When you have just learned a shiny new board game, especially one which is a bit longer and more complex than others, it’s nice to have some strategic direction. That’s what I aim to provide with my series Three Basic Tips – strategy advice for beginner and intermediate players that is easy to remember and yet gets you places.
War of the Ring (Roberto Di Meglio/Marco Maggi/Francesco Nepitello, Ares Games) is certainly a bit longer and complex than other games – 48 pages of rules and three hours of game length (if you’re inexperienced, rather more) demand a certain commitment from players. At the same time, with its beautiful presentation and its very popular setting it draws in people who are not necessarily heavy gamers to begin with. And that’s fine! As long as you have another person who knows the rules, the game plays pretty straightforward – roll your dice, choose one, conduct an action with it. In fact, I’ve used The War of the Ring as a gateway game to lure in an unsuspecting person into the wonderful world of board gaming!
As there is so much to discover in the game, your first plays should be fun no matter if you win or lose. Still, if you want to improve your chances of victory, here are three basic tips that help you out – both when playing the Free Peoples and the Shadow.
Sidenote: You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge – that might be useful if you want to have a better look at the maps!
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