War of the Ring (board game)

War of the Ring is a two-player strategy board game adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, designed by Roberto Di Meglio, Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello. It was first produced in Italy by Nexus Editrice, and an English-language edition was released by Fantasy Flight Games in 2004; a second edition followed in 2011 from Ares Games, along with expansions including Battles of the Third Age in 2006 and later Lords, Warriors and Kings of Middle-earth material. One player commands the Free Peoples of Middle-earth while the other commands the Shadow armies of Sauron, moving armies and characters across a large map. The Free Peoples player wins by destroying the One Ring at Mount Doom or by military victory, while the Shadow player wins by conquering enough of Middle-earth or by corrupting the Ring-bearer. A standard game runs roughly three hours, and variant rules extend play to three or four participants with team play.