I always imagined the reason you had to downgrade an elite to continue a battle is representing them bursting thru a barricade so the grunts could fight on.
wouldnt it be the other way around? otherwise you could just eliminate a regular unit whereas the elites have the special guys that can breach the walls (but will probably die)?
In my mind, "elites" were kind of just a generic term for a higher quality of unit. So while, say, the Isengard elite piece is a Warg Rider, that doesn't mean every elite Isengard unit is a Warg Rider. When it comes to downgrading elites to continue a siege, I consider that utilizing specialty siege equipment (ladders, towers, battering rams, or in Isengard's case, maybe even sappers!) - the elite unit, having been said siege equipment, is spent, and its down to just normal troops.
The thematics for "downgrading an elite" for the purpose of seige (according to our group) is the unavoidable casualties that happen while attempting to do so. (at least how our group justified it) Extrapolating from there is difficult beyond "it just makes it balanced" ... that or explaining that haradrim are born from deceased oliphant eggs (in that faction's case).
Siege battles are rough, defender would trow rocks and other things at you. Trying to storm a poweful stronghold imply that you'll have to sacrifice a lot of troops.
You could understand elites as not really elite forces, but just a bigger army packed tight. Then you could think they're just going for hail Mary attacks instead of playing it cool, so some of they die. Dunno.
I love this game. I'm watching this to live vicariously, lol. If you haven't played and you think it'd grab you, the game is worth it. Get a friend who is into it too and get on it!
One of the four number one games I have. Yes I have four number ones. Mageknight, Starwars Rebellion, Twilight Imperium 4 and this one. My order here is only alphabetical. Earth Reborn is my number two, and after that I have almost 30 other games
Love you videos, man. One rules thing, when you retreat into siege and you have more than 5 people, I believe that you can put the extras into your reinforcements
Ah, that was a mistake on my part. Looking closer at it, it seems you don't actually have the option of leaving excess troops on the field. Not sure where I got that from...oh well. Thanks for spotting that! I'll add a note right away.
@@seanmcconnell1874 Haha, if you play weekly, I don't know how much new info I'll be able to provide. My strategy videos are geared more towards newer players. But hey, you never know.
I love it when you do these intros! So fantastic. I was so happy when Simarillion was busted out. Hats off to Nick's cosplay as well. And Shea, your teach is engaging, thematic, clever, and has top notch production as always!
Free regions are regions that are not under the control of your opponent While F.T.P.O.A.M are regions you can move into without triggering a fight or in the common tongue Regions that don’t have an enemy unit in them
Yeah, I actually filmed this with the tokens, but the shot didn't end up looking good. Since it's basically the same either way, I figured I'd just draw a card.
Thanks for the teach! I finally played my first game last night after having this on my radar for several years. It was epic, and I very much look forward to more plays of it in the near future. Anyway, this video was super helpful for helping me get started. Also, I watched your two strategy videos. I played the Free Peoples and went in the opposite direction as the strategy tips, ha, of trying to win via military, which definitely threw the other (very experienced) player off his game, but in the end, the Shadow prevailed.
At 26:50, would it help to clarify that hunt re-rolls also (if I understand it correctly) cannot be stacked on one single die roll, so one hunt die cannot be re-rolled more than once even though conditions for more re-rolls apply?
Best Video as my preparation for my first match coming tomorrow. Good length, still everything important explained....even by connecting mechanisms with theme...which highly helps understanding complex game (if they have a theme).
I am hoping to do that in the future. For now I'm waiting for the Kings of Middle Earth expansion, but if they keep delaying it, I might just go ahead with the other two.
Great vid man! I had some questions, if someone could answer them that would be awesome. 8:42 just to be sure, Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad are also Sauron strongholds right? 20:20 also, is a character (like gimli in the example) always drawn into the figt necessarily when a battle happens in the territory that he is in, or can I decide not to involve him at the start of the battle to not risk him to avoid his death? 20:40 (another one) do you habe to move all units that you designated for the attack into the conquered region or is it up to your choice? Also, can you still move the rearguard into the newly conquered region or do they stay behind?
Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad are Sauron strongholds, yes. I'll add a note about this to make it more clear. Characters are always drawn into the fight when defending. You don't have to move all units in the attacking army. The rearguard is not part of the attacking army though, so it can't move into the invaded region.
Well, they did just do the kickstarter for their standalone expansion, and they have late pledging, so you can pick up the base game for...like $120...and it'll arrive in six months...but hey, that comes with the original expansions. So that's something.
@@RTFM oooh. I had just missed the second KS by like two days when I heard about it. I emailed asking about if there would be late pledging and never got a reply so I'll definitely look back into it. Still might not be able to get it this go around, but I'll look forward to the video regardless! Also can't wait for Prophecy of Kings!
Great video, we still used shy of 4 hours to get a game started, but this video was great and I have to commend RTFM's ability to word it in a way that avoids confusion. There is no room for interpretation in the rules of WotR, the rules are as written. RTFM does the same here in a nice condensed way.
I'll have to watch this a few times lol. Great explanation, but there are times when I feel like I'm in math class and I zoned out for a second and then found myself lost.
My copy of the game is coming this week. I read the manual and I was having a hard time understanding the rules. This video made things easier. Still, I think there were a lot of rules left out for this video, but now I have a better idea of how things work.
If Frodo & Sam are left alone to continue their journey towards Mordor (no companions left & gollum as a guide), then how many eyes does the Shadow player put in the hunt box? only one? If Frodo & Sam enter Mordor with NO companions left, (with Gollum as their guide) how many 'eye' dice is the Shadow player allowed to put into his hunt box?
One for both. The Shadow player can always put at least one eye in the hunt box. Basically Gollum is considered a companion in this sense. Just one that can never be sacrificed.
"Dude, the beacons are lit man, gone are calls for aid..." and this all prepares you for very concentrated but very carefully arranged rules for the game. Great summary and visual version of more elaborated Introductory rules! Hats off... yes even you Gandalf.
Hi there brilliant video great at explaining it all. I am sorry if this is dull but with regard to a companion and a army say I had Gandalf in Rohan who were at war and I wanted to move him with the army. If I use an action dice or the sword symbol, can I move that army three spaces as Gandalf’s movement states or is it just one space at a time. I hope that makes sense if anyone can help me 😀👍
Good question! When moving with a character, you only move armies one space at a time, regardless of the character's move speed. That number is only for when they move by themselves or other characters.
I've been waiting for a video like this for War of the Ring for so long! Do you plan on doing one on the expansions? (Lords of Middle Earth and Warriors of Middle Earth)
@@RTFM Amazing! I just discovered your channel and have been watching your WOTR and SWR videos on loop. They are so comprehensive and compact and allow me to easily jump to the sections I need. Can't wait for your other videos!
This is brutal, your awesome video got my gf and I to try WotR on Tabletop Simulator yesterday and now tonight I just spent a good $400 CAD on the game, both expansions, replica rings to replace the corruption and Fellowship movement, sleeves, and paint to be able to do all factions as their representative colours for differentiation...my wallet lol
Take a look at Lure of the Ring, Candles of Corpses, and The Breaking of the Fellowship. Each has a conditional effect if Gollum is the leader of the fellowship.
@@RTFM I found those cards and you're right! However, instead of helping the shadow player like you say, the cards actually seem to be less powerful when gollum is in the party. One says roll 3 dice, 4+ gets a corruption point. If gollum is leader, hit on 6+
@@stonemorris5356 Yeah, they're kind of a mixed bag. When writing the script I guess I was looking at Breaking of the Fellowship, which is a guaranteed corruption point if Gollum is leading. It's a good point though. I'll add a note.
The way I understand siege is that. if I attack a fortress i can keep attacking by sacrificing 1hp from my army BUT I can also stop attacking and stay in that region around the fortress. This is the only way that sorties makes sense to me. I think it also makes combat interesting because defender can attack from adjacent tile that's not fortified.
New to this, and just about to break it out of the box. Reminds me of LOTR Risk which I've played many times with family. I decided to order this for myself instead of Risk. For those who have played both, how do you think it compares?
Risk Lotr is kind of the junior and family edition of this. However, I have both games and love both of them. I think the game was inspired strongly by the risk version.
LotR Risk is simple and balanced for symmetric play. WotR is complex and asymmetric, which helps it stay more thematic, but also makes it take much longer to learn.
This video is very useful and entertaining - watched it twice for good measure. Downgrading the elites during sieges represents how when your soldiers are climbing the walls of a stronghold, they get absolutely slaughtered on the way up, but after they manage to infiltrate the stronghold, they start fighting on equal ground instead of falling back.
@RTFM Hey RTFM, I've got a little question. I've seen your video and I think it'S one of the best in explaining the game so thank you for that. But you, just like everyone else, didn't mention the 3 and 4 player game rules, which are even different in semeselfs. Which differ massive in who controles which armies and if 2 play one faction who controls the combined army if they meet on the board. Also there are differences in the cards you can play. And even who gets to use a dice. Can you do an additional video explaining those changes to the 2 player game? I played the game a few times with two friends now but we still do thinks wrong... And we can't figure out where exactly we go wrong... I would really appreciate such a video.
To be honest, I haven't had a chance to play it this way. But it also doesn't really interest me that much, because I tend to view it more as a two player game with a variant for more. That being said, I'm doing a video later on in the year about the expansions, so if I have time, I'll add in the multiplayer rules.
@@RTFM thanks for your answer. Even when you don't do the 3 and 4 player rules I'm waiting for the addon video. And thanks for the DUNE videos, played it with 5 friends (first time for all of us) and it took us 11 hours xD
Literally gonna learn how to play this today and you uploaded this a couple days ago. How serendipitous. Loved your Root video as well, as it taught me how to teach it to my friends.
The Root video was so good! I may have a bucket list plan to play Root while cosplaying as the factions as a result of that incredibly entertaining intro.
Ok this was the 3rd video on this game I've watched. It was the shortest and most precise, but i still don't get the game, i guess i am just gonna have to do the last thing left and actually read the rule book :(
Thank you so much! If I'm being honest, I'd probably only do Forbidden Stars if they rerelease it. It's just a little too out of print for my usual roster.
Great stuff! However for me the speed of changing pictures and text was a little bit too high to get some of tje concepts by the first run-through. Usually I am a fast learner but I had to rewatch various elements multiple times. A slower pace with the downside of a longer video would have helped me more. But - hey, this is youtube so I can jump back whenever I consider necessary 😉
Thanks! And yeah, I figure whenever you learn a game, whether on video or in person, you'll probably have to hear at least one rule twice. Better to do it once and make it easy to rewatch than just repeat everything.
during set up of Warriors you remove certain cards and replace them with others. The Corsairs of Umbar card, which is what I assume you're referring to, is one of those.
So if the Fellowship has no Companions (except for Smeagol), would the Shadow player place at most 1 die into the Hunt Box during the Dice Allocation step?
You had a example where if you had 3 leaders and 1 unit you could not roll the failed dice only once In the Hunt for the Ring, since you could reroll a failed dice in Moria example for the each unit, nazgul and stronghold does this also apply that it is one reroll or reroll for each?
For people who can’t find IRL players, or bc of COVID come join our dedicated war of the ring server and play online through Java or TTS! discord.gg/6bVpbNd or if you have rules questions you can ask us here :)
Couldn't the free people place their characters onto stronghold locations alone then to prevent the other player from taking those locations? What am I missing?
Characters can't participate in battles on their own, only when there are army units present. So if Aragorn was sitting on Minas Tirith by himself, the Shadow could just roll in and take it. Aragorn wouldn't die, but he wouldn't stop it either.
In the rare case the shadow player is besieged in two different shadow strongholds and a third one becomes besieged as well, since the board only has two available spots would the 3rd not be about to retreat into siege?
Those boxes are just a player aid, and if you have the space for your units, you don't even need to use them, so regardless of how many you have left, you can always retreat into siege. Anyway, it's such an unlikely event that three shadow strongholds would be under siege by large armies that you don't really need to worry about it.
If you're referring to the top left shelf, the large box is TI3, the one on top of it is TI4 and I think Anachrony. Shay has taught all three of these games (his 32-minute teach of TI3 is how I found this marvelous channel & content creator). 🖖
@@Lugo428 I do hope that FFG releases the Prophecy of Kings expansion to various reviewers so we can at least see more gameplay before its November release. 🤞
Not quite. Action dice are only lost forever if the character that brought them in is killed. Otherwise action dice are returned to you after each round, with some exceptions for dice that get left in the hunt box. You'll almost never want to leave a die unused though, so this wouldn't really come up either way.
@@RTFM Thanks for quick reply. Just gonna have first game in few hours! Excited! I didnt think about that chugging of the dice until I watched this multiple times so initially I got it right. But then I was starting to think "yeah, he chuggs it into to the bin so....?" :D
I plan on covering them later this year. Was originally going to wait until the Kings expansion was released, but it's unclear when/if that'll ever happen, so I'll probably just be teaching Lords and Warriors.
They aren't actually in klingon, I just use that channel because it's not a real language, so I won't get anyone's hopes up. Anyway, all the corrections are also written in the description.
@@RTFM I got them and a load of "enhancements" from Eaglenest3D on etsy,hers a link to the painted enhancements i did boardgamegeek.com/thread/2464797/finallyit-done
@@RTFM To be honest his prices are VERY reasonable,some shops are asking silly money for less better sculpts his are amazing right down to a spiral staircase INSIDE the Rivendell mini.
Question 1: Does moving a Nazgûl or character into an enemy nation activate that nation too? Question 2: If all units of an attacking army, containing a leader or character, are eliminated, is said leader/character eliminated too even if there's a rearguard in the attacking army's region?
It's mostly the same, but there are some minor changes. I haven't played the original, but this post on BGG is pretty helpful for this. boardgamegeek.com/thread/738666/2nd-edition-review-side-side-comparison
Tks for the great video, it’s a lifesaver. Although, something was not clear to me: when you were explaining about moving restrictions, you said we are not allowed to move to a nations’ region, even if they are friendly. Although, when you were explaining about the political track, you said if an enemy enter your nation’s region, we should move this region tracker towards the At war box. So, how can it happen, once we are not allowed to move into an empty enemy region? Sorry if it was not clear, I definitely lost something in the way
No worries. Let's say Sauron is at war but Gondor isn't. Sauron units can move into Gondor territory, but Gondor units can't move into Sauron territory (or Rohan or any other nation) until Gondor is at war. If a Sauron unit does move into a Gondor space, that will activate Gondor's political marker, or if they attack a Gondor army, that'll move Gondor one step closer to being at war. Does that help?
@@RTFM thanks man, that makes much more sense now. Basically, when a nation is at war, it has no moving restrictions anymore. Cheers and thanks again for the great work :)
Amazing video! Was dreading having to relearn this to play again soon (our first play was a year ago), and all the other videos are too long or have errors. Real life saver.
I'd say that getting her into the lore is a big first step. After that, making sure she has familiarity with board games at or near this size/complexity is important, because this shouldn't be a gateway game. And after that, show her this video :D (and also possibly the SUSD video, which I quite enjoyed)
I started reading through the manual, got lost in the rules. So I watched this instead. Still overwhelmed but now I know that there are phases in the game! xD
@@RTFM I have another question, it feels like i should have dice for some combat card actions to use them but ive never seen rule about it. Otherwise, does it mean i can use a combat card without any cost before each battle phase ?
@@shotadevdariani7170 You don't need to have any specific dice to play cards during combat, so yes, you can always play a card before each round of battle.
I need to know when a companion example when Aragorn is in a region right next to minas tirith can he move in just like when the fellowship can movi into the crack of doom when they are in minas morgull and the other shadow stronghold I don’t remember what it is called...... plus if they can can you then move the fellowship into Lorien if there declared right next to it? I saw someone do this in a play trough video and I’m not sure if you can do that so please answer my questions😅👍
So companions move differently when they're out of the Fellowship. If Aragorn wants to move into Minas Tirith you need to spend a sword and use the Move Companions action. As for the Fellowship, when they declare, you count their current progress on the movement track and can place their figure up to that many spaces away. So if they were adjacent to Lorien and had a progress of 1 or more, you could declare them there. Hope that helps!
@@RTFM we watched it and immediately played it! Only thing we forgot to do was evacuate lol! But the video was so damn good that we didnt have to look up the rule book more than once.
![[Full Episode] The Restaurant War Thailand ศึกพ่อค้าซ่าแม่ค้าแซ่บ Episode 2 | 29 ก.ย. 67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/r3lfLNH6Ke4/mqdefault.jpg)
I always imagined the reason you had to downgrade an elite to continue a battle is representing them bursting thru a barricade so the grunts could fight on.
Sappers take massive casualties.
"Bring him down, Legolas!"
i like that! lol
wouldnt it be the other way around? otherwise you could just eliminate a regular unit whereas the elites have the special guys that can breach the walls (but will probably die)?
In my mind, "elites" were kind of just a generic term for a higher quality of unit. So while, say, the Isengard elite piece is a Warg Rider, that doesn't mean every elite Isengard unit is a Warg Rider. When it comes to downgrading elites to continue a siege, I consider that utilizing specialty siege equipment (ladders, towers, battering rams, or in Isengard's case, maybe even sappers!) - the elite unit, having been said siege equipment, is spent, and its down to just normal troops.
I haven't even finished this and I'm already saying thank you. Thank you.
You're welcome! I'm glad you're liking it.
I must commend you for you ability to make one of the most confusing board games I have personally played so easy for newer players to understand
The thematics for "downgrading an elite" for the purpose of seige (according to our group) is the unavoidable casualties that happen while attempting to do so. (at least how our group justified it)
Extrapolating from there is difficult beyond "it just makes it balanced" ... that or explaining that haradrim are born from deceased oliphant eggs (in that faction's case).
That's a pretty good way to look at it. And I've always suspected that there was more to those oliphants than meets the eye.
Siege battles are rough, defender would trow rocks and other things at you. Trying to storm a poweful stronghold imply that you'll have to sacrifice a lot of troops.
You could understand elites as not really elite forces, but just a bigger army packed tight. Then you could think they're just going for hail Mary attacks instead of playing it cool, so some of they die. Dunno.
Who down voted this video? Does thee not give of oneself to serve the Fellowship? Fool of a Took... 🤨
Missclick probably
I love this game. I'm watching this to live vicariously, lol. If you haven't played and you think it'd grab you, the game is worth it. Get a friend who is into it too and get on it!
Another A++ video from RTFM. Thanks for making our hobby that much more accessible!
Hey thanks! I'm just glad y'all are liking the videos.
No way you’re playing this game in 28 mins...
Bullshot
It’s HOW TO PLAY in 28 minutes.
No way you are literate
I believe the original commenter engaged in that weird thing humans do, called joking.
@@ArsenyMoskvichevI hope so!
One of the four number one games I have. Yes I have four number ones. Mageknight, Starwars Rebellion, Twilight Imperium 4 and this one. My order here is only alphabetical. Earth Reborn is my number two, and after that I have almost 30 other games
That's confusing. And I still have 100 questions.
Watch at 0.75x speed.....thank me later.
Love you videos, man. One rules thing, when you retreat into siege and you have more than 5 people, I believe that you can put the extras into your reinforcements
Ah, that was a mistake on my part. Looking closer at it, it seems you don't actually have the option of leaving excess troops on the field. Not sure where I got that from...oh well. Thanks for spotting that! I'll add a note right away.
@@RTFM nice! Thanks for doing this game, looking forward to your strat videos so I can stomp my brother some more on our next weekly game :)
@@seanmcconnell1874 Haha, if you play weekly, I don't know how much new info I'll be able to provide. My strategy videos are geared more towards newer players. But hey, you never know.
I love it when you do these intros! So fantastic. I was so happy when Simarillion was busted out. Hats off to Nick's cosplay as well.
And Shea, your teach is engaging, thematic, clever, and has top notch production as always!
Thank you so much Monique! You're always so encouraging and I really appreciate it.
Free regions are regions that are not under the control of your opponent
While F.T.P.O.A.M are regions you can move into without triggering a fight or in the common tongue
Regions that don’t have an enemy unit in them
27:22 there are tokens to randomly chosse a companion to take as a casualty. You don't have to shuffle the cards
Yeah, I actually filmed this with the tokens, but the shot didn't end up looking good. Since it's basically the same either way, I figured I'd just draw a card.
Thanks for the teach! I finally played my first game last night after having this on my radar for several years. It was epic, and I very much look forward to more plays of it in the near future. Anyway, this video was super helpful for helping me get started. Also, I watched your two strategy videos. I played the Free Peoples and went in the opposite direction as the strategy tips, ha, of trying to win via military, which definitely threw the other (very experienced) player off his game, but in the end, the Shadow prevailed.
Happy to help! I always want to lead the Free Peoples to a military victory but I can never pull it off.
I've been waiting for you to come out with this video!! Thank you so much for creating this
No problem! I've been wanting to cover this game for a long time. So glad I finally got the chance!
Had to rewatch this video for a quick refresher because of the kings of middle earth was added to my collection
So glad you started to work with Rahdo, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have discovered all your great videos 😊😊
Thanks! I'm glad to be over there too!
At 26:50, would it help to clarify that hunt re-rolls also (if I understand it correctly) cannot be stacked on one single die roll, so one hunt die cannot be re-rolled more than once even though conditions for more re-rolls apply?
Yeah, that's a good point. I see how it can be misconstrued. I'll add a note, thanks!
I really want to play this game now...
Best Video as my preparation for my first match coming tomorrow.
Good length, still everything important explained....even by connecting mechanisms with theme...which highly helps understanding complex game (if they have a theme).
Glad I could help!
Great video!! Could you please make a video explaining the expansions? :D
I am hoping to do that in the future. For now I'm waiting for the Kings of Middle Earth expansion, but if they keep delaying it, I might just go ahead with the other two.
Great vid man! I had some questions, if someone could answer them that would be awesome.
8:42 just to be sure, Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad are also Sauron strongholds right?
20:20 also, is a character (like gimli in the example) always drawn into the figt necessarily when a battle happens in the territory that he is in, or can I decide not to involve him at the start of the battle to not risk him to avoid his death?
20:40 (another one) do you habe to move all units that you designated for the attack into the conquered region or is it up to your choice? Also, can you still move the rearguard into the newly conquered region or do they stay behind?
Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad are Sauron strongholds, yes. I'll add a note about this to make it more clear.
Characters are always drawn into the fight when defending.
You don't have to move all units in the attacking army. The rearguard is not part of the attacking army though, so it can't move into the invaded region.
How to play Nemesis:
Step 1: Spend 300$ to get a copy. *cries*
Well, they did just do the kickstarter for their standalone expansion, and they have late pledging, so you can pick up the base game for...like $120...and it'll arrive in six months...but hey, that comes with the original expansions. So that's something.
@@RTFM oooh. I had just missed the second KS by like two days when I heard about it. I emailed asking about if there would be late pledging and never got a reply so I'll definitely look back into it. Still might not be able to get it this go around, but I'll look forward to the video regardless! Also can't wait for Prophecy of Kings!
Thanks for this. I'm on page 21 of the rule book and decided I'd better watch a video first 😂
Great video, we still used shy of 4 hours to get a game started, but this video was great and I have to commend RTFM's ability to word it in a way that avoids confusion. There is no room for interpretation in the rules of WotR, the rules are as written. RTFM does the same here in a nice condensed way.
I'll have to watch this a few times lol. Great explanation, but there are times when I feel like I'm in math class and I zoned out for a second and then found myself lost.
Fair enough, it is a complicated game so there's a lot to take in. Hopefully this gives you a good stepping off point though.
My copy of the game is coming this week. I read the manual and I was having a hard time understanding the rules. This video made things easier. Still, I think there were a lot of rules left out for this video, but now I have a better idea of how things work.
“Quarantine we probably shouldn’t” it’s gonna be so awesome when people hear lines like that and wonder what the Hell we were thinking lol
If Frodo & Sam are left alone to continue their journey towards Mordor (no companions left & gollum as a guide), then how many eyes does the Shadow player put in the hunt box? only one?
If Frodo & Sam enter Mordor with NO companions left, (with Gollum as their guide) how many 'eye' dice is the Shadow player allowed to put into his hunt box?
One for both. The Shadow player can always put at least one eye in the hunt box. Basically Gollum is considered a companion in this sense. Just one that can never be sacrificed.
"Dude, the beacons are lit man, gone are calls for aid..." and this all prepares you for very concentrated but very carefully arranged rules for the game. Great summary and visual version of more elaborated Introductory rules! Hats off... yes even you Gandalf.
Idk if you've seen it, but Ares games literally has your video embedded under how to Play War of the ring. I just thought it was pretty cool
Yeah, they asked if it was ok. As if I was going to say no XD
Hi there brilliant video great at explaining it all. I am sorry if this is dull but with regard to a companion and a army say I had Gandalf in Rohan who were at war and I wanted to move him with the army. If I use an action dice or the sword symbol, can I move that army three spaces as Gandalf’s movement states or is it just one space at a time. I hope that makes sense if anyone can help me 😀👍
Good question! When moving with a character, you only move armies one space at a time, regardless of the character's move speed. That number is only for when they move by themselves or other characters.
I've been waiting for a video like this for War of the Ring for so long! Do you plan on doing one on the expansions? (Lords of Middle Earth and Warriors of Middle Earth)
I do. I'm waiting on the newest expansion (Kings), which should come out in a couple months, and then I'll do a video for all three.
@@RTFM Amazing! I just discovered your channel and have been watching your WOTR and SWR videos on loop. They are so comprehensive and compact and allow me to easily jump to the sections I need. Can't wait for your other videos!
@@wallyattard738 Thanks!
This is brutal, your awesome video got my gf and I to try WotR on Tabletop Simulator yesterday and now tonight I just spent a good $400 CAD on the game, both expansions, replica rings to replace the corruption and Fellowship movement, sleeves, and paint to be able to do all factions as their representative colours for differentiation...my wallet lol
I don't know whether to say you're welcome or I'm sorry. Glad you liked the video at least?
Great tutorial! Thank you!
I haven't seen any shadow cards that involve gollum being in the fellowship.
Take a look at Lure of the Ring, Candles of Corpses, and The Breaking of the Fellowship. Each has a conditional effect if Gollum is the leader of the fellowship.
@@RTFM I found those cards and you're right! However, instead of helping the shadow player like you say, the cards actually seem to be less powerful when gollum is in the party. One says roll 3 dice, 4+ gets a corruption point. If gollum is leader, hit on 6+
@@stonemorris5356 Yeah, they're kind of a mixed bag. When writing the script I guess I was looking at Breaking of the Fellowship, which is a guaranteed corruption point if Gollum is leading. It's a good point though. I'll add a note.
Played a time ago and used your video to remember everthing. Thanks a lot!
Happy to help!
Nice video, thanks...about to sit down and play WotR for the first time in about 14 months, wish the companions luck!
Good luck!
The way I understand siege is that. if I attack a fortress i can keep attacking by sacrificing 1hp from my army BUT I can also stop attacking and stay in that region around the fortress. This is the only way that sorties makes sense to me. I think it also makes combat interesting because defender can attack from adjacent tile that's not fortified.
New to this, and just about to break it out of the box. Reminds me of LOTR Risk which I've played many times with family. I decided to order this for myself instead of Risk. For those who have played both, how do you think it compares?
Risk Lotr is kind of the junior and family edition of this. However, I have both games and love both of them. I think the game was inspired strongly by the risk version.
LotR Risk is simple and balanced for symmetric play.
WotR is complex and asymmetric, which helps it stay more thematic, but also makes it take much longer to learn.
Oh boy this is good. Thanks!!
This video is very useful and entertaining - watched it twice for good measure.
Downgrading the elites during sieges represents how when your soldiers are climbing the walls of a stronghold, they get absolutely slaughtered on the way up, but after they manage to infiltrate the stronghold, they start fighting on equal ground instead of falling back.
Yes! And I also have the torch bearing uruk-hai berserker in mind, who sacrifices himself to breach Helms Deeps wall
@@donnjuansohn Good one!
Dude?! The beacons are lit man! lmao
@RTFM
Hey RTFM,
I've got a little question. I've seen your video and I think it'S one of the best in explaining the game so thank you for that.
But you, just like everyone else, didn't mention the 3 and 4 player game rules, which are even different in semeselfs. Which differ massive in who controles which armies and if 2 play one faction who controls the combined army if they meet on the board. Also there are differences in the cards you can play. And even who gets to use a dice.
Can you do an additional video explaining those changes to the 2 player game?
I played the game a few times with two friends now but we still do thinks wrong... And we can't figure out where exactly we go wrong...
I would really appreciate such a video.
To be honest, I haven't had a chance to play it this way. But it also doesn't really interest me that much, because I tend to view it more as a two player game with a variant for more. That being said, I'm doing a video later on in the year about the expansions, so if I have time, I'll add in the multiplayer rules.
@@RTFM thanks for your answer. Even when you don't do the 3 and 4 player rules I'm waiting for the addon video.
And thanks for the DUNE videos, played it with 5 friends (first time for all of us) and it took us 11 hours xD
@@krunschold Oh my! Well I hope you all enjoyed it. That can certainly be more of a commitment than people are expecting.
@@RTFM oh yeah, we had a blast and want to play again this month
@@RTFM hello again,
I wanted to ask if you have a timeline for the addons you mentioned.
Hip to get those videos this year.
In the beginning there was Eru🤣🤣🤣
Lol the fkn Gandalf lunchbox are you kidding me? 🤣🤣
As soon as I started working on this video, I knew the Murphs were gonna have to be in it, if only to show off their awesome LOTR collection.
Literally gonna learn how to play this today and you uploaded this a couple days ago. How serendipitous. Loved your Root video as well, as it taught me how to teach it to my friends.
Thanks, glad I could help!
The Root video was so good! I may have a bucket list plan to play Root while cosplaying as the factions as a result of that incredibly entertaining intro.
Oh, I thought this was how to play the game in only 28 minutes instead of 3 hours. Nevermind.
Ok this was the 3rd video on this game I've watched. It was the shortest and most precise, but i still don't get the game, i guess i am just gonna have to do the last thing left and actually read the rule book :(
ur guides are the best of the best in youtube! learned Dune from ur guides and thanx for it
Thank you so much! If I'm being honest, I'd probably only do Forbidden Stars if they rerelease it. It's just a little too out of print for my usual roster.
you speak so darn fast :'D
Impressive, clean execution
Great stuff! However for me the speed of changing pictures and text was a little bit too high to get some of tje concepts by the first run-through. Usually I am a fast learner but I had to rewatch various elements multiple times. A slower pace with the downside of a longer video would have helped me more. But - hey, this is youtube so I can jump back whenever I consider necessary 😉
Thanks! And yeah, I figure whenever you learn a game, whether on video or in person, you'll probably have to hear at least one rule twice. Better to do it once and make it easy to rewatch than just repeat everything.
14:40 does the effect of the political on this cards also happen on their faction card counterparts in Warriors of Middle-Earth?
during set up of Warriors you remove certain cards and replace them with others. The Corsairs of Umbar card, which is what I assume you're referring to, is one of those.
Itmight be too much for me
Great resource thanks duded
So if the Fellowship has no Companions (except for Smeagol), would the Shadow player place at most 1 die into the Hunt Box during the Dice Allocation step?
That's correct.
You had a example where if you had 3 leaders and 1 unit you could not roll the failed dice only once
In the Hunt for the Ring, since you could reroll a failed dice in Moria example for the each unit, nazgul and stronghold does this also apply that it is one reroll or reroll for each?
The same reroll rules apply, so if you only rolled one die and have three rerolls, you'd only get to reroll once.
Mine should be here early next week. It seems that Amazon does not any copies left, I found it from a 3rd party vender. Hopefuly I get what I ordered.
Glad you were able to find it somewhere. Fingers crossed!
28 minutes? It takes me several hours!
For people who can’t find IRL players, or bc of COVID come join our dedicated war of the ring server and play online through Java or TTS! discord.gg/6bVpbNd or if you have rules questions you can ask us here :)
Couldn't the free people place their characters onto stronghold locations alone then to prevent the other player from taking those locations? What am I missing?
Characters can't participate in battles on their own, only when there are army units present. So if Aragorn was sitting on Minas Tirith by himself, the Shadow could just roll in and take it. Aragorn wouldn't die, but he wouldn't stop it either.
In the rare case the shadow player is besieged in two different shadow strongholds and a third one becomes besieged as well, since the board only has two available spots would the 3rd not be about to retreat into siege?
Those boxes are just a player aid, and if you have the space for your units, you don't even need to use them, so regardless of how many you have left, you can always retreat into siege. Anyway, it's such an unlikely event that three shadow strongholds would be under siege by large armies that you don't really need to worry about it.
This is my first approach to the game, already loving it.
How the deuce do you have, what I assume is the expansion to Twilight Imperium? Do you have the 3rd edition?
If you're referring to the top left shelf, the large box is TI3, the one on top of it is TI4 and I think Anachrony. Shay has taught all three of these games (his 32-minute teach of TI3 is how I found this marvelous channel & content creator). 🖖
@@thomasromanelli2561 ah. Makes sense.
@@Lugo428 I do hope that FFG releases the Prophecy of Kings expansion to various reviewers so we can at least see more gameplay before its November release. 🤞
@@thomasromanelli2561 no joke, I was so excited, I accidentally bought 3 copies. Long story.
I'm so curious about this
So if you dont use the action die is that die chugged for ever? Is it discarded from the game? Then thats really not a good option…
Not quite. Action dice are only lost forever if the character that brought them in is killed. Otherwise action dice are returned to you after each round, with some exceptions for dice that get left in the hunt box. You'll almost never want to leave a die unused though, so this wouldn't really come up either way.
@@RTFM Thanks for quick reply. Just gonna have first game in few hours! Excited! I didnt think about that chugging of the dice until I watched this multiple times so initially I got it right. But then I was starting to think "yeah, he chuggs it into to the bin so....?" :D
Any chance of doing a follow-up video on the expansions?
I plan on covering them later this year. Was originally going to wait until the Kings expansion was released, but it's unclear when/if that'll ever happen, so I'll probably just be teaching Lords and Warriors.
@@RTFM Epic, can't wait! Yeah I didn't wait till the end of your video in which you answered my question, sorry.
@@grottoguru6473 Haha, no worries. I've definitely put it off a bit longer than I expected to.
Anything in the Klingon subtitles for those who can read it?
They aren't actually in klingon, I just use that channel because it's not a real language, so I won't get anyone's hopes up. Anyway, all the corrections are also written in the description.
Wait do the defenders in siege also roll dice or do they just sit there????
The defenders roll dice as normal during sieges, it's just that the attackers have slightly different rules, which is why I focused on them.
This is spectacular.
Thanks!
@@RTFM "more to that later"
I have used rubber ring bases from Etsy to tell the Nations apart,making the set up a lot quicker,
Ooh, I'll have to look into that.
@@RTFM I got them and a load of "enhancements" from Eaglenest3D on etsy,hers a link to the painted enhancements i did boardgamegeek.com/thread/2464797/finallyit-done
@@bigmull Ooooh, I've seen some of these and they are amazing, but my bank account would not survive
@@RTFM To be honest his prices are VERY reasonable,some shops are asking silly money for less better sculpts his are amazing right down to a spiral staircase INSIDE the Rivendell mini.
@@bigmull Oh they look fantastic. For me it's a slippery slope kinda thing. If I didn't stop myself, I'd be buying all manner of add-ons for my games.
Thanks so much
Question 1: Does moving a Nazgûl or character into an enemy nation activate that nation too?
Question 2: If all units of an attacking army, containing a leader or character, are eliminated, is said leader/character eliminated too even if there's a rearguard in the attacking army's region?
1. No 2. Yes
@@A_friend_called_Five
Thanks for clarifying.
This video plays like one of those videos satirising complicated board games lol.
Just a quick question: Is the second edition identical with the first as far as rules go?
It's mostly the same, but there are some minor changes. I haven't played the original, but this post on BGG is pretty helpful for this. boardgamegeek.com/thread/738666/2nd-edition-review-side-side-comparison
Brother was very skinny here.
Tks for the great video, it’s a lifesaver. Although, something was not clear to me: when you were explaining about moving restrictions, you said we are not allowed to move to a nations’ region, even if they are friendly. Although, when you were explaining about the political track, you said if an enemy enter your nation’s region, we should move this region tracker towards the At war box. So, how can it happen, once we are not allowed to move into an empty enemy region? Sorry if it was not clear, I definitely lost something in the way
No worries. Let's say Sauron is at war but Gondor isn't. Sauron units can move into Gondor territory, but Gondor units can't move into Sauron territory (or Rohan or any other nation) until Gondor is at war. If a Sauron unit does move into a Gondor space, that will activate Gondor's political marker, or if they attack a Gondor army, that'll move Gondor one step closer to being at war. Does that help?
@@RTFM thanks man, that makes much more sense now. Basically, when a nation is at war, it has no moving restrictions anymore. Cheers and thanks again for the great work :)
now i just need the game, and its $200+ everywhere 😭
Oof! Yeah, hopefully they do another print run soon.
Om my have played this game so many times and I have still goten rules wrong?!
Thank you!
Happens to the best of us.
Amazing video! Was dreading having to relearn this to play again soon (our first play was a year ago), and all the other videos are too long or have errors. Real life saver.
Glad I could help!
This is amazing, thank you.
Happy to help!
How can I convince my girlfriend to (learn and) play this game?
I'd say that getting her into the lore is a big first step. After that, making sure she has familiarity with board games at or near this size/complexity is important, because this shouldn't be a gateway game. And after that, show her this video :D (and also possibly the SUSD video, which I quite enjoyed)
Does a Nazgul get killed if the army in which it was gets destroyed?
Nazgul are removed from the board in this case, but as with the Shadow's army units, they can be recruited again later.
I started reading through the manual, got lost in the rules. So I watched this instead. Still overwhelmed but now I know that there are phases in the game! xD
Haha, progress!
First game today, thank you
Bruh I finish it 3 days
Can you recruit a character as the shadow player once the caracter has been killed?
Nope. If a character has been killed, they're gone for good.
I love you man. You’re doing the lords work here.
Im stuck at acquring server list
if I move an army that consists of Minions as well. Do minions count as part of army during army movement dice action ?
Hey, sorry for the late response. Yes, the minions are considered part of the army, so you can move them along with the rest of the units.
@@RTFM I have another question, it feels like i should have dice for some combat card actions to use them but ive never seen rule about it. Otherwise, does it mean i can use a combat card without any cost before each battle phase ?
@@shotadevdariani7170 You don't need to have any specific dice to play cards during combat, so yes, you can always play a card before each round of battle.
@@RTFM thanks a lot. we bought the game a month ago and its already our fav.
Could someone tell me if you have to use a Palantir action die to play combat cards?
Nope. During combat, you can play one combat card each round without paying palantirs or matching dice.
@@RTFM Alright thanks, that's how my friend and I have been playing so thanks for clearing that up.
@@benwise2630 Happy to help!
I need to know when a companion example when Aragorn is in a region right next to minas tirith can he move in just like when the fellowship can movi into the crack of doom when they are in minas morgull and the other shadow stronghold I don’t remember what it is called...... plus if they can can you then move the fellowship into Lorien if there declared right next to it? I saw someone do this in a play trough video and I’m not sure if you can do that so please answer my questions😅👍
So companions move differently when they're out of the Fellowship. If Aragorn wants to move into Minas Tirith you need to spend a sword and use the Move Companions action. As for the Fellowship, when they declare, you count their current progress on the movement track and can place their figure up to that many spaces away. So if they were adjacent to Lorien and had a progress of 1 or more, you could declare them there. Hope that helps!
RTFM I did help thank you!👍
Oh and love your vids
@@bastianvillebro6420 Thanks! Glad I could help.
YES!!! Thank you
So glad that you did this!! Awesome job!! Great content as always!!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
@@RTFM we watched it and immediately played it! Only thing we forgot to do was evacuate lol! But the video was so damn good that we didnt have to look up the rule book more than once.
Great stuff again guys! Can't wait to give this game a go.
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Silmarillion is the best intro.
omg.. this game is overloaded..
love the brothers murphs
They're the best!