Asmodee The Lord of the Rings Journeys in Middle-Earth Board Game - Epic Cooperative Adventure Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 14+, 1-5 Players, 60+ Minute Playtime

Overall, Lord of the Rings (LOTR): Journeys in Middle Earth is a must own for LOTR fans. I have always wanted to get into a table top role playing game (RPG) for years (>10 years), but I could never convince my wife until LOTR Journeys in Middle Earth. Both of us love the franchise so that probably helped convince her to try it out. First off, this app driven game is the game master so it doesn't require you to come up with a story or keep track of how much health enemies have; all of it is stored in the easy to use app (downloaded via Steam, Apple store, or Google store). The app tells you which map tiles to put down and where (including initial placement of enemies, various tokens, etc), and you simply place all of the physical pieces on your table to match the app. It is all interactive through your tablet or mouse (if you're using a computer) to select what you want to do. The app even saves your progress so if you can't finish a mission or adventure because it is getting late, you can save the game and come back to it (you'll just have to keep track of where your enemies are on the board). The app experience is so well done and it really facilitates the table top experience; however, I wish there was an "undo" function if you made a mistake after confirming an action. The quality of the heroes/enemies, tiles, and cards are great. Also, there are separate character packs that you can buy as well (I own both of them). The base campaign is made up of multiple adventures, and the game will tell you whether or not failing that particular adventure will cause you to fail the campaign. If you fail a mission that requires you to pass, you can just reset the adventure for that particular mission and replay it (didn't figure that out until 2nd playthrough). You can easily play some adventures (adventures make up the campaign) for 2-3 of hours whereas some are quicker than others. It really depends on how much you strategize. This is a role playing game, so you do upgrade your character/class and items throughout the campaign. Once again, the app stores all of this information for you and it is very easy to use. The large booklet of instructions is easy to follow, but we did run into some instances that required us to search online for a solution to our dilemma. I own both physical expansions and recently finished the Shadowed Paths expansion. I haven't played the Spreading War expansion yet, but I'd recommend getting Shadowed Paths for sure. I haven't purchased the digital expansions yet, but you can get them on Steam, apple store, or Google store. I will eventually purchase the digital expansions. I would have liked to have seen more story lines included in the base game (maybe they could have included the digital expansions with the base game). We absolutely love this game and hope more content will be developed for this game! Great family memories! ***We play a lot of different board games such as Betrayal at House on the Hill, Plunder: a pirates life, Castle Panic (with all expansions), Mansions of Madness (with expansions), Pandemic (with expansions), Ticket to Ride Europe, and many others.****

Pros: - This game provides a cinematic adventure for 1-5 players - Not throughly difficult but complex enough to provide a level of strategic playing - Fairly detailed and well casted minituares - The campaign genuinely provides the feeling of a lord of the rings adventure with several twists and dangers - Not too difficult and not too easy. Players will definitely need to rely on their characters special skills and work together to win - App support adds nice background sounds, is simple to use and functions really well - Long campaign with a lot of replay value. Interactions, and the map are randomly generated offering a different experience each playthrough. Not to mention a 6 dollar bonus campaign which is a fantastic deal and 2 huge expansions avaliable. Cons: - The game is completely reliant on the app. I think it functions great but for some people this is a negative and the game requires the app. No power? No charged device? No luck. - The rules aren't overly challenging but if you're not familiar with this type of game you will need to watch some YouTube videos and there is the occasional discrepancy - There are moments in the campaign and certain interactions that lack clarity. For example, the 3rd mission could be completely lost for the sole reason of the game not being exactly clear on what you need to do. Like a surprise extra step Conclusion: The game provides a detailed and interesting campaign either solo or with a group of friends. You can anticipate each adventure being about an hour and the entire game lasting about 14 hours and there is excellent replay value. The game is entirely run on the app which makes the game much easier to play but it is dependant on the app. I recommend this game to anyone who wants their own detailed lord of the rings adventure but be prepared to spend time learning to play the game.

We are a board game family And the integration of playing alongside an app was actually so much fun We love that it saves the progress along the way The art on the map pieces makes you want to look at everything so you don’t miss any details Just a really fun game

I love this game. Love love love this game. Not because I am a Lord of the Rings enthusiast, just because it is a really fun board game. Its gameplay combines a lot of the elements I like from games like Gloomhaven and Legends of Andor and minimizes some of the drawbacks of those games. If you like cooperative campaign-style board games, you will probably love this one. That said, there are a few things I would have liked to know before buying, and I will share some of those to help readers know if this is what they want: 1. This game uses an app to run the campaign. It is not just a "helper" app to keep track of your stats, it basically serves as your DM for the game. Make sure that you install the app on the device that you plan to use for the entire game. I recommend using a device that you can somehow stream to a TV to make it easier for the whole party to see. Passing around a phone or tablet is annoying and hinders the sense of cooperation and party unity. It would be very helpful if the app could connect to the TV via Chromecast, but it sadly lacks that feature. 2. The starting characters are locked into the game. You can change classes between games, but you cannot change characters. The game makes it seem like this is a minor choice that can be corrected later, but it is a very important consideration. If you are playing on easy mode, the game gives all the players plenty of inspiration, so it is probably not worthwhile to have a character who excels in giving other players inspiration. 3. You cannot tag players in and out of the game. Whoever starts the campaign is in it until the end, and no one new can be added. The only option would be to start over as a new save game. My weekly gaming group varies week to week as far as who shows up, so we could not really play this at our regular board game night. 4. If you do decide to have multiple campaigns running at once, I recommend keeping track on paper of what cards each character has in each campaign. That will make setup easier so you can quickly look at what items and cards each character has. 5. The main campaign is comparatively short, compared to Gloomhaven for example. If you want this to be a game that you play for years, you will need to factor in the cost of DLC campaigns when assessing the value.

This game has a steep learning curve, but once you learn the rules, the gameplay is enjoyable and the Lord of the Rings lore is fantastic. It uses an online app to act as dungeon master, which makes it approachable for those who are new to RPGs. The game maps seem to be procedurally generated by the app. Your progress is saved online, so you can switch between devices and pick up where you left off. The only complaint I have is that the gameplay would have benefited from using dice. Instead, players must draw cards from their decks to decide the outcome of battles and exploration-based tasks (e.g., trying to open a locked chest). Unfortunately, many of the best character ability cards lack the "success" symbol, which makes it harder to win battles the more you level up a character and unlock powerful skills.

My wife and I absolutely love this game. I bought it for her birthday and we've probably played more than a hundred hours at this point. Do note that this base pack only comes with one campaign (though it is a long one!). There are more campaigns available that you can buy, but most of them require buying more physical expansion sets as well. That said, the map layouts and many of the encounters on each scenario are randomized, giving the campaign a lot of replayability. We initially played with each of us just controlling one character. One thing that was a little frustrating was with only two characters we were very limited in how many actions we could perform per turn, so we couldn't do most of the optional encounters (and get their lore points). As a result we couldn't even upgrade all our gear by the end of the campaign. On our next playthrough we decided to play two characters each, and it feels much better in terms of progression, even though the scenarios themselves are far more challenging. But I would recommend learning with just one character until you're very comfortable with the mechanics, otherwise two at a time would be overwhelming. I would definitely recommend getting some sleeves for the cards, since with all the shuffling you do, ours have already started to degrade.

This game is an incredibly fun adventure using middle earth as a backdrop. I am thankful for the new "Adventure" mode with a scaled back difficulty. It is very helpful in learning some of the depth of the game and how certain cards and heroes work together. I've played through the 1st adventure 3 times using all of the characters in pairs. All the games were fun and varied. Of course, the same main plot points are in each playthrough, but the encounters and map layout were different every time and made my time very enjoyable. Highly recommend this game.

-Update- I recently bought the expansion to this game, and it is definitely worth the five stars, that being said you do not need to buy the expansion to enjoy this game, it just gives it more variability and replay ability. If you aren’t interested in the expansion proceed to the rest of the review.* I don’t believe in giving anything a full 5 stars, but this game is so good that I doesn’t deserve a four star. This game takes map exploration and board game campaign to the next level. This a a cooperative game where the villains are played by the computer. You spend your turn exploring and interacting with different components in the map, you use a deck of cards go determine whether or not your actions are a success or a fail. You will like this game if, - you like lord of the rings - you enjoy team cooperation -you enjoy a great story - you enjoyed great miniatures. You might not like this game if - you don’t enjoy long sessions (to be fair you can stop the game at any time and the app saves your progress). -you don’t enjoy using apps to help you board game (I personally think the app is one of the best aspects but I can understand why someone wouldn’t like it). - you hate lord of the rings (why are you even considering this game in the first place?) Overall I give this game 9.5 out of 10, I think that it’s theme and game style is worth the 70 dollars.

My favorite game at the moment

Grande titolo per gli appassionati del Signore degli Anelli (a meno che vi dia fastidio che qualcuno mischi i vostri eroi e storie non canoniche). Si va ad esplorare, si combatte in una campagna lunga e rigiocabile. Miniature di buona qualità. Richiede l’uso di una app per giocare. Unico difetto: se perdi uno scenario devi rigiocare tutto da capo.

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This is a great game for the lore of LoTR. I've played already the first campaign (Bones of Arnor) and looking forward to replay it, as it seems due to the application there would be some differences in the way the story and maps are developed. The fact that you have few characters to select, combining them with different roles, makes the variety of the game really rich. The application is really nice with the music and the visualizations that makes you enter more and more into this world of Middle-Earth. The figures are great and I even think I might give it a try to paint them. So that's an extra add-on as a side hobby if you would like that. The cards are really nice, but here is my only comment that I would prefer them a bit bigger so the letters were more easily read. But all in all this is great game!!

Great cooperative game and no one needs to ‘sacrifice’ to be the game master in this D&D-esque game set in Middle Earth. Limited replayability with same story events for the campaign but randomized setup and events do keep things interesting. Definitely looking to get at least one of the expansions. Each base box/expansion comes with 1 campaign out of the box and an extra campaign that be bought in the app.