Middle Earth: The Wizards

 The original set of the Middle Earth Collectable Card Game series, the Wizards, was well received by role players looking for a quick game when they didn't have the time or inclination to develop characters and campaigns. On the other hand, the faster crowd used to Magic bought the occasional deck and then went back to Magic; the longer game and the slower pace just didn't suit them.

Based on the works of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, the card set was introduced in response to the overwhelming resurgence of popularity the Middle Earth Role Playing Game system was experiencing. Although the game itself was quick to develop characters and the complete backgrounds made developing adventures easy, it still required books for rules, paper for notes and characters, and a couple of hours. In addition, many gamers liked the original story, The Lord of the Rings, and wanted to play characters from the story. The response: a very well-structured card game.

The cards themselves are very easy to get used to; they are aesthetically designed on good card stock, fairly uniform (only the site cards have a different layout from any other in the set), and have catchy titles and quotes, usually directly from one of the works of the series. The colors are easy on the eye and the artwork surpasses anything but the card sets of Olivia or the Hildebrandt brothers.

The game play is easy and has a character- and story-based theme, as opposed to "obliterate your opponents". The rules are basically straightforward, and ICE is more than generous in providing detailed examples when it gets a little foggy. To make things simple, a turn sequence list appears in the back of the rules book, and there is an index in the back to help you find specific rules easily. The back cover of the booklet has a quick reference guide to terrain types, as well as site types.

The game begins as players announce their starting characters at Rivendell, each introducing one at a time around the table and beginning the sequence again. Each player can have a maximum of 5 starting characters, but is not required to take that many. In addition, the party may begin with up to two starting items, non- unique and minor, to help them along. Personally, I almost always choose Shield of Iron-Bound Ash and Healing Herbs. From there, the game scatters to the four winds; the race is on.

The scenario is that the final confrontation is coming: the Dark Lord (Sauron) vs. the free peoples of Middle Earth. In order to be triumphant, all the races must pool their strength to overthrow the evil one of the shadows of Mordor. Each player (up to five players) represents one of the Istari, Maiar sent from the undying lands to assist Middle Earth in the resistance of Sauron. Each of the five wizards (Alatar, Gandalf, Pallando, Radagast, and Saruman) has a different idea of how best to conquer the Dark One, and so each races across the continent, with the aid of the characters in their parties, gathering resources. Eventually, the Council of Lorien is called, and the wizard with the greatest support and gathering of resources is named the leader of the fight against Sauron (that player wins).

Scoring in the game is done by marshaling points. Items, allies, factions, information, events, victories over dark forces, and even some characters are worth marshaling points. Each resource (any of the above) can be played only at certain sites (specified on the site cards), and there is usually some creature or obstacle to overcome in order to be able to play the card. Additionally, the road to the site is strewn with hazards (played on you by another player; don't worry, you get a turn to get them back) which you must face in order to get there in the first place. Surviving monster encounters is not the worst, though.

In Middle Earth, magic is very subdued. The first two Ages ripped the land apart from reckless use of power; now its use is guarded and dangerous. Many who can use magic can also detect when another uses it , and the Dark Lord is the most skilled in this of all. There is also the lure of power which exists in wealth or the possession of a magical item. Many are lulled into passivity by the easy nonchalance of the elves at the havens. Some are merely overcome by a feeling of futility or grief at losing a companion. Whatever the cause, there is corruption involved. Corruption points are given as hazards (in situations or through combat) and are inherent with the possession of items. At various points in the game, corruption checks are made for characters; the check is made by comparing the character's will (a die roll) vs. the number of corruption points the character has incurred. If the check fails, the character has abandoned the cause of the free people or decided to make a go of it for himself/herself; either way, the wizard loses the aid of that character.

The basic game is wonderful, and after a while you aren't just announcing who is going where; you begin to do a narrative ("Frodo and Hama decide that the dragons to the north are too menacing, and that the more prudent choice is to circle south, through the high pass and into the Anduin Vales."), to which your opponent will latch on and put in his two cents' worth ([playing Watcher in the Water] "If only they had known the horrors awaiting them there..."). Without the expansions, this set would have done fine. The expansions only made it better.

Middle Earth: The Dragons

 The first expansion to hit the racks was The Dragons, an exploration into the second age when the great wyrms were hunted down and slain (except, of course, Smaug). Although a couple of dragons aside from the inhabitant of the Lonely Mountain were introduced in the basic set, the allure of these wonderful creatures could not be denied. More unique dragons were added, along with common forms of the wyrms whom did not achieve notoriety (they simply didn't have the power nor intelligence of Smaug, Itangast, and the others). This set simply bristles with forms of drakes and dragons of all shapes, sizes, and dwellings. It also delves in to the question of how the "modern" characters would have fared in these times of lore (for Glorfindel, no sweat; for Fatty Bolger, one hobbit stew comin' up!).

The dragons each are given manifestations, one of the dragon, one "at home" (making automatic attacks SO much tougher), and "at hunt" (which puts an entire area of the map basically off-limits, unless you're suicidal or just that tough); defeat one manifestation and all are removed from play. Yeah, just try it. But that's where the fun comes in...

With this set we are introduced to hoards, large troves of treasure found only in tightly guarded areas (in this case, dragons' lairs). The set is filled with magical items (indicative of the second age), but they are almost all hoard items, meaning you have to face down a wyrm to get them. The set also gives two new scenarios: Lost Treasures and Dragonslayer. Either can be used as a victory condition of a game , rather than the Council of Lorien. In Lost Treasures, each player attempts to gather a set number of major or greater hoard items and safely store them. In Dragonslayer, each player must kill (not defeat nor avoid nor cancel the attack of) a certain number of dragons. This easily leads to finding another King Under the Mountain - if you can kill the great ones without losing your characters in the process!

A common complaint with this set is that the creatures are too big, too menacing, that they kill too many characters. Duh! Why do you think they were so feared? If the numbers overwhelm you, the players can agree to a limit on the numbers of dragons/drakes, or you can just design your deck better. Anyway, I like it.

Middle Earth: Dark Minions

 The second expansion gives a darker vision of the world and prepares us for the future releases. In this set, we learn about minions and agents, characters not necessarily on the side of the Dark One, but definitely obstacles to the player parties. Minions (and agents, but from here on I'll just say minions) act just like characters, except that they are played on the hazard phase of your opponent's turn. They move, play items, influence items, factions, and characters, and can even attack the other party! They can ambush, set traps, augment attacks, and some can even invade havens to wreak havoc. The underside of the nature of the beings of Middle Earth begins to come to light...

Also introduced is a new site type: the Underdeeps. In the first age, the Nameless One (OK, Melkor) had carved beneath the surface a system of tunnels, ever deeper and more dangerous, to hide his activities from Eru (the Creator) and the Valar. When the Valar overthrew him, many of the tunnels collapsed, but some remained (such as the Balrog's nesting place under Khazad Dum). They created a loosely linked cluster of subsurface grottos and caverns, inhabited by the darkest, most vile of beings. Now you can go to them with characters! (Lucky you) Travel is possible, but treacherous and not always successful, between the Underdeeps sites, so you can avoid surface nasties down below. But the creatures in these halls can make you yearn for daylight, and most lead straight to surface sites like Carn Dum, Barad Dur, and Imlad Morgul. Really want to go back up?

Also included are rules for abduction. Some attacks or events take prisoners and hold them at a nearby site. The controlling player of these characters has to move another party there to rescue them, and face an attack in the process. The captured characters (and items) yield negative marshaling points until a rescue has been performed, so you can't just write those characters off as a loss and forget about them.

The rules for minions seem a little broken until you actually play with some; it's only then that some of the rules make sense. This particular set is heavy on hazards and light on resources, but that just gives it a little more of the evil mystique which has me hooked. There are plenty of new ways to make the world just a little more dangerous, and I'd follow the suggestions on the rules book as far as cards to rule invalid from the Wizards and Dragons sets. I didn't follow it the first time, and screwed everybody. Nazgul were able to be played almost anywhere on the east side of the Misty Mountains and as far south as Hollin and the southern reaches of Cardolan on the west side, dragons basically came and went as they pleased, and agents could make shadowlands creatures appear at almost any site. I won by default when everyone else died.

Middle Earth: The Lidless Eye

 Billed as a stand-alone expansion, this set changed all the rules; well, not really, but it changed the way you look at Middle Earth. Forget what you know of the wizards; in this game, you are one of the nine - a Nazgul lord searching to gain the favor of Sauron by accumulating power in his name (gathering marshaling points) and obtaining the right to represent his forces. In the Lord of the Rings, the WitchKing of Angmar won; who will win this time?

It's played much the same as the wizards, except that Nazgul can only travel with other Nazgul and are not susceptible to corruption. Parties are comprised of minions and can be covert (seem like a normal wizard's party) or overt (containing orcs or trolls); different reactions take place at some sites for the different types. There are some new items and some old - minion versions of unique items for wizards characters. Each functions as a manifestation of the item, and the hero (wizard's version) can not be in play at the same time as the minion resource version. Allies and factions are treated the same as items in this regard. Sites are a mixture of new locations for minions only and old locations as seen through the eyes of a servant of the dark. The minion versions of places like Minas Tirith and Beorn's house are no longer safe places for your characters, whereas there's no place like Minas Morgul to put your feet up and relax.

This set includes many new hazards and some re-issues of older ones. Hazards from all previous sets can be used, but some cards (just like the Dark Minions rules) are flat out outlawed or suggested for omission as they can upset the balance of the game. You can still use agents, but your parties can also attack each other.

Included in the rule book are guidelines for a head-to-head competition between Nazgul and wizard. The balance goes to the Nazgul in the comparison to the wizard, but the hero characters are more hardy and devoted than their evil counterparts in the effort to succeed. It makes for a great gaming session and can lead to a great big mess (but incomparably fun) if you manage to get a group together to play all 5 wizards and all the Nazgul. The art slipped a little in Dark Minions, but the power of the pictures is back in this set.

Middle Earth: Against the Shadow

 Called the first expansion for Lidless Eye, this small set is composed of mostly hazards and minion resources, but is also endowed with some fairly cool hero resources. Both manifestations of some things can be found, such as factions and new items. For a hero vs. minion campaign, this is a great set, for either game alone, it adds a little, but not as much as the first expansions did for The Wizards.

Middle Earth: The White Hand

 Close on the heels of Against the Shadow, this set may have been released too soon resulting in people panicking as if Wizards of the Coast had bought out ICE. Not as well designed as the first two games, Wizards and Lidless Eye, it is still a great game and adds some naughty spice and a couple of wicked spins.

This set deals with the fallen wizards, those who have decided to go it alone and capture the world for themselves, or those who have abandoned hope and now wish only to prolong the inevitable, or those who feel the free peoples are not doing enough in their fight against the Dark One. In any case, you play the part of a wizard who makes use of anything he can find. This means you are allowed to use minion or hero resources, or your own new types of resources. Your characters, minion or hero, can use items from either side of the fence, although usage of some is limited. You use either version of a site, depending on its location, and can use any ally or faction. You are on top of the world...kinda.

Anything which yields marshaling points yields a lesser amount; you have to use the more difficult version of a card (i.e. the minion Bag End as opposed to the hero version; the hero Carn Dum versus the minion site); your parties are susceptible to attack from hero and minion parties alike; only certain spells or resources do you any good. These are the prices you pay for falling to temptation or losing faith.

Some of the real fun in this set lies in the optional rules; for instance: the fallen wizard is kept on the sideboard of a wizard player. If the wizard fails a corruption check, the player may immediately place the fallen wizard in its place and keep playing.

In addition to the new genre of cards, there are resources for both sides and hazards that can really rain hard on your parade. I like the cards here, but I think it may have come out too soon after Against the Shadow to let you get comfy with that set's cards first. The game, and the market, may suffer from this move, but the strength of this well-crafted set should hold.

The Balrog

Just as the Lidless Eye allowed you to take on the role of evil, so does the Balrog. In this expansion set, which can be played with any combination of the above sets thanks to excellent crafting, you take on the role of the Balrog of Moria. Essentially, you can play this as a scenario before the fiery Maia was slain by Gandalf, or as a "what if" the Balrog had survived the encounter.

As you may imagine, your forces are evil in nature. Not allied with Sauron, you are determined, now that you have been awakened, that the world should bow to you. After all, you are a Maia just like Sauron, just a little less powerful (okay, and you're delusional!). Gather your forces and break your way through to the surface. Put your power into play on the surface and let your fury loose on any who would oppose you!

I have not had the opportunity to actually play this one yet, but I have done some intensive study of the cards, and the mechanics are sound. I also have to give extra credit to ICE for the way they packaged this set: two decks, each able to be played fresh out of the box, that are actually a complete set when you buy a box of each. No more hoarding of valuable cards, no more hunting through five boxes for the last card you need to complete your set. I was SOOOO happy to see that there was finally a company with a conscience. I would also wager that poor sales of The White Hand forced the issue. Either way, it's a pretty safe bet, and looks like a lot of fun.

Well, that's my spiel on the rundown of the different sets. I'd have to say that I generally prefer this game over any other, except a great role playing session; I'd take the card game over a mediocre session.

There are some other sites on the web to check out for info and strategy tips on this game, and a couple of deck building sites. The links are below, as well as a link to my own deck strategies. I've noticed that the sites I have visited have violated (on many occasions) deck construction rules. Mine are less powerful, but legal and have a basic theme to them. They are divided into resource and hazard decks, and consist of 25-50 cards each (some with sideboard notes and alternative cards listed). Each of these decks is made with the basic Wizards set, but offers suggestions for adding cards from later sets. Feel free to offer suggestions for more. Happy gaming!