Middle Earth Quest

by Fantasy Flight Games

Product Features

• Experience the untold tales of the Third Age in this game of heroic adventure
• Based in the world of Middle-earth, created by JRR Tolkien
• Age: 13+
• Number of Players: 2 - 4
• Playing Time: 3 - 4 hrs

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 16 x 11 inches ; 6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: 1589946243
• Item model number: LTR11
• Manufacturer recommended age: 13 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,705 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

It is a time of growing darkness and despair. Sauron the Great, the Dark Lord of Mordor, has returned to his ancient fastness of Barad-dur. From there, his evil and corruption has spread across the lands once more. Alas, in the West, there is little strength left. The Elves have all but abandoned Middle-earth, and the blood of Numenor has run thin; that which remains now dwells in Minas Tirith, or with the lonely rangers that haunt the ruins and wild country of Arnor.Yet, there is still hope. Gandalf the Grey has learned that the One Ring, the master-ring which Sauron desires and fears above all, is with the hobbit Frodo in the Shire. And there are heroes! Heroes to aid Gandalf in his hunt for the creature Gollum, and in his quest for the lost knowledge of Isildur's Bane. Heroes, whose strong arms guard the Shire from the enemy. Heroes, who venture into the forests of Ithilien, or even into the Land of Shadow itself, there to disrupt the schemes of Sauron, wherever they may be found.Middle-earth Quest is set in the seventeen-year period between Bilbo's birthday party and the Ring's departure from the Shire, as described in J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings.™One player takes the role of Sauron, who is attempting to dominate Middle-earth with his nefarious plots and evil minions. Up to three other players take the roles of heroes who must hold the darkness at bay until Gandalf's plans have matured. To do so, the heroes must embark on dangerous quests and consult with the famous characters of Middle-earth to gain favor and knowledge.Will you play as Sauron and claim Middle-earth as your own? Or will you play as a hero and stand against the Dark Lord?The fate of Middle-earth rests in your hands!Middle-earth

Product Description

Middle Earth Quest takes place approximately ten years after Bilbo Baggins leaves the Shire, and several years before Frodo leaves Bag End on his journey leading to the destruction of the One Ring. Thus, Middle Earth Quest will take place in a time of growing darkness. Players will take control of characters such as a rare adventurous Hobbit, a Gondorian Captain, a Rider from the Westfold, or numerous other character types. Not only will characters be able to experience new adventure in Middle Earth, but we will carefully seek to tie in the experience with the massive amounts of lore and story that takes place around the edges of the central THE LORD OF THE RINGS storyline. Middle-earth Quest is a game of adventure and conflict set in the time leading up to the creation of the Fellowship. One player will adopt the mantle of Sauron and do his best to spread his evil influence across the lands. Up to three players become heroes and will do their best to foil Sauron's foul plots, and rally the peoples of Middle-earth to their side.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Long Battle for Middle-earth before the War, December 9, 2009

By 

Desde Xibalbá "Quid, Me Vexari?" - See all my reviews

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This game's excellent. It's EZ & fun & gripping but it's quite long! I don't mind this but some others might.

This game simulates the 17-year period between Bilbo's 111th b-day & Gandalf "taking" Frodo out of the Shire...

This game is supposedly for 5 players but can be enjoyed with only 2 - which I have!

One player plays Sauron & it's minions & the other(s) play hero/es gathered by Gandalf to stop him from finding the Ring before Gandalf does (& thusly the Lord of the Rings actually begins).

The Sauron player actively blocks the questing heroes with his plots & perils & monsters. If Sauron's plots come to fruition (with a great mechanic) the War of the Ring doesn't even start because he found it!

If the hero/es win, concluding the quests, blocking Sauron's plots & schemes, then, all the events in the book can proceed to it's fateful conclusion - Middle-earth is saved!

Seems like a hefty price for a game but, believe me, it is worth it, even just for the quality on the whole. The rules are beautifully laid (concise & awful good to read), the art is superb, the craftmanship of the game is excellent; however, about the highly detailed figures - there was one faulty batch (too brittle) - however, no worries, as Fantasy flight Games (the manufacturers) will replace them for free!

I wholeheartly recommend it for most all fans & non fans, ages from 10 onwards!

Game on!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great LOTR Game!, January 3, 2011

By 

thisisjrj - See all my reviews

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

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This review is from: Middle Earth Quest (Toy)

I bought this as a present for the family on Christmas, and let me just tell you that it has being an highly enjoyable game to play.

It's a really nice looking game, very detailed board and figures, the cards and tokens also look really nice.

The figures are very detailed and you can also paint the figures (if you are into that sort of thing) which is nice.

The game has quite a bit of replay-ability to it, so each time you play it, it's different than the last time in more ways then one.

The game play is well designed in allot of ways; an example would be the way in which you move your character across the board and the way you do combat, like instead of just rolling dice to see who takes damage, you play cards from your hand to deal out damage and defend your self, which you also use to move around the board with. So in other words the more you move the less chance you have of dealing out damage and defending your self, which I think is cool and makes perfect sense.

If you enjoy co-operative games this is a great game for that, you can play 1-3, 1-2, 1-1, each one a little different than the other.

The game is a big one, the board is about 3 by 4 feet (the game board is in two pieces) and then there's 445 cards, 220 of them are large and 225 of them are small. And there is also 235 tokens and 10 plastic figures (5 hero ones and 5 minion ones). Plus 5 hero sheets and 8 plastic character stands, which are just like little rectangular shaped tokens. Now all this could be a downside, IF you don't like big games, but that's only if you don't and hey it still fits nicely into the 1 by 2 foot box.

Now the game can be pretty long around 5-6 hrs the first couple of times you play it, but as soon as you get the hang of it and have played it a couple of times it lasts around 3-4 hrs.

The only complaint that I would have is, I wish that they would have designed a better box to store all the cards and tokens and especially the figures. The best that you can do is stack all the cards on one side of the box then dump the tokens on the other side of the box and then find some place to put the figures, without having them get bent or worse broken. Other than that it's a great buy.

And hey, if you don't end up liking the game, you got some nice looking figures and a really nice looking board, not to mention all those other cards and tokens that are also highly detailed and great looking, just like the rest of the game is. So if you like big and highly detailed looking games, cool and unique game play,and are a LOTR fan than this is the game for you.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Big learning curve leads to a lot of fun, February 28, 2011

By 

David S - See all my reviews

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Middle Earth Quest (Toy)

Middle Earth Quest is a game where up to three hero players compete against a single Sauron player for either a historical result or a new ending. If the heros win, the ring is safe for now and Frodo is able to begin his quest, but if Sauron wins then it is the end of Middle Earth.

The game starts out with a lot of options for each hero and the Sauron player. Almost too many. The learning curve is steep. Trying to figure out how best to spend your resources and keep an edge at the beginning of the game is daunting.

While the game will eventually end with an artificial type timer. It can get long. Hero turns can get to be very long especially when the heros arn't taking the time during other players turns to think about what they will do next. Because of this th game can last anywhere from 2 to 5 hours depending on how casual your group is with games, the more casual, the longer it will take.

Once you get passed all the choices and start to figure out what the best moves are from the beginning the game really shines. It is very much a cat an mouse game where the heros try their best to stay one step ahead of Sauron and his plots. If they faulter for just a couple turns it can mean that Sauron will catch up and make it very difficult for the heros to overcome him at that point.

A lot of strategy, oozing with Lord of the Rings theme this game plays well and is a lot of fun if you can get over the learning curve and the amount of time it takes to finish. Those two factors, time and learning curve, are what keep it from being a 5 star to me and earn it 4.