Here is a Lord of the Rings game with an unusual twist: everyone plays both sides at once. In The Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict, each player simultaneously commands the armies of the Shadow and the Free Peoples, squaring off against their neighbours on both fronts. It gets a limited pre-release at Gen Con at the end of July before a full release on 6 November 2026.
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Set up your group for freeRather than lock you into Gondor or Mordor, Circle of Conflict is a dice game for 2 to 4 players that runs about an hour. You roll a handful of custom dice each turn and spend the results to move armies, bolster your forces or call on figures like Gandalf and the Witch-king. A hidden-movement element has you masking your own Fellowship's position while hunting your opponents'. The free side wins by guiding the Fellowship to Mount Doom or breaking the Shadow in battle, while the dark side wins by corrupting or destroying the Fellowship.
The design credits are worth a look. It comes from Geoff Engelstein, designer of Space Cadets and The Fog of War and the voice behind the long-running GameTek segments on The Dice Tower podcast, together with Stephen Buonocore, the founder of Stronghold Games. Publisher Office Dog is Asmodee's in-house studio, set up in 2022 to develop games with independent designers, with titles such as Word Traveler and River of Gold already behind it.
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Find events near youAt a $49.99 US price, this is one to watch for anyone who has worn out their copy of War of the Ring and fancies something lighter and faster. If you are heading to Gen Con, see who else is going.
Sources: Office Dog | Asmodee | BoardGameWire
