Fate of Erebor: War of the Ring Expansion is a minor supplement to the vast game of War of the Ring that slightly alters the setup of the game by imagining that the events of ‘The Hobbit’ went differently, with the forces of the Shadow emerging victorious. The Free Peoples lost the Battle of the Five Armies; Thorin Oakenshield and the dwarves of Iron Hills failed to reclaim the Lonely Mountain; and Bard and his people did not rebuild Dale, leaving the city desolate and abandoned. On the surface, the expansion has a very compact set of components, but it contains everything players need to add a new dimension to the original game.
Erebor - Shadow Stronghold
The dwarven mountain of Erebor is transformed into a Shadow stronghold, which initially sounds like excellent news for the Shadow player because it is one less stronghold to besiege and capture. However, the military victory still requires the Shadow player to control Free Peoples settlements worth at least 10 victory points, so in reality, it is one less option on the map, forcing the Shadow player to march elsewhere to gain victory points. Additionally, the lack of a Free Peoples Erebor diminishes the value of the northeast edge of the map by 2 victory points, which makes attacking the dwarves and elves less appealing overall. On the flip side, capturing the Woodland Realm and Iron Hills is significantly easier with a Shadow stronghold right next door.
As a result of dwarves not having a stronghold to call home, the Free Peoples player also starts the game with no dwarven elite units on the map. Do not despair yet, because Erebor, like Moria and Mount Gundabad, is a lightly defended Shadow stronghold at the start of the game, giving the Free Peoples player another potential target for a military victory, or at the very least another stronghold the Shadow player is obligated to defend, stretching their Sauron forces even further.
Iron Hills - Free Peoples City
With the remaining dwarven forces confined to the new city in the Iron Hills, it is significantly easier for the Shadow player to wipe out the dwarven presence on the map, given that they have fewer dwarven units and a city provides less protection than a stronghold.
The dwarves controlling a city rather than a stronghold is a defensive downgrade, but it means they can’t be trapped in a siege, giving the Free Peoples player the freedom to retreat with them and make an impact elsewhere on the map, whether it’s defending the Woodland Realm, joining the forces of the North or harassing various Shadow forces/strongholds.
The proximity of Iron Hills and Erebor also makes it the only instance where the Shadow and Free Peoples settlements are adjacent, which can lead to a vicious cold war cycle in which each side musters aggressively in preparation for being attacked, while threatening an attack of their own.
Dale - Derelict Fortification
Dale has been converted from a Free Peoples city to a fortification, leaving the Shire as the North nation’s only remaining city and victory point. This reduces the Shadow player's incentive to attack the Northmen and risk bringing them to war; instead, they can ignore them and have one less nation to worry about.
However, if the Free Peoples player manages to bring the North nation to war, possibly by playing the ‘Fear! Fire! Foes!’ event card, its units can be very versatile because they don't have much left to defend, marauding around the map, defending other Free Peoples strongholds and attacking Shadow ones.
Dale’s position on the map, as well as its defensive bonus from being a fortification, still makes it a crucial region for any army attempting to attack or defend Woodland Realm, Erebor and/or Iron Hills.
Active Dwarven Nation
The Dwarven nation begins the game ‘active’ on the political track, just like the Elven nation; thus, the Free Peoples player can get it to ‘At War’ without relying only on being attacked by the Shadow player or on playing the ‘Book of Mazarbul’ event card. This means that the Dwarven nation can be mobilised slightly faster and utilised earlier in the game.
On the other hand, the Shadow player has less reason to avoid actions that would otherwise activate the Dwarven nation, such as attacking its units/settlements or recruiting the Witch King. If the Dwarven nation is willing to go to war, it must ensure it can deal with war knocking on its door.
Optional Variant: Ered Luin - Free Peoples City
An optional variant rule in the expansion turns Ered Luin into a Free Peoples city, which raises the value of the northwestern region of the map for the Shadow player by one victory point. This, combined with all the Free Peoples settlements in that area starting the game lightly defended, gives the Shadow player even more incentive to march northwest despite the lack of Shadow troops nearby and the distance from nearby Shadow strongholds.
The presence of a significant and defensible dwarven city, along with more dwarven units available for recruitment, allows the Free Peoples player to muster a respectable dwarven army in Ered Luin, which can be used to fortify the city and assist in defending the Shire and Grey Havens or even go on the offensive and attack nearby Shadow settlements such as Angmar and Mount Gundabad.
Optional Variant: South Rhûn - Shadow City
In the base game, the Shadow player typically deploys their South and North Rhûn armies quite aggressively, as their settlements are not worth any victory points for the Free Peoples player. However, the option of South Rhûn being a Shadow city may result in the Shadow player playing slightly more conservatively, since they now have something to defend. Yet, South Rhûn’s defensive bonus and distance from any Free Peoples settlements might be used to the Shadow player’s advantage if the Free Peoples player chooses to attack it, by squandering their resources and baiting them into leaving someplace more valuable undefended.
The Free Peoples player must control Shadow settlements worth four or more victory points to win. This typically requires capturing two Shadow strongholds, which is extremely difficult, or one Shadow stronghold and both Angmar and Far Harad, the only Shadow cities on the map, which becomes a predictable approach as soon as a single Shadow city is threatened by a Free Peoples army. With the addition of a third Shadow city, the Free Peoples player has slightly more room to prod, pivot, and generally challenge the Shadow player on the military front, diverting their attention away from the Fellowship.
Verdict
In summary, it may appear that this expansion surprisingly benefits the Free Peoples player despite narratively putting them on the back foot. That is not the case; rather, it gently reframes how players must approach the game's military aspect. By spreading victory points across the map, it gives each player more areas of interest to focus on throughout the game. Furthermore, it enables the Dwarven nation to be utilised a bit more frequently for purposes other than defending Erebor.
On a final note, players can now play The Battle of Five Armies and then, to reflect the results of that game, set up a game of War of the Ring with or without the Fate of Erebor expansion, tying the two game sessions together into one massive and epic tale!
