Ares Games The Battle of Five Armies Board Game

Product Information

The Battle of Five Armies features a game board representing the Eastern and Southern spurs of the Lonely Mountain and the valley they encircle, and a number of plastic figures representing troops, heroes and monsters.

The Battle of Five Armies is a two-players game that allows you to re-create the epic conclusion of The Hobbit, the world-renowned masterpiece by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Shadow player commands the armies of Bolg, the King of the Goblins of Mount Gundabad, while the Free Peoples player is in control of Men, Dwarves, and Elves, led by Gandalf to fend off the goblin army. The Battle of Five Armies – based on the climax of JRR Tolkien's novel The Hobbit – pits the hosts of the Elvenking, the Dwarves of Dain Ironfoot, and the Men of the Lake led by Bard the Bowman against a horde of Wolves, Goblins and Bats led by Bolg, son of Azog. Will Gandalf turn the tide for the Free Peoples? Will the Eagles arrive, or Beorn come to the rescue? Or will Bilbo the Hobbit perish in a last stand on Ravenhill? The Shadow player commands the armies of Bolg, son of Azog, the King of the Goblins of Mount Gundabad, while the Free Peoples player is in control of Men, Dwarves and Elves, led by Gandalf to fend off the goblin army. Once the game board is set up (the game has a static setup) and players have chosen their side, you are ready to begin. The game is played over a series of rounds, each of which is divided into 6 Phases.The game is played over a series of turns, with each turn consisting of two phases: the action phase and the event phase. Action Phase: Combat: Combat is resolved by rolling custom dice, with each unit type having a different set of symbols on the dice. Movement: Each unit has a set movement range, which is represented by a number on the unit’s base. Units can move up to their full movement range or any lesser distance. Players must carefully position their units to gain tactical advantages. TheBattle of Five Armiesis a two-players game that allows you to re-create the epic conclusion of The Hobbit, the world-renowned masterpiece by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Those are fairly brief explanations of what the dice do. In addition to those results, cards can be played on any die result where the symbol matches the symbol on the card. Overall there are a lot of ways to use your dice on a turn. To achieve these design goals, the designers chose to use a combination of mechanics that would allow for both tactical maneuvering and epic battles. They chose to use a combination of area control, card management, and custom dice rolling to simulate the different aspects of the battle. Units: The stalwart warriors of the Free Peoples – Elves, Dwarves and Men – formed an uneasy alliance to defend the Lonely Mountain and the treasure of Smaug. Now, they are facing the endless horde of minions of the Necromancer. The Shadow Armies, led by Bolg, son of Azog, are going to sweep the ruins of Dale and the Front Gate with an unstoppable onslaught. Shadow Player: Control 10 Victory Points worth of Settlements For the most part, combat works well. The damage counters can get a little unwieldy, but expect combat to be fierce and frequent. Game Experience: Finally, I have to say that I absolutely love the hero characters in the game. Each one feels unique and contributes to the game in different ways. As the Shadow player, I’m completely jealous of the Free Peoples pile of characters they get to use when I only have one. Although Bolg is an absolutely monster in combat, you have to balance bringing him with an army vs risking his death (and losing the game). The Free People have that same risk, but they have more characters to part with (Bard always seems to die in our games). The Free People will be using settlements to muster more troops to the game board, while the Shadow Player must take these locations to win. Final Thoughts:The Battle of Five Armies is a fantasy war game for 2 players published by Ares Games. The game takes about 90-120 minutes to play. Game Overview: