The Lord of the Rings franchise has been making a big push in the gaming space, and that’s occurred across multiple genres. The recent Tales of the Shire: A “The Lord of the Rings” Game brought LOTR to the cozy genre, while games like Foes of Middle-Earth and Fate of the Fellowship brought Frodo and crew’s iconic journey to life on the tabletop. Now, a brand new Lord of the Rings game has been revealed, and not only is it hitting this year, but it lets you play as the villains.
The newest game to join the Lord of the Rings franchise is Asmodee’s Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict, which is a 2 to 4-player strategy dice game that has players controlling the armies of The Shadow and the Free Peoples. Over the course of the game, you’ll unlock iconic characters like Gandalf and The Witch-King, and you’ll ultimately have to decide whether you will choose to corrupt the Fellowship or destroy the One Ring so you can win the game.
Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict Puts A New Spin On The Franchise
In Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict, players will command both sides of the epic conflict as they strategize and fend off their neighbors in asymmetrical combat. You’ll need to outwit your enemies by rallying your armies more effectively, unlocking powerful allies, and flanking enemy forces to mazmiiae your effectiveness in battle, and along the way you’ll need to decide if you are going take down your opponent’s Fellowship with a targeted Nazgul attack or focus on your own Fellowship and evading Sauron’s watch as you move across the board.
If you want to win as the Free Peoples, you need to be the first player to get The Fellowship to Mount Doom and take down Shadow in battle. If you are playing as the Shadow, you will need to be the first player to completely corrupt the Fellowship and defeat them.
To make all this happen, Circle of Conflict will utilize several mechanics, starting with a full-size dry-erase book that you’ll mark in and update as the game moves forward. You’ll also have 8 custom dice that will help you achieve those goals throughout the game, and there’s also a Gollum marker and board in the mix. It appears that Gollum will move on his personal board when the dice bring up the One Ring symbol, but it’s not clear exactly how that will impact gameplay on a turn-by-turn basis or what happens when he reaches his destination.
Each player will have their own Battle Board to mark during gameplay, and there will be 4 dry-erase markers included so you can write directly on your Battle Boards and your Player Boards. When you roll the dice, you will have a number of options to choose from, and you will then mark on your boards which actions you will choose on any given turn.
As for allies, the game will allow you to recruit a number of characters from the franchise, and from the back of the box and some of the featured graphics, it looks as if Gandalf, Arwen, Saruman, The Undead King, and The Witch-King will all be included. Looking at the boards in the trailer above, there seem to be at least 18 characters in the game, and each looks to have their own unique ability as well.
The Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict seems to be putting a very unique spin on a beloved franchise, and the game will hit stores on November 6, 2026.
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