Fantasy Flight Games

Return to Middle Earth

Published 27 November 2013 | Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation

Return to Middle Earth

Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is Now Available

Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is now available at your local retailer and on our webstore! Since Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is designed by the celebrated and prolific Reiner Knizia, players can expect the level of elegant simplicity and strategic depth for which he’s known. Gameplay is deceptively straightforward – each turn, players move one of their hidden characters forward on the board. If a character is moved into a region that already contains an opposing player’s unit, combat ensues. One player controls the Fellowship of the Ring, attempting to destroy the One Ring in the land of Mordor. The other wields the power of Sauron and his minions as they seek to reclaim the ring of power from Frodo and cover Middle-earth in darkness. Both players have nine characters, each with different abilities and strengths, to pit against the opposing side.

What's New in This Printing? This printing, which includes the Classic game, as well as Variant and Draft games (introduced in the Deluxe edition), makes a wonderful addition to the collection of any Lord of the Rings enthusiast. Between its stunning artwork and its faithful recreation of the race between the Fellowship and Sauron, you’ll find Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation to be uniquely immersive, so you can enjoy a perilous adventure in Middle-earth. While the rules and gameplay remain unchanged, there are a few new elements in this printing. They are as follows:

The rulebook contains additional clarifications to make the game even more accessible and easy to play.
This compact new edition features bridge-sized cards, as well as scaled down character stands and tiles, with new character cards to serve as reminders of character abilities. The game board now has visual reminders, such as character limit indicators and darker mountain borders, to help clarify play.
It features stunning new artwork for variant game Fellowship characters, as well as for several cards.

Will you take up with the dark lord Sauron and bend Middle-earth to your will as you seek the One Ring? Or will you become part of the Fellowship and battle against the forces of Mordor on your quest to destroy the Ring of power? The choice is yours. Head to your local retailer or our webstore to purchase your copy today!

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The Lord of the Rings and the characters, events, items and places therein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Middle-earth Enterprises, LLC and are used under license by Fantasy Flight Games.

Battle Your Way Through Middle-earth

Published 8 May 2013 | Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation

Battle Your Way Through Middle-earth

Announcing the Return of Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation

Fantasy Flight Games is thrilled to announce the upcoming return of Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, one of Reiner Knizia’s most highly regarded games! In this revised printing, players old and new will battle for control of Middle-earth in a tense, two-player game of strategic maneuvering and bluffing.

One player controls the Fellowship of the Ring, attempting to destroy the One Ring in the land of Mordor. The other wields the power of Sauron and his minions as they seek to reclaim the ring of power from Frodo and cover Middle-earth in darkness. Both players have nine characters, each with different abilities and strengths, to pit against the opposing side. At the start of the game, each player places his characters strategically on the game board. Since the characters’ identities are hidden from the view of the opposing side, each player should use this opportunity to do a little bluffing. For example, since Frodo is rather vulnerable, being a small hobbit, the Sauron player may assume Frodo would be placed closer to the Shire, where he can be protected by more robust units. Capitalizing on this potential assumption, the Fellowship player may choose to place Frodo closer to the front of his units, attempting to sneak him past Sauron’s forces unnoticed.

Cunning and Combat

Since Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is designed by the celebrated and prolific Reiner Knizia, players can expect the level of elegant simplicity and strategic depth for which he’s known. Gameplay is deceptively straightforward – each turn, players move one of their hidden characters forward on the board. If a character is moved into a region that already contains an opposing player’s unit, combat ensues.

Once engaged in combat, players must be at their strategic best in order to come out on top. First, the units are revealed, along with their strength value, which is a number printed on the top left corner of each character’s portrait. Character cards, which contain the text of each unit’s unique abilities, serve as reminders of what each character can do. After resolving character abilities, if applicable, it is time to engage in a bit of cunning in order to defeat your opponent.

Next, each player chooses a card from his hand and lays it facedown on the table. Both players’ cards are revealed simultaneously, combat is resolved, and the dead are removed from the board. You must choose your cards wisely, however, since no combat card can be used again until all the rest have been played! Most of these cards are numbered, and they add to the strength of the fighting unit. Some of these cards, however, contain other powers, delivering nasty surprises for your opponent. For example, the Fellowship player may choose to use his Noble Sacrifice card. When played, both characters are automatically defeated. Or perhaps, the Sauron player may choose to employ his The Eye of Sauron card. When played, Sauron’s all-seeing eye is able to peer into the heart of the Fellowship player, rendering any text on his combat card ineffective.

If Sauron and his forces kill the Ringbearer, or if three of Sauron’s units infiltrate the Shire at the far end of the board, they seize the Ring. With the Ring of power back in his grasp, the Sauron player is able to cover Middle-earth in darkness and win the game. Of course, should Frodo and the Fellowship manage to overcome the forces of Sauron and make it to Mordor at the opposite end of the board, the One Ring is destroyed. Free from the threat of evil, the people of Middle-earth can usher in a new age of peace, along with winning the game.

What’s New in This Printing?

This printing, which includes the Classic game, as well as Variant and Draft games (introduced in the Deluxe edition), makes a wonderful addition to the collection of any Lord of the Rings enthusiast. Between its stunning artwork and its faithful recreation of the race between the Fellowship and Sauron, you’ll find Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation to be uniquely immersive, so you can enjoy a perilous adventure in Middle-earth.

While the rules and gameplay remain unchanged, there are a few new elements in this printing. They are as follows:

The rulebook contains additional clarifications to make the game even more accessible and easy to play.
This compact new edition features bridge-sized cards, as well as scaled down character stands and tiles, with new character cards to serve as reminders of character abilities. The game board now has visual reminders, such as character limit indicators and darker mountain borders, to help clarify play.
It features stunning new artwork for variant game Fellowship characters, as well as for several cards.

Will you take up with the dark lord Sauron and bend Middle-earth to your will as you seek the One Ring? Or will you become part of the Fellowship and battle against the forces of Mordor on your quest to destroy the Ring of power? The choice is yours. Keep checking back for upcoming previews, and watch for Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation to hit stores in the third quarter of 2013.

Discuss this article
in our forums!

The Lord of the Rings and the characters, events, items and places therein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Middle-earth Enterprises, LLC and are used under license by Fantasy Flight Games.

Confront Your Fears

Published 7 July 2009 | Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation

Confront Your Fears

We present another staff favorite, Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation!

In the wastes of Mordor, the dark lord Sauron plots to cast the lands of Middle-earth into eternal darkness. He only lacks the One Ring, an artifact of ultimate power... and it hangs around the neck of a humble and unassuming hobbit, Frodo Baggins. From the Shire, Frodo and his companions plan their perilous route. He must bring the One Ring to Mount Doom, deep in the lands of Mordor. To be sure, Sauron’s forces, including nefarious orcs, sinister black riders, and formidable flying nazguls, will be hunting Frodo all the while. But he isn’t alone. The powerful Gandalf, valiant Aragorn, loyal Sam, and many others will help him on his journey, and are prepared to pay the ultimate price to ensure that Frodo destroys the One Ring and brings peace back to Middle-earth!

This week, the glowing red eye that sits atop the FFG offices stares ominously at our spotlight game, Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation Deluxe Edition! A board game by the prolific Reiner Knizia and featuring art by the incomparable John Howe, LotR: tC pits two players against each other in a tense cat-and-mouse contest. None other than Christian Petersen, CEO, designer, and dark lord of Fantasy Flight Games, has this to say: "When I first played Reiner's prototype for the Lord of The Rings: The Confrontation, I was stunned at how the simple design not only created an amazing mix of hidden movement, special abilities, clever card-management, and nail-biting bluffing, but how well the little (and quick) game captured the epic emotion of The Lord of the Rings story. It was, and remains, the most positive reaction I've ever had to playing a prototype submission to FFG. After we published the first edition of this little gem, it quickly, and deservedly, sold out. This despite a marketplace which was, at the time, hyper-saturated with Lord of the Rings merchandise (spurred from the excellent movies by Peter Jackson.)”

LotR: tC puts one player in control of the Fellowship of the Ring, and the other player in control of the forces of Sauron. Each side has nine units at its disposal, with varying strengths and abilities, and each player has cards that augment his or her units’ strength values. Additionally, the identity of a player’s units is hidden from his opponent through the use of plastic character stands... but don’t jump to a comparison based on this alone. As Christian puts it, “I've often heard this game described as a Lord of The Rings ‘Stratego,’ but virtually always by people who've never played it. Do not be deceived by this misnomer. Whether you like Stratego or not, other than the hidden characters (and it being a board game), Reiner Knizia's small masterpiece bears no real resemblance to Hasbro's Stratego.”

Being a Knizia-designed game, players can expect the level of elegant simplicity and strategic depth that he’s known for. At its heart, LotR: tC is a game of out-bluffing and outmaneuvering your opponent. On each turn, a player simply moves a piece. If he moves into a space containing an enemy, then combat ensues as follows: the units are revealed, along with their strength value- a number in the upper-left corner of each character’s portrait. Some units have devastating powers that allow them to automatically dispatch certain other units... this complex rock-paper-scissors system delivers several satisfying tactical options. Next, each player chooses a card from his hand and lays it face down on the table. Most of these cards are simply numbered, and they add to the strength of the fighting unit. Some of these cards, however, contain other powers, which when used at the correct times can deliver an unwelcome surprise to your opponent. When both cards are revealed simultaneously, combat is resolved and the dead are removed from the board. You must choose your cards wisely, however, since no combat card can be used again until all the rest have been used!

For players who want to add a bit of variety to their confrontations, a variant game (co-designed by Christian) is included. Says Christian, “Along with fellow designer Eric Lang, I had the pleasure to contribute a variant set of characters in FFG's "Deluxe" edition of this amazing game. It has quite simply been an honor to not only work on, but to publish what I feel is the best (among a field of great candidates) Lord of the Rings board game ever designed.” In addition to altering many of the unit abilities from the original version, the variant adds several fan-favorite characters, including Wormtongue and Gollum on the Sauron side, and Elrond and Treebeard on the Fellowship side!

There’s quite a bit here to love, and Christian is hardly alone in his admiration. To sum up, he adds, “Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is, in my opinion, the very best mix of Euro/American principles ever published in a game with a playing time of 30 minutes or less. In short, it has my highest recommendation and utmost respect.”

Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is a two-player board game in which players take control of either the forces of Sauron, seeking to find their master's ring, or the forces of the free peoples of Middle Earth, seeking to destroy Sauron's ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

Discuss this article
in our forums!

The Lord of the Rings and the characters, events, items and places therein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Middle-earth Enterprises, LLC and are used under license by Fantasy Flight Games.