The Lord of The Rings trilogy was my favourite set of novels when I was a child. I love the movies too and I am a fan of the Pandemic game system (Iberia is my favourite thus far). Thus, when I heard that Pandemic designer Matt Leacock had designed a Lord of the Rings themed game, I was very excited. Yet on purchasing The Fate of the Fellowship, something happened that this reviewer did not expect. This was not just Pandemic with a new IP pasted on. It was more. Much, much more…
One does not simply assume this is another version of Pandemic.
The Fate of the Fellowship has the Pandemic System logo on the box. There are similarities to be found when you examine the DNA of The Fate of the Fellowship. Players draw two cards at the end of each turn. ‘Bad’ cards are drawn at the end of each turn. “Skies Darken” cards are seeded into the player deck, causing escalation in the threat of the enemy. There is a set collection element, particularly for the Frodo/Sam player, who needs 5 ring symbols in order to destroy The One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Enemy movement and combat are reminiscent of Pandemic Fall of Rome.
The Lord of The Rings trilogy was my favourite set of novels when I was a child. I love the movies too and I am a fan of the Pandemic game system (Iberia is my favourite thus far). Thus, when I heard that Pandemic designer Matt Leacock had designed a Lord of the Rings themed game, I was very excited. Yet on purchasing The Fate of the Fellowship, something happened that this reviewer did not expect. This was not just Pandemic with a new IP pasted on. It was more. Much, much more…
One does not simply assume this is another version of Pandemic.
The Fate of the Fellowship has the Pandemic System logo on the box. There are similarities to be found when you examine the DNA of The Fate of the Fellowship. Players draw two cards at the end of each turn. ‘Bad’ cards are drawn at the end of each turn. “Skies Darken” cards are seeded into the player deck, causing escalation in the threat of the enemy. There is a set collection element, particularly for the Frodo/Sam player, who needs 5 ring symbols in order to destroy The One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Enemy movement and combat are reminiscent of Pandemic Fall of Rome.
Yes, these similarities are there, but (and I am utterly thrilled about this) I’ve had to stop and think about these similarities. When I am playing The Fate of the Fellowship, I feel I am playing a Lord of the Rings game and not a Pandemic game.
Everything in the game makes sense thematically and does justice to the source material. From the character abilities, to the mission objectives, to the impact of the Nazgûl; it all works and works with the theming. This is a game that will let you create tales within Middle Earth and plot your own path to (hopefully) the Ring’s ultimate destruction.
I’ve put this off for far too long.
Yet I won’t delay summarising the gameplay any longer. In The Fate of the Fellowship, each player controls 2 characters from a choice of 13. One player must have Frodo and Sam (they operate as a single character) as one of their choices.
Players will take 4 actions with one character and 1 with the other each turn. At the end of the turn, they will draw 2 more cards, before revealing the top two (or more, depending on threat) cards of the threat deck. These cards govern shadow troop movements, or the spawning of new ones in the various strongholds.
Victory is achieved by getting Frodo to Mount Doom, discarding 5 rings (on cards or tokens) and surviving a final search roll (more on these later). Prior to this, there will be 3, 4 or even 5 (depending on selected difficulty) other objectives that must be completed first. As a Lord of the Rings fan, I found these to be very well designed and have players overcoming key challenges that appear in the text, such as Gandalf confronting the Balrog, or being present at the Council of Elrond at Rivendell.
There is only one fail condition in this game. If your hope marker ever reaches 0, you lose. It starts at 6 and can go up to 8. Some actions, or events, or objectives can grant the players hope. The forces of Sauron ever seek to diminish it. Losing a haven to enemy forces (such as Edoras, or The Shire) will result in the loss of 3 hope. Frodo moving in regions where the
Nazgûl are present causes search dice to be rolled, with a good chance of hope being lost. Managing this hope track is a crucial part of the game.
Standing in the way of Sauron’s troops are the forces of the Free Peoples. Players can recruit further troops and any number of them can travel with characters, as they move around the map. Attacking enemies is important to protect the havens. Capturing enemy strongholds limits their ability to spawn further forces and grants precious hope. Importantly, both of these actions draw the eye of Sauron, hopefully well away from Frodo, as he continues his journey.
There is a lot going on in The Fate of the Fellowship and it is a more complex game than Pandemic. Fortunately, there is a logic to the gameplay and it feels very intuitive very quickly. A summary is printed on the board, detailing the steps of each round and player aid cards present the available actions and how combat and search rolls work.
To bear a ring of power is to be alone.
Whether a ring-bearer, or more likely, a solo gamer, The Fate of the Fellowship has you covered. The solo mode in The Fate of the Fellowship is excellent.
I’ve played other versions of Pandemic solo on a regular basis – it is easy enough to do, playing 2 or 3-handed. You can also do this in Fate of the Fellowship, should you wish, or you can play using the dedicated solo mode.
In this mode, the player will control 4 characters in turn, but will only have a single hand of cards and a single token pool between them. Frodo is a 5th character that is always included. Frodo takes a single action, either before or after each character takes their 4.
I have found the solo mode to be challenging, but very well implemented. I like having only a single hand of cards to worry about and get to enjoy playing a varied selection of characters each game. Given Frodo can only move one space each time, I found myself supporting Frodo on his travels with other characters where possible. I especially enjoyed the thematic climax to a game where I had Gollum take him all the way to Mount Doom…
In short, The Fate of the Fellowship is an excellent choice for the solo board gamer.
Forged in the fires of Mount Doom.
Wherever the components were made, the cards could become unmade pretty much anywhere. My set had one or two cards with less than perfect edges out of the box and the card stock seemed generally to be a touch on the thin side. They were not quite of the quality of those in Pandemic: Iberia for example. I don’t always sleeve cards in games, but I did here and would recommend doing so.
Fortunately, the rest of the production is fantastic. The custom dice are chunky and easy to read. The character meeples are lovely screen printed pieces. The Nazgûl miniatures are excellent and add height to the visuals of the game. The map of Middle Earth is beautiful, though also quite busy with locations, routes etc.
The talking point of the production, however, will always be the Barad-dúr dice tower. This has an imposing presence, topped with The Eye of Sauron and works very well. Given how many tiny troop meeples are across the board, having somewhere safe to roll the dice is very helpful. An errant die could easily mess up the board state, so I love the tower’s inclusion. The fact it’s a guaranteed conversation piece is a nice bonus!
It is precious to me.
The Fate of the Fellowship is one of the best cooperative games I’ve played. Whilst elements of the structure will be familiar to Pandemic players, The Fate of the Fellowship builds upon these foundations to create a masterpiece worthy of the source material. For me, this is the quintessential Lord of the Rings game I’ve always wanted.
Whether it is through the brilliantly designed mission objectives, or the character abilities that lift them from the pages of the novel to the table top, or the way the presence of the Nazgûl makes travelling across Middle Earth a risky prospect for Frodo, The Fate of the Fellowship allows players to weave their own tale as they play. This, combined with the challenging gameplay and the option to enjoy it both solo and cooperatively, makes The Fate of the Fellowship a game I want to keep revisiting. Win or lose, it never fails to deliver an immersive experience.
I suggest you head to Middle Earth yourself too; The Great Eye is always watching…
About the author:
When not reviewing board games, Graham is teaching maths, running a games club and failing to convince his students that baseball is the greatest sport ever invented. You can read his thoughts and opinions on all things board game on his blog, GrahamS Games.
You can find him on BlueSky, where he will invariably be wittering on about whichever game has currently captured his attention: https://bsky.app/profile/grahamsgames.bsky.social
Zatu Review Summary
Zatu Score
94%
