# War of the Ring: The Card Game

War of the Ring: The Card Game is a board game for 2–4 players. It plays in 90–120 minutes and is meant for ages 13 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 4. It is rated 8 out of 10 by 47 Ludoya reviewers. The cheapest copy in stock is $29.99 (United States).

- **Players:** 2–4 (best with 4)
- **Playing time:** 90–120 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 13+
- **Complexity:** 3 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2022
- **Categories:** Fantasy, Novel-based, Card Game
- **Mechanics:** Hand Management, Campaign / Battle Card Driven, Card Play Conflict Resolution, Team-Based Game
- **Ludoya rating:** 8 out of 10, from 47 reviews
- **Owned by:** 160 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 269
- **Unique players:** 355

**Designers:** Ian Brody

**Artists:** Ben Wootten, Dmitry Prosvirnin, Kuo Yang, Antonio De Luca, Jon Hodgson, Fabio Maiorana, Francesco Mattioli, Andrea Piparo, John Howe, Matteo Macchi

## Where to buy in United States

| Shop | Price | Link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Gamers Guild AZ | 29.99 $ | https://gamersguildaz.com/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Cardhaus Games | 34.49 $ | https://www.cardhaus.com/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game/ |
| Miniature Market | 35.99 $ | https://www.miniaturemarket.com/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-arewotr101.html |
| Atomic Empire | 35.99 $ | https://www.atomicempire.com/Item/320636 |
| Board Game Bliss | 44.95 $ | https://www.boardgamebliss.com/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| 401 Games | 44.95 $ | https://store.401games.ca/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Rampi Games | 33.02 € | https://www.rampigames.com/juego-de-mesa/guerra-del-anillo-el-juego-de-cartas/ |
| Mathom | 39.6 € | https://mathom.es/es/otros-juegos-de-cartas/51409-guerra-del-anillo-el-juego-de-cartas-8436589626737.html |
| eFantasy | 49.99 € | https://www.efantasy.gr/en/products/board-games/206103-board-game-war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Element Games | 44.99 £ | https://elementgames.co.uk/board-games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| World of Board Games | 279 kr | https://www.worldofboardgames.com/war-of-the-ring-against-the-shadow-exp |
| Dungeon Marvels | 27 € | https://dungeonmarvels.com/guerra-del-anillo-el-juego-de-cartas-castellano-72805.html |
| Outlet Games | 36.98 € | https://www.outletgames.es/juegos-de-mesa/devir/guerra-del-anillo-el-juego-de-cartas-p-DEV-8436589626737.html |
| Good Games | 61.21 $ | https://www.goodgames.com.au/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Juegos de la Mesa Redonda | 38.21 € | https://juegosdelamesaredonda.com/14782-la-guerra-del-anillo-el-juego-de-cartas-promo--8436589626737.html |
| Ludifolie | 39.9 € | https://www.ludifolie.com/16558-la-guerre-de-l-anneau-le-jeu-de-cartes.html |
| Va de jocs | 40.5 € | https://vadejocs.es/producto/guerra-del-anillo-el-juego-de-cartas |
| Philibert | 40.5 € | https://philibertnet.com/fr/nuts-publishing/123425-la-guerre-de-l-anneau-le-jeu-de-cartes-3770009354882.html |
| TLAMA games | 999 Kč | https://www.tlamagames.com/deskove-hry/valka-o-prsten--karetni-hra/ |
| Alphaspel | 499 kr | https://alphaspel.se/491-bradspel/167085-war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Spelexperten | 499 kr | https://www.spelexperten.com/sallskapsspel/kortspel/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game.html |
| Games Empire | 71.99 $ | https://gamesempire.com.au/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| El Nucli | 44.99 € | https://www.elnucli.es/products/guerra-del-anillo-el-juego-de-cartas |
| Spilforsyningen | 349.95 kr | https://spilforsyningen.dk/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Hyggeonkel | 349.95 kr | https://www.hyggeonkel.dk/produkt/war-of-the-ring-card-game |
| Zatu Games | 40.99 £ | https://zatu.com/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Gamers@Hart | 41 £ | https://gamersathart.co.uk/product/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game/ |
| Dragons Lair | 549 kr | https://dragonslair.se/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Travelling Man | 41.99 £ | https://travellingman.com/products/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game |
| Get Your Fun | 49.99 € | https://www.getyourfun.it/033087-la-guerra-dell-anello-il-gioco-di-carte-giochi-di-carte.html |
| Spielezar | 54.9 Fr. | https://www.spielezar.ch/kartenspiele/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-en |
| Nexus | 8495 kr | https://nexus.is/vara/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game/ |

## Expansions

- [War of the Ring: The Card Game – Against the Shadow](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-against-the-shadow)
- [War of the Ring: The Card Game – Fire and Swords](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-fire-and-swords)
- [War of the Ring: The Card Game – Pre-Order Promo Cards](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-pre-order-promo-cards)
- [War of the Ring: The Card Game – Fire and Swords: Promo Cards](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-fire-and-swords-promo-cards)
- [War of the Ring: The Card Game – Against the Shadow: Promo Cards](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-against-the-shadow-promo-cards)
- [War of the Ring: The Card Game – Hope and Despair](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-hope-and-despair)
- [War of the Ring: The Card Game – Hope and Despair: Promo Cards](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game-hope-and-despair-promo-cards)

## Similar games

- [War of the Ring: Second Edition](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-second-edition)
- [War of the Ring Collector's Edition](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-collectors-edition)
- [War of the Ring](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-2)
- [The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-fate-of-the-fellowship)
- [Middle-Earth Quest](https://www.ludoya.com/games/middle-earth-quest)
- [The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-journeys-in-middle-earth)
- [Skytear Horde: Monoliths](https://www.ludoya.com/games/skytear-horde-monoliths)
- [Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume Three](https://www.ludoya.com/games/unmatched-battle-of-legends-volume-three)
- [The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – Revised Core Set](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-card-game-revised-core-set)
- [The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-trading-card-game)
- [Hunt for the Ring](https://www.ludoya.com/games/hunt-for-the-ring)
- [Dragon Eclipse](https://www.ludoya.com/games/dragon-eclipse)

## Rules questions

### When can I activate or reactivate a battleground or path? Can a path be activated more than once?

Battlegrounds and paths are normally activated in the Location step by the starting player (place the card face up and resolve its activation text); battlegrounds can be activated or reactivated from a scoring area and have their activation text resolved again, while only one path can be active at a time and a specific path card cannot be activated more than once in the game (paths replaced by card text still resolve the replaced path’s combat immediately). (pp.8–9)

### If I pass during the Action step, can I act later, and what is the carryover limit?

You may pass and later take an action on a subsequent turn provided the Action step hasn’t ended; you are only allowed to pass when your hand size is less than or equal to your carryover limit or less than each enemy player, and every player’s starting carryover limit is 2 (the carryover limit is the maximum hand you may have at the end of the Action step). (p.10)

### Do I have to cycle a card when I play a card, and what if I want to play my last card in hand?

Every time you play a card you must immediately cycle a different card from your hand; if you wish to play the last card in your hand you must forsake a card instead because you have no other card to cycle. (p.10)

### Can I play an item onto a wielder in reserve and will the item move with the wielder?

Items are played onto a specified wielder and the wielder must generally already be in play, but an item’s own game text can create exceptions; when a wielder moves from reserve to a path or battleground, any items with that wielder move with it, and items are cycled or eliminated along with their wielder. (pp.11,15)

### How does path combat resolve — what cancels what and what happens to surviving cards?

Path combat counts attacking (skull) icons, cancels skulls first with defense icons on the path itself, then the Free Peoples must eliminate cards from the path to cancel any remaining skulls until none remain or they run out of cards; any leftover Free Peoples cards are cycled and all Shadow attackers are eliminated at the end of the path combat. (pp.14–15)

### How does battleground combat treat leadership icons and reactivated battlegrounds’ defense icons?

Leadership icons count only if the character has an army of the same faction on that battleground (an army can support only one character), and when a battleground is reactivated from an opponent’s scoring area the battleground’s shield icons are ignored during combat resolution even though the attackers/defenders and activation text still apply. (p.16)

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game)
- [War of the Ring: The Card Game in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/war-of-the-ring-the-card-game)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/362944)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-25. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._