The Lord of the Rings: The Decision

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The Lord of the Rings: The Decision
Game data
author Pure Knizia
graphic John Howe
publishing company GermanyGermany Germany : Kosmos Spiele , United States : Sophisticated Games , Fantasy Flight Games Netherlands : 999 Games Sweden : Alga France : Tilsit Éditions Italy : Nexus Editrice Poland : Galakta Greece : Kaissa Chess & Games
United StatesUnited States 

NetherlandsNetherlands 
SwedenSweden 
FranceFrance 
ItalyItaly 
PolandPoland 
GreeceGreece 
Publishing year 2002
Art Board game
Teammates 2
Duration 30 minutes
Age from 12 years

Awards

The Lord of the Rings: The Decision (English title The Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation ) is a strategic board game by the German game designer Reiner Knizia for two people. The game was published internationally in 2002 by various publishers, in Germany it was published in the series Games for Two by Kosmos Spiele . In 2003 it received the International Gamers Award in the 2-player strategy game category.

Theme and equipment

The game builds on the novel The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien and thematizes the fight between the companions of Frodo and the followers of the dark ruler Sauron . These two groups face each other on the game board that shows the world of Middle-earth from the Shire to Mordor. The game principle is based on that of the game Stratego , in which the different characters are not recognizable to the opponent and each have different properties. The game material and the game objectives are asymmetrical, so they differ: The light faction, the companions, wins the game if Frodo reaches Mordor, and the dark faction wins if they either kill Frodo or occupy the Shire with three figures.

In addition to the game instructions, the game material consists of:

  • a game board in the form of a map of Middle-earth with 16 areas,
  • 9 light and 9 dark bricks with the portraits and characteristics of the characters,
  • 9 light and 9 dark hand cards (number and text cards), and
  • 2 light and 2 dark special cards each.

Style of play

To prepare for the game, the playing field with the map of Middle-earth is placed in the middle of the table so that the player with the light faction has the corner with the Shire and the player with the dark faction has the corner with Mordor. Both players get their set of bricks and cards, the special cards are only required in one game variant. Both players now place four of their figures in their starting space Shire or Mordor and distribute the remaining five figures on the areas in front of them; the closed side of the wall must face the opponent so that he cannot assign the pieces. The four regions in the mountains remain free. There are the following areas:

  • Light side: Shire (with Hobbiton), Arthedain, Cardolan, Rhudaur, Hulsten and Enedwaith
  • Mountains: High Pass, Rothorn Gate, Moria and Rohan Gate
  • Dark side: Mordor (with Mount Doom and Barad-dûr), Gondor , Dagorlad, Rohan , Fangorn and Mirkwood.

The Moria mines run through Moria and connect Hulsten to Fangorn, and the Anduin River runs along the Mirkwood, Fangorn and Rohan areas.

Starting with the player of the dark forces, the two players take turns taking turns. You move one pawn per turn and if it enters a space with opposing pawns, a fight ensues there. The move always takes place in an adjacent space that is in front of the current space. This does not apply if the text of the game figure specifies other possibilities, and the light-colored player may shorten the path through the mountains via the mines of Moria from Hulsten to Fangorn and use the Anduin river to move his figures sideways from Mirkwood to Fangorn and from Fangorn to Rohan. In addition, you must never move sideways in the mountains, not even if this would be possible due to a property of the figures or a card text. A maximum of four game pieces of one color may be placed on the two starting spaces Mordor and Shire, two in the five areas in front of them and only one in the mountain spaces.

Whenever a piece is moved to a space on which one or more opposing pieces are located, a fight occurs. If there are several opponents on the field, the attacker determines which figure he wants to attack first. The fight begins by revealing the two fighting pieces and reading out their properties. Frodo and Pippin can backward or laterally at start of combat to retreat , all the other characters have to carry the fight. Some encounters lead to an instant victory after the fight is over without using additional cards. If neither figure was defeated directly, both players choose a card from hand and play it at the same time. If the cards are number cards, the respective value is added to the combat value of the playing figure and the figure with the higher combat value wins the battle. If a player plays a text card, it is treated according to its text. As a result, one or both opponents can lose and the loser is removed from the game.

The game ends when a player meets the victory conditions necessary for his color: The light faction, the Companions, wins the game if Frodo reaches Mordor, and the dark faction wins if they either kill Frodo or occupy the Shire with three figures.

Development and reception

The game The Lord of the Rings: The Decision was developed by the German game designer Reiner Knizia and published internationally in 2002. In Germany the game was released by Kosmos Spiele and in the United States by Sophisticated Games and Fantasy Flight Games . There were further editions in the Netherlands ( 999 Games ), in Sweden (Alga), in France ( Tilsit Éditions ), in Italy (Nexus Editrice), in Poland (Galakta) and in Greece (Kaissa Chess & Games).

Knizia had already published the cooperative board game The Lord of the Rings at Kosmos in 2000 . In addition to The Lord of the Rings: The Decision , the two titles The Lord of the Rings: The Search (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: The Duel (2002), both by Peter Neugebauer , appeared in the Kosmos series Games for Two . The design of the games comes from the illustrator John Howe , who also illustrated the books The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion and later also worked as a conceptual artist on the production of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit film trilogy by Peter Jackson .

In 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation received the International Gamers Award in the 2-player strategy game category. In 2005, The Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation was published in an arrangement by Eric M. Lang and Christian T. Petersen as a deluxe edition, which was reissued internationally in 2013 in addition to a second English-language edition. The German version of this game was published by Heidelberger Spieleverlag .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g game instructions The Lord of the Rings: The Decision , Kosmos Verlag 2002
  2. ↑ Versions of The Lord of the Rings: The Decision in the BoardGameGeek game database ; accessed on April 1, 2019.
  3. ↑ Versions of The Lord of the Rings: The Decision (Deluxe) in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English); accessed on April 1, 2019.

Web links