Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Z-Man Games, 2025) takes the best of designer Matt Leacock’s Pandemic System game mechanisms and appropriately marries them with the rich theme of the Lord of the Rings franchise. The result is an exciting boardgame experience that is mechanically sound while building a highly thematic, rich, and engaging narrative. Beware, however, that the thematic narrative also creates game play complexity..but not in a bad way.
[I recognize that what follows are (risky?) generalizations about Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship based on my admittedly limited experiences, both in terms of previous Pandemic System games played and my first impressions of the latest version. Before writing this post, I played Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship three-handed solo several times for learning and have three complete solo plays using the official Solo Games rules in the rulebook—two at Introductory difficulty with the recommended starting setup and one at Standard difficulty with a random setup. Alas, a full 3-player game is likely not possible until later this year (such is the life of a family boardgamer with college-age kids).]
A history of pandemics
One of the greatest boardgame memories I have with the RockyMountainNavy Boys is a thrilling game of Pandemic (Z-Man Games, 2008) in 2018. Regardless of how much we enjoyed that moment, over the years Pandemic fell out of the family game night rotation as other Pandemic System titles like Fall of Rome (Z-Man Games, 2018) and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Z-Man Games, 2022) rotated in…and quickly out. Fall of Rome was, well, a bit too wargame-like for the RMN Boys (“Dad, we know you love wargames but can we play something that is not a wargame, please?”) and Clone Wars had thematic moments but never truly resonated on the table. So it was with some trepidation that I ordered the latest Pandemic System boardgame, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship (Z-Man Games, 2025). While the RMN Boys watched the movies, they have not (to the best of my knowledge) read Tolkein. For that matter, it has been many, er, several decades since I read any Tolkein myself. It is not that I totally ignored the world of Middle Earth; in 2023 I picked up the Free League Publishing tabletop roleplaying game The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of the Lord of the Rings (2nd Ed., 2023)…and enjoy playing it.
Ring time
The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship™ is a cooperative game for 1-5 players where each player controls 2 characters, lending their unique abilities to protect Frodo, battle enemies in pivotal locations, and evade the menacing Nazgûl and Sauron’s searching Eye. Each play presents new challenges every time with 24 different objectives, 14 events, and 13 playable characters. Never miss an opportunity to get it to the table with the included solo mode designed by Matt Leacock.
Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, Z-Man Games, ad copy
Looking at the ad copy for Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, the game comes off to me as very mechanically-forward, i.e. a game that places game mechanisms first with theme second. Although theme certainly appears to be a secondary consideration, given my more recent forays with The One Ring RPG it was nonetheless more than mildly interesting—enough so to make the purchase.
When Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship started shipping I, like many others, watched anxiously as reports of damaged cards surfaced. I am happy to report that my copy was one of the repacked versions with some added paper to prevent the cards from moving about. When I opened the game, however, I realized those same cards are really thin and immediately sleeved them. This got me looking at all the components which are, in my view, dripping with theme but uneven in function:
- Cards: Region/Event/Skies Darken Cards are too thin and Shadow Cards are bigger than needed, i.e. size-wise the Shadow and Region/Event/Skies Darken cards should be reversed; all cards are not doing well acclimating to my mid-Atlantic home (i.e. lots of curling edges and not laying flat).
- Board: A bit smaller than I expected but actually a very suitable size that doesn’t need a far reach—though a bit dark in tone for my grognard eyes (and also not laying flat).
- Nazgûl minis: Why so big?
- Trooper meeples: Why so small?
- Character Figures: Good size but positively monstrous next to the troops.
- Dice Tower: Cool…but why?
- Rules: Well-written and easy to learn (for myself, easier to learn than some video teaches).
If I had to summarize my component concerns regarding Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship I would first ask, “Do you think anybody really put the complete, final game on the table before development finished?” While all the components are there (and in the case of the dice tower, more than are needed), their uneven sizing make the game look unbalanced on the table.
I must admit that the uneven component quality in Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship gave me pause before play. Here is one of the larger, more respectable boardgame publishers with a major IP license and the quality of the components is…decidedly mixed.
The penultimate question posed to myself is, “Does the quality of the components ruin gameplay in Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship?” It took a few plays for me to arrive at my answer which is a qualified, “No.” Qualified in that the components all work but, especially for this grognard with older eyes, the lighting needs to be bright to see all the little pieces and read text that can be very small.
Pandemic or One Ring?
Players who expect Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship to be “just another” Pandemic System game are likely to experience some rules dissonance. I certainly did, at first. At its core, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship uses key elements of the Pandemic System—particularly the card-driven accelerating threat game mechanism. Beyond that, however, the game feels not-Pandemic to me. Curiously, I note that the box cover for Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship does not carry the Pandemic System logo like Fall of Rome or Star Wars: Clone Wars did. Perhaps that is a recognition that the game design in Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is a unique evolution from Pandemic rather than a closely identified derivative.
The rulebook for Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship also downplays the Pandemic linkages. For example, the Overview in the rulebook makes the game sound very un-Pandemic-like, in part because of a greater focus on theme than I expected:
As a member of the Fellowship and the allies who arise to aid them, you must embark on a perilous journey that will either save or doom Middle-earth. Each player controls 2 characters, and all must work together to lend their unique abilities to protect Frodo, evade the searching Eye of Sauron and his menacing Nazgûl in pursuit and defeat enemy troops as they invade key locations. Finally, Frodo must cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom to save the Free Peoples from despair and destruction.
Rulebook, p.2
Fans of Lord of the Rings who play Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship are rewarded by the rich use of theme. The game simply looks like one is adventuring in Middle-earth. At the same time the narrative built through gameplay literally writes your own Lord of the Rings adventure.
Fans of the Pandemic System might have a different reaction to Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. While the game design is—at its root—Pandemic, the total game design evolved in what some might see as dramatic (unwelcome?) ways. Others might contend the design drifted far from base Pandemic to the point of being almost unrecognizable. My assertion is that this evolution of the Pandemic System design showcases the versatility of the core game mechanisms and is very welcome. In more than a few ways Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is the culmination of a Pandemic System design evolution that draws on elements of Fall of Rome and Star Wars: Clone Wars.
It’s complex…but not really
Much like my appreciation of the components, my understanding—and appreciation—of Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship likewise evolved as I played on. I admit that in my first play of Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship I felt very overwhelmed. I was making many decisions for not one but two characters. I was forced to make decisions about Frodo and Sam traveling and risking searches. I was forced to make decisions on the order of completing Objectives. All the the pressure behind making those decisions built as the Forces of Sauron relentlessly multiplied and marched across Middle-earth.
[A commentary on characters in Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. In Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship players take two characters each. In play this does NOT mean each character gets the standard four Actions; instead, players are allowed to take four (4) Actions with one character and a single (1) Action with the other. That alone leads to a number of possible plays but each character also possesses two or three special abilities. Mixing the standard six Actions with two or three special Actions or Abilities delivers an incredible multitude of possible Action combinations.]
I must admit I worried when reading some forums on BoardGameGeek alleging there is more complexity in Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship than one can comfortably handle. After my learning play-throughs and solo games, however, I believe that fear is unfounded. As I played, I found myself becoming more comfortable reading the game state of the board (though a gazette would help). I became more comfortable seeing how character Actions are strung together towards completion of an Objective. I saw the Fellowship shepherd Frodo across Middle-earth and get ever closer to casting the ring into Mount Doom (which, by the way, is very understated on the map and not how I expected this key location to be depicted). In each challenging case I gained a greater understanding of game through thematically disguised mechanical decisions presented to me. In every case the game mechanisms served to drive my decisions adventure forward as I built a unique narrative.
Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship certainly has much more decision space than a base Pandemic game. Yes, that greater decision space can lead to a degree of Analysis Paralysis. Yes, that Analysis Paralysis can lead to longer games. More importantly, however, players need to recognize that the great complexity of Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is not in the game mechanisms but in the possible strategies and paths to victory. The challenge from Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is not how to manipulate the game (relatively straightforward) but instead how to handle the many gameplay possibilities—strategy options—that open up. Complex strategy, yes. Complex game mechanisms, no.
Journey’s end
All of which brings me to the ultimate question posed by Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship: “Is this a good game and would I recommend it to others?” My answer is simple and direct – YES. Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is not a perfect game (see my component gripes above) but overall it is a very good boardgame. All that from a person who is usually a wargamer and not a deep reader of Tolkein.
Feature image courtesy RMN
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