War of the Ring - BUT CARDSS

Matt continues his decade-long love-letter to War of the Ring – the game he hated, then loved, and still doesn’t own a copy of. It’s a chunky box for something that maybe only gets brought out twice in a decade? But oho! What is THIS? Can this retooled cards-only version of the strategy epic serve as a decent replacement? Can CARDS ALONE do justice? Maybe one simply CAN wander into Mordor, for a laugh? Just for the fun of it? Some of this and MORE, in today’s Lord of the Rings extravaganazaza, War of the Ring: The Card Game.

~FOLLOW US AROUND, WHY DON'T YOU~

Music credits:

[marcushead]

Tom as Gollum to Quinns' Smeagol makes a weird amount of sense.

[matttaylor]

I knew Tom was really corrupted Quinns

[danbaraona]

So much production value in these videos. Shooting in two locations, the apartment and the number zone! How do they find the time?

[leooshea]

Matt's point about board games being an essentially collective thing that we really should own together and not covet in our sweaty caverns of bullshit, gets a fuck yeh from me.

[micromikko]

I just straight up reserved the game on our library's mobile app. It's so nice to be able to borrow most of the newest (and older obviously) board games from the library as a way of testing them out. Nobody likes cardboard boxes filled with disappointment stockpiling in a dark corner of their house.

[SpiderFan]

This guy is hilarious, such a brilliant way to do what is quite a dry type of video on other channels. This feels fresh and makes me want to view videos on board games that I’m not even bothered about.

[mirandaleaptrott]

I did not expect to FINALLY get the Tom origin story dropped on me like that! Somehow i knew, somehow i always knew

[Looc]

I'm surprised this game hasn't gotten more love. It is SO good. If you like games with fun sequencing and going through your deck multiple times, tough decisions left right and center, this game is just phenomenal. There's a couple verbiage considerations in the rulebook that can confuse but the FAQ answers everything.

[ConcerningGaming]

I haven't given War of the Ring a try due to the complicated set up, length of playtime, and teardown. But this seems to be right up my alley.
Another great video, guys! Been loving the channel for years now. Love how much effort goes into your videos, this is the best board game channel on YouTube by far. Cheers!

[mattsteele]

I loved this review, and basically agree with it, having played the game 3 times, and the larger war game maybe 15 times so far. (Yes I watch SUSD reviews for games I've already played.) I also love that Matt has also reviewed The Battle of Five Armies, and I will probably buy that game too despite the mixed assessment he gave, even though he's probably right there too (in the end, "not as good as War of the Ring, but playable in half the time" is enough for this completionist). Now the only thing more I can ask of Matt is to also review "Hunt for the Ring". In all honesty I'm eventually going to buy that game no matter what he does, but this theme, and Ares' Games track record of takes on it, and SUSD discussions of them, have a special place in my heart.

[chriswalker]

Matts use of language is one of my favourite parts of SUSD

[paulsousa]

I watched the 2005 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe last weekend and I kept imagining Matt as Mr. Tumnus. That’s it, that’s my comment.

[kettchuk]

I’ve got War of the Ring…I’ve got no-one to play it with, but one day if someone I meet at random says they want to play it, I want the option to. It’s an aspirational game for me.

[vaultdweller]

You really had me checking the well-being of Sean Bean, followed by Rowan Atkinson.

[CareyMcDuff]

It's nice to hear Matt's ludological analysis again. It seems to have been on hiatus recently, so a welcome return!

[mattyrellu]

The intro lives up to the promise of the title

[dave]

You folks are still the best in the business at what you do. The entertainment value is off the charts.

[jacktorrance]

Great review and rundown of the game Matt. A friend owns the main game but he’s not one for reading rules and so the first, and only, time we played the game was when he unwrapped it and tried to read the rules as we were trying to play. Never again…

So I’ve had it for years now, sitting on my shelf and I’ve tried on a few occasions to grok the rules but it’s pretty intense so this version really appeals to me.

I’ve also got Star Wars: Rebellion and really love it since I’m more of a Star Wars guy than a Lord of the Rings guy so I don’t feel the need to own War of the Ring: 2nd Edition myself but I’d still like to play it at least once before my friend sells it.

[lostmarble]

What has it got in its non-standardised large pocketses?

[omarkorayem]

Never have I clocked on something so fast