the overall journey progress and the threat level in the game.

6. Battle Map: This is a separate map used for detailed combat scenarios.

The game combines these components with a digital app that provides the narrative and controls the enemy actions, creating an immersive and dynamic gameplay experience.

Game setup Lay it out, line it up, let’s go

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth is an immersive board game that transports players into the epic fantasy world of J.R.R. Tolkien. Before diving into this adventure, players need to set up the game properly. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do so:

Step 1: Choose Player Roles

Firstly, each player needs to choose a hero. The heroes available are Bilbo, Gimli, Aragorn, Legolas, Elena, and Beravor.
Each hero comes with a unique deck of cards that represents their abilities and characteristics. Players should take their respective decks once they’ve selected their hero.

Step 2: Prepare the Journey Map Tiles

The game board is made up of journey map tiles. These tiles should be placed in a pile face down and shuffled. Randomly draw and place tiles according to the scenario’s setup instructions.
Each scenario will have different map setups, so it’s essential to follow the instructions provided by the game’s app.

Step 3: Set Up the Battle Map

Alongside the journey map tiles, there are battle map tiles. These are used in combat scenarios. Like the journey map tiles, these should also be placed in a pile face down and shuffled. They’re drawn as needed during the game.

Step 4: Organize the Tokens

There are several tokens in the game, including exploration tokens, threat tokens, damage tokens, fear tokens, inspiration tokens, and boon tokens. Separate these into their respective piles and place them within reach of all players.

Step 5: Distribute Initial Resources

Each player starts the game with one inspiration token. Hand out one to each player.
Players also start the game with their hero’s starting skill card. Distribute these to the relevant players.

Step 6: Set Up the App

The game is guided and enhanced by a companion app. Start by downloading and launching the app.
Select the campaign and scenario you wish to play. The app will then guide you through the rest of the setup process, including enemy placement, events, and more.

Once all these steps are completed, you are ready to begin your journey in Middle-Earth. Remember, teamwork and strategic planning are key to overcoming the challenges that lie ahead. Good luck!

Game flow Round and round we go

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth is a cooperative game where players take on the roles of iconic characters from the Lord of the Rings universe, embarking on adventures across Middle-Earth. The game unfolds in a series of rounds, each consisting of two phases: the Action Phase and the Shadow Phase.

Action Phase: During the action phase, each hero can perform two actions. These actions can be the same or different, and they can be performed in any order. The available actions are:

Travel: The hero moves up to two spaces.
Attack: The hero targets a nearby enemy and attempts to deal damage.
Interact: The hero interacts with a token or feature in their space or an adjacent space.
Guard: The hero prepares for incoming attacks, which allows them to counterattack when targeted by an enemy.

It is important to note that some actions, like Attack and Interact, might require a skill test. A skill test is a dice roll that determines whether the action is successful.

Shadow Phase: After all heroes have taken their actions, the Shadow Phase begins. During this phase, the forces of evil get to act. The steps of the Shadow Phase are:

Threat increases: The threat level goes up by the total number of heroes.
Enemies activate: Each enemy on the board may move and attack.
Rally the heroes: Each hero may scout 2, meaning they can prepare for the next round by looking at the top two cards of their deck and choosing one to place on top and one to place at the bottom.

Once the Shadow Phase is complete, a new round begins with another Action Phase. The game continues in this way until the heroes complete their objectives or the forces of evil become too powerful and the heroes are defeated.

Players'turn One turn to rule them all

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth is an immersive and strategic board game where players take on the role of Tolkien characters navigating Middle-Earth. Each player’s turn consists of several potential actions, which can significantly impact the game’s progression. Here is a detailed breakdown of what happens during a player’s turn in the game, the possible actions, strategic choices, and their impacts on gameplay:

1. Action Phase

During the Action Phase, each character can perform up to two actions. These actions may be the same or different and can be taken in any order. The possible actions include:

Travel: The character can move up to two spaces on the map.
Attack: The character can attack an enemy in the same or adjacent space.
Guard: The character can prepare to defend against incoming attacks. Guarding grants the character an additional success in the next defense test.
Interact: The character can interact with a person, object, or location in the same space to progress the scenario.

2. Shadow Phase

In the Shadow Phase, each enemy on the board may perform an action, typically an attack. Enemies prioritize unguarded characters and those with the most damage. This phase emphasizes the importance of strategic positioning and guard actions during the Action Phase.

3. Rally Phase

During the Rally Phase, players prepare for the next round. Each character shuffles their deck and draws the top card. Depending on the card’s type, the character might gain a beneficial effect for the next round. This phase offers a strategic element related to deck management and can affect future actions.

Note: The order of turns in ‘The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth’ is not fixed. Players can decide among themselves who will take their turn first during each Action Phase, adding another layer of strategic depth to the game.

End of the game All good games must come to an end

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth is a cooperative board game. The game ends when either the players achieve the final objective of the current scenario or the threat token reaches the final space of the threat track. The specifics of the victory conditions, as well as the defeat conditions, vary depending on the scenario being played. However, there are general conditions that apply to all scenarios.

Victory Conditions:

Objective Completion: Each scenario has a specific objective that needs to be accomplished. This can range from finding a specific item, defeating a particular enemy, or reaching a certain location on the board.
Threat Level: The game also ends if the players manage to keep the threat token from reaching the final space of the threat track until the scenario’s objective is accomplished.

Defeat Conditions:

Threat Token: If the threat token reaches the last space of the threat track before the players accomplish the scenario’s objective, the game ends and the players lose.
Character Damage: If one or more characters receive damage equal to or greater than their damage threshold, they are defeated. If all characters are defeated, the game ends and the players lose.

Before the final scoring, players must take the following actions:

Damage Assessment: Players calculate the total damage each character has taken. If the total damage exceeds the damage threshold of any character, that character is defeated.
Threat Level Check: Players check the position of the threat token on the threat track. If the token has reached the final space, it triggers the defeat conditions.
Objective Completion: Players confirm whether they have completed the scenario’s objective. The specifics of the objective vary with each scenario, and players must refer to the scenario card for details.

After these actions have been taken, the game ends and the final scoring takes place. The scoring is primarily based on the completion of the main objective, with potential additional points for any secondary objectives achieved during the game.

Scoring Did you outsmart your rivals?

‘The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth’ is a cooperative board game where players work together to complete a series of quests. The scoring system is based on the progress players make in their journey, the challenges they overcome, and the wisdom they gain along the way. However, there isn’t a traditional point system where players compete against each other for high scores. Instead, the game is more about the shared journey and narratives that unfold.

In terms of game progression, there are several elements to consider:

Quest Progress: The further along the storyline you go, the more ‘successful’ you are deemed to be. Every quest completed gives you a sense of achievement.
Character Development: Each character has a deck of skill cards that can be upgraded and expanded as you progress through the game. The more powerful your character becomes, the better equipped you are to handle the challenges ahead.
Exploration: The game is about exploring Middle-Earth. The more locations you discover and the more exploration tokens you uncover, the more you’re experiencing and interacting with the game world.

While there is no defined scoring system, players can create their own informal system to add a competitive edge. For example, awarding points for the number of enemies defeated, the amount of damage dealt, or the number of quests completed. However, this is not a part of the base game’s rules.

As for tie-breaking, since this is a cooperative game, there isn’t a competitive aspect where tie-breaking rules are required. The game is won when the group successfully completes the final scenario and lost if any character’s damage or fear ever meets or exceeds their respective limits.

Particular Cases and Exceptions Wait… is that legal?

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth is a cooperative board game with many intricate rules and exceptions. Here are a few of the more nuanced aspects of the game that require special attention:

Character Actions:

Each character can perform two actions per turn; however, the same action cannot be performed twice in one turn.
Exception: The travel action can be taken multiple times per turn, but only once per tile.

Group Actions:

Group actions allow multiple characters to take part in the same action together.
Only one character needs to initiate a group action, but all participants must be on the same space.
Group actions count as one action for each participant. Therefore, if a character has already taken two individual actions, they cannot participate in a group action.

Encounter Cards:

Encounter cards are drawn at the end of each turn and dictate the actions of enemies.
Only one encounter card is drawn per turn, regardless of the number of enemies.
Encounters only affect characters who are in the same space as an enemy.

Damage and Fear:

When a character’s damage or fear equals their respective limits, they are required to draw a damage or fear card.
The card must be resolved immediately and may have lasting effects.
If a character’s fear exceeds their limit, they are eliminated from the game.

Scouting:

At the start of each turn, players have the option to scout.
Scouting allows players to look at the top two cards of their deck and decide to either put them back on top in any order or place one or both at the bottom of their deck.
One of these cards can be placed face-up in the player’s play area as a “prepared” card, making its abilities available for use.

Targeting:

When attacking or interacting with enemies, players must specify their target before rolling dice.
Characters can only target enemies in their same space or on an adjacent space.
Characters cannot target enemies that are in a space with a closed door or wall between them.

Tips and tricks Play smarter, not harder!

Playing ‘The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth’ can be quite challenging due to the complexities of the game. However, with the right strategies and tips, you can optimize your gameplay and enjoy the game.

Advanced Strategies:

Team Composition: Make sure to have a balanced team. The group should consist of characters with a mix of abilities. For instance, have characters good at fighting, exploring, and solving puzzles.
Use Items Wisely: Many items in the game have multiple uses. It’s crucial to save them for the right moment.
Manage Threat: You need to manage your threat level carefully. Avoid unnecessary fights and focus on accomplishing objectives to keep it low.

Beginner Tips:

Learn the Basics: Make sure to understand the game mechanics. Spend some time reading the rulebook and familiarize yourself with the game components.
Work Together: This is a cooperative game. Work together with other players, plan your moves, and share resources to succeed.
Explore: Don’t be afraid to explore. The more you explore, the more resources you will find.

Common Mistakes to Avoid:

Ignoring Threat Level: Ignoring your threat level can lead to your doom. Make sure to manage it effectively.
Not Balancing Resources: It’s easy to run out of resources if you don’t balance them. Save your resources for crucial moments.
Not Working Together: As a cooperative game, working independently can lead to failure. Make sure to communicate and collaborate with your team.

Ways to Optimize Gameplay:

Plan Your Moves: Instead of acting impulsively, take some time to plan your moves. Consider the consequences of your actions and make strategic decisions.
Use Your Abilities: Each character has unique abilities. Use them to your advantage.
Take Risks: While it’s important to be careful, taking calculated risks can lead to great rewards.