War of the Ring wasn’t the first game to use the intellectual property from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (LotR) trilogy, but it is arguably the game that dives deepest into Tolkien’s world. The game was released in 2004 by a trio of designers out of Italy — Roberto Di Meglio, Marco Maggi, and Francesco Nepitello — and was born out of a desire to create a game that simulated the struggle for control of Middle Earth. As Di Meglio said in a 2016 interview, “Lord of the Rings was a mass-market IP, and most games were very simple, family-oriented. We wanted something which could give us, as players, a full immersion in the LotR Trilogy, with all the details.”
An Anniversary Edition of this 2005 International Gamers Award winner was recently released by Ares Games. This limited edition features painted miniatures, a hardcover rulebook, an oversized game board, and several other nice touches.
This article has a brief photo tour of War of the Ring Anniversary Edition. Please excuse my below-average photography skills. I’m in love with this edition of the game, which I’ve taken to calling “my precious” (pun intended). If you’re interested in the history of the War of the Ring or a review, I recently wrote an article in Counter Magazine, which is available through the BGG store.
