10 Best Lord of the Rings Board Games 2024

This is a list of the best Lord of the Rings board games in 2024.

Article last updated: August 2024.

Introduction to Best Lord of the Rings Board Games

J.R.R. Tolkien’s stories do not need a special introduction. A saga that started in the middle of the 20th century reached its popularity peak with the trilogy movies, and later (and to a lesser extent) with The Hobbit movies. It’s no wonder the father of modern fantasy has received numerous board game versions through the years.

You will notice that many games on the list are strictly for 2 players. I believe this restriction naturally appears in Lord of the Rings, as such is the story – there are two confronting sides after all. It’s something to consider if you normally play in a larger group.

(If you click on an affiliate link and decide to buy something, I will earn a commission – I am a member of the Amazon Associates program, as well as some others.)

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10. The Lord of the Rings (2000)

Setting and Objectives of The Lord of the Rings

The world-famous Reiner Knizia designed this rather classic game from 2000. The name is both evocative and confusing simultaneously (the title makes it hard to tell apart from other LotR games) and the gameplay setting doesn’t help, either.

This is a cooperative game in which the object is to get to Mordor and destroy the Ring while surviving the pressure from Sauron.

How is The Lord of the Rings played?

The gameplay is a mixture of hand management and set collection, while the tests are resolved by rolling dice.

You must cooperatively make your way across four boards representing the Fellowship’s path across the entire trilogy: Moria, Helm’s Deep, Shelob’s lair, and finally, Mordor. Traveling through the boards quickly will require clever use of cards, characters’ special abilities, and sometimes even the Ring.

If you are clumsy, you will raise the suspicion of Sauron, who will be on your heels at all times. This will increase the corruption level, which is, well, bad. If it raises too much, one of the characters or even the ring-bearer himself can turn against others, get eliminated and you lose the game.

Recap

Lord of the Rings is a nice family-scaled version of Frodo’s story. It has a little bit of everything and is a fun and relatively quick way to experience the journey.

But it’s also a relatively old board, game, not nearly as refined as its modern competitors. The gameplay mechanics are rough around the edges and repetitive, and frankly, the game is a bit too easy.

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9. Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition

Setting and Objectives of Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition

I’m sure you’re familiar with Risk. It’s as basic wargame as they come: you’ve got your world map with provinces and you move troops around it, combating others. Combat is resolved by comparing dice rolls. Objectives are simple as well, i.e. holding certain continents.

This edition plays along those rules. Your map is now Middle-earth, with regions such as Gondor, Mordor, Rohan, Andor, and Rovanion replacing continents. In total, the world is split into 64 provinces.

On top of that, there are some new game mechanics, like leaders, power sites, and strongholds, that add more twists to the vanilla Risk gameplay.

There is also the Fellowship present. It moves along its path into Mordor and acts as a timer, marking the end of the game. Points are then added up, determining a winner.

How is Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition played?

The Risk game mechanics are all in play, but with a couple of new additions:

• You begin your turn calculating reinforcements. These are based on the number of your provinces with added region bonuses and bonuses from province cards.
• Now you can attack, with combat being solved by a simple dice throw. The attacker can attack with a maximum of three dice, while the defender can defend with a maximum of two dice, providing both have enough battalions. Dice are then compared and battalions are removed accordingly.
• If you conquered at least one territory, you get to draw a province card. If you conquered a Site of Power with your Leader, you draw an Adventure card, which contains Events, Missions, or Powers.
• After the turn, you move the Fellowship one province along its path.

On top of those, there are a few additional features, such as Strongholds and Leaders, both providing dice modifiers.

The game ends when the Fellowship reaches Mount Doom and the Ring is destroyed. Points are awarded for territories, strongholds, played adventure cards, and regions held.

Recap

The game is best played with a player count of 4. This way you can play in Teams – 2 “good” vs. 2 “evil” players. It alters the victory conditions slightly, making them more in line with the LotR story:

• A new mechanic, Find the Ring is introduced. Whenever a ring (moving alongside the Fellowship path as before) is in a territory controlled by the evil forces, they get to throw dice, trying to find it. If they succeed, they win immediately.
• If the Ring reaches the end of the path and is thrown into Mount Doom, the “good” team wins.

This mode is easily the highlight of Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition. This is how this game is meant to be played, as players try to escort the Fellowship or stop it.

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8. Hunt for the Ring

Setting and Objectives of Hunt for the Ring

Hunt for the Ring focuses on the first part of the journey, from Shire to Rivendell. One player plays as Frodo (and his companions), while up to four other players play as Nazguls, trying to hunt him down.

Frodo wins if he gets to his destination safely, while the Nazgul try to find and corrupt him.

How is Hunt for the Ring played?

Hunt for the Ring is a hidden movement board game, where one player plays against all the others, who cooperate. The Frodo player marks his moves hidden behind cardboard, while the rest use the main board to move and try to find clues, which will help them deduct Frodo’s location.

The game is split into two chapters. The first covers the journey from Shire to Bree, and if Frodo is successful, the players can decide to play the second board, from Bree to Rivendell. In this chapter, Frodo uses a different method of movement – instead of direct control he draws cards from a journey deck and decides based on this.

Recap

Hunt for the Ring is all about playing hide-and-seek and it does a great job at it. As is usual with these games, the atmosphere is very intense, particularly for the Frodo player. And, of course, everyone wants to play as Frodo eventually, so the replay value is high.

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7. The Battle of Five Armies

Setting and Objectives of The Battle of Five Armies

The Battle of the Five Armies (Elves, Humans, and Dwarves against Orcs and Wargs) was one of the major military events in The Hobbit. But contrary to the title, this is a strictly two-player wargame, designed by the same guys as War of the Ring.

Objectives for winning the clash under Lonely Mountain are different for each side. Shadow Armies must control 10 victory points worth of settlements, while Free People must endure long enough for the Fate track to run out.

This translates into an asymmetrical game, with one side (mainly) on the offense and the other defending. Free people get more hero characters, while Shadow Armies have the numbers advantage.

How is The Battle of Five Armies played?

Every round of the game goes through six phases, with the main one being the Action phase. Players roll their action dice and then take turns to perform the actions. Six symbols (as the dice are six-sided) are possible:

• Army: can move or attack with your armies.
• Character: can move a character or attack with a character-led army.
• Event: draw or play cards.
• Muster: Place troops or heal them.
• Will of the West and Lidless Eye are faction-specific symbols. The former is a wild card symbol for the Free people, while the latter allows Shadow Armies to recruit or use Goblin armies.
• Muster/Army Combo

In combat, several elements are taken into consideration. Both sides can play cards to give them a special ability. Then a maximum of 5 dice is rolled for each army, according to the army’s strength. Every 5 or 6 is a hit and a damage token is placed on an army for each hit. If you get more damage tokens than there are units in your army, you must remove some (1 unit for every 2 tokens of damage).

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6. War of the Ring: The Card Game

Setting and Objectives of War of the Ring: The Card Game

Our more recent entry only came out in 2022 and can potentially move higher up on the list in the future (or down). 2024 update: P6 looks like a good fit, after all.

Inspired by the War of the Ring (scroll further down), it too revolves around the conflict between Sauron and the Free people, with obvious goals. The destruction of the Ring, or by winning militarily as Sauron.

How is War of the Ring: The Card Game played?

The gameplay is team-based, therefore the ideal number of players is 4 (2 in each team). Each player represents a certain faction with a different card deck. Players take turns playing cards from their hands, representing characters, armies, items, and events from the lore.

These cards will help them get closer on their quest or hinder the other side. Of course, trying to find cards that work well with each other and coordinate what your fellow team player is doing is key to victory.

5. Middle-Earth Quest

Setting and Objectives of Middle-Earth Quest

If you’re getting tired that every game on our list is based on the trilogy or Hobbit, Middle Earth is something you might look into.

It’s set in the years after Bilbo’s journey and before Frodo’s and as it’s not forced to mold around a story with a known ending, it gives players free rein on how to approach it.

You play as one of the heroes (elf, Rohirrim, or a ranger), wandering around Middle-Earth and completing various quests, doing good (preferably). Alternatively, one player can play as Sauron, trying to advance his evil plot and hinder the players.

How is Middle-Earth Quest played?

So, you’ve got a pretty open map and the game is set out as a one versus many. Freely wandering gameplay reminds a lot of Runebound, particularly as the heroes are a lot tougher than, for example, Frodo. They are quite badass and can take on the forces of evil themselves, producing epic battles.

Sauron, on the other hand, relies on spreading evil, corrupting heroes, overthrowing nations, and so on. His gameplay is quite challenging, especially if all three heroes are in play.

Recap

Middle-Earth Quest is a massive game, considering time, rules, and components-wise. It requires a dedicated group of open-minded players, who can overlook some of the game’s quirks. In return, they will be rewarded with an epic adventure, with a unique, unpredictable storyline.

4. Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation

Setting and Objectives of Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation

Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, a two-player only game is played on a simplified board of Middle-earth. You move large, Stratego-like pieces on the board and fight each other. Each piece is a Lord of the Rings character and has a strength factor and extra abilities.

The goal of the “good” side is to bring the Ring (either with Frodo or Sam) into Mordor, while the “bad” side tries to occupy the Shire.

How is Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation played?

The game is played on a square board. In one corner Mordor, in the other, the Shire. In between, there are familiar locations from Middle-earth: Arthedain, Cardolan, Enedwaith, Eregion, and Rhudaur on the Shire’s side. On Mordor’s side: Gondor, Dagorlad, Fangorn, Mirkwood, and Rohan.

Separating the two sides are the four mountain regions with limited movement (no sideways movement). The Fellowship side can avoid them using the Tunnel of Moria, but if the Balrog catches them, they are in trouble. They can also use the River of Anduin for sideways movement on Sauron’s side of the map.

Each region has a character limit and at the beginning of the game, each player lays out his characters as he pleases. Their faces are turned towards him, so only he knows their hidden identity. The other player will try to figure out the identities during the game.

Players then take turns to move their characters (taking into account their special abilities) and combat is resolved when they clash. Extra combat cards are then played by players – they are either text cards or strength cards. The text is resolved first. If that doesn’t give the winner, then the strengths of characters and strength cards are compared. The weaker character is removed from the game (if there’s a tie, both die).

The game is played until the victory conditions are met:

• Fellowship wins if Frodo moves into Mordor (even if Sauron’s characters are still there).
• Sauron wins if he gets three of his characters into the Shire or kills Frodo. (In some scenarios Sam can take over the Ring.)

Recap

Confrontation is a game revolving heavily around its characters and their abilities (their abilities are relevant – i.e. Boromir sacrifices himself). Each of them is unique and it takes some time to understand how they work with each other and how best to implement them into your strategy. Each side has its strengths and weaknesses and requires a different approach.

The fact that the opponent’s characters are hidden further complicates matters. In early turns, you’ll probe the enemy, trying to feel how he set up his army and where certain characters are.

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3. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Setting and objectives of The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Next on our list is a living card game. Story-wise, it’s also set after events from Hobbit and before Frodo’s adventure.

This is a cooperative game: players against the game system. You can play alone or in a pair, but you need another base game. In both cases, you’ll attempt to complete a scenario (3 are included in the base game). A scenario is a combination of quest and encounter decks and you draw a series of obstacles (enemies and locations) from them and attempt to beat them.

Scenarios are, of course, Lord of the Rings flavored with all its iconic glories: from narrative to heroes like Aragorn or Gimli, allies such as Gandalf, locations like Mirkwood, enemies like orcs or Nazgul. The atmosphere and art create a very immersive experience and you’ll feel the world Middle-earth coming alive around you.

As is usual with a living card game, plenty of new scenarios and decks are available as expansions. And if you plan to delve into the game, you’ll have to buy at least some of them eventually.

How is The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game played?

The setup consists of preparing three decks:

1. The quest deck is the one you have to complete with progress tokens. It contains the story and determines the contents of the second deck.
2. The encounter deck consists of elements that stand in the way of players and the quest, mainly enemies and locations.
3. The player deck is the cards you play with. It consists of your heroes and things that help them: allies, items, tactical maneuvers, and spells. Heroes are in play automatically, while other cards must be paid for with resources to put into play. Setting up this deck is a game in itself and you can spend a lot of time constructing it before the game even starts.

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is played in rounds, and in each round, players will try to beat the enemies that confront them or contribute to advancing the quest by using their characters to fight and for special abilities.

When an area is cleared, the story advances, and new enemies are revealed, all the way to the final encounter.

Read The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game Review – Steam Edition

Recap

Cards (either enemies or locations) are drawn to the staging area -> enemies must be defeated in combat, locations must be cleared with progress tokens -> extra progress tokens are placed on the main quest.

The game is won when all the main quest cards are completed (filled with progress tokens) and at least one player is alive.

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2. The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth

Setting and objectives of The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth

Journeys in the Middle-earth was one of the top board games of 2019 and a signpost of what board games might look like in the future (luckily, things didn’t go fully into the “app” direction). It is designed around an accompanying app, essential to the gameplay.

At its core, it’s a cooperative adventure game. Players will take on roles of LotR characters (Bilbo, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, Elena, and Beravor) and embark on a campaign-structured journey. Each chapter of that campaign will offer a different set of map tiles, enemies, and objectives.

As players complete each chapter, they unravel the big story and discover their true purpose. The game is set somewhere after the events in The Hobbit and before the events of the Trilogy.

How is The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth played?

Every round of the game has three phases:

1. Action phase
2. Shadow phase
3. Rally phase

During the action phase, players perform two actions. They can choose from Travel, Attack, and Interact. The same action can be performed twice.

Many of these actions require a test to be performed. The players try to beat the target value given by the app by drawing cards from their decks. The character’s skills determine the number of cards drawn. Items also affect this. Odds can be further turned in the player’s favor by using collected Inspiration tokens and building his deck during the game.

The Shadow phase is the time for the app to move enemies and attack with them, inflicting damage and fear on heroes. The Threat bar also increases in this phase – players lose if it fills up before the objectives are completed. This works as an internal timer, exerting pressure on the players who can’t take forever to fulfill their objectives.

The final phase of a round is the Rally phase, where players reshuffle their decks and scout the first two cards of the deck, giving options to prepare one of them face-up.

Campaign and app

The campaign must be played from start to finish – you can’t select specific scenarios. You advance even if you don’t complete the objectives, and the consequences of your actions affect subsequent scenarios. In between scenarios, you can upgrade items and purchase new skills.

The app is a great tool that not only controls the enemy but also provides the narrative for the campaign, adapting it to your actions.

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1. War of the Ring (Second Edition)

Setting and objectives of War of the Ring (Second Edition)

Considering the scope of the setting, War of the Ring is the largest game on our list. It covers the entire trilogy on a grand level: commanding and combating armies on the map of Middle-earth, while at the same time trying to escort the Fellowship to Mount Doom.

There are two ways to win this War of the Ring:

1. Military victory, fighting with units on the map.
2. Bringing the Ring to Mount Doom or corrupting the Fellowship to prevent that.

The two sides are highly asymmetrical, meaning that for Shadow Armies, the first goal will be more attainable. Free People will normally try to complete the Fellowship route while using armies only as a distraction. Just like the story went.

How is War of the Ring (Second Edition) played?

Core game mechanics are very similar to Battle of the Five Armies: the phases are almost identical, as is the action and combat system, powered by dice.

But there are several unique elements:

• The nations the sides control are not all automatically at war at the beginning of the game. Instead, there is a political track that marks their current status. You can push them to war using appropriate dice or with certain moves. The dark side’s nations are easier to force into war, while on the Free side, only Elves start with at-war status.
• The Fellowship track marks how far it is on its journey and also its corruption level. This aspect is a hidden movement mini-game, with the Fellowship trying to sneak into Mordor, while the dark player tries to locate them and cause corruption. The composition of the Fellowship also changes as certain milestones are reached, parallel to the story.

The game requires you to balance your resources. As Free People, you will juggle between planning an effective Fellowship’s route to Mordor and allocating forces to distract the enemy.

Shadow Armies, on the other hand, are much stronger military speaking, but they must divert a certain number of Nazguls to prevent the Fellowship from its task. Which hampers their armies.

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Further reading:

• Best Pirate Board Games – My Top 10 List
• Best Detective Board Games – My Top 8 List
• Top 10 Christmas Board Games – Gift Buying Guide
• 11 Best Star Wars Board Games
• 10 Best Star Trek Board Games