Designer	Howard Barasch Richard H. Berg
Artist	Ralph Bakshi Tim Kirk Redmond A. Simonsen
Publisher	Encore SPI (Simulations Publications, Inc.)
Year Published	1977
# of Players	2 − 3
User Suggested # of Players	Best with 2 players Recommended with 2 players (11 voters) [poll]
Playing Time	180 minutes
Mfg Suggested Ages	12 and up
User Suggested Ages	12 and up (8 voters) [poll]
Language Dependence	Moderate in-game text - needs crib sheet or paste ups (5 voters) [poll]
Honors	1977 Charles S. Roberts Best Fantasy Board Game Nominee 1977 Charles S. Roberts Best Fantasy Board Game Winner
Subdomain	Wargames (16 voters) [vote]
Category	Adventure Fantasy Novel-based Wargame
Mechanic	Area Control / Area Influence Hex-and-Counter
Expansion
Expands
Family	Tolkien Games
Primary Name	War of the Ring
Alternate Names	The Games of Middle Earth Wojna o Pierścień
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ObjectID: 2228

	Description Edit \| History

War of the Ring. On a large map of Middle Earth, armies are mustering and heroes are readying to fight the shadow spreading out of Mordor. The game is played on two levels. Both sides (or three if someone wants to play Saruman) have great armies that battle in a typical wargame style while another game is going on at the same time with individual characters around the fate of the One Ring. In the Army game Sauron's forces are the more powerful but the free peoples get the edge in the Character game.

Highly sought after as a collectors item. It could be purchased with either a paper map or a full mounted map, and was also sold in a three-game set with the folio games Gondor and Sauron. This set is called "Middle Earth".

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Acceptable	$45.00	19-Mar-2012
New	$85.00	17-Feb-2012
Acceptable	€39.00	14-Feb-2012
Good	€80.00	3-Jan-2012
Like New	£125.00	22-Nov-2011
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Very Good	$60.00	6-Oct-2011
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	More Information Edit \| History

Magazine References:

Campaign Article Index:

Number 84, March-April 1978
- War of the Ring / Overlord / Yalu / Imperium / 4000 A.D. / Chivalry & Sorcery - "Thumbnail Analysis" (Review), Don Lowry

Moves Article Index:

Number 30, December/January 1977
- October War / The Battle for Jerusalem / War in the Pacific (first edition) / Fulda Gap / Air War: Modern Tactical Air Combat / The Conquerors / War of the Ring / Veracruz / Battle Fleet Mars / Wacht am Rhein - "Designer's Notes" (Design Notes), Various
Number 32, April/May 1977
- Canadian Civil War / War of the Ring / Gondor / Sauron / War in the Pacific (first edition) / Red Sun Rising / Up Scope! / Veracruz / A Mighty Fortress / Raid! / Descent on Crete / Bundeswehr / The Battle for Jerusalem / Air War: Modern Tactical Air Combat - "Designer's Notes" (Design Notes), Various
Number 37, February/March 1978 "Expanded 3-Player Rules for War of the Ring"
Number 40, August/September 1978 "Could the One True Ring Be Brass? The Impact of Perfect Intelligence on War of the Ring"
Number 44, April/May 1979 "'Frodo Take a Letter...' Play by Mail as an Enhancement of War of the Ring"

The Space Gamer

The great northern war. See in the files section below.

Versions

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Wojna o Pierścień

Nick:

Polish Edition

Publisher: Encore

Artist:

Year: 1991

Size: 14.00 x 10.00 x 1.50 inches

Polish

Release Date:

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Link Image

War of the Ring

Nick:

Bakshi Movie Art cover

Publisher: SPI (Simulations Publications, Inc.)

Artist:

Year: 1977

Product Code: 1790

Size: 11.81 x 9.06 x 2.36 inches

English

Release Date:

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The Games of Middle Earth

Nick:

SPI English Edition

Publisher: SPI (Simulations Publications, Inc.)

Artist: Redmond A. Simonsen

Year: 1977

Product Code: U1780

Size: Avalon Hill Bookcase

English

Release Date:

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50	War of the Ring WotR - intro	English	calandale	9

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0	Rules Missing Cards	2012-04-08	Tempestari	4
7	Variants Redesigning the game	2012-02-07	lotr108	7
2	General Inventory	2012-02-05	babedad	1
0	General Missing Pieces - little help?	2012-01-21	kabrush	2
0	General Missing Gondor?	2012-01-11	branwheat	3
3	General West Map Versions	2011-12-28	AlbertOne	1
0	General barrow wight card	2011-09-27	alastairj	5
0	Rules Some unclear rules I need to get answered	2011-09-14	Pacione	1
11	Sessions A quick end to Sauron's hopes - Campaign game	2011-08-26	TrustyJules	4
1	Rules Gollum in marshes?	2011-08-21	jsonas	1

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	Recommendations

Standard Recommendations
Barbarian Kings	The Fellowship of the Ring	Freedom in the Galaxy	Albion: Land of Faerie
The Battle of Five Armies

Weak Recommendations
Swords & Sorcery	StarForce 'Alpha Centauri': Interstellar Conflict in the 25th Century	Gondor	Citadel of Blood
Imperium Romanum II	Alexander the Great	DeathMaze	Blitzkrieg
The Wreck of the B.S.M. Pandora	The Siege of Jerusalem	Stalingrad	Richthofen's War
The Fury of the Norsemen	The Omega War	Sauron	Kingmaker
Demons	1776	The Creature That Ate Sheboygan	Napoleon's Art of War: Eylau and Dresden
Starship Troopers	War and Peace	Conquistador	Wizard's Quest

Very Weak Recommendations
Rise and Decline of the Third Reich	Wooden Ships & Iron Men	The Russian Campaign

Files		Title \| Hot \| Recent
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Replacement Saruman Character Card

A replacement Saruman Character Card reflecting Saruman's ratings (starting and reincarnated) in the 3-player game. Just fold over, trim to size and laminate.

kryfam

2011-12-16

War Of The Ring Character Game Player Aid

The Character game's Turn Sequence, Combat Sequence, Search Sequence and the chrome for seizing the Ring, all on one page.

PBrennan

2010-12-24

Saruman counters for 3-player game.

Here are counters for the "Saruman-on-Steroids" in the 3-player game (a 3-(4)-5 Saruman counter with the reverse reflecting his 2-5 resurrected strength). I have also added two 10-6 Warg units (along with sufficent breakdown counters) to give the Saruman player at least some cavalry(ish) forces in the 3-player game and, bring his force mix more in line with what he had in the story.

kryfam

2010-12-08

2 Simple Rules

I created 2 simple rules that I believe will improve the gaming experience of SPI's War of the Ring. They have not been tested but I hope to test them soon. Stay tuned in the forum for updates.

ctcharger

2010-10-25

War of teh Ring rules in Polish v.1.0

Polska instrukcja do wydania Encore 1991

SolusLupus

2010-04-20

THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR

THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR War of the Ring for 2 to 5 players by Glenn Rahman (as appeared in The Space Gamer #18 / July-August 1978)

pkh1

2010-01-11

EXPANDED THREE-PLAYER RULES FOR WAR OF THE RING

MOVES #37, published February/March 1978 SCENARIOS & VARIANTS EXPANDED THREE-PLAYER RULES FOR WAR OF THE RING by Eric Goldberg

pkh1

2010-01-11

War_of_theRing_German_Rules+Gondor+Sauron

German Rules - Deutsche Regeln inkl. Gondor + Sauron und natürlich mit allen Tabellen.

Guido1

2009-10-28

WotR rules 2nd edition

Robrob

2009-09-18

WotR map (SPI)

Not a scan: an entirely redrawn bmp map.

AlbertOne

2007-12-29

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195	The Holy Grails of Collecting	2004-05-22

	Statistics

Board Game Rank:	1418
War Game Rank:	506
Num Ratings:	620
Average Rating:	6.47
Standard Deviation:	1.59
Num Views:	95350
GeekBuddy Analysis:	Analyze
Similarly Rated:	View
Avg. Game Weight:	3.4
Fans:	26

Personal Comments:	293
Users Owning:	1259
Users Wanting:	50
Users Trading:	80 [find trade matches]
Has Parts For Trade:	6
Want Parts In Trade:	14
Price History:	View
Total Plays:	197
Plays This Month:	0

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Vassal module for War of the Ring	http://www.mediafire.com/?2mnr6es4dq1l8	2010-02-25
Tolkein Wargames page on Tzeentchnet	http://tzeentchnet.pingslave.com/Tolkien.html	2009-03-20
Detailed revision and rules in Polish for "War of the Ring".	http://www.nest.republika.pl	2004-09-02
Dave and Mike's Tolkien Boardgame Collecting Web Page	http://www.freewebs.com/tolkienboardgamecollecting...	2004-01-02