New Lord of The Rings Game Launches This Year For 25th Anniversary

This year, The Lord of the Rings franchise celebrates its 25th anniversary, which is an odd one, I’m sure you’ll admit.

If we’re being pedantic, the franchise began in 1954 with the publication of The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien.

It became a media behemoth, though, 25 years ago with the release of 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring directed by Peter Jackson.

That film spawned sequels, spin-offs, game adaptations, and more.

In celebration of this special year, Warner Bros. has confirmed a collaboration with D20 Culture, with new tabletop game The Lord of the Rings: Foes of Middle-Earth having recently launched via Kickstarter.

Explore Middle-Earth as Frodo, Legolas, Aragorn, And More

The game is a collaborative dungeon crawler where players will step into the familiar shoes of characters like Frodo, Aragorn, and Legolas - and yes, there’s cool miniatures included.

You’ll explore Middle-Earth, facing off against challenging bosses including an 8.3 inch replica of fearsome dragon Balrog.

Interested in finding out more? The Lord of the Rings: Foes of Middle-Earth recently landed on Kickstarter where it fulfilled its funding goals within a measly 10 minutes.

The game is designed to be played by one to four players aged 12-plus, with an estimated completion time of upwards of 90 minutes.

“In The Lord of the Rings: Foes of Middle-Earth, players will explore several iconic locations from Arda, represented by tiles in a way never seen before,” a description reads.

“Each tile is randomly placed on the board, concealing its region, which will only be revealed when explored by a hero.

“This mechanic makes your journey through Middle-Earth always different and unique.

“Enemies will try to prevent you from completing your journey, demanding strength, courage, and resolve from the heroes to defeat them.”

D20 Culture

The Lord of the Rings: Foes of Middle-Earth may have fulfilled its funding goal, but there’s still time to back the Kickstarter.

It’ll remain live until 11 March, with six pledge tiers on offer.

If you want the “all in” pledge which comes with the core game, Saruman expansion set, plus a bunch of extra miniatures, dice, and accessories, that’ll set you back $349.

If you just want the core box set, which includes Balrog, that’s $159.

With that box set, you can add on specific accessories for an additional fee per item if you don’t want everything included within the “all in” pledge.

I will add that all Kickstarter backers will gain several foil legendary cards included in their shipment.

There’s no precise date yet on when the game will ship following its Kickstarter launch, but D20 Culture has outlined that “the game is complete and already in pre-production in our factory”.

With that in mind, hopefully, we could see it launch in full later this year. Of course, those who do back the Kickstarter will be kept up to date on the project's progress by the D20 Culture team.