The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth

Fantasy Flight has announced The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth, another card game set in Middle Earth 3rd age. Why should we care?
Well first of all, it's Fantasy Flight. Second of all, it's Lord of the Rings.

Joking aside, the game looks solid from where we sit; a Mansion of Madness meets Lord of the Rings situation, which can be nothing else than awesome.

INTRO

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth lets you embark on your own adventures in J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic world, embodying heroes of the Free Peoples and fighting back against the oppressive might of Sauron. You’ll battle villainous foes, make courageous choices, and strike a blow against the evil that threatens the land—all as part of a thrilling campaign that leads you across the storied hills and dales of Middle-earth.

Each individual game of Journeys in Middle-earth is a single adventure in a larger campaign. You’ll explore the vast and dynamic landscapes of Middle-earth, using your skills to survive the challenges you encounter on these perilous quests. As you and your fellow heroes explore the wilderness and battle the dark forces arrayed against you, the game’s free companion app guides you to reveal the looming forests, quiet clearings, and ancient halls of Middle-earth, while also controlling the enemies you encounter. Whether you’re venturing into the wild on your own or with close companions by your side, you can write your own legend in the history of Middle-earth.

OVERVIEW

• 1-5 Players
• 120-180 min gameplay

Mechanics 

• Area Movement
• Cooperative Play
• Deck Building
• Hand Management
• Modular Board
• Role Playing
• Partnerships
• Variable Player Powers
• Dependent of a App 

Components

• Cards
• 25 Miniatures
• Chits
• Modular Board components
• Player Mats

The Core Set includes 6 different heroes to play, al with unique stats like might, wisdom, agility, spirit and wit. The players choose one each, and place them on their playmat.

 

Each hero’s skills and special abilities will come handy at different obstacles during gameplay. As you interact with the creatures and locations of Middle-earth, your hero will rely on their own unique deck of skill cards to overcome the challenges they face. Rather than leaving a player’s fate up to a roll of the dice, the heroes must turn to their skill deck while exploring, encountering threats, attacking enemies, and interacting with the people of Middle-earth. To perform a skill test, a player simply reveals cards from the top of their skill deck equal to the value of their tested skill, hoping to reveal enough success icons to pass the test.

Cards are obivously used for more than test of skills, you can also place them on your mat and use their abilities. So there's a balance between the abilities and the skill tests. There are basic cards, which all heroes has access to, aswell as personal cards for each hero. In addition to the hero’s personal skill cards, your hero’s skill deck is also determined by choosing one of six roles! These roles invite you to play to different strengths within your Fellowship—in one adventure, you may lead your friends down unseen paths as your group’s Pathfinder, while in the next you could become a Hunter, attacking the enemies that stand in your way. You could take on a new role in each new adventure or choose to deepen your skill in your current role, ultimately giving you the freedom to experiment with dozens of combinations of characters and roles over the course of a campaign.

Once you’ve chosen your hero and your role, it's time to start playing. The adventure is taking place on a modular map of hexagons, and you'll add new modules as you explore.  This are the primary building block for many of your adventures, and the possibilities for what you can encounter are nearly limitless. You may find yourself trekking through a primeval forest, investigating ancient ruins, or delving into a gloomy cave or Dwarven hall. As you move from place to place, you’ll be able to further investigate your surroundings and explore by interacting with search, threat, and person tokens in the app.

 

There are also situation where you will be thrown in to micro-scale tactical combat, and this is where the app comes in controlling monsters and taking over the narrative, so you can focus on defeating the monsters. No need for a dungeon master!

The core set will contain a campaign, Bones of Arnor, which consists of 14 adventures. The campaign itself is replayable because the variables will change and the decisions made early in the campaign will affect the whole campaign. Needless to say, more campaigns will follow, with more monsters, board modules, cards and so on.