I always imagined the reason you had to downgrade an elite to continue a battle is representing them bursting thru a barricade so the grunts could fight on.
wouldnt it be the other way around? otherwise you could just eliminate a regular unit whereas the elites have the special guys that can breach the walls (but will probably die)?
In my mind, "elites" were kind of just a generic term for a higher quality of unit. So while, say, the Isengard elite piece is a Warg Rider, that doesn't mean every elite Isengard unit is a Warg Rider. When it comes to downgrading elites to continue a siege, I consider that utilizing specialty siege equipment (ladders, towers, battering rams, or in Isengard's case, maybe even sappers!) - the elite unit, having been said siege equipment, is spent, and its down to just normal troops.
The thematics for "downgrading an elite" for the purpose of seige (according to our group) is the unavoidable casualties that happen while attempting to do so. (at least how our group justified it) Extrapolating from there is difficult beyond "it just makes it balanced" ... that or explaining that haradrim are born from deceased oliphant eggs (in that faction's case).
Siege battles are rough, defender would trow rocks and other things at you. Trying to storm a poweful stronghold imply that you'll have to sacrifice a lot of troops.
I love this game. I'm watching this to live vicariously, lol. If you haven't played and you think it'd grab you, the game is worth it. Get a friend who is into it too and get on it!
"Dude, the beacons are lit man, gone are calls for aid..." and this all prepares you for very concentrated but very carefully arranged rules for the game. Great summary and visual version of more elaborated Introductory rules! Hats off... yes even you Gandalf.
Love you videos, man. One rules thing, when you retreat into siege and you have more than 5 people, I believe that you can put the extras into your reinforcements
Ah, that was a mistake on my part. Looking closer at it, it seems you don't actually have the option of leaving excess troops on the field. Not sure where I got that from...oh well. Thanks for spotting that! I'll add a note right away.
@@seanmcconnell1874 Haha, if you play weekly, I don't know how much new info I'll be able to provide. My strategy videos are geared more towards newer players. But hey, you never know.
I love it when you do these intros! So fantastic. I was so happy when Simarillion was busted out. Hats off to Nick's cosplay as well. And Shea, your teach is engaging, thematic, clever, and has top notch production as always!
This video is very useful and entertaining - watched it twice for good measure. Downgrading the elites during sieges represents how when your soldiers are climbing the walls of a stronghold, they get absolutely slaughtered on the way up, but after they manage to infiltrate the stronghold, they start fighting on equal ground instead of falling back.
Yeah, I actually filmed this with the tokens, but the shot didn't end up looking good. Since it's basically the same either way, I figured I'd just draw a card.
Free regions are regions that are not under the control of your opponent While F.T.P.O.A.M are regions you can move into without triggering a fight or in the common tongue Regions that don’t have an enemy unit in them
Best Video as my preparation for my first match coming tomorrow. Good length, still everything important explained....even by connecting mechanisms with theme...which highly helps understanding complex game (if they have a theme).
Thanks for the teach! I finally played my first game last night after having this on my radar for several years. It was epic, and I very much look forward to more plays of it in the near future. Anyway, this video was super helpful for helping me get started. Also, I watched your two strategy videos. I played the Free Peoples and went in the opposite direction as the strategy tips, ha, of trying to win via military, which definitely threw the other (very experienced) player off his game, but in the end, the Shadow prevailed.
One of the four number one games I have. Yes I have four number ones. Mageknight, Starwars Rebellion, Twilight Imperium 4 and this one. My order here is only alphabetical. Earth Reborn is my number two, and after that I have almost 30 other games
Great video, we still used shy of 4 hours to get a game started, but this video was great and I have to commend RTFM's ability to word it in a way that avoids confusion. There is no room for interpretation in the rules of WotR, the rules are as written. RTFM does the same here in a nice condensed way.
I'll have to watch this a few times lol. Great explanation, but there are times when I feel like I'm in math class and I zoned out for a second and then found myself lost.
Literally gonna learn how to play this today and you uploaded this a couple days ago. How serendipitous. Loved your Root video as well, as it taught me how to teach it to my friends.
The Root video was so good! I may have a bucket list plan to play Root while cosplaying as the factions as a result of that incredibly entertaining intro.
Just grabbed this game and learned everything for myself, but I wanted a video to send to my friends so they could quickly learn to play and this is it! 12/10, best "How to" video I have ever seen. Thank you!
Thank you so much! If I'm being honest, I'd probably only do Forbidden Stars if they rerelease it. It's just a little too out of print for my usual roster.
I am hoping to do that in the future. For now I'm waiting for the Kings of Middle Earth expansion, but if they keep delaying it, I might just go ahead with the other two.
I've been waiting for a video like this for War of the Ring for so long! Do you plan on doing one on the expansions? (Lords of Middle Earth and Warriors of Middle Earth)
@@RTFM Amazing! I just discovered your channel and have been watching your WOTR and SWR videos on loop. They are so comprehensive and compact and allow me to easily jump to the sections I need. Can't wait for your other videos!
@@RTFM Yeah I sort of already bought it and me and my friend Kevin loved it, we watched your rule review to get a jest of the game so I thank you a lot for that!
@@RTFM we watched it and immediately played it! Only thing we forgot to do was evacuate lol! But the video was so damn good that we didnt have to look up the rule book more than once.
I started reading through the manual, got lost in the rules. So I watched this instead. Still overwhelmed but now I know that there are phases in the game! xD
Amazing video! Was dreading having to relearn this to play again soon (our first play was a year ago), and all the other videos are too long or have errors. Real life saver.
I didn't know my life required a reading of the Silmarilion by Mr. Mike Murphy ... but now I do ... and it's been cruelly taken from me. You are a monster, Shea.
Not to be too shameless in my self-promotion, but he did read a little bit more of that book, and I have the footage in a behind the scenes video for my Patreon backers...
The way I understand siege is that. if I attack a fortress i can keep attacking by sacrificing 1hp from my army BUT I can also stop attacking and stay in that region around the fortress. This is the only way that sorties makes sense to me. I think it also makes combat interesting because defender can attack from adjacent tile that's not fortified.
Good video. I don't play this game very often. This video explains very well the rules and works as a reminder. There are many things left out, but still is a good way to remember how to play it. Great job
Ok this was the 3rd video on this game I've watched. It was the shortest and most precise, but i still don't get the game, i guess i am just gonna have to do the last thing left and actually read the rule book :(
I plan on covering them later this year. Was originally going to wait until the Kings expansion was released, but it's unclear when/if that'll ever happen, so I'll probably just be teaching Lords and Warriors.
If Frodo & Sam are left alone to continue their journey towards Mordor (no companions left & gollum as a guide), then how many eyes does the Shadow player put in the hunt box? only one? If Frodo & Sam enter Mordor with NO companions left, (with Gollum as their guide) how many 'eye' dice is the Shadow player allowed to put into his hunt box?
One for both. The Shadow player can always put at least one eye in the hunt box. Basically Gollum is considered a companion in this sense. Just one that can never be sacrificed.
At 26:50, would it help to clarify that hunt re-rolls also (if I understand it correctly) cannot be stacked on one single die roll, so one hunt die cannot be re-rolled more than once even though conditions for more re-rolls apply?
Great vid man! I had some questions, if someone could answer them that would be awesome. 8:42 just to be sure, Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad are also Sauron strongholds right? 20:20 also, is a character (like gimli in the example) always drawn into the figt necessarily when a battle happens in the territory that he is in, or can I decide not to involve him at the start of the battle to not risk him to avoid his death? 20:40 (another one) do you habe to move all units that you designated for the attack into the conquered region or is it up to your choice? Also, can you still move the rearguard into the newly conquered region or do they stay behind?
Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad are Sauron strongholds, yes. I'll add a note about this to make it more clear. Characters are always drawn into the fight when defending. You don't have to move all units in the attacking army. The rearguard is not part of the attacking army though, so it can't move into the invaded region.
@@RTFM I got them and a load of "enhancements" from Eaglenest3D on etsy,hers a link to the painted enhancements i did boardgamegeek.com/thread/2464797/finallyit-done
@@RTFM To be honest his prices are VERY reasonable,some shops are asking silly money for less better sculpts his are amazing right down to a spiral staircase INSIDE the Rivendell mini.
New to this, and just about to break it out of the box. Reminds me of LOTR Risk which I've played many times with family. I decided to order this for myself instead of Risk. For those who have played both, how do you think it compares?
Risk Lotr is kind of the junior and family edition of this. However, I have both games and love both of them. I think the game was inspired strongly by the risk version.
LotR Risk is simple and balanced for symmetric play. WotR is complex and asymmetric, which helps it stay more thematic, but also makes it take much longer to learn.
@RTFM Hey RTFM, I've got a little question. I've seen your video and I think it'S one of the best in explaining the game so thank you for that. But you, just like everyone else, didn't mention the 3 and 4 player game rules, which are even different in semeselfs. Which differ massive in who controles which armies and if 2 play one faction who controls the combined army if they meet on the board. Also there are differences in the cards you can play. And even who gets to use a dice. Can you do an additional video explaining those changes to the 2 player game? I played the game a few times with two friends now but we still do thinks wrong... And we can't figure out where exactly we go wrong... I would really appreciate such a video.
To be honest, I haven't had a chance to play it this way. But it also doesn't really interest me that much, because I tend to view it more as a two player game with a variant for more. That being said, I'm doing a video later on in the year about the expansions, so if I have time, I'll add in the multiplayer rules.
@@RTFM thanks for your answer. Even when you don't do the 3 and 4 player rules I'm waiting for the addon video. And thanks for the DUNE videos, played it with 5 friends (first time for all of us) and it took us 11 hours xD
I plan on covering them this year. I was going to wait until the Kings expansion came out, but I haven't heard anything about that for a long time, so as soon as I have some extra time, this is the first side project on my list.
during set up of Warriors you remove certain cards and replace them with others. The Corsairs of Umbar card, which is what I assume you're referring to, is one of those.
They aren't actually in klingon, I just use that channel because it's not a real language, so I won't get anyone's hopes up. Anyway, all the corrections are also written in the description.
You had a example where if you had 3 leaders and 1 unit you could not roll the failed dice only once In the Hunt for the Ring, since you could reroll a failed dice in Moria example for the each unit, nazgul and stronghold does this also apply that it is one reroll or reroll for each?
great video helped alot, but that being said i still was overwhelmed at first but after turn 2 i was feeling pretty confident , i lost to a player whos played alot but when it ended i was 8 and was very close to taken over riverdale.. great first exp and you helped alot thanks my guy. im thinking i might tackle SWR or Twilight imperium,choices..
It's definitely a tough game to get into. Glad you stuck with it! Personally I like TI4 over SWR, but considering corona, SWR is going to be easier to get to the table. Of course, if you don't mind playing online, there's a pretty decent TTS mod for TI4.
In the rare case the shadow player is besieged in two different shadow strongholds and a third one becomes besieged as well, since the board only has two available spots would the 3rd not be about to retreat into siege?
Those boxes are just a player aid, and if you have the space for your units, you don't even need to use them, so regardless of how many you have left, you can always retreat into siege. Anyway, it's such an unlikely event that three shadow strongholds would be under siege by large armies that you don't really need to worry about it.
Tks for the great video, it’s a lifesaver. Although, something was not clear to me: when you were explaining about moving restrictions, you said we are not allowed to move to a nations’ region, even if they are friendly. Although, when you were explaining about the political track, you said if an enemy enter your nation’s region, we should move this region tracker towards the At war box. So, how can it happen, once we are not allowed to move into an empty enemy region? Sorry if it was not clear, I definitely lost something in the way
No worries. Let's say Sauron is at war but Gondor isn't. Sauron units can move into Gondor territory, but Gondor units can't move into Sauron territory (or Rohan or any other nation) until Gondor is at war. If a Sauron unit does move into a Gondor space, that will activate Gondor's political marker, or if they attack a Gondor army, that'll move Gondor one step closer to being at war. Does that help?
@@RTFM thanks man, that makes much more sense now. Basically, when a nation is at war, it has no moving restrictions anymore. Cheers and thanks again for the great work :)
Hi there brilliant video great at explaining it all. I am sorry if this is dull but with regard to a companion and a army say I had Gandalf in Rohan who were at war and I wanted to move him with the army. If I use an action dice or the sword symbol, can I move that army three spaces as Gandalf’s movement states or is it just one space at a time. I hope that makes sense if anyone can help me 😀👍
Good question! When moving with a character, you only move armies one space at a time, regardless of the character's move speed. That number is only for when they move by themselves or other characters.
Great stuff! However for me the speed of changing pictures and text was a little bit too high to get some of tje concepts by the first run-through. Usually I am a fast learner but I had to rewatch various elements multiple times. A slower pace with the downside of a longer video would have helped me more. But - hey, this is youtube so I can jump back whenever I consider necessary 😉
Thanks! And yeah, I figure whenever you learn a game, whether on video or in person, you'll probably have to hear at least one rule twice. Better to do it once and make it easy to rewatch than just repeat everything.
Not quite. Action dice are only lost forever if the character that brought them in is killed. Otherwise action dice are returned to you after each round, with some exceptions for dice that get left in the hunt box. You'll almost never want to leave a die unused though, so this wouldn't really come up either way.
@@RTFM Thanks for quick reply. Just gonna have first game in few hours! Excited! I didnt think about that chugging of the dice until I watched this multiple times so initially I got it right. But then I was starting to think "yeah, he chuggs it into to the bin so....?" :D
Couldn't the free people place their characters onto stronghold locations alone then to prevent the other player from taking those locations? What am I missing?
Characters can't participate in battles on their own, only when there are army units present. So if Aragorn was sitting on Minas Tirith by himself, the Shadow could just roll in and take it. Aragorn wouldn't die, but he wouldn't stop it either.
Question 1: Does moving a Nazgûl or character into an enemy nation activate that nation too? Question 2: If all units of an attacking army, containing a leader or character, are eliminated, is said leader/character eliminated too even if there's a rearguard in the attacking army's region?
@@RTFM I have another question, it feels like i should have dice for some combat card actions to use them but ive never seen rule about it. Otherwise, does it mean i can use a combat card without any cost before each battle phase ?
@@shotadevdariani7170 You don't need to have any specific dice to play cards during combat, so yes, you can always play a card before each round of battle.
It's mostly the same, but there are some minor changes. I haven't played the original, but this post on BGG is pretty helpful for this. boardgamegeek.com/thread/738666/2nd-edition-review-side-side-comparison
Nice video. Seems a bit complicated, but I guess when i get my hands on the rulebook i will understand it. It seems a bit unappealing to casual players though, i hope my brother will find it interesting to give it a try
Yeah, it's definitely not a casual-friendly game. However, the more people are interested in the source material, the more that tends to carry them through the harder parts.
If you're referring to the top left shelf, the large box is TI3, the one on top of it is TI4 and I think Anachrony. Shay has taught all three of these games (his 32-minute teach of TI3 is how I found this marvelous channel & content creator). 🖖
@@Lugo428 I do hope that FFG releases the Prophecy of Kings expansion to various reviewers so we can at least see more gameplay before its November release. 🤞
I haven't even finished this and I'm already saying thank you. Thank you.
You're welcome! I'm glad you're liking it.
I always imagined the reason you had to downgrade an elite to continue a battle is representing them bursting thru a barricade so the grunts could fight on.
Sappers take massive casualties.
"Bring him down, Legolas!"
i like that! lol
wouldnt it be the other way around? otherwise you could just eliminate a regular unit whereas the elites have the special guys that can breach the walls (but will probably die)?
In my mind, "elites" were kind of just a generic term for a higher quality of unit. So while, say, the Isengard elite piece is a Warg Rider, that doesn't mean every elite Isengard unit is a Warg Rider. When it comes to downgrading elites to continue a siege, I consider that utilizing specialty siege equipment (ladders, towers, battering rams, or in Isengard's case, maybe even sappers!) - the elite unit, having been said siege equipment, is spent, and its down to just normal troops.
I must commend you for you ability to make one of the most confusing board games I have personally played so easy for newer players to understand
The thematics for "downgrading an elite" for the purpose of seige (according to our group) is the unavoidable casualties that happen while attempting to do so. (at least how our group justified it)
Extrapolating from there is difficult beyond "it just makes it balanced" ... that or explaining that haradrim are born from deceased oliphant eggs (in that faction's case).
That's a pretty good way to look at it. And I've always suspected that there was more to those oliphants than meets the eye.
Siege battles are rough, defender would trow rocks and other things at you. Trying to storm a poweful stronghold imply that you'll have to sacrifice a lot of troops.
I love this game. I'm watching this to live vicariously, lol. If you haven't played and you think it'd grab you, the game is worth it. Get a friend who is into it too and get on it!
Another A++ video from RTFM. Thanks for making our hobby that much more accessible!
Hey thanks! I'm just glad y'all are liking the videos.
"Dude, the beacons are lit man, gone are calls for aid..." and this all prepares you for very concentrated but very carefully arranged rules for the game. Great summary and visual version of more elaborated Introductory rules! Hats off... yes even you Gandalf.
Played a time ago and used your video to remember everthing. Thanks a lot!
Happy to help!
Love you videos, man. One rules thing, when you retreat into siege and you have more than 5 people, I believe that you can put the extras into your reinforcements
Ah, that was a mistake on my part. Looking closer at it, it seems you don't actually have the option of leaving excess troops on the field. Not sure where I got that from...oh well. Thanks for spotting that! I'll add a note right away.
@@RTFM nice! Thanks for doing this game, looking forward to your strat videos so I can stomp my brother some more on our next weekly game :)
@@seanmcconnell1874 Haha, if you play weekly, I don't know how much new info I'll be able to provide. My strategy videos are geared more towards newer players. But hey, you never know.
I love it when you do these intros! So fantastic. I was so happy when Simarillion was busted out. Hats off to Nick's cosplay as well.
And Shea, your teach is engaging, thematic, clever, and has top notch production as always!
Thank you so much Monique! You're always so encouraging and I really appreciate it.
Had to rewatch this video for a quick refresher because of the kings of middle earth was added to my collection
This video is very useful and entertaining - watched it twice for good measure.
Downgrading the elites during sieges represents how when your soldiers are climbing the walls of a stronghold, they get absolutely slaughtered on the way up, but after they manage to infiltrate the stronghold, they start fighting on equal ground instead of falling back.
Yes! And I also have the torch bearing uruk-hai berserker in mind, who sacrifices himself to breach Helms Deeps wall
@@donnjuansohn Good one!
27:22 there are tokens to randomly chosse a companion to take as a casualty. You don't have to shuffle the cards
Yeah, I actually filmed this with the tokens, but the shot didn't end up looking good. Since it's basically the same either way, I figured I'd just draw a card.
Free regions are regions that are not under the control of your opponent
While F.T.P.O.A.M are regions you can move into without triggering a fight or in the common tongue
Regions that don’t have an enemy unit in them
Best Video as my preparation for my first match coming tomorrow.
Good length, still everything important explained....even by connecting mechanisms with theme...which highly helps understanding complex game (if they have a theme).
Glad I could help!
I've been waiting for you to come out with this video!! Thank you so much for creating this
No problem! I've been wanting to cover this game for a long time. So glad I finally got the chance!
Thanks for the teach! I finally played my first game last night after having this on my radar for several years. It was epic, and I very much look forward to more plays of it in the near future. Anyway, this video was super helpful for helping me get started. Also, I watched your two strategy videos. I played the Free Peoples and went in the opposite direction as the strategy tips, ha, of trying to win via military, which definitely threw the other (very experienced) player off his game, but in the end, the Shadow prevailed.
Happy to help! I always want to lead the Free Peoples to a military victory but I can never pull it off.
Great tutorial! Thank you!
One of the four number one games I have. Yes I have four number ones. Mageknight, Starwars Rebellion, Twilight Imperium 4 and this one. My order here is only alphabetical. Earth Reborn is my number two, and after that I have almost 30 other games
So glad you started to work with Rahdo, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have discovered all your great videos 😊😊
Thanks! I'm glad to be over there too!
Great video, we still used shy of 4 hours to get a game started, but this video was great and I have to commend RTFM's ability to word it in a way that avoids confusion. There is no room for interpretation in the rules of WotR, the rules are as written. RTFM does the same here in a nice condensed way.
I'll have to watch this a few times lol. Great explanation, but there are times when I feel like I'm in math class and I zoned out for a second and then found myself lost.
Fair enough, it is a complicated game so there's a lot to take in. Hopefully this gives you a good stepping off point though.
“Quarantine we probably shouldn’t” it’s gonna be so awesome when people hear lines like that and wonder what the Hell we were thinking lol
That's confusing. And I still have 100 questions.
This is spectacular.
Thanks!
@@RTFM "more to that later"
Nice video, thanks...about to sit down and play WotR for the first time in about 14 months, wish the companions luck!
Good luck!
Literally gonna learn how to play this today and you uploaded this a couple days ago. How serendipitous. Loved your Root video as well, as it taught me how to teach it to my friends.
Thanks, glad I could help!
The Root video was so good! I may have a bucket list plan to play Root while cosplaying as the factions as a result of that incredibly entertaining intro.
Impressive, clean execution
This is my first approach to the game, already loving it.
I love you man. You’re doing the lords work here.
love the brothers murphs
They're the best!
Watch at 0.75x speed.....thank me later.
Oh boy this is good. Thanks!!
This is amazing, thank you.
Happy to help!
Thanks so much
Dude. My games would just sit on the shelf and collect dust. But you have this amazing ability of teaching a huge rule book in 30 minutes.
Hey, no problem. Glad I could help!
Just grabbed this game and learned everything for myself, but I wanted a video to send to my friends so they could quickly learn to play and this is it! 12/10, best "How to" video I have ever seen. Thank you!
Thank you so much!
ur guides are the best of the best in youtube! learned Dune from ur guides and thanx for it
Thank you so much! If I'm being honest, I'd probably only do Forbidden Stars if they rerelease it. It's just a little too out of print for my usual roster.
Who down voted this video? Does thee not give of oneself to serve the Fellowship? Fool of a Took... 🤨
Missclick probably
Great video!! Could you please make a video explaining the expansions? :D
I am hoping to do that in the future. For now I'm waiting for the Kings of Middle Earth expansion, but if they keep delaying it, I might just go ahead with the other two.
I've been waiting for a video like this for War of the Ring for so long! Do you plan on doing one on the expansions? (Lords of Middle Earth and Warriors of Middle Earth)
I do. I'm waiting on the newest expansion (Kings), which should come out in a couple months, and then I'll do a video for all three.
@@RTFM Amazing! I just discovered your channel and have been watching your WOTR and SWR videos on loop. They are so comprehensive and compact and allow me to easily jump to the sections I need. Can't wait for your other videos!
@@wallyattard738 Thanks!
You actually make me want to really pick this game up now because I understand it.
It's a great game! A little expensive, but certainly not the worst out there, and well worth the cost.
@@RTFM Yeah I sort of already bought it and me and my friend Kevin loved it, we watched your rule review to get a jest of the game so I thank you a lot for that!
@@sirus976 Oh awesome! Glad I could help!
@@RTFM Well anyway I know its small but you earned my sub for being such a chill and nice guy.
@@sirus976 Thank you so much!
So glad that you did this!! Awesome job!! Great content as always!!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
@@RTFM we watched it and immediately played it! Only thing we forgot to do was evacuate lol! But the video was so damn good that we didnt have to look up the rule book more than once.
I started reading through the manual, got lost in the rules. So I watched this instead. Still overwhelmed but now I know that there are phases in the game! xD
Haha, progress!
Amazing video! Was dreading having to relearn this to play again soon (our first play was a year ago), and all the other videos are too long or have errors. Real life saver.
Glad I could help!
Lol the fkn Gandalf lunchbox are you kidding me? 🤣🤣
As soon as I started working on this video, I knew the Murphs were gonna have to be in it, if only to show off their awesome LOTR collection.
Great stuff again guys! Can't wait to give this game a go.
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Idk if you've seen it, but Ares games literally has your video embedded under how to Play War of the ring. I just thought it was pretty cool
Yeah, they asked if it was ok. As if I was going to say no XD
I didn't know my life required a reading of the Silmarilion by Mr. Mike Murphy ... but now I do ... and it's been cruelly taken from me.
You are a monster, Shea.
Not to be too shameless in my self-promotion, but he did read a little bit more of that book, and I have the footage in a behind the scenes video for my Patreon backers...
Silmarillion is the best intro.
The way I understand siege is that. if I attack a fortress i can keep attacking by sacrificing 1hp from my army BUT I can also stop attacking and stay in that region around the fortress. This is the only way that sorties makes sense to me. I think it also makes combat interesting because defender can attack from adjacent tile that's not fortified.
Thank you so much! This helps a lot and is perfect.
You're welcome! Glad I could help!
Good video. I don't play this game very often. This video explains very well the rules and works as a reminder. There are many things left out, but still is a good way to remember how to play it. Great job
Thanks!
Damn this was a good video. You are so good at this from now on I'm more likely to buy games if you've done videos on them.
Well that's so nice to hear, thank you!
YES!!! Thank you
Anytime I want to play a big epic game RTFM is here to get me prepped.
Glad to help!
Om my have played this game so many times and I have still goten rules wrong?!
Thank you!
Happens to the best of us.
In the beginning there was Eru🤣🤣🤣
Agree
WOW!!!
Great vid & very informative...
Thanks, glad I could help!
Ok this was the 3rd video on this game I've watched. It was the shortest and most precise, but i still don't get the game, i guess i am just gonna have to do the last thing left and actually read the rule book :(
8:40 Nazguls is sub as "school"
Yeah, the auto-generated subtitles don't always do well with fantasy words
No way you’re playing this game in 28 mins...
Bullshot
It’s HOW TO PLAY in 28 minutes.
No way you are literate
I believe the original commenter engaged in that weird thing humans do, called joking.
@@ArsenyMoskvichevI hope so!
Any chance of doing a follow-up video on the expansions?
I plan on covering them later this year. Was originally going to wait until the Kings expansion was released, but it's unclear when/if that'll ever happen, so I'll probably just be teaching Lords and Warriors.
@@RTFM Epic, can't wait! Yeah I didn't wait till the end of your video in which you answered my question, sorry.
@@grottoguru6473 Haha, no worries. I've definitely put it off a bit longer than I expected to.
Really found this useful. Cheers bud!
Thanks, glad I could help!
If Frodo & Sam are left alone to continue their journey towards Mordor (no companions left & gollum as a guide), then how many eyes does the Shadow player put in the hunt box? only one?
If Frodo & Sam enter Mordor with NO companions left, (with Gollum as their guide) how many 'eye' dice is the Shadow player allowed to put into his hunt box?
One for both. The Shadow player can always put at least one eye in the hunt box. Basically Gollum is considered a companion in this sense. Just one that can never be sacrificed.
At 26:50, would it help to clarify that hunt re-rolls also (if I understand it correctly) cannot be stacked on one single die roll, so one hunt die cannot be re-rolled more than once even though conditions for more re-rolls apply?
Yeah, that's a good point. I see how it can be misconstrued. I'll add a note, thanks!
28 minutes? It takes me several hours!
Great vid man! I had some questions, if someone could answer them that would be awesome.
8:42 just to be sure, Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad are also Sauron strongholds right?
20:20 also, is a character (like gimli in the example) always drawn into the figt necessarily when a battle happens in the territory that he is in, or can I decide not to involve him at the start of the battle to not risk him to avoid his death?
20:40 (another one) do you habe to move all units that you designated for the attack into the conquered region or is it up to your choice? Also, can you still move the rearguard into the newly conquered region or do they stay behind?
Dol Guldur and Mt. Gundabad are Sauron strongholds, yes. I'll add a note about this to make it more clear.
Characters are always drawn into the fight when defending.
You don't have to move all units in the attacking army. The rearguard is not part of the attacking army though, so it can't move into the invaded region.
I have used rubber ring bases from Etsy to tell the Nations apart,making the set up a lot quicker,
Ooh, I'll have to look into that.
@@RTFM I got them and a load of "enhancements" from Eaglenest3D on etsy,hers a link to the painted enhancements i did boardgamegeek.com/thread/2464797/finallyit-done
@@bigmull Ooooh, I've seen some of these and they are amazing, but my bank account would not survive
@@RTFM To be honest his prices are VERY reasonable,some shops are asking silly money for less better sculpts his are amazing right down to a spiral staircase INSIDE the Rivendell mini.
@@bigmull Oh they look fantastic. For me it's a slippery slope kinda thing. If I didn't stop myself, I'd be buying all manner of add-ons for my games.
Can you do Battle of Five Armies next?
I actually let my Patreon backers choose which games I teach, so if they ask for it, then I definitely will.
omg.. this game is overloaded..
New to this, and just about to break it out of the box. Reminds me of LOTR Risk which I've played many times with family. I decided to order this for myself instead of Risk. For those who have played both, how do you think it compares?
Risk Lotr is kind of the junior and family edition of this. However, I have both games and love both of them. I think the game was inspired strongly by the risk version.
LotR Risk is simple and balanced for symmetric play.
WotR is complex and asymmetric, which helps it stay more thematic, but also makes it take much longer to learn.
@RTFM
Hey RTFM,
I've got a little question. I've seen your video and I think it'S one of the best in explaining the game so thank you for that.
But you, just like everyone else, didn't mention the 3 and 4 player game rules, which are even different in semeselfs. Which differ massive in who controles which armies and if 2 play one faction who controls the combined army if they meet on the board. Also there are differences in the cards you can play. And even who gets to use a dice.
Can you do an additional video explaining those changes to the 2 player game?
I played the game a few times with two friends now but we still do thinks wrong... And we can't figure out where exactly we go wrong...
I would really appreciate such a video.
To be honest, I haven't had a chance to play it this way. But it also doesn't really interest me that much, because I tend to view it more as a two player game with a variant for more. That being said, I'm doing a video later on in the year about the expansions, so if I have time, I'll add in the multiplayer rules.
@@RTFM thanks for your answer. Even when you don't do the 3 and 4 player rules I'm waiting for the addon video.
And thanks for the DUNE videos, played it with 5 friends (first time for all of us) and it took us 11 hours xD
@@krunschold Oh my! Well I hope you all enjoyed it. That can certainly be more of a commitment than people are expecting.
@@RTFM oh yeah, we had a blast and want to play again this month
@@RTFM hello again,
I wanted to ask if you have a timeline for the addons you mentioned.
Hip to get those videos this year.
Are you going to ever cover the expansions?
I plan on covering them this year. I was going to wait until the Kings expansion came out, but I haven't heard anything about that for a long time, so as soon as I have some extra time, this is the first side project on my list.
14:40 does the effect of the political on this cards also happen on their faction card counterparts in Warriors of Middle-Earth?
during set up of Warriors you remove certain cards and replace them with others. The Corsairs of Umbar card, which is what I assume you're referring to, is one of those.
Anything in the Klingon subtitles for those who can read it?
They aren't actually in klingon, I just use that channel because it's not a real language, so I won't get anyone's hopes up. Anyway, all the corrections are also written in the description.
Wait do the defenders in siege also roll dice or do they just sit there????
The defenders roll dice as normal during sieges, it's just that the attackers have slightly different rules, which is why I focused on them.
You had a example where if you had 3 leaders and 1 unit you could not roll the failed dice only once
In the Hunt for the Ring, since you could reroll a failed dice in Moria example for the each unit, nazgul and stronghold does this also apply that it is one reroll or reroll for each?
The same reroll rules apply, so if you only rolled one die and have three rerolls, you'd only get to reroll once.
great video helped alot, but that being said i still was overwhelmed at first but after turn 2 i was feeling pretty confident , i lost to a player whos played alot but when it ended i was 8 and was very close to taken over riverdale.. great first exp and you helped alot thanks my guy. im thinking i might tackle SWR or Twilight imperium,choices..
It's definitely a tough game to get into. Glad you stuck with it! Personally I like TI4 over SWR, but considering corona, SWR is going to be easier to get to the table. Of course, if you don't mind playing online, there's a pretty decent TTS mod for TI4.
Can you recruit a character as the shadow player once the caracter has been killed?
Nope. If a character has been killed, they're gone for good.
In the rare case the shadow player is besieged in two different shadow strongholds and a third one becomes besieged as well, since the board only has two available spots would the 3rd not be about to retreat into siege?
Those boxes are just a player aid, and if you have the space for your units, you don't even need to use them, so regardless of how many you have left, you can always retreat into siege. Anyway, it's such an unlikely event that three shadow strongholds would be under siege by large armies that you don't really need to worry about it.
This video plays like one of those videos satirising complicated board games lol.
Tks for the great video, it’s a lifesaver. Although, something was not clear to me: when you were explaining about moving restrictions, you said we are not allowed to move to a nations’ region, even if they are friendly. Although, when you were explaining about the political track, you said if an enemy enter your nation’s region, we should move this region tracker towards the At war box. So, how can it happen, once we are not allowed to move into an empty enemy region? Sorry if it was not clear, I definitely lost something in the way
No worries. Let's say Sauron is at war but Gondor isn't. Sauron units can move into Gondor territory, but Gondor units can't move into Sauron territory (or Rohan or any other nation) until Gondor is at war. If a Sauron unit does move into a Gondor space, that will activate Gondor's political marker, or if they attack a Gondor army, that'll move Gondor one step closer to being at war. Does that help?
@@RTFM thanks man, that makes much more sense now. Basically, when a nation is at war, it has no moving restrictions anymore. Cheers and thanks again for the great work :)
Hi there brilliant video great at explaining it all. I am sorry if this is dull but with regard to a companion and a army say I had Gandalf in Rohan who were at war and I wanted to move him with the army. If I use an action dice or the sword symbol, can I move that army three spaces as Gandalf’s movement states or is it just one space at a time. I hope that makes sense if anyone can help me 😀👍
Good question! When moving with a character, you only move armies one space at a time, regardless of the character's move speed. That number is only for when they move by themselves or other characters.
Great stuff! However for me the speed of changing pictures and text was a little bit too high to get some of tje concepts by the first run-through. Usually I am a fast learner but I had to rewatch various elements multiple times. A slower pace with the downside of a longer video would have helped me more. But - hey, this is youtube so I can jump back whenever I consider necessary 😉
Thanks! And yeah, I figure whenever you learn a game, whether on video or in person, you'll probably have to hear at least one rule twice. Better to do it once and make it easy to rewatch than just repeat everything.
So if you dont use the action die is that die chugged for ever? Is it discarded from the game? Then thats really not a good option…
Not quite. Action dice are only lost forever if the character that brought them in is killed. Otherwise action dice are returned to you after each round, with some exceptions for dice that get left in the hunt box. You'll almost never want to leave a die unused though, so this wouldn't really come up either way.
@@RTFM Thanks for quick reply. Just gonna have first game in few hours! Excited! I didnt think about that chugging of the dice until I watched this multiple times so initially I got it right. But then I was starting to think "yeah, he chuggs it into to the bin so....?" :D
Any thoughts on the new Dune game? 🤔
I think it looks really interesting, though I haven't had a chance to play it.
Couldn't the free people place their characters onto stronghold locations alone then to prevent the other player from taking those locations? What am I missing?
Characters can't participate in battles on their own, only when there are army units present. So if Aragorn was sitting on Minas Tirith by himself, the Shadow could just roll in and take it. Aragorn wouldn't die, but he wouldn't stop it either.
Question 1: Does moving a Nazgûl or character into an enemy nation activate that nation too?
Question 2: If all units of an attacking army, containing a leader or character, are eliminated, is said leader/character eliminated too even if there's a rearguard in the attacking army's region?
1. No 2. Yes
@@A_friend_called_Five
Thanks for clarifying.
if I move an army that consists of Minions as well. Do minions count as part of army during army movement dice action ?
Hey, sorry for the late response. Yes, the minions are considered part of the army, so you can move them along with the rest of the units.
@@RTFM I have another question, it feels like i should have dice for some combat card actions to use them but ive never seen rule about it. Otherwise, does it mean i can use a combat card without any cost before each battle phase ?
@@shotadevdariani7170 You don't need to have any specific dice to play cards during combat, so yes, you can always play a card before each round of battle.
@@RTFM thanks a lot. we bought the game a month ago and its already our fav.
Does a Nazgul get killed if the army in which it was gets destroyed?
Nazgul are removed from the board in this case, but as with the Shadow's army units, they can be recruited again later.
Amazing explanation. I just grabbed a first edition for 30 euros, can't wait to battle for middle earth!
Just a quick question: Is the second edition identical with the first as far as rules go?
It's mostly the same, but there are some minor changes. I haven't played the original, but this post on BGG is pretty helpful for this. boardgamegeek.com/thread/738666/2nd-edition-review-side-side-comparison
Could someone tell me if you have to use a Palantir action die to play combat cards?
Nope. During combat, you can play one combat card each round without paying palantirs or matching dice.
@@RTFM Alright thanks, that's how my friend and I have been playing so thanks for clearing that up.
@@benwise2630 Happy to help!
Oh, I thought this was how to play the game in only 28 minutes instead of 3 hours. Nevermind.
4:40 - I don't think those tokens even HAVE an inactive side...?
They shouldn't, but they do. At least on my copy they do.
@@RTFMWeird; in my copy the tokens are active on both sides.
@@mattpburgess I mean that definitely makes more sense. Glad they've done that in newer printings.
@@RTFMIronically, I’m actually the opposite! It provides less opportunity for variant starting positions 🤪
@@mattpburgess Haha, well to each their own.
That's an awesome shirt. Where did you get it?
Teebletop.com
Nice video. Seems a bit complicated, but I guess when i get my hands on the rulebook i will understand it.
It seems a bit unappealing to casual players though, i hope my brother will find it interesting to give it a try
Yeah, it's definitely not a casual-friendly game. However, the more people are interested in the source material, the more that tends to carry them through the harder parts.
How the deuce do you have, what I assume is the expansion to Twilight Imperium? Do you have the 3rd edition?
If you're referring to the top left shelf, the large box is TI3, the one on top of it is TI4 and I think Anachrony. Shay has taught all three of these games (his 32-minute teach of TI3 is how I found this marvelous channel & content creator). 🖖
@@thomasromanelli2561 ah. Makes sense.
@@Lugo428 I do hope that FFG releases the Prophecy of Kings expansion to various reviewers so we can at least see more gameplay before its November release. 🤞
@@thomasromanelli2561 no joke, I was so excited, I accidentally bought 3 copies. Long story.
I'm so curious about this