An collage images showing Frodo looking into a bowl, Arwen looking over him, a giant red eyeball, Frodo and Sam fighting a giant spider, and Aragorn and Gimli drawing weapons.

Z-Man Games Announces Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, a Pandemic Middle-earth Game.

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Published: January 22, 2025 4:26 PM

A new licensed Lord of the Rings board game is coming to store shelves. Z-Man Games, the studio known for the Pandemic series is using their beloved game system as a foundation for Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship, a take on Tolkien's iconic world.

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship Announcement

In an official blog post, Z-Man Games provides an overview of Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. It is, as expected, an adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy where players must work together to destroy The One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

A wooden meeple of two hobbits in traveling gear standing alongside a card of text titled "Frodo & Sam"

Much like other Pandemic games, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship will be played on a giant map of Middle-earth. Each player starts controlling two characters in their canon locations. Frodo starts in The Shire, Arwen starts in Rivendell, etc..From there, players can move characters to different places and join friendly characters and troops to form their fellowship.

Once the players finish their turn, shadow troops will deploy from Mordor and spread out, attempting to capture safe-havens. In addition, Sauron commands the Nazgul to stop Frodo from reaching Mount Doom. For the players to succeed, they will need to use stealth, resistance, friendship, and valor to overcome these dangerous challenges.

Like other Pandemic games, Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is replayable. The game includes 24 objective cards, each one based on iconic moments from the books, Each time you play, you can choose a different subset of cards, leading to other scenarios. Of course, there is the straightforward, but challenging scenario fans are familiar with.

A tall dark tower made of cardboard with a flaming eyeball at the top

For those curious about how the game plays, the starting scenario is available to play for free on Board Game Arena for a limited time.

This isn't the first time Z-Man Games has adapted a beloved fantasy property with their Pandemic system. The studio also adapted the iconic World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King to gaming tables back in 2021. It even dipped into space fantasy with a Star Wars: The Clone Wars adaptation in 2022.

Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is available for pre-order right now. There is no official release date, but early adopters will receive a promotional Gandalf The White meeple and character card at no additional cost.

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| Staff Writer

Ever since he was small, Tyler Chancey has had a deep, abiding love for video games and a tendency to think and overanalyze everything he enjoyed. This… More about Tyler