I had this idea that this series of posts will look at playing the three sagas that make up the telling of the Lord of the Rings. At the time of writing this initial post only the first two sagas, Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers have been released. So hopefully by the time I get to the end of The Two Towers the third and final saga The Return of the King will have been released.

There is a good likely hood of that being the case as my intention on playing these sagas is to play them first with Nathan. I want to share the experience of playing through the scenarios for the first time with him. Luckily we start our journey through Middle Earth next week when I visit him.

The background stuff

I own the Revised Core Set, The Dark of Mirkwood scenario pack, two of the starter decks (dwarfs and elves), and the two sagas mentioned above. Which means I have none of the earlier released material. I’m coming to this from playing the sagas for the first time.

In a previous post I’ve described how I began what has now been a four decade long love affair with the books.

Yes there are paratexts I have used for these posts. The most obvious ones are the original books by Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. But at one point or other in my life I’ve also read Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion. Plus a couple of biographies, JRR Tolkien A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter, and J.R.R. Tolkien Author of the Century by Tom Shippey.

There are also the BBC radio plays of both books, plus Tales from the Perilous Realm. The later has The Adventures of Tom Bombadil which which was not included in the original radio play. I’ve also at some point listened to the CD J.R.R. Tolkien: An Audio Portrait and a CD I have somewhere of Tolkien reading extracts from his books.

I’d be amiss if the Peter Jackson movies were not mentioned here also, particularly the extended editions. I also can’t forget the 1979 animated movie by Ralph Bakshi. Which I do have a soft spot for. After all it’s one of my earliest memories of being introduced to Tolkien and Middle Earth.

Oddly enough I only subscribe and watch one Tolkien/LoTR based YouTube channel, and that’s Jess of the Shire.

DISCLAIMER: Some of these paratexts are fresher in my mind than others. Also I’m not in anyway claiming to be anything more than a fan. In no way shape or other am I claiming to be an expert. There are far more knowledgeable people out there than me.

Before I go any further I should give a SPOILER ALERT! As I write these posts I’m not sure where there are going but I’m pretty sure they may touch on spoilers for this campaign. It’s not my intention to ruin the surprises, twists and turns that the campaign has for anyone. So if you don’t want to run the risk of me doing that for yourself then please avoid this series of posts.

For this dramatic playthrough of the Fellowship of the Ring campaign I’ll be using the starter decklists as given in the expansions rulebook.

As a brief aside although the Revised Core set supports up to four players. I do feel that it is primarily meant to be a two player experience. This is based on the fact we have a deck list for two decks to be played. That more than two players just take the cards for a single sphere of influence seems a bit of a cop out and lazy to me.

The two deck lists in this expansion (see above) help reinforce this feeling that the designers see this as a two player game.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining. This is mainly how I play the game. It’s either with Nathan when I visit him. Or with one of my friends. I’m not a solo gamer (although I like the idea). And I haven’t played or thought of playing the game with more than two players. Although if I were it’d be a three player game.

Before I close off this initial post I should point out that the LoTR Revised Core set ended up being my game of the year for 2023.

The next post in this series will be the start of our journey through the Fellowship of the Ring saga and the scenarios I get to play with Nathan on my visit to him. See you then.