The Breaking of the Fellowship is a free supplement for the expansive War of the Ring game that drastically alters how the game is set up to reflect the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy’s first book, The Fellowship of the Ring.
The Fellowship has already travelled from Rivendell to Lorien and down the river Anduin; Gandalf has fought the Balrog of Moria, giving his life in the process and returning as Gandalf the White; Boromir fell victim to the lure of the ring, forcing Frodo and Sam to abandon the fellowship, and redeemed himself battling orcs to his last breath; Pippin and Merry are taken prisoner by the orcs and carried to Fangorn with the three hunters (Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli) in hot pursuit; all the while the shadow of Sauron forebodingly stretches across the land and Saruman tightens his grip on Rohan.
The scenario allows players to begin the game after the events of the aforementioned book’s last chapter, with certain event cards already played, Hunt tiles drawn, and characters and armies mustered and/or moved, or in the case of poor Boromir, eliminated!
Let's explore the implications this has and how it affects the course of the game.
Companions and Minions
The Fellowship has been entirely broken, as implied by the scenario’s title, and the ring bearers have no more companions at their side. At the start of the game, they are all placed in various regions to correspond with their location after the book’s final chapter.
- Gandalf the White replaces Gandalf the Grey, adding his Action die to the Free Peoples player Action Dice Pool, giving them more actions from the start. Gandalf is also placed in Lorien, which puts him quite centrally on the board and makes him versatile for the Free Peoples player.
- Boromir is removed from play in the setup, leaving the Free Peoples player with one less companion to utilise in combat for leadership, combat strength and triggering event cards’ combat effects. Furthermore, event cards that require Boromir, such as ‘Horn of Gondor’ and ‘House of Stewards’, are now only useful for their combat effects.
- Merry and Pippin are both placed in Fangorn Forest, providing the Free Peoples player the option to play ‘The Ents Awake’ cards, which pose a constant threat to Saruman’s position in Orthanc.
- Strider, Gimli and Legolas are all placed in Eastemnet, making it easier to replace Strider with Aragorn, who is only one movement away from Minas Tirith. However, Gimli is distanced significantly from any dwarven lands, making it more difficult to bring dwarves to war and join the conflict.
- Frodo & Sam are also placed in Eastemnet, more than halfway between their usual starting location of Rivendell and their destination of Mordor. However, they begin the game revealed and with 3 corruption points, so they need to hide and possibly heal before progressing towards Mount Doom.
- Since no companions are remaining in the Fellowship, Gollum automatically becomes the guide, allowing the Shadow player to allocate only one die to the Hunt Pool during the ‘Hunt Allocation’ phase for the duration of the game, while the Free Peoples player can use Gollum’s guide ability. In theory, this makes it easier for the Free Peoples player to move the Fellowship undetected; however, if they are discovered, the corruption from the Hunt may be more severe as they have no companions left to sacrifice.
- Saruman is placed in Orthanc at the start of the game, adding his Action die to the Shadow player Action Dice Pool, granting them additional actions from the start while also making Isengard more threatening with his ‘The Voice of Saruman’ and ‘Servants of the White Hand’ abilities.
- The Witch King can enter play on the first turn, as his muster requirements are met in the setup. However, the Shadow player still has to consider the benefits of the Witch King against activating all the Free Peoples nations (except Rohan).
State of the Nations & Armies of Middle-Earth
The scenario also changes the political stances the various nations of Middle-earth have on the looming war, using the political track, and adjusts the army setup instructions to reflect how prepared their armies are for the inevitable conflict.
- All Shadow nations begin the game at the ‘At War’ step, allowing the Shadow player to muster, move and battle with any nation they see fit, giving them a lot of flexibility.
- In setup, all Shadow nations also receive an increased number of troops and Nazgul on the board, as well as being positioned in regions closer to the Free Peoples nations, with Isengard armies on Rohan’s borders and Sauron and the Southrons & Easterlings armies on Gondor’s borders, ready to attack right away.
- The Elves are the only Free Peoples nation to begin the game ‘At War’, helping the Free Peoples player to protect the elven strongholds better. The Dwarven, The North and Gondor nations are also moved one step down the political track, allowing them to mobilise slightly faster. However, Rohan remains unchanged, making it extremely difficult to prepare for an attack and incredibly easy for the Shadow player to divide and conquer.
- In terms of armies, the Free Peoples player only gains one more elite elven unit in Rivendell and the Woodland Realm, modestly increasing the elven strongholds’ defense. Additionally, a Rohan elite unit and leader are placed in Westemnet, giving the Free Peoples player a little extra defence in Rohan.
Played Event Cards
The scenario removes certain event cards from each player’s Character and Strategy decks, as if they had already been played, mirroring the narrative beats of the story. Some of the event cards whose presence, or lack thereof, has a significant impact on the game:
- ‘Elven Rope’, ‘Elven Cloaks’, and ‘Phial of Galadriel’ are in play to represent the Fellowship’s visit to Lorien and the gifts received from the elves, improving the contents of the Hunt Pool if the Fellowship makes it to the Mordor Track.
- 7 Shadow Character event cards are removed, symbolising the hardships the Fellowship has endured to get this far, making it considerably more difficult for the Shadow player to corrupt and delay the Fellowship’s progress towards Mordor.
- The Shadow player starts the game with 15 Character and 21 Strategy event cards, the disparity forcing them to evaluate how quickly they should draw/use Character event cards so that they don't run out of them prematurely.
- ‘The Palantir of Orthanc’ is placed on the table from the start, depicting Saruman’s ability to communicate and scheme with Sauron. This requires the Shadow player to draw an event card each time they play an event card using an Event Action die result. The ability can accelerate the Shadow player to victory by ensuring they always have event cards to play or use for combat, but if not used carefully, it can lead to exceeding their hand limit, having to discard cards, and inevitably running out of event cards completely if they don’t win the game quickly enough.
- ‘Wormtongue’ and ‘Threats and Promises’ also begin the game in play, portraying Sauron’s various methods of manipulating the Free Peoples' nations, preventing them from raising banners against him, including a particular servant of Saruman that drips poison into Theoden’s ear. This allows the Shadow player to muster and move their armies comfortably, particularly around Rohan, encircling and seizing cities and strongholds in one fell swoop. The combination of the two event cards makes it impossible for the Free Peoples player to mobilise Rohan without the aid of the Companions.
The Hunt for the Ring
Lastly, the Fellowship's journey has already been marked by trials and tribulations, represented in this scenario by removing specific Hunt tiles as if they have already been drawn. The used tiles feature some of the lower corruption values, removing all the ‘Zero/Reveal’ tiles but none of the ‘3’ tiles, skewing the Hunt Pool to be more dangerous for the Fellowship’s remaining trek to Mordor. This encourages the Free Peoples player to move the Fellowship more carefully, while the Shadow player is incentivised to focus on waylaying the Fellowship and playing event cards that allow them to draw Hunt tiles.
Verdict
This scenario limits both players’ options, compelling them to re-evaluate what they can do and what they should be doing, based on what is available to them. For example, the Shadow player is incentivised to attack Gondor as soon as possible to prevent the Fellowship from healing at Minas Tirith and Strider becoming Aragorn. Alternatively, they can trap both parties in Gondor, in the hopes of eliminating Aragorn and making movement perilous for the Fellowship. On the other hand, the Free Peoples player is strongly encouraged to do exactly that: crown Aragorn for an extra die and heal the Fellowship’s existing corruption while positioning it closer to Mordor. It feels like you are picking up someone else's game midway and now have to finish it, but the events leading up to the current game state are strikingly similar to those of the original written story.
Speaking of which, the scenario does an excellent job of subtly evoking that narrative within its simple setup rules. The more obvious example is removing the event card ‘Balrog of Moria’ and replacing Gandalf the Grey with his white counterpart to signal that their epic battle has already occured, but there is also removing the ‘Eomer, Son of Eomund’ event card and placing a Rohan elite army and leader unit in Westemnet, alluding to the moment Theoden banished Eomer and his Rohirrim from Edoras based on Wormtongue’s sly deceptions. It is a small element, but in a game about emergent storytelling as a result of gameplay, it rewards players who notice such details.
In conclusion, some players find the more focused and restricted playstyle offered by the optional scenario refreshing in comparison to the standard game, which can easily overwhelm players with the vast number of options presented to them from the outset. Other players like the ability to engage with all of the game’s aspects, have all the potential choices at their disposal, and construct their own unique narrative that differs greatly from the original work. Alternatively, players, like myself, might enjoy alternating between using the scenario and playing the classic version, depending on how they feel and what they want from each session.
Finally, one of the most common complaints from fans is that they don't have the time to play the game as often as they would like. This scenario noticeably shortens the game’s playtime by about half, making it ideal for people who don't have the luxury of being able to devote an entire day to a full game of War of the Ring but still want to enjoy it regularly.
