Bag of Games

Good board games sure are a good way to spend some time, but sometimes it just takes too much effort to make arrangements to actually sit down with your friends. Luckily, there are few good board games designed especially for two people, so if you and you’re wife cannot think ANYTHING ELSE to do; you can try these games. Few days ago, I bought Reiner Knizia’s Lord of the Rigns: The Confrontation (Deluxe edition) which supposedly should be entertaining enough for two people. Now, few games behind it is time for a quick review.

Mechanics are very simple: Move forward and Battle!! The nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring are controlled by Fellowship player, while other player is controlling nine evil characters as a Sauron player. Pieces are placed in diamond shaped map of Middle Earth in a way that your opponent cannot see which piece is located where. Fellowship player wins if Frodo reaches Mordor and Sauron wins if three Sauron’s minions are in the Shire or have defeated Frodo in battle. On your turn, you move one of your characters forward and if that region is occupied by enemies, a battle takes place.

When the battle takes place, the characters are revealed, revealing also their special abilities. Revealing the characters special abilities may conclude the battle and if not, the combat cards takes place. There are nine battle cards that range from strength modifiers to special abilities. These cards are played, and if there has not been any conclusion for the battle already, the strenght modifiers are checked to resolve the battle.

Of course the game has something else to it. There are many factors that make the game very appealing. The hidden identities of the pieces are one big strategic element cause neither player knows if they’re attacking a powerful minion or small whelp. Moreover, there can be more than one piece in a region. Ability to keep your pieces hidden gives a nice element of bluffing to the game. Your opponent may never know which character is which. The Fellowship side and Sauron side are balanced yet in a curious manner. Sauron’s forces are much stronger in strength terms, but Fellowships forces has many possibilties to retreat in form of side movement or other special abilities that Sauron’s forces cannot use. So you will spend some time thinking which characters you are going to use as “scouts” and which characters must survive until the very end. There are lots of small riches in the game which makes it much more than a regular challenge in chess. So the game has surprising depth in it, despite its simple mechanics. And when each game can be set up differently, it provides great replay value.

If you like Lord of the Rings, you will like The Lord of the Rings:  The Confrontation, since it is a very thematic game. Playing as the Fellowship player really gives you the feel of desperation because Sauron’s forces are much stronger, while playing as Sauron you surely have the upperhand in strength, but where is that Frodo and the one ring!!! I also have to mention, that the artwork by John Howe, really works here.

This box was a deluxe version of the game, so it has some nice bonuses that the earlier version didin’t have. There are nine additional characters on the reverse side of the original characters so players can play variant games where new characters are used. If you wish, you can also play a draft-game where players simply pick the characters they wish to use. In addition to the new characters, there are also four special cards for the players, which can be used as a variant and they give some great advantages. A good addition to the game, I must say, since it gives more even more opportunities to enjoy the game.

I haven’t played too many two-player board games, but in the future I will. This Lord of the Rings Confrontation (deluxe edition) package has convinced me, that there are good two-player board games available. Not many 20-30minute games have been so tense than these “confrontations” with my wife… in Middle-Earth I mean.  Conclusion: Good, Intense and fun gaming experience!