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“The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted gain, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm.
‘You….
[Roll the dice…choose the dice…choose the cards…battle the Balrog…defeat the balrog…move the Fellowship forward]
…cannot pass,’ he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. ‘I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.’”
Whether you are a fan of the films, the books, tabletop games, or just the overall aesthetic of Lord of the Rings, that fandom is a huge part of the appeal of this game. Immersing yourself in Middle Earth, striving forward as a Fellowship, feeling the peril as you hike towards Mount Doom- this is at the core of what is attractive about this game. When you play Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom, it really is not about the destination, but the journey- and the Nazgul that you meet along the way.
Set Up
But before you begin on the journey, lets talk about set up. Bringing together the Fellowship on the tabletop is definitely quicker and simpler than it is in the book. On this occasion, one simply does place a number of standees in their nominated locations, splits the deck according to their locations (each region of the map has its own deck, which is swapped in once the Fellowship enters that given region), and shuffles and lays out the encounter cards for the first region. And before you can say “Po-tay-toes”, you are ready to begin your journey and start the Adventure to Mount Doom
Gameplay
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step on the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to”.
This quote from Bilbo quite nicely summarises what it’s like playing Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom. The decisions that each dice roll brings feels equal parts risk management and trying to push your luck. If you push too many members of the party too far ahead of the rest, then it puts the entire group in jeopardy. But let them lag too far behind, and there is danger that an unpleasant encounter may head into your path, or that your courage may slowly ebb away. These mechanisms may not be to everyone’s tastes, but I quite liked it- at least in part because it reflected the perils of the actual journey.
The rules themselves are simple to grasp, with each turn following the same formulaic pattern until (if you manage to get there) at Mount Doom they differ slightly. Each turn, through the deliberate selecting (or not selecting) of specific dice, you are keeping the Fellowship safe on their journey- not pushing Frodo too close to the front of the group (where he becomes more vulnerable if you have to combat), but also not letting the rest of the company stray so far forward that they move into the next region of the board (as then they can no longer defend the group as they are too far away). At the same time, you are dealing with the encounter cards as they fall in your lap - be they friend or adversary - and once more managing the risk of those choices. As you progress, and new sets of cards are swapped in as you cross into a new region, you gradually see the darkness of Mordor spreading and increasing- until you find yourself, clenched, on the brink of Minas Morgul with nothing but adversaries in sight.
I really enjoyed the use of good and evil within the encounter cards, and that later in the game there are some cards which fall somewhere in between, i.e. their negative effects can be used in a somewhat positive way when manipulated. Again, the theming is done well in this regard, choosing powers which fit the characters- for example, the ‘Army of the Dead’ and ‘Denethor’ encounter cards are technically classed as adversaries, but their abilities can in certain situations be quite helpful. Much like in the story, not everyone is purely evil, and not every situation is purely negative- and the game mechanisms also steering the ‘feel’ of the game to align with this.
Look and Feel
As I’ve already alluded to, the theming of Adventure to Mount Doom is really what makes it enjoyable- the mechanisms fit with the Lord of the Rings narrative, and vice versa. I’m not sure that there is any other theme that could really have elevated this game in the same way- even stories with similar levels of cult following, such as Harry Potter or Discworld, would have I think struggled to have made this game work. It does feel like the game has been built around the story, as opposed to trying to shoe horn the theme into an already designed framework- such as Lord of the Rings Risk, or Lord of the Rings Monopoly. But equally, without the Lord of the Rings narrative, the gameplay wouldn’t be nearly as strong.
It’s also nice to be able to also report, that the care which seems to have gone to the matching of the gameplay mechanics to the story also seems to have gone into the design and artwork. The fact that Kosmos have opted for artwork based on the books, as opposed to opting for images from the movies, or designing Frodo to look like Elijah Wood, is some welcome whimsy. This gives the game a richness and quality which- whilst Mount Doom cannot claim to be what one might traditionally class as ‘cosy’- produces an enjoyable warmth that absorbs you into a world that reading the books also would.
I’m not normally one to advocate for deluxe additions or use of plastic miniatures, if there is one thing I would change, I would perhaps actually quite like to see some 3D representations of the characters as opposed to just the cardboard standees on this occasion. I know that it would probably elevate the price (which at time of writing is a very reasonable sub-£30), but there is part of me that, given the effort gone into the design and theming to try and immerse players in the story, would quite like to have something a bit more substantial. That being said, there are quite a few Lord of the Rings miniature sets which already exist for table top games, so I expect if you so wished it wouldn’t be too tricky to pick up a Nazgul figure or two to add to the game.
Target Audience
So, unsurprisingly, this game would certainly be of interest to anyone who likes Lord of the Rings. BUT…I would caveat it with the statement that there are some small details which don’t quite match up to the story (the film and/or books). For example, in the game, the entire Fellowship stay together as one group from the moment they leave Rivendell to the moment they reach the foot of Mount Doom (as opposed to breaking off into multiple groups). Yes- I know that is a small, picky detail, but I know that there will be some fans out there who get irritated by that.
Age-wise, I would say that this game is probably of an simplicity level that the recommended age of 10 and up is fair. As an adult, with a good number of boardgame experiences under his belt, I did win/complete this game at first time of asking- but I could see how, with a few more bad rolls or decisions, it could have ended differently. But for me, it was a nice level of peril and thinky-ness for a Sunday afternoon game and a hot chocolate. For younger audiences, or those less familiar with boardgames, it might have been more taxing.
So, I would say the ideal audience would be an adult, who enjoys Lord of the Rings, and is looking for a game which is relatively easy to get on with (or a less experienced person looking for something a little more taxing). It probably is not for the type of person who stays up until 2am, arguing with people in online forums about what colour Aragorn’s cloak should be. No offence if that is you (each to their own)- but this game probably won’t quite be to the level of canonical detail you are looking for.
How does the solo game differ from multiplayer?
So, bold statement now. I don’t actually think that this game is a multiplayer when played with the standard rules. It is a solo game trying to be a multiplayer.
Let me explain. Showing my age here, but I can remember playing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on PlayStation 1 as a child. I would play the single player game whilst my sister would watch, and each time I died, I would hand the controller over to her to have a go. That does not make Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone a multiplayer game.
And in the same way, whether you are playing this game solo and rolling the dice and taking actions yourself each turn, or if you are playing cooperatively and taking it in turns to roll the dice for the entire Fellowship and working cooperatively to decide the actions- there isn’t really a difference. To the same degree, if you do have a situation where one player is particularly vocal and begins taking over and ‘Quarterbacking’- the experience of the game for that player is the same as playing it solo.
There are game variants to the rear of the manual which do alter this- for example in the more challenging variant, ‘Each friend card may only be used by the player who activated and obtained it’- similar to other cooperative games like Pandemic (as opposed to these cards going into a communal pool that can be used by anyone at any time). This would create a greater difference between solo and multiplayer, as well as a greater challenge. Confession time- the modes are so similar, that I actually haven’t played a full game in solo. I played a multiplayer game to completion with the standard rules, and started playing a solo game to test it out for this review- but I found that it played in exactly the same way, and so cracked on with writing the review!
In Conclusion
Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom is an attractive game to look at, with well thought out mechanics intertwined with an appealing theme. It’s attractive artwork successfully establishes Tolkien’s Middle Earth as the immersive world through which you will be journeying, and the pace is set at a leisurely uphill hike- enough to break a sweat but not do any permanent damage.
The main area that this game falls down on is that it feels like this is a great single player game, trying to masquerade as a multiplayer one. If the two game modes were differentiated to a greater degree, and the multiplayer mode made better use of having more people around the table (for example, each player taking control of a specific character), it would also improve replayability- as once you have completed the game, it doesn’t feel like there is much reason to go back and play it again.
However, all in all Adventure to Mount Doom gives an enjoyable afternoon of play for any Lord of the Rings fans.
