Tabletop Games

I just finished played a long game of Fate of the Fellowship (i.e. Lord of the Rings Pandemic). Go read about it here. Immediately. « Back to Posts 19th August 2025

Whoa, day four of actually playing this single game of Fate of the Fellowship. It is nearly over, and to be fair to myself, the majority of the time has actually been writing this blog about it. I know no one will actually read it, but it is making the game more interesting for me. Turn 21 Actions (Frodo, Sam, Legolas) Well, I think I am going to have to leg it from Rohan to Gondor, so it’ll need to be four moves for the hobbits. ...

Turn 13 Actions (Frodo, Sam, Legolas) Legolas’ actions: Walk Silently: +1 stealth token Sure Shot on Moria: Removes 1 shadow troop Travel from Gladden Fields to Moria, bringing 3 elven troops along Attack Moria Shift Eye to Misty Mountains Roll one die: Exchange, remove 1 elven troop and 1 shadow troop Frodo and Sam’s action: Prepare: discard Mordor, +1 valor token Turn 13 Player Cards Rohan Gondor Turn 13 Shadow Cards Reinforce Umbar +1 shadow troop in Umbar Move two Nazgûl closer to Frodo (two move from Mirkwood to Dale) Reinforce Núrn +1 shadow troop in Núrn Shift Eye to Frodo’s region (Dale) Reinforce Dunland +1 shadow troop in Dunland Deploy 3 Nazgûl from Mordor to the Eye Move one from Mordor to Dale Move two from Rohan to Dale Dale is a tiny region that now has five Nazgûl flying over the hobbits’ heads. ...

Turn 9 Actions (Frodo, Sam, Legolas) Legolas’ actions: Travel from Dol Guldur to Lórien, bringing 2 elven troops along Travel from Lórien to Fangorn Forest, bringing 1 elven troop along Travel from Fangorn Forest to Isengard, bringing 1 elven troop along Event (doesn’t count as an action): Gifts from the Elves, give a Valor token to Player 1 Capture: Isengard, discard two Valor tokens and Mirkwood Sure Shot: spend one stealth token to move one Nazgûl to Mordor Frodo and Sam’s action: ...

Onwards to turn 3. Haven’t played this for a few days now, but blogging about it is helping me stay engaged with it. Also it’s a really useful reminder as to where I’ve got - which is nowhere. Turn 3 Actions (Frodo, Sam, Legolas) I am looking at the Shire and see that there are two Nazgûl hovering around, and Frodo and Sam only have one stealth card. I could move once, creeping towards Rivendell, and bring Merry and Pippin along, then hopefully on their turn they can haul Frodo and Sam along too. ...

Yes, it is episode one of me attempting to play The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship. I have read the rules a couple of times, watched a couple of play-throughs, read through the forums on Board Game Geek1, and have set up the board. As mentioned in the home page for this game on this site, I will be attempting the starter objectives: Attain the Blessing of the Elves Saruman, Your Staff Is Broken Challenge Sauron Destroy the One Ring And I’m playing two-handed with these characters: ...

I forgot that I had pre-ordered this game, and so it was a nice surprise when it arrived. It will be the first game I will play on my new board gaming table in my dedicated playroom1. I have set the board up for a two player game, but naturally only I am playing it. There is a solo variant that I might have a look at as well, but two-handed solo works for me. ...

Hello all and welcome to the latest edition of Retrograde Online. In this post I detail how I am once again pushing back against the feelings of boredom and restlessness and trying to reverse some of the entropy of the universe. Cuba Libre I recently bought Cuba Libre and was immediately into the complexity of it. I have never played a COIN1 game before, and Cuba Libre was apparently the best one to get started with learning the rules. ...

Another night where I resisted the urge to play Halls of Hegra and focused on The Lord of the Rings LCG instead. Yesterday I had a go at the first quest A Shadow of the Past, and you may remember I was being a massive dumbass and not resolving Hide effects, so gave up. Well I am happy to say that tonight I did not forget to do any Hide tests. ...

Tonight I actually sat down at my kitchen table, turned off Ricky Royal’s playthrough of the Halls of Hegra and set up my scenario for The Lord of the Rings LCG. I have already built my decks according to the Fellowship of the Ring guide, so I have a Gandalf, Eowyn, and Thodred deck, and a hobbit deck of Sam, Merry, and Pippin. It took a long time to get through the first round as I was constantly checking the rulebook to make sure I was correctly doing the action windows. I’m not even sure I was so I will watch Colin’s playthrough of A Shadow of the Past again to make sure I’m doing it right. ...