Lord of the Rings:Nazgul - the Wallenstein mashup variation

 Dear friends, in my last missive I laid out my case for Lord of the Rings: Nazgul. Today, I suggest a way to make an unfairly maligned game better still. It does, however, require a rather special item; the cube tower from a copy of Wallenstein (or, failing that, Wallenstein's Japanese retheme, Shogun; not to be confused with the Milton Bradley game Shogun, now known as Ikusa, which gave Lord of the Rings: Nazgul its auction mechanic).

Essentially, this variant simply switches the cup and its cube-drawing mechanic with the more exciting tower-drop of Wallenstein. Not only is this mechanic more physically compelling, but also allows faster combat and greater potential for unexpected outcomes.

Play the game exactly as usual, with the following changes:

Setup

Optionally at setup, seed the tower with a few Free Peoples Armies (returning any that fall through to the supply). I would suggest 2-3 per difficulty level you are playing at above Easy. This will have a small effect in adjusting starting difficulty.

Battles

In general, battles are treated normally, except that the entire location is determined at once using the cube tower, and cubes stay in the tower between rounds (rather than the cup being emptied again).

As normal, all players present at a location decide how many troops they will commit to the ensuing battle. These cubes are taken from the players' army trackers. Players must always commit their Nazgul cube, if they have it. Select cubes for the opposition as normal (i.e. leave Free Peoples Armies and Hero trackers where they are, and pick a number of cubes equal to the respective positions on the track). Select Heroes using cards as normal, and remove cubes of Free Peoples Armies if the total Terror of Nazgul present is greater than Valor of the Heroes.

Now, instead of placing cubes in the cup, throw all cubes into the tower. Thus, in this variant, draw limits mean nothing, and contributing Nazgul fight simultaneously. Cubes which fall through to the tray are treated as if they had been pulled from the cup. Follow damage assignment as normal with these cubes.

This battle didn't go particularly well for those plucky Nazgul

If some Nazgul cubes become stuck in the tower (and they probably will sooner or later), then some Nazgul will not be available to be returned to players. Those cubes which do fall through and are present belong to the players in the battle according to this turn's play order; i.e. if the second and third player this round have contributed to the battle, but only one Nazgul cube has fallen through the tray, then it belongs to the second player. The Witch Lord takes lowest priority. Cubes stuck in the tower thematically represent Nazgul and monster packs drawn away on other minor tasks at the bidding of their dark lord, and will return at some unexpected moment to take the heroes by surprise. Just because a player is without their cube, that does not prevent them sending their armies to a location to battle as normal; the only restriction is that they won't be able to enter a Nazgul cube into the battle.

If there are more Nazgul cubes present than players (which is entirely possible, particularly when there are Nazgul cubes stuck in the tower from previous battles but only a single Nazgul in the current battle), then the extra Nazgul cubes belong to whoever is at the battle but currently without their personal Nazgul cube; again, if more than one player qualifies, then precedence follows the current turn order. For instance, in a four-player game where players who are currently first and third in the turn order are without their Nazgul cubes, a single excess Nazgul cube belongs to the player first in the turn order. The third player will have to wait a little longer for their cube to re-enter play. If there are more Nazgul cubes that players present at that battle, then the extra cube(s) belong to those not at the battle in turn order priority; these have sneakily sent their forces to one battle but made a surprise appearance at this one (thus reclaiming some of the glory they will have lost while sojourning in the tower). Again, the Witch Lord takes lowest priority. A player entering the battle as an extra Nazgul cube contributes battle damage as normal, and receives favor as normal (despite not having sent any armies). Thus those who lose their Nazgul cube, and hence have been at a disadvantage, will have some of that disadvantage repaid when they return. If all players have their cubes, then the extra cube represents the return of the Witch Lord, who will now be available again.

More player armies may leave the tower than entered it; these contribute their damage as normal, and also become available if they survive; thus it is possible to end a battle with more forces than you started with (as forces which had previously gone AWOL make surprise attacks on the field of battle). If more cubes of the "good guys" fall out then went in, then that's fine too. Damage is given to Free Peoples Armies as normal (i.e. on the track on the board); extra "good guy" cubes do not need to be killed (but do contribute their damage to the Nazgul forces).

If more Heroes fall out of the tower then went it (and hence there are more Hero cubes than cards), then you must provide further Hero cards (from hand or from the deck). These Heroes are immediately added to the battle; their Valor has no effect, but Hero Calls still function as normal and can draw one more Hero to the battle. As with extra Free Peoples Armies, these extra heroes do not affect the number needed to defeat the area (Hero cubes are still tracked on the location track), but do contribute their damage, and priority order for taking damage follows the normal rules combining all Heroes present.

This battle went rather better.

Once the damage done by both sides has been calculated from the cubes present, Hero/Free Peoples Army tracks are reduced as normal; slain player army cubes are returned to the supply. Favour and VPs are split among all contributing Nazgul irrespective of their level of contribution (rounding up if uneven, as normal), though they must have contributed at least one cube to the battle (which may include their own Nazgul cube).

Nazgul cubes are returned to their owners, as indicated above. Surviving player armies are placed back on player tracks. If more than one player has contributed to the battle, cubes are divided evenly between contributors; first split Orcs, then Trolls, then Mumakil. Do not round up; only the cubes surviving are available. Players may negotiate, with all final decisions being made by the contributor who is nearest the beginning of the current turn order; however, no player can have more than one cube than the worst-off player. Once one player has a cube, they may not take a second until all players present have received at least one, and so forth.

Redraw actions

In case of game effects which cause redraw actions: pick up any cubes which are in the tray, and throw them back into the tower, thus redoing the “draw”.

Difficulty comparison

By comparison to the standard game rules:

• Battles move faster as there is no draw limit; I initially thought this would make the game easier for the players, but...
• Nazgul do tend to spend some time in the tower (and the Witch Lord will frequently be unavailable); with the addition of the surprise Heroes, these changes more than compensate for the quicker battle resolution.
• Generally, this variant is "swingier" and more random, and also I would say is more difficult.

So there you have it. If you are lucky enough to have access to both a cube tower and a copy of Lord of the Rings: Nazgul, have at it, and see if you find it improves the game as much as I have.

In Defence Of... Lord Of The Rings: Nazgul

Lord of the Rings: Nazgul, published by Wizkids (no comment), is a game which attracted a startling level of opprobrium for such a high-profile release under a beloved license. This game is not intended to be a review in the traditional sense, and I will only cover the game's structure itself in the briefest of ways. Instead, this article will address the major areas of complaint... and suggest why the game might be worth your time after all...

The game itself

Picture by the author

Lord of the Rings: Nazgul (henceforth LotR:N) is a "semi-cooperative" game wherein each player
takes the persona of a Ringwraith, simultaneously striving to frustrate do-gooding heroes while competing for the favour of the great lord Sauron.

This is not a simple game, but I shall try to be brief. Player Nazgul must bring themselves and their armies to the battlegrounds of each of three threads of the Lord of the Rings saga, trying to eliminate the armies and heroes of the "good guys" at a variety of Middle Earth locations. Each round also presents a number of smaller mission cards, providing optional battlegrounds which may or may not be worth the focus of the players.

Players then enter a blind auction, highly reminiscent of the auction system of the old MB Gamemaster game Shogun (now known as Ikusa, I believe). Players use the "favour" they have accumulated in a variety of ways; these may be non-competitive (e.g. buying new army units), "winner-takes-all" (e.g. the bid to decide turn order), or auctions where there are consolation prizes for those who do not bid the most (e.g. bidding for Cards of Power).

With their forces and other assets arrayed, players then deploy to the various battle areas and mission cards available this turn, and do battle. Combat is a bit too complex to detail here, but in brief, the Ringwraiths and their armies will face blue cubes (representing generic Free Peoples armies) and white cubes representing "heroes". Players must deploy a Hero card they will face for each white cube present. Each player will have at least one Hero card drawn from the deck which he/she may play to the battle they are attending... alternatively, if players do not fulfil the Hero requirement from their own hands, the gaps are filled by Heroes drawn blind from the deck. Nazgul may then deploy a number of their own armies to the battle, filling a cup with cubes for all units present on both sides. Players then blinding take cubes from the cup, such cubes and their allegiances determining units lost in the battle. Winning provides favour, victory points, and removes Heroes defeated from the game. As the game progresses, the Nazgul may gain and lose power (personally, by advancing or reversing their Clix dial, and by the armies under their control).

There's plenty more to the rules, including an advancing One Ring track which will cause the players to effectively "run out of time" (due to certain hobbits depositing a certain item of jewellery in a certain volcanic mountain) and thus all lose the game. If all stages are completed before this occurs, the winner is whomever has acquired the most victory points by winning battles, defeating Heroes, and completing quests.

The problems

Now that you have some idea of the game, let's address some of the most-raised complaints.

The semi-cooperative aspect doesn't work

One complaint raised is that the semi-coop aspect (working together to beat the game, while trying to undercut each other for favour and victory points) doesn't make thematic sense; i.e. that the Ringwraiths of the stories don't have sufficient individuality, or otherwise would not compete on a personal level. I'm not sure I accept that argument myself; the Nazgul have personal histories, and there are plenty of examples of Sauron's forces working for personal gain. Sauron himself started out as the conniving servant of a greater power, as I vaguely recall. Ultimately, this comes down to a subjective take on the underlying material; you may disagree, but I see no reason why Nazgul wouldn't compete to become first among the Dark Lord's servants.

Our plucky Ringwraiths. Picture by the author.

The other argument under this heading is that the semi-cooperative aspect doesn't work mechanically. While there are competitive games which include an "everybody loses" clause which may kick in if players slow one another down too much (Chaos in the Old World springs to mind), such games generally make such an outcome a fairly remote possibility. LotR:N has a higher requirement for cooperation; big battles will not be won without players working together. This problem comes down to a difference in gaming group; if your group is likely to "get" that this is a game of working together while conniving against each other, rather than a game of constant competition, you'll probably be fine.

If, on the other hand, your group is likely to be too aggressive, the game provides an alternative right there in the manual; the fully cooperative mode. As a pure cooperative mode, this thus allows solo play (with handling of multiple characters). I confess that this is my preferred way of playing. In any case, one cannot complain too much that the semi-coop mode is flawed since a fix is on the back of the manual.

The artwork is terrible

Well... yes. The board itself utilises a number of circles to keep track of the starting and current

Even less pretty than it appears in this photograph. Picture by the author.

disposition of the forces of "good", overlaid on a map. Quite frankly, to borrow the vernacular of our American cousins, this board looks like ass. A nicely detailed map, with simple indicators of starting forces and the direction of travel to each zone (and maybe colour-coding of each of the three overall regions of conflict) would almost certainly be preferential. The circles really add nothing of value, and just makes the whole thing look awful. It smacks of a nice idea which should have been discarded on testing.

Cards themselves are illustrated with screenshots from the films. If you really, really like looking at the films, that may be fine for you. I think most would agree that some proper artwork would have been preferable. The Clix figures don't help either; while I accept there's only so much you can do to produce five figures shrouded in black robes, they're still pretty disappointing.

So... no defence for this section. The artwork is terrible. I can only ask that you persevere.

The cube-pulling mechanism is weak

I'm not sure I understand this criticism. The game features a "push-your-luck" mechanism involving both how many armies you put in the cup, and how many you pull from it. Pulling blind from the cup has a reasonable amount of tension. Sure, perhaps replacing cubes with dice would provide more excitement (a la 1812: The Invasion of Canada and its cousins), but you'd need a hell of a lot of dice for big battles. That would be fun; but the cube-pulling mechanism is at least unusual. Honestly it's hard to feel strongly on this point. I call it a draw.

The game is just ludicrously overpriced

Yes. Yes it is. The RRP for this game is, I believe, £70 (or it was at time of release). Having five Clix figures is going to inflate prices, but by comparison, the mighty Mage Knight contains four Clix (albeit of the same sculpt), plus four excellent hand-painted figures, plus a range of components which are clearly superior to those of LotR:N, all for an RRP £20 less. There is no excuse for this price point, particularly considering the terrible artwork. So many games with broadly similar component requirements, yet superior actual components, exist with considerably lower price points (Cyclades, Wallenstein, etc.).

However, the market has realised how insane this RRP is. I myself bought my copy, new in shrink, for the princely sum of £17.50. That's less than some card games. And yes, it has certainly provided a decent return on investment at that price. Even given the defensive arguments in this article, a person would be crazy to purchase this at full price; but a bit of shopping around could make this a totally valid purchase.

So why should you play this game?

The above comments are intended to mitigate some of the criticisms of the game. In themselves, they do not provide compelling reasons to play this game (unless you are a Lord of the Rings completionist). But there is one very good reason to play this game:

This game is not a cube-pusher. It is a reverse-deckbuilder.

Those dreadful "heroes". Choose your battles wisely.
Picture by the author.

While this game includes a number of mechanisms (blind auction, push-your-luck on cube deployment, etc.), most of the real strategy revolves around the Hero deck. The heroes are the real threat in any battle, and before the battle, players must decide whether to place the Hero card(s) they have into the battle, or to draw from the deck. If the hero they hold is strong, they may wish to avoid it and chance the draw; on the other hand, if there isn't much to the rest of the hero army and the player is feeling strong, they may deliberately play the Hero in the hope of defeating them.

Why run the risk? Because any heroes that are not defeated are shuffled back into the deck, while those that are defeated leave the game. As time goes on, the Nazgul become stronger (on average), but so too do the armies of the enemy. If you do nothing but take easy options, you run a serious risk of thinning out the deck such that only strong heroes remain, producing an impassable blockade on your progress. Choosing when to fight the tough heroes, and thus thin the deck in favour of weaker enemies, is key. Ultimately, that Hero deck is the real enemy, and working out how to thin it is the real strategy of the game. This isn't the cube-based wargame-lite it seems to be; it's a reverse-deckbuilder.

There are other games that involve playing against enemy decks; for instance, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game has decks for each location faced, but these are small and work in a rather different way. Thunderstone Advance uses an enemy deck, but enemies largely leave and are dealt with one-by-one in a unidirectional fashion. I cannot think of any other game which utilises a large, constantly-reshuffled deck, thinned over numerous rounds, as the AI enemy. LotR:N offers an unusual mechanism in a much-loved setting. I wouldn't describe it as an overlooked classic, but if you have any interest in deck-based games, want to play something a bit different, enjoy the theme, and can find it at a reasonable price point, you really should consider this game (though I recommend starting with the fully-coop variant, even if you are planning on using the semi-coop variant in the long run).

And finally...

This is the first of a two-part article set. In the second, I will outline a variant I have been using which adds both excitement and strategic variation to the cube-oriented mechanisms. Watch this space...