The Battle of Five Armies (2014)

“I really enjoyed The Battle of Five Armies… a lot. I was expecting a well crafted sequel to The War of the Ring rooted in a deep theme. I'm very happy that I can say that the designers absolutely delivered on that.”

“The comat system in my opinion is very very solid and easy to going but then it's very well augmented by like flying units and you know crazy bear units and Orcs And different kinds of Orcs And Bilbo's got some cool things”(21:56)

“I think gameplay matches, it's a good solid war game that is highly thematic. This feels like you are playing a game straight out of Tolken. And I I can't think of of of a better praise than that. This is a fantastic game.”(10:13)

The Battle of Five Armies is a standalone game based on the rules for War of the Ring, which is from the same designers, but with the rules modified to function at a tactical level as they describe a smaller battle rather than the entire war.

“If you enjoy War of the Ring but want something faster, pick this up. If you are looking for a fun, two-player war game, try this one. Overall I enjoy War of the Ring more but the Battle of Five Armies’ shorter playing time should make it easier to get to the table.”

After several loud evenings with friends, I found The Battle of Five Armies a smart and tense strategy game. Its rival factions bring fun powers, while dice combat adds risk without stealing every decision.

“This is a solid game. I think it has tons of replay value because of the cards and the dice. No two games will be the same. Components are beautiful. The rule book is well rated. Definitely a strong product”(24:45)

“I think it's a very good game and one that I really enjoy and one that I'll be keeping, but if you wanted just a regular version at a cheaper price, this is definitely the way to go. Same gameplay.”(9:10)

“I do enjoy this new version a great deal – though a lot of this is because I’ve been able to play it with the family all through the vacation.”

“This one's nice because it's tight, it's short, it's only six quests long, and I'm telling you, this one is a real challenge, and even, even the first scenario is a challenge, you get thrown into sacks, and yeah, it's super fun.”(37:57)

“Battle of the Five Armies is fun but it doesn't gain that much from the additional tactical rules and detail that have been added, and it loses a lot from the stuff that's not here.”(15:22)