The Lord of the Rings: Journey to Middle Earth is a captivating co-op board game that transports players into the enchanting world of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendary fantasy series. Being an avid LoTR fan, acquiring this game was a must for me.
Purchased simultaneously with Mansion of Madness, I eagerly delved into the contents. Once again, I found cardboard tokens, miniatures, and cards, along with the requirement for a mobile app to play the board game.
A standout feature of the game is its ingenious use of a modular board system, offering a unique and varied gameplay experience.
Given my prior experience with Mansion of Madness, understanding the game mechanics for Journey to Middle Earth was relatively easy. I saw a difference between the two board games. For example in Mansion of Madness you have used dice to roll for success, while in Lord of the Rings you use cards. Using the cards, this certainly added a bit of strategy and limitation of successes.
While the game presents players with two distinct modes, I opted for the normal game mode, this game mode injects a sense of urgency into decision-making. Racing against the clock to complete scenarios before the timer runs out added a bit of challenge. After a year-long journey, I successfully navigated through the campaign, despite a few setbacks.
The other game mode is an Adventure game mode. I haven't tried that mode, when I replay the board game, I will opt in for this mode.
Opting for the challenging mode undoubtedly intensified the gameplay, and I found myself enjoying the added complexity and strategic depth it brought to the experience.
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Components 10/10
There are plenty of components, and the modular map tile always makes the map building fun. Plenty of miniatures and heroes to choose from.
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Replayability 8/10
2 Expansion, and a couple DLCs equalling 6 campaigns. Once you complete the campaign, you will see the same map layouts, so you have to pick a new hero to play with.
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Theme 10/10
Based on the J.R.R Tolkien - Lord of The Rings, famous heroes to choose from and monsters to slay.
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Rulebook 9/10
The rulebook was easy to understand and the reference book is a great compliment to find specific keywords if you are stuck. There were some things were needed to be refined.
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Overall Enjoyment 8/10
Being a Lord of The Rings fan, I have enjoyed the adaptation to the board game, the card mechanic made it a bit challenging the success and you could have failed if you didn't have any faith to convert the fails, and the normal mode made the scenario feel bit rushed.
