The Bottom Line
Fans of The Lord of the Rings will find The Confrontation to be engaging, challenging and entertaining. This is a brilliantly designed two-player strategy game.
Pros
- Lord of the Rings theme
- Artwork by John Howe
- Familiar Stratego-like gameplay with new twists
Cons
- Probably must enjoy LotR to like The Confrontation
Description
- For 2 players, ages 12 and up.
- 30 minutes to play.
- Designed by Reiner Knizia, published by Fantasy Flight Games.
- A game variant is included, introducing four new cards used differently than the basic cards.
- Some pieces have special powers; e.g., Sam's strength of 2 increases to 5 if he's with Frodo.
Guide Review - Lord of the Rings - The Confrontation
The nine memers of the Fellowship of the Ring are controlled by one player, while nine Dark characters are controlled by the other. Pieces are placed on a map of Middle Earth Stratego-like, so that your opponent can't see which piece is located where.
The Good player wins if Frodo enters Mordor; the Dark player wins if three Dark characters are in the Shire or by defeating Frodo in battle. On a turn, a player must move one of his pieces forward. If that piece moves into a territory occupied by an opponent, a battle takes place.
The characters are revealed, sometimes special cards are played, and one of the pieces will either retreat or be defeated and removed from the game. Each game can be set up differently, providing great replay value.
