War of the Ring Part 2 - Was Playing Solo Worth It?
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| Image courtesy of Board Game Quest |
[5 min read]
A couple of months ago I wrote about finally getting War of the Ring to the table.
At the time, I hadn't played another person. I'd played two solo games instead, making mistakes, correcting rules as I went, and gradually convincing myself that this famously intimidating game wasn't nearly as impossible as I'd imagined.
One of the questions I left with was whether that solo learning would actually benefit my first contact with another player.
Now I know the answer.
Yes—but probably not for the reason I expected.
The Solo Games Didn't Teach Me the Rules
They gave me context.
When my friend Mariano came over to play, we still spent around six hours on our first game together spread over two sessions.
The setup was still long.
The opening turns were still slow.
None of that surprised me.
What surprised me was that I never felt lost.
I'd already seen the systems working together. I knew what a turn looked like. I knew why the Fellowship mattered, how the Hunt worked, and why moving nations down the Political Track was important, even if I couldn't remember every detail.
That context made teaching dramatically easier.
Mariano wasn't just reading a rulebook or following an app. He had someone sitting opposite who could explain why something mattered because I'd already stumbled through those early learning games myself.
Looking back, I don't think the solo games reduced the amount of rules we checked.
They reduced the amount of confusion.
Those are very different things.
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| Setup is still long, but at least the second player can help sorting the armies! |
The Real Game Starts When Someone Is Trying to Beat You
Solo play prepared me for the systems.
It didn't prepare me for the tension.
When you're controlling both sides, you're making decisions almost clinically. You try to play each faction honestly, but there's no pressure. If you overlook something, you shrug and move on.
Sitting opposite another person changes everything.
Suddenly every decision matters.
You're wondering what they're planning.
They're taking longer over their action dice because they're weighing real choices, and you start second-guessing your own.
Ironically, that's when I made my biggest mistake.
I left Dol Guldur exposed.
I had an Elven Ring that could have changed one of my Action Dice into an Army result, allowing me to reinforce the fortress before Mariano attacked.
I'd even asked him to explain the Elven Rings during the game. I simply misunderstood what they allowed me to do.
By the time I realised my mistake, it was too late.
Dol Guldur fell.
I launched a desperate assault to retake it before the end of the turn, but the Elves held the fortress and Mariano claimed the military victory.
I was disappointed.
Not because I'd lost.
Because I'd finally made a tactical mistake instead of a rules mistake.
Oddly enough, that felt like progress.
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| Dol Guldur became the climactic battleground Image by Daniel Bayona |
The Story Became Even Better
If the first article convinced me that War of the Ring was a great game...
This game convinced me why.
Mariano began exactly as I'd hoped he would: pushing the Fellowship towards Mordor.
As corruption mounted, though, he quietly changed plans.
Aragorn and Gandalf slipped away from the Fellowship.
I noticed.
I just didn't appreciate what it meant.
While Sauron's armies marched relentlessly through Rohan and into Lórien, the Free Peoples launched a surprise offensive in the north.
The Fellowship had become a distraction.
Sauron's attention had followed them south.
Meanwhile the Elves and Dwarves struck where I wasn't looking.
Even the Action Dice seemed to support the story.
The Fellowship declared itself near Minas Tirith, and on my next roll I found myself flooded with Eye results. In our minds, Sauron's gaze had fixed itself on the Ring-bearer, allowing the northern assault to gather momentum almost unnoticed.
By the time I realised Dol Guldur was the real target, it was too late.
After the game, neither of us spent much time talking about whether we'd played well.
We talked about the story we'd just watched unfold.
We could both imagine it as an alternative version of Tolkien's world.
That's a rare quality in a strategy game.
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| The south fell to the Shadow, but it was not enough Image courtesy of There Will be Games |
What I'd Tell Someone Learning It
After both solo and multiplayer games, I'd still recommend the same learning path.
Play a solo game first.
Not because you'll memorise the rules.
Because you'll build the mental model that makes everything else easier.
Expect your first multiplayer game to be slow.
Ours was.
That's normal.
Something interesting happened around the halfway point, though.
As our strategies became clearer, the game sped up naturally.
There were fewer possibilities to consider, fewer rules to question, and more confidence in every decision.
The game taught us how to play it simply by playing it.
Finally, don't worry if your first multiplayer game still includes mistakes.
Mine certainly did.
The difference is that those mistakes become part of the drama rather than a barrier to enjoying it.
Final Thoughts
One thing surprised me more than anything else.
The solo games weren't a substitute for playing another person.
They were preparation for it.
They let me teach with confidence.
They gave my friend a smoother first experience.
And they meant that when the real tension arrived, we could spend our energy making interesting decisions instead of trying to understand the basics.
After three games, I still don't feel like I've mastered War of the Ring.
I don't think that's the point.
What matters is that it's no longer a game sitting on my shelf waiting for the perfect moment.
It's become a game my friends and I are already planning to play again.
And for a game with a reputation this intimidating, I think that's the biggest compliment I can give it.
Dashmeister
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| I'll be watching you more closely next time, Mariano Image courtesy of GTHIC.com |
This blog is written by me, with a little help from AI editing for clarity and tone. All ideas, feelings, and memories are mine.
