Gondor, subtitled "The Siege of Minas Tirith S.R. 1419", is a licensed board wargame published bySimulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1977 that simulates theBattle of Pelennor Fields from the fantasy novelThe Lord of the Rings byJ.R.R. Tolkien.
Gondor is a two-player wargame that deals with the siege ofMinas Tirith as described in Tolkien'sReturn of the King, the last volume ofThe Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The game, packaged in a ziplock bag or a folio, comes with
The forces of Sauron attack Minas Tirith, trying to conquer all seven levels of the city. The defenders, led byGandalf, are outnumbered, and must hold on until reinforcements led byAragorn and forces fromRohan can arrive.
The forces of Sauron win by eliminating all Minas Tirith defenders inside the city, as well as defeating all arriving reinforcements. The defenders of the city win by preventing a victory by Sauron.
In 1976, SPI was granted a license by the Tolkien Estate to produce wargames based onThe Lord of the Rings.[1] SPI subsequently produced three wargames in 1977:War of the Ring,Sauron, andGondor. The latter was a game designed by Rob Mosca, with graphics byRedmond A. Simonsen and cover art byTim Kirk. SPI also packaged all three games into aboxed set titledGames of Middle Earth. This proved to be one of SPI's bestsellers, debuting at Number 1 on SPI's Top Ten list four months before publication based on pre-orders alone. Following its release in November 1977,Games of Middle Earth remained SPI's bestselling game for almost two years.[2]
In Issue 17 ofThe Space Gamer,David James Ritchie was disappointed in bothGondor andSauron, writing, "They are adequate, but nothing more. Yet this lack of excellent is a cheat. Those who buy these games will do so because of the familiarity with the Tolkien mythos. They will expect the same impact from these games as was present in the books. They will not find the same degree of experience".[3]
Writing for the Dutch games review siteCasus Belli, Frank van den Bergh called bothSauron andGondor "clearly lesser games" compared toWar of the Ring. Although he admitted, "they are fun games that offer many possibilities," van den Bergh concluded, "These games are only recommended for the devoted Tolkien fan."[4]