Ares Games The Battle of Five Armies Board Game

Product Information

With Smaug defeated, the dwarves reclaim their treasure, but a battle ensues when another group of dwarves, elves, and men arrive to claim a share of the wealth. The battle of five armies takes place, with the dwarves, men, and elves defeating the goblins and Wargs. The Shadow Player places a number of Leadership Tokens or Great Bats equal to the amount of dice they have. Leadership tokens let players move armies faster or re-roll dice during combat. At the heart of the game is the action dice system, these dice will determine what you can do on your turn. Battle of the Five Armies is a game that simulates the Battle of Five Armies. [1] Publication history [ edit ] The game also includes a set of event cards, which can be played during the game to provide additional actions, bonuses to combat rolls, or other effects. These event cards add an element of unpredictability to the game, as players must be prepared to adapt to changing circumstances. Design Process:

Movement: Each unit has a set movement range, which is represented by a number on the unit’s base. Units can move up to their full movement range or any lesser distance. Players must carefully position their units to gain tactical advantages. According to Shannon Appelcline, in 1975 TSR "started distributing other publishers' games — a pretty common tactic at the time, as the hobbyist industry was pretty fractured. They advertised their first distributed items in The Strategic Review #3 (Autumn 1975): a set of three fantasy board games. To be precise, they were three fantasy board games based on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien: Fact and Fantasy's The Battle of Helm's Deep (1974), Fact and Fantasy's The Siege of Minas Tirith (1975), and LORE's Battle of the Five Armies (1975)." [2] :22 Reception [ edit ]Once the round ends, a new rounds starts with Phase 1. The game continues in this fashion until one player completes their objective. Still with me? Good. While not the most complex war game out there by a long shot, The Battle of Five Armies is still quite the involved game. But with that comes the epic feeling that you’d expect with a large clash of armies at the door step of the Lonely Mountain. The Battle of Five Armies was quite the event in The Hobbit and the trio of game designers did an absolutely amazing job of capturing the feel of the battle. But we’ll get to the theme in a minute. Each of the games 9 different heroes have their own special abilities and powers. Martin Easterbrook reviewed the TSR version of Battle of the Five Armies for White Dwarf #3, giving it an overall rating of 5 out of 10, and stated that "The game's main strength is that it does possess something of the atmosphere of the book. The inexorably slow advancing sea of goblin warriors becomes quite hypnotic after a while and you really do begin bitting your fingernails whilst praying for the arrival of the eagles and Beorn." [3] 2005 Version [ edit ] The Battle of Five Armies is a standalone game based on the rules for War of the Ring, which is from the same designers, but with the rules modified to function on a tactical level as they describe a smaller battle rather than the entire war. Ares Games plans to expand the Battles game system in the future, releasing expansions depicting other battles from the Third Age of Middle-earth narrated in The Lord of the Rings, such as the Siege of Gondor and the assault of Saruman against Rohan.

The designers started by reading the source material and studying the battle scene in detail. They wanted to make sure that the game accurately represented the different factions, units, and heroes from the book; Those are fairly brief explanations of what the dice do. In addition to those results, cards can be played on any die result where the symbol matches the symbol on the card. Overall there are a lot of ways to use your dice on a turn. For the most part, Ares Games did a stellar job of putting together the components in The Battle of Five Armies. First off, each players gets a pile of miniatures to use to represent their various forces. From the different humanoid factions to the monstrous races, all are well sculpted and fun to play with. The character minis themselves are especially just begging to be painted.The designers wanted to create a game that was easy to learn, but still had a lot of depth and replayability. They accomplished this by creating a set of simple game mechanics that could be easily understood, but also allowed for a lot of strategic decisions. The game is played over a series of turns, with each turn consisting of two phases: the action phase and the event phase. Action Phase: The Battle of Five Armies is a strategic board game designed for two players that simulates the epic battle scene from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” In this game, players take on the roles of either the armies of dwarves and men or the armies of goblins and Wargs. The objective of the game is to either capture the opponent’s stronghold or eliminate all their units. The game typically takes around an hour to play. Components: Battle of the Five Armies is a 1975 board wargame published by LORE / JMJ Enterprises and by TSR later. The Shadow player commands the armies of Bolg, son of Azog, the King of the Goblins of Mount Gundabad, while the Free Peoples player is in control of Men, Dwarves and Elves, led by Gandalf to fend off the goblin army.

Combat: Combat is resolved by rolling custom dice, with each unit type having a different set of symbols on the dice. The Battle of Five Armies is a well-designed strategic board game that captures the excitement and tension of the battle scene from “The Hobbit.” The game’s mechanics are relatively easy to learn but allow for a lot of strategic depth and replayability. The custom dice and event cards add an element of unpredictability to the gameplay, which keeps the game fresh and exciting. A little more about the Mechanics in the board game Larry Pound reviewed The Battle of the Five Armies in The Space Gamer No. 3. [1] Pound commented that "All in all, the game [is] fair, but the total impression is not enhanced by the colors used for the unit counters or the way the terrain features are drawn." [1] Recruitment: Each army has a set number of units, but players can use action tokens to recruit new units during the game. Each army has a different set of units with unique abilities and strengths. Event Phase: The Battle of Five Armies – based on the climax of JRR Tolkien's novel The Hobbit – pits the hosts of the Elvenking, the Dwarves of Dain Ironfoot, and the Men of the Lake led by Bard the Bowman against a horde of Wolves, Goblins and Bats led by Bolg, son of Azog. Will Gandalf turn the tide for the Free Peoples? Will the Eagles arrive, or Beorn come to the rescue? Or will Bilbo the Hobbit perish in a last stand on Ravenhill?Once the game board is set up (the game has a static setup) and players have chosen their side, you are ready to begin. The game is played over a series of rounds, each of which is divided into 6 Phases. According to the designers, their goal with The Battle of Five Armies was to create a game that was both faithful to the source material of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and also fun and engaging to play. They wanted to create a game that captured the epic scale of the battle scene from the book, while also allowing players to make strategic decisions and experience the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. Mechanics:

The Battle of Five Armies features a game board representing the Eastern and Southern spurs of the Lonely Mountain and the valley they encircle, and a number of plastic figures representing troops, heroes and monsters. Final Score: 5 Stars – The Battle of Five Armies is an incredibly well designed game that I am really enjoying. This one has a permanent place in my game library. This is where the meat of the game happens. Players roll all of their action dice and then take turns using them. The dice can have 6 possible results: The game mechanics of The Battle of Five Armies are designed to be relatively simple, but allow for a lot of strategic depth and replayability. Here are some of the key game mechanics:While not as grand of a scale as The War of the Ring, The Battle of Five Armies captures your attention from the first die roll and I guarantee it will keep you glued to the board for the long haul. The game play, production values and the minis help to make The Battle of Five Armies worth every penny of its hefty price tag. If you are a fan of the Lord of the Rings series, or even just fantasy war games in general, then treat yourself to a copy of The Battle of Five Armies. It’s an absolutely stellar and bloody romp through Middle-Earth.