This review first appeared in my Tabletop Game of the Week column way back in November of 2002. I'm going to be reprinting some of those old columns over the next few weeks.
In honor of the upcoming release of The Two Towers, this week’s Tabletop Game of the Week is Reiner Knizia’s Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. Dr. Knizia is somewhat infamous for designing excellent abstract games then pasting a theme upon them. This trait is obvious when one looks at just how many of his games have been re-themed when published in new editions without much change to the feel of the games. But, in the past few years, Knizia has found a theme he can apparently sink his teeth into. In 2000, Knizia designed a cooperative Lord of the Rings board game that involved moving a group of hobbits through the pivotal moments of the books while avoiding being corrupted by the ring or being captured by Sauron. It was a marvelous game concept made even better by the perfect blend of mechanics with theme. Now, Knizia is back with another excellent game based on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is a two-player board game that bears more than superficial resemblance to the classic, entry-level strategy game Stratego. As in Stratego, players of LOTR:The Confrontation begin the game by secretly placing the members of their “army” on the game board. In this case, however, the game board itself is a map of Middle Earth with many of the most famous locations from the books providing the sectioning. One player’s “army” consists of the members of the fellowship; the other “army” is made up of the forces of Sauron.
After secretly placing their figures on the board, players take turns moving their characters across the board. The goal of the “good” guys is to get Frodo to Mordor so he can destroy the ring. The goal of the “bad” guys is, of course, to kill Frodo before he can do just that. The game actually provides a second winning condition for the “bad” side; they can win by getting three of their troops through to the Shire. For the record, in our test games, we have never seen this done and don’t expect to. So, for the dark side, it is all about finding Frodo and dealing with him.
Also as in Stratego, battles occur when one player moves a character in to a map location already occupied by an enemy character or characters. The player moving the piece into a confrontation chooses which of the hidden enemy characters he will face and both the attacker and the defender are revealed. These characters have numbers on their stands that indicate their total power. Unlike Stratego, Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation now allows for a large number of possibilities.
Each character has a special ability clearly written on its playing piece. These abilities are triggered at the beginning of the battle. If either character’s ability eliminates the other, the defeated character is removed from play. If neither character is eliminated (or allowed to retreat because of his text), the battle resumes with card play.
Each player starts the game with a hand of nine cards made up of power cards with numbers and special cards which have an effect on the battle. At the beginning of each encounter, each player secretly chooses and places a card. These cards are revealed after the special abilities have been resolved. Text cards are handled first (starting with the dark player). If the text cards do not eliminate the combatants, or if only number cards are played, the strengths of the characters (with number card values added) are compared. The character with the lower number is eliminated. Ties result in both characters being eliminated.
The number cards, text cards, and special powers of the characters make this game feel totally different than Stratego. Their presence also means that the game is much deeper and gives each player the opportunity to make many more decisions that may affect the outcome of the game.
Further strengthening this fine game is the excellent artwork by Tolkien artist extraordinaire John Howe. Howe’s artwork is absolutely gorgeous. It reinforces the theme wonderfully and provides a lovely setting for a quick, light strategy game.
A note: Our play-testing has led us to believe that the light side has a noticeable advantage. To deal with this, it is suggested that players follow the recommendation in the rules. Every session with the game should involve two games—with each player getting one turn with both the dark and light. The games are scored by counting the number of characters the winning player has on the board at the end of each game. After two games, add up the score. Highest score wins.