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Game Info
Year
2013
Collection
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Description
In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Deck-Building Game, you take on the role of Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn or one of their brave and heroic allies in the struggle against the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron! While you begin armed only with basic combat maneuvers, you will add new, more powerful cards to your deck as you go, with the goal of defeating the deadly forces that serve Sauron as you make your way towards Mount Doom. In the end, the player who has accumulated the most victory points (VPs) from the cards in his deck wins.
Each player takes the role of one of seven iconic heroes from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Aragorn, Frodo, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Samwise, and Boromir. Each hero comes with a special power unique to that character and usable only by that player.
Each player starts with his own basic ten-card deck and draws a hand of five cards each turn. Power is the currency you will use to buy new, stronger cards to add to your deck. The goal of a deck-building game is to craft your personal deck into a well-oiled machine. There are five different types of cards that can be acquired: Enemies, Allies, Artifacts, Manuevers, and Locations.
To bolster their existing deck of cards, players use Power to acquire cards from "The Path", a large, central stack of cards that supplies a five-card line-up from which players make their purchases. Each player will always have five face-up cards from which to choose each turn, so every turn there are new options and surprises.
When a player has amassed enough Power, he or she may defeat more powerful enemies from the "Archenemy" deck. "Archenemy" cards are represented by the notable enemies from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, including Saruman, and the Balrog, among others. When an "Archenemy" is defeated, a new one appears and makes an Attack against each player in the game! Players can defend themselves with Defense cards like Boromir's Shield, Mithril Armor, "You Shall Not Pass!" and several others.
The objective for each player is to acquire the most VPs by the end of the game. Nearly every card acquired during the game has a VP value, with the "Archenemy" cards providing the most VPs. In the end, the player who has accumulated the most VPs from the cards in his deck wins.
Cryptozoic's The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit deck-builder series:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Deck-Building Game
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Deck-Building Game
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Deck-Building Game
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Deck-Building Game
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Deck-Building Game Expansion Pack
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 8
This page: 8
Sentiment:
pos 8 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–8 of 8
Video 0eWryQcmhD0
Review at 0:10 sentiment: positive
video_pk 69217 · mention_pk 165629
Click to watch at 0:10 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Theme is endearing and recognizable.
- Mechanically interesting puzzle in the trick-taking aspect.
- Cooperative gameplay that avoids quarterbacking.
- Campaign structure provides increasing tension and narrative progression.
- Art and component quality are good.
- Visually appealing box design.
- Engaging communication between players.
- Deep cut characters and fan service add depth.
- Cozy thematic setting.
- High quality, well-shuffling cards.
- Variety in character roles and missions.
Cons
- The game is not deeply thematic in how mechanics integrate with the theme.
- Some missions can be too straightforward.
- Difficulty ramp is not always clear, with some missions potentially going down in difficulty.
- Black border on card backs can be an issue after heavy play.
- The IP saturation could be a concern for some.
- Some characters might not appear beyond specific missions.
Thematic elements
- Lord of the Rings
- Lord of the Rings universe
- Campaign-based story progression
Comparison games
- The Crew
- Quest for Planet X
- Mission Deep Sea
- The Gang
- War of the Ring
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Campaign play — The game progresses through a series of chapters or missions that tell a story, with consequences carrying over.
- cooperative play — Players work together towards a common goal, with the narrative unfolding over a campaign of missions.
- drafting — Players may draft based on their hand, which can change based on game state.
- hand management — Players manage the cards in their hand to achieve mission objectives and influence trick outcomes.
- set collection — Some missions require players to win specific sets or orders of cards in tricks.
- Trick-taking — The core gameplay involves taking tricks, a familiar mechanic that is given new life in a cooperative, story-driven context.
- Variable player powers — Players may have unique character abilities or roles that influence their gameplay.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's not really a Lord of the Rings game, but I really like how it does trick taking.
- This could replace that for me just cuz the theme is more endearing and I think the way it does the the puzzle is a little more mechanically interesting, but I really like it.
- There can't be any quarterbacking cuz you play your own hand.
- The art's great. I I love the art of the characters for sure.
- The Fellowship of the Ring, uh, pretty tightly sized box by the way. Beautiful box.
- It and it's an eye catcher on the shelf, right?
References (from this video)
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Video P2sPHtnY8jA
Review at 0:24 sentiment: positive
video_pk 68981 · mention_pk 165279
Click to watch at 0:24 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Fantastic artwork and graphic design.
- Feels more like the book than the movie.
- The campaign and progression are engaging.
- The solo mode provides a good solitaire-like experience.
- Works well even for players not strongly into trick-taking games due to slow roll-in scenarios.
- Offers a lot of bang for your buck.
- Visually expressive and pulls you into the game.
Cons
- Some scenarios in The Crew can be 'wantingly hard' or 'tricky' in a way this game avoids.
- Some scenarios in The Crew can become mechanically dry without much benefit to the overall experience.
Thematic elements
- The journey through the book's story
Comparison games
- The Crew
- The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
- The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
- Fox in the Forest
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Campaign play — The game is structured into 18 chapters, progressing through a story, and characters can get updated as the quest moves along.
- card drafting — Players have a draft of characters, sometimes with mandatory picks and choices, to satisfy scenario conditions.
- Card exchange — Players can exchange cards between certain characters, driven by their win conditions.
- cooperative play — It's a cooperative or solo game where players work together to achieve objectives.
- Ring cards — Special ring cards are not trump but can be played under specific conditions, such as when a player cannot follow the led suit.
- scenario-based objectives — Each chapter has specific objectives or characters to use, and victory is achieved by finishing all chosen characters' conditions.
- Trick-taking — A one to four player solo trick-taking game where you have a hand of cards and different rules for winning the trick.
- Variable Win Conditions — Characters have different win conditions, and these can vary based on the scenario or objectives like winning a certain number of tricks or collecting specific cards.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The artwork and graphic design is it's astonishing. It's really good, but it's more bookish.
- It's like playing solitaire. And you're like, 'What do you mean, Joel? You just said you played solo. You're playing a solitire.' No, I mean solitaire the card game.
- And because of the presentation, because of how it rolls out the scenarios, because of the artwork, because of the little different and the characters like change, you know, and you splash in little other elements...
References (from this video)
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Video -U3mLkqwLA4
Top List at 24:58 sentiment: positive
video_pk 67333 · mention_pk 163339
Click to watch at 24:58 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
Positive
Pros
- Strong Lord of the Rings theme
- More narrative than similar games
- Fun puzzle-like gameplay
- Satisfies trick-taking desires
Cons
- The Fellowship of the Ring version is preferred over The Two Towers for the reviewer.
Thematic elements
- Cooperative trick-taking with a narrative
- The Lord of the Rings
Comparison games
- The Crew
- The Two Towers
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — you are each drafting a character at the start of every round, and that character will determine what type of tricks you want to win or lose that round.
- cooperative play — It is a cooperative trick taking card game.
- set collection — Maybe this character needs to win a trick with a mountain card, and this character can't win more than one trick, and this character needs to win tricks with the rings in it.
- Trick-taking — I love trick taking games.
- Variable player powers — And that character will determine what type of tricks you want to win or lose that round.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- These are my top 10 cooperative board games of all time.
- I promised you that I would do a top 10 of all time video each month this year and I am delivering on that promise.
- For the past year, I've been shooting a series of professional comedians playing different board games and I plan to release that series soon.
- Number five on my list is the party game So Clover.
- Number four on my list is the game Chronicles of Avel.
- Number three on my list of top 10 cooperative games is the game The Gang.
- Number two on my list is The Lord of the Rings trick taking game, The Fellowship of the Ring.
- And then my number one cooperative game of all time is a little bit of cheating, because it's mostly a cooperative game, but there is a hidden traitor in your midst, and that is the game Obscurio.
- There are a lot more that I considered for this list, you know.
- I hope you're liking them as well. Thank you so much for being here.
References (from this video)
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Video uDUUpvFQQfo
Top List at 10:03 sentiment: positive
video_pk 66861 · mention_pk 162668
Click to watch at 10:03 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Really dynamic and awesome.
- Great theme to use.
- So much fun.
Cons
- Still never won it.
- Very bad at the game.
Thematic elements
- The journey of the Fellowship
- Middle-earth
- Cooperative gameplay with escalating stakes.
Comparison games
- Pandemic
- Pandemic: Fall of Rome
- Doing Imperium
- Lost Ruins of Arnak
- Ark Nova
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Point Allowance — Uses a mechanism similar to Pandemic's action points.
- cooperative play — Players work together to achieve the game's objective.
- escalation — The game features an escalating challenge.
- variable player roles — Players control two characters, managing actions between them.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's time for the Golden Geek Awards where you, the people, get to vote on your favorite games of the year.
- The nominations are open right now, so you can go vote on those.
- This is quite possibly my favorite time of the year, the time where the artist series comes out with Board Game Geek.
- It's just really, really fun. I like Settlers because each individual action that you can do in Settlers is pretty darn simple.
- I love that concept for a game.
- It's just got like a really cool art style and I think it's in the Hokkaido area of Japan but one thing that's really cool is there's these like those crates are made of wood and stuff.
- This is Brass: Birmingham. This is the third installment in the Brass series.
- The stakes are very real.
- This is just like a game where you could like really make a hybrid build and kind of engine for yourself. That was super duper cool.
- It's worker placement, but there's no blocking.
- If you can have some flair along with your function, why the heck not?
- The best inserts, of course, help your games go into the box nice and neat and stuff.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ShHiMGOK4lQ
Top List at 23:06 sentiment: positive
video_pk 66594 · mention_pk 162286
Click to watch at 23:06 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Incredibly thematic and immersive.
- Unique character-specific objectives enhance cooperative play.
- Exceptional narrative integration with the Lord of the Rings story.
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Cooperative trick-taking where players embody characters and complete chapter-specific goals.
- Middle-earth, following the narrative of The Fellowship of the Ring book
- Follows the narrative arc of the book, with characters and challenges changing per chapter (round).
Comparison games
- Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- The Crew
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Chapter-based rounds — The game progresses through chapters of the book, with each chapter acting as a round.
- character-specific goals — Each character has unique conditions for winning tricks or achieving objectives.
- cooperative trick-taking — Players work together to achieve common goals.
- Dynamic player roster — The characters available change depending on the chapter/location in the story.
- narrative integration — Gameplay elements are directly tied to the plot and characters of The Lord of the Rings.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Wow, straightforward.
- One of the best mechanisms ever and and most everlasting.
- This is just like seriously one of the like most bafflingly amazing mechanisms ever created for games.
- Keep making new ones. How?
- It's fantastic.
- The scoring in this game is nuts.
- It was one of the greatest like board gaming experience of my life.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video LKRlsMQzhTw
Heavy Cardboard Playthrough at 1:00 sentiment: positive
video_pk 64772 · mention_pk 158270
Click to watch at 1:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Deep strategic puzzles and modular mission design
- Strong thematic integration with Middle-earth lore
- Art and component design praised
- Pacing and escalating difficulty through long missions
Cons
- Complex rules and depth can be hard to teach
- Lengthy setup and overall play time
- Variance across campaign setups can feel unbalanced
Thematic elements
- Fellowship, peril, and strategic coordination with hidden objectives
- Middle-earth, Fellowship era; chapters map to scenes from the story
- scenario-driven and event-based with modular mission objectives
Comparison games
- The Crew
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Bridge encounter (Balrog) — A multi-stage encounter where a Balrog deck is revealed; Gandalf interacts with winning conditions for this phase.
- End-of-chapter group requirements — Chapters require completing all chosen characters; certain rounds allow repeats or re-use of events.
- Face-down threats and hidden information — Threats are kept face-down; information is revealed only when needed.
- Mythril shirt — A safety item that can count as complete if a player fails to meet their goal.
- One Ring as trump — The One Ring acts as a trump that can win tricks, with special rules about when it can be played and revealed.
- River cards as trump — River cards function as a traditional trump; in some stages the Ring provides a super-trump interaction.
- Simultaneous exchanges of cards — Between rounds, players exchange cards with others; exchanges happen without viewing received cards.
- Threat deck and event selection — A threat deck provides per-round events that shape objectives and difficulty; events are selected per round.
- Trick-taking — Players must win a certain number of tricks to satisfy individual character goals, often under hidden constraints.
- Trick-taking with mission-specific goals — Players must win a certain number of tricks to satisfy individual character goals, often under hidden constraints.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I love the art in this game. The power is very cool.
- This is a good mission. This is well designed. I really like this.
- Gandalf is the easiest one and probably should be taken every time.
- Two hands to glory.
- The Minds of Moria is my favorite chapter that we've done.
- I like the tempo in this last run, right? Cuz we did start in the mines—the big set piece.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ytoPwN6Rgjk
Watch It Played Top 10 List at 9:40 sentiment: positive
video_pk 36609 · mention_pk 161477
Click to watch at 9:40 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- short, approachable yet still thematic
- feels like a journey through Middle-earth
Cons
- may feel light if you expect heavy depth
- transition to the next installment may invite comparison
Thematic elements
- cooperative progress through chapters and narrative beats
- Middle-earth journey from the Shire toward Mount Doom
- chapter-driven progression with a journey feel
Comparison games
- The Two Towers
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- chapter-driven progression — chapters reshape what counts as success as you move along the journey.
- Cooperative Game — players work together to reach objectives.
- cooperative play — players work together to reach objectives.
- Track advancement — chapters reshape what counts as success as you move along the journey.
- Trick-taking — chapter-based trick-taking sequences drive success.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is The Climbers.
- This is a fast, wacky racing game for two to six competitors who draft a team of ridiculous runners, roll dice, and watch the track turn into a parade of deeply unfair superpowers.
- Agent Avenue just got a lot more dangerous with the Division M expansion.
- One of the great hooks of Fate of the Fellowship is its modular structure.
- Gold Country is blazing at number one right now.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 1q6Y4DIzO9M
Tabletop Tolson Review at 0:01 sentiment: positive
video_pk 34065 · mention_pk 152248
Click to watch at 0:01 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Strong, immersive theme tied to The Fellowship of the Ring
- Engaging cooperative play with clear personal goals
- Long campaign with 18 chapters (plus more) enhances replayability
- Compact and well-organized production with a helpful rule booklet
- Character variety and drafting add strategic depth and role-playing flavor
- Simple, accessible entry point with quick rounds (~20 minutes)
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- cooperative quest-solving with a chapter-based campaign
- Middle-earth, aligned with The Fellowship of the Ring narrative arc
- chapter-by-chapter cards that narrate story and guide goals
Comparison games
- The Crew
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- chapter/campaign progression — The game uses a stacked chapter deck; there are short and long victory conditions per chapter, unlocking further content as chapters are completed.
- Character drafting — Players draft or select a character (e.g., Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo, Sam, Pippin) whose goals influence play and strategies.
- Cooperative Game — Each chapter sets personal and team goals; players must fulfill these to progress and win the chapter.
- cooperative, goal-based play — Each chapter sets personal and team goals; players must fulfill these to progress and win the chapter.
- hand management — During setup, players may exchange cards via a hammer symbol mechanic to optimize starting hands.
- hand management and exchange — During setup, players may exchange cards via a hammer symbol mechanic to optimize starting hands.
- limited communication — Cooperative play with limited or no discussion about hand contents, emphasizing inference and coordination through mechanics.
- restricted communication — Cooperative play with limited or no discussion about hand contents, emphasizing inference and coordination through mechanics.
- story cards and narration — Each chapter presents a card with story text read to the group, anchoring theme to the fantasy narrative.
- Trick-taking — Players play cards in four suits; highest card of the lead suit wins the trick. The One Ring cards act as a special trump under specific conditions.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This is a Cooperative trick-taking game that gives you a quest through Middle Earth
- The Fellowship of the Ring trick taking game for one to four players
- it's easy to get into and it is a delightful experience
- the campaign with 18 is super satisfying
- you can keep playing after you finish the chapters
- the road goes on forever after you finish the chapters; you can keep playing
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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