I'm still struggling to figure out the best strategies for this game. Not sure if it will ever be one of my favorite boards, but it feels different. I think the designer did a great job with it.
I'm playing a fog version now (not full fog, but enough that I don't know the army counts unless I'm next to them), and I see how that is helpful for strategy. I'm a bit frustrated that every really big game I join ends up having almost half the players booted, because I have the feeling this could be a lot of fun with a lot of players. A good game. Able to come back from a pretty lousy start so long as you survive long enough.
I like the Mario map, but there really isn't much to it, strategy-wise. You don't really have a whole lot of viable options of where to go with your attacks.
I like hordes games a lot, but I haven't yet had a decent game on this board. Maybe just bad rolls, but...I haven't enjoyed the games, and generally I enjoy even a losing game. Maybe I just need to give it a few more tries. *shrug*
In heavy fog you really have to be careful not to hole up in your corner, else someone else will sweep the game out from under you. But at the same time, it means you can more easily dare to take the risky little islands, since other players may not put out enough feelers to notice. I have a favorite starting place already, which isn't necessarily a good thing since it might mean the board is a bit imbalanced. Still, having a lot of fun with this board.
I've only played twice so far, but both games were interesting, even the game I lost. Smallish board, which can be nice. And being based off of Lord of the Rings is a bonus for me. I'll definitely play again.
I love hordes games! I also love the no-card aspect. While some games would never end without cards, it works well enough for this game. The 9 attacks limit bugged me for a while until I figured out that attacking with all only counted as one attack.
Eh. It's ok. I agree that the connected fortifies don't make a lot of sense and the one-way borders don't really add anything, but they also don't really detract from the game. The game seems to play pretty quickly, which is nice for a change.
I had a lot of fun with this board. It does seem to eventually get to the waiting for the next card turn in stage, but that's not too uncommon. I'll play it again.
I'll have to try this as a team board sometime. Without teams, it just seems to drag on forever, which is particularly annoying when I have very little chance of winning.
I find this game a lot of fun. It's nice to play with high numbers other than overpowered card turn-ins. One of these days I'll even manage to win a game of it on this site.