Absolutely love this board! There is one bug - sorry not sure where to write this. While all other "countries" have a limit over 20, Forodwaich has a limit of 20. It's the only place that has a limit of 20, so I figured it was a bug. Thanks!
Excellent map. I play only this board for years! I am lord of the rings fun and I like it!
It's exactly the same with the LOTR board game from the known company.
Appearance is rather confusing. Way too hackly continental borders, especially towards the Misty Mountains. Zigzags make it hard to orientate which is whose. Even apart from that it would have been far more visually appealing without them. Then borders within continents are black. If a player chooses black colour then borders become indistinguishable. Should have picked a neutral colour or forbid players choosing black. Mordor is too heavily and easily defended. It should be open from the East or SE.
OK board. Like others have said more fortifications would help, and repeating card scale + terrs with defensive advantage can easily lead to long stalemates.
Double fortification in normal play would improve this I feel, and light fog shouldn't be the default - can descend into a boring stalemate scenario with complete lack of flexibility due to troop caps.
It's not a bad board. But there is tendency to get into an everlasting stalemate for longer games. The territory unit limits and enclosed continents dont help this.
Just not fun in any way. A big board full of seeming random continents, very few choke points or defensible positions, sprinkled with territories that have dice advantages just to slow things down even further. The repeating card scale makes for interminable games - you just sit and wait for someone to screw up or someone else to get lucky.
Great board. Well balanced continents and choke points; multiple strategies. Based on the Risk LOTR game. Author did a good job adapting the rules to WarGear.