This Week, We Played: Lord of the Rings Fate of the Fellowship

This week, our group tried out The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. This is a cooperative adventure game for ages 14 and up. It was published by Z-Man games and released in June of 2025. It took us about an hour and a half to get through our game with two people, including set-up. 

Right out of the box, this game exudes Middle-Earth charm. The art, color choice, and the quality of the materials really work to engross you in the world. Pair this with the components, and it’s very easy to get immersed in this game. The board itself is massive, and holds up very well to repeated use. It has a turn order reference printed on it, which is incredibly helpful when you are learning the game.

The Nazgûl standees are high quality and detailed. They fit into their bases well, so they don’t fall apart when you move them around.

The game also includes a large chipboard dice tower featuring the Eye of Sauron. It isn’t necessary to the gameplay, but it does a fantastic job adding to the theme and immersion. One of our reviewers commented they would pick up the game for the Barad-dûr tower by itself.

The gameplay runs off of the Pandemic system, and it takes the very best of those mechanics and improves upon them. Some of the base rules are still there, such as drawing two cards at the beginning of your turn and the Epidemic! Cards are replaced by Fate of the Fellowship’s “Skies Darken” cards that get shuffled into the player deck. The Infection deck, renamed the Shadow deck, still determines when and where the shadow troops get deployed, but they are much more dynamic. Shadow troops will be marching across the board, attempting to claim strongholds and lower your party’s morale while Nazgûl fly around the map, trying to find Frodo.

While the enemies are all searching for Frodo, you will have to complete several randomized objectives. These are all things from the books, such as avenging Balin or Gandalf fighting the Balrog. Once you complete three random objectives, you’ll have to get Frodo to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. The only way to lose this game is to let your Hope fall to zero. That doesn’t mean the game is easy, however. You have to manage your resources very carefully, as several things in game can negatively affect your Hope/Despair meter.

When we played, we spent a large amount of our time strategizing before each turn. This game required a lot of planning, especially later on when the shadow troops became much more prevalent. 

Ultimately, we failed in our quest. Frodo and his entourage lost the last of their hope just outside Mount Doom, falling to Sauron in the end. But we could not wait to play again!

We would recommend The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship for groups who like large, detail-heavy games that require planning and thought, as there are many different aspects that you have to keep track of during the game. It also does justice to the source material in a way that would make any Lord of the Rings fan happy.

https://www.daydream-games.com/product-page/lord-of-the-rings-the-fate-of-the-fellowship-board-game