As we approach two-plus years of the Trickaissance (the resurgence of interest in the game hobby of trick-taking games, highlighted by such hits as The Crew, Cat in the Box, and even the heavier space opera Cole Werlhe opus Arcs), we’ve now seen quite a few variations on the popular mechanic. The Crew was an early and popular representation of cooperative gaming; Brian Boru showed how it could be the driving mechanic in the broader Euro.
Inside Job did a wonderful job introducing hidden roles into the mix. And this doesn’t even go into the wide variety of mechanical variations such as must-not-follow, trick avoidance, contracts, and more. So now comes the inevitable: Popular IP. The Lord of the Rings, with potential disputes from Star Wars or Marvel, is the King Kong of IP in board gaming.
In The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game, the first in a trilogy of games based on the three Lord of the Rings books, we get a The Crew-like cooperative trick-taker for 1-4 players from designer Bryan Bornmueller and publisher Office Dog. Does the IP enrich the game and contribute something new and exciting to the genre? Dear reader, the long-expected party is about to begin, let’s find out.
Gameplay Overview:
Much like The Crew, The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is a cooperative, mission-based game. That’s the headline here. That’s what will be mentioned in every review of this game. This is, in many ways, a reimplementation of The Crew. But while each mission in The Crew lacks any real theme, Fellowship’s missions each represent chapters of the book and tell the (deeply abridged, obviously) story of the first book of this epic fantasy saga.
Starting at the Shire with Bilbo’s Eleventy-first birthday and progressing through the well-worn events, players begin each mission by reading a Chapter card, which briefly outlines what’s happening thematically, lays out which characters the players can or must choose from, and gives them the win condition (which usually consists of completing each individual chosen character’s win condition over the course of one hand).
Some characters must win a certain number of tricks; Frodo must a win certain number of Ring cards (one of the five suits in the deck, the others being Hills, Mountains, Woods, and Shadow); Sam must win a particular Hill card dictated at the beginning of the hand by drawing a Threat card; Etc. etc. etc…
As you get deeper into the game, aome Chapters have longer win conditions, where multiple hands must be played. Most Chapters introduce new characters, like everyone’s favorite Lord of the Rings characters, Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel. I’m sorry, what? You’re not familiar with those two characters? Well, my friend, *pushes up glasses* sounds like you only watched the movies and didn’t read the books!
Unless otherwise directed by the Chapter card, the actual trick-taking is fairly straightforward. There is only one “trump” card in the game, which is, appropriately, the One of Rings card, which Frodo always begins the hand with. That said, each chapter usually gets a bit harder and introduces more and more variations and abstractions from the vanilla trick-taking that the game starts out with.
Game Experience:
Let’s get the obvious out of the way up top. This is, in essence, a reskin of The Crew: Mission Deep Sea. But, in my humble opinion, The Crew walked so that The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game could run. I believe in just about every way, Fellowship is an improvement upon the original The Crew as well as the Mission Deep Sea sequel. The art in both Crew games is spartan and utilitarian, while the art in Fellowship is stunning.
Additionally, if you have any love for the Tolkein saga, then the way the game (loosely) tells the story of the first Lord of the Rings book will add a strong hint of narrative to what might otherwise be a fairly mechanical game. Indeed, my biggest complaint about The Crew game has always been its lack of narrative momentum. I’m not saying I need narrative from my trick-taking games, obviously, but when you’re playing a campaign-style game, it’s always propulsive to have some narrative arc that pushes you toward the next mission, if only to see what happens next (or in the case of Fellowship, to reunite with your favorite fantasy characters). To be clear, this is not to take away from the accomplishments of The Crew and its sequel. Those two games were absolutely trailblazers of the genre, and without them, this game would not exist.
In terms of actual gameplay, in our review plays, we got as far as chapter 9, which introduced the first instance of a Long victory condition. In most chapters, the end is triggered by the end of the hand, or if everyone has successfully achieved their character’s win condition. In the Long version, it means each character must win with the specific option that player drafts for that chapter. As a result, this usually requires at least two playthroughs. While it needn’t be done consecutively, it’s an added challenge that I believe is a boon to the game, as it allows variability of play and an opportunity to play with each unique character introduced, not just the ones required by the chapter for you to draft.
Another thing worth noting is that the material licensed for the game is The Lord of the Rings THE BOOK, not the film trilogy. So within the chapters, fans of the book will get to play as Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, or Glorfindel, aka characters that were omitted from the film. I love this, because, although I read the trilogy as an impressionable teen, I’ve certainly seen the movies more frequently and more recently, so jogging my memory with these more fringe characters that nevertheless were important to the narrative of the book was a fun surprise.
Final Thoughts:
I think The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is a fantastic addition to the world of trick-taking. Trick-taking as a mechanic for storytelling appears to still be in its embryonic stages, but this is a strong argument that it can and should be done. The art and production are gorgeous, and the box size and general presentation are compact and attractive. While I have yet to finish the full campaign, I am beginning to see the creative ways in which each chapter offers a twist on the genre and throws unique challenges at the players. I look forward to seeing how the team at Office Dog builds upon this for the next two installments of the trilogy.
Final Score: 4 stars – A great new cooperative campaign trick-taking game with eye-catching artwork and a stronger emphasis on storytelling than previous attempts at the genre.
Hits:
• An improvement on The Crew’s cooperative trick-taking campaign
• Gorgeous Art
• Engaging IP (for those who love The Lord of the Rings of course)
• Fun challenges and characters introduced each chapter
Misses:
• Early chapters are fairly easy
• Early chapters don’t offer a ton of variety
Disclosure: An employee of Asmodee also writes for Board Game Quest. He had no influence over the opinions expressed in this review.
