Ares Games releases War of the Ring Second Edition

Dec 5, 2011

It’s out! Soon to be available at a retailer near you! War of the Ring Second Edition from Ares Games. Here’s the details:

The epic board game inspired by Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” is back! Publisher Ares Games announces the release of War of the Ring Second Edition, featuring several changes from the previous edition, principally a new graphic design, larger Tarot-size cards and revised rules. The English edition is now shipping to distributors and will reach the stores in North America in mid December.

The first edition was published in September 2004 by Nexus Editrice and the game has been acclaimed as one of the best thematic games of all times, winning several awards. In August 2011, Ares Games announced the acquisition of publishing rights from Sophisticated Games, as well as the upcoming revised edition.

Created by the Italian game designers Roberto Di Meglio, Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi, the strategy board game “War of the Ring” allows players to immerse themselves in J.R.R.Tolkien’s classic story, leading the Fellowship in its quest and the armies of the Free Peoples against the assault of the dreadful minions and armies of the Dark Lord, Sauron. The original illustrations were created by John Howe, one of the world’s foremost Tolkien illustrators.

“War of the Ring has been out of the market for a long time, and we worked hard to bring it back in a new edition that could reward the game fans with an improved gaming experience, and make the game accessible for new players”, said Christoph Cianci, CEO of Ares Games.

The new edition of War of the Ring refreshes the game with improvements from both graphic and content angles, based on past player’s feedback. The bigger cards are easier to read, the map has more defined borders and colors, and the 48 pages rulebook, improved in order to clarify many questions raised by the original version of the game, introduces a few subtle, but important, changes to the rules that augment the game play. The War of the Ring Second Edition includes a massive game board (a 70×100 cm colour map of Middle-earth), over 200 plastic figures representing armies and characters (more than 30 different sculpts), 110 cards and special die.

For owners of the first edition, Ares Games will also offer an Upgrade Kit with all the Event and Character cards included in the War of the Ring Second Edition, which, together with the free downloadable revised edition’s rules from the Ares Games web site, will give owners the possibility of playing the 2nd Edition of War of the Ring without the need for purchasing a complete new game.

More information about the game is available at www.aresgames.eu, including a series of designer’s notes articles, the detailed summary of the rules changes and the download of the rulebook.