War of the Ring, subtitled "S.R. 1418 to 1419", is a licensedwargame published bySimulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1977 that simulates the events described inThe Lord of the Rings byJ.R.R. Tolkien.
War of the Ring was the first licensed product to attempt to cover the entire series of conflicts depicted inLord of the Rings from the Fellowship's departure fromRivendell to the final battle at the Black Gates ofMordor. It is a two-player game, with one player taking the side of the Free Peoples ofMiddle-earth, and the other player taking the dark forces ofSauron. There are also rules for a three-player version, with one player taking the role ofSaruman.
The Character game uses more basic rules, and follows the quest by the Fellowship of the Ring to destroy theOne Ring. On one side is the Fellowship. The other player controls the nineNazgûl, Saruman, theMouth of Sauron, and possiblyGollum, if he manages to acquire the Ring. If the Fellowship succeeds in transporting the Ring toMount Doom, the Fellowship wins. If the Dark Forces locate the Ring, wrest it from the Fellowship and transport it toBarad-dûr, then the Dark Forces win. The Dark Power also has the option of winning a military victory, played out by moving Nazgûl to various important Fellowship-controlled fortresses and rolling dice see if they are captured.[1]
The more complex mode of play is the Campaign Game, which adds in army units for both sides as well as other characters from the story who were involved in the military campaigns. An odds-ratio combat system is used to play out combat between armies. Players can win with their Ring-based objective from the Character game or by capturing a specified list of objectives with their armies.[1]
Characters in the game are rated for their abilities in individual combat, magic, army leadership, endurance, and resistance to the lure of the Ring. The latter rating determines the difficulty they have of voluntarily removing the Ring once they put it on; they gain various benefits by wearing it, but if they do so for too many turns, they become a "semi-Ringwraith" under Dark Power control.[1]
To simulate Sauron's conflicting needs of searching for the Ring versus directing his armies, the Dark Power player is given a variable number of "Shadow Points" each turn, which they can spend to perform various activities. Among these is searching for the Fellowship; although the hex locations of various Fellowship members are known, their identity is not (their counters are kept upside-down), and Sauron must perform search actions with Nazgûl ororcs to identify the characters, and to spot them so they can be fought or captured. Which areas of the map can be searched, and with what forces, is controlled by a small deck of cards.[1]
In 1976, SPI was granted a license by the Tolkien Estate to produce wargames based onLord of the Rings.[2] SPI subsequently produced three wargames in 1977:Sauron,Gondor: The Siege of Minas Tirith, andWar of the Ring. The latter was a game designed byRichard Berg, 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.War of the Ring was released in November 1977,[3] after whichGames of Middle Earth remained SPI's bestselling game for almost two years.[4] Shannon Appelcline identifiedWar of the Ring as the most notable of the early science-fiction and fantasy games published by SPI.[5]: 11
In Issue 24 of the British wargaming magazinePerfidious Albion, Charles Vasey and Geoffrey Barnard discussed the game. Barnard commented, "This game may or may not be a success as a simulation of the books, but for my money it is a failure as a game ... It seems to be a very mechanical game [where] nothing much seem to happen." Vasey replied, "The rules are rather incomplete but have some original ideas ... The searches are a bit odd as they depend on the cards. The Army combat system suffers from lots of flaws ...The individual combat is rather too predictable in final result." Barnard concluded, "Probably any fan of the books will not be too bothered, as it does have all the colour, but if you are not too much of a fan, try to get to play the game, or at least study it carefully, before you buy it." Vasey concluded, "I like it, it gives a real feel of the book along with nail-biting play choices ... Those into the books can have delightful events like aBalrog sitting inShelob's Lair cursing the clerks at Posting!"[6]
InThe Space Gamer No. 16, Tony Zamparutti liked the game, saying "War of the Ring is not only a fun game, but a fairly good recreation of the events inLOTR."[7]
In Issue 40 ofMoves, Neil Randall was initially impressed by the "wealth of details", and "the amount of research", and noted that "The graphics are beautiful, the play is fast, and the outcome is always in doubt." But Randall had major issues with the Search System, where the player who controls Sauron has an opportunity to find the Fellowship of the Ring using the One Eye. Randall believed that "The Search System [...] fails to work both tactically and, most importantly, strategically." Randall pointed out that the Sauron player merely needed to stack all of theNazgul ontoMount Doom, wait forFrodo, successfully search for him, and then kill him. Randall believed that this was so far from Tolkien's original vision that it made the game unplayable to a Tolkien fan. Randall's only suggestion to save what he otherwise thought was an excellent game, was to design a hidden movement system and do away with the Search System.[8]
In the inaugural issue ofAres,Dave Ritchie called the Character Game "somewhat feeble", called the rules "atrocious", and also noted the problem that the Sauron player knows exactly where the Good characters are all the time. On the plus side, Ritchie found the Army Game "captures much of the richness of the mythos which was absent in the Character Game", and he enjoyed "the thorough attention to detail." He concluded by giving the game an average rating of 7 out of 10, saying, "Games ofWar of the Ring range from predictable to cliff-hanging, gut-wrenching suspense. Fairly complex, and requires several hours to play. Not for those who have not read the Ring Trilogy."[9]
In Issue 17 ofPhoenix, Brad Laidlaw admired the cover art by Tim Kirk that illustrated the battle betweenGandalf and theBalrog in theMines of Moria. He also liked the quality of the components, but found typos in the rules. As much as he liked the game, Laidlaw noted that since the only realistically achievable way for the Fellowship player to win is to destroy the Ring, the Dark Power player can simply stack all their units on Mount Doom, attempt to spot the Fellowship when it enters the hex (with a good chance of success), and if successful, conduct a series of individual combats to attempt to take the Ring. As a result, the entire game can be decided by an enormous brawl atop Mount Doom. As Laidlaw pointed out, "What is needed of course is a set of hidden movement rules which would rocket the game into brand new orbit. Any takers? The game is certainly worth it."[1]
In the 1980 bookThe Complete Book of Wargames, game designerJon Freeman called the game "A valiant effort at producing a workable simulation that retains the feel and color of Tolkien's setting." Freeman gave this game an Overall Evaluation of "Very Good", concluding, "The game is aimed at introducing Tolkien fans to wargaming rather than the reverse, and there are enough holes in the rules that gamers unfamiliar with the plot may have some difficulties."[10]
At the 1978Origins Awards,War of the Ring won theCharles S. Roberts Award forBest Fantasy Board Game of 1977.[11]