My take on MEQ after one play

Middle Earth Quest arrived at my FLGS this Thursday, so I picked it up hot off the UPS truck just in time to plough through the rules and get it to the table at my regular Thursday night gaming group. If you want the short assessment after a single play - it is fresh, innovative and fun and I would highly recommend it. Now, on to the particulars...

Production:
Typically, high quality FFG production as you would expect. Two things of note: the minis are made of a brittle plastic that is much more detailed than previous efforts (I’m looking at you mushy, bendy War of the Ring minis!). This is great as they are quite detailed (the Ringwraiths are actually a collection of multiple minis on a single base - cool!), but it is bad in that two of the minis arrived broken. Unfortunately, this seems to be the norm. Of all of the early reviews that I have seen, all have had broken minis. Sorry Thaaad, you are going to be busy with this one! It wasn’t something some quick super glue couldn’t fix, but still annoying. The second item of note: The map. I’m not sure if I like the art style or not yet. It is super realistic in a Google maps kind of way which is artistically nice, but is somewhat irritating during game play. The labels for the locations are quite tiny which can make some locations hard to find from across the table. I actually think for game play sake I would have preferred a less photorealistic design on the map. Something with more contrast between the locations and the background like the second edition Arkham Horror board. Either way, it IS a beautiful and well laid out board.
Cards, cards, cards - lots of beautiful cards! Very nice quality (like the Cosmic Encounter cards in quality) with great art work and flavor text.

Mechanics:
I won’t go into the rules at length other than to say that the turns are quite procedural which makes it very easy to digest the rules quickly. In fact, you can go through the rules at the table by going through the first turn as a way of teaching the game. In my group, everyone seemed to grasp the gist of the flow of play very quickly. The goal of the game is for one side (heroes as a group vs. Sauron individually) advance their “plot” to the finale space in order to instantly win via a secret objective card that was dealt randomly to each side at the beginning of the game. If you get to the end of the plot track and you haven’t completed your secret object, then the winner is decided by a final battle between one hero and the Ringwraiths. The plots advance differently for each side. The heroes advance their one plot token on the track automatically at the start of the Sauron players turn. This is a great way of having a built in “clock” to the game ensuring that most games will last the same amount of time. The Sauron player advances three plot tokens based on putting plot cards into play. One of the major goals of the hero players is to disrupt the Sauron player by remove these plots from the locations that they are played.

In essence, the hero players and the Sauron player are playing two distinct games against each other. The hero game is about completing quests, removing Sauron’s influence and plots, and surviving until their plot token reaches the finale. The Sauron player is attempting to spread influence, put plot cards into play, and to attack and slow down the hero players. These two “games” work against each other in a very cool and innovative way. The game experience drastically changes depending on which “team” you are playing. I played as the Sauron player my first game and I can’t wait to try the hero’s side next game.

Combat is handled without dice by using cards or two types: melee and ranged. Combat rounds consist of each side playing on card, dealing the damage to each side, and determining if you have strength left to continue to another round. Very quick and the decision of which combat cards to play can be quite agonizing as each attack card has some special ability that applies to a card that your opponent might play this round or the next. The combat system doesn’t bog the game down while at the same type it provides enough tactical decision making so that it doesn’t feel like a random-fest.

Speaking of cards, they way that they are used outside of combat is very innovative. Every hero character starts with 25 cards. These represent your life pool. You must use cards to move and do battle and when you do they go into a separate pile as your rest pool. If you take damage you take cards off the top of your life pool and place them in a separate damage pool. The only way to get the cards out of your rest pool is to rest on your turn (which increases the Sauron player’s plot token) which allows you re-shuffle your rest pool back into your life pool (you can get you damage pool back too, but it is more difficult). If at any time your life pool is empty of cards, you die (don’t worry, Eugene, you don’t actually die - there is no player elimination in this one). So, managing these cards is one of the big tasks for the hero players.

Of course, there is much more going on in the game, but these are the major mechanics the grabbed my attention

Bottom line:
This is now THE pre-eminent adventure game in my view and I think repeated plays will put this in my top three games of 2009. Everything that was stale and shallow about typical adventure games (roll a die, have an encounter, level up stats) has been completely turned on its head in Middle Earth Quest. It is challenging, innovative, and FUN. It truly does feel like a struggle to control Middle Earth and I think this is a game that will get a lot of plays in my group. If you love theme, narrative, and immersion then Middle Earth Quest will meet your expectations. I highly recommend it!

Great write up! I have to say, this is not my usual bag man, but it sounds intriguing.

Great first-play review. Adventure games are my usual bag and I was prepared to write off MEQ as "another adventure" game but it is sounding really intriguing. What was your play time at? I've heard others say 2.5 hours. I'm hoping that will be the average as I think 2 hours is the sweet spot for adventure games.

It's interesting, but it really sounds like this game inverts the usual overlord mechanic.

It's not Sauron trying to stop the heroes, it's the Heroes trying to stop Sauron. They are basically running around trying to put out Sauron's little fires while completing their own objectives.

OK - this is starting to get bad. I intended to leave this alone on both financial considerations (having bought Innsmouth and Pegasus recently) and just so many games (including War of the Ring) that need lots of table time ..... but it is getting my interest.

Southernman wrote:

OK - this is starting to get bad. I intended to leave this alone on both financial considerations (having bought Innsmouth and Pegasus recently) and just so many games (including War of the Ring) that need lots of table time ..... but it is getting my interest.

Tell me about it. I had just made up my mind to hurry the hell up and buy the FFG edition of Talisman and now this. Sounds like they might be different enough adventure games to have both, but which one first? My head (and wallet) hurts just thinking about it.

Great quick review. I started reading the rules tonight and I must have been tired because I started to drift off. I think your right on the mark by saying the rules are very procedural (pick card, play cards, pick up crap, etc) which means that the rules are boring to read and learn but they work sitting down and playing game. I'll give it a try learning the rules that way this weekend.

Uba is right about GMing boardgames. I would hate to the GM in Doom, Descent or Fury of Dracula but for some reason I don't think I'll have any problem playing the Shadow player in MEQ.

Our first play time was 3.5 hours with four players, but that included rules and consulting the rule book at various spots to make sure we were doing things right. If you know what you are doing, I can definitely see this getting around 2.5 hours. The player turns move pretty quick.

ubarose wrote:

That does sound interesting. I usually don't like games where someone has to essentially be the DM, because everyone always wants to be the heroes, so the game never gets played. This sounds like Sauron really gets to play, rather than be responsible for "running"the game.

For sure. The Sauron player doesn't GM/DM like other overlord games. He just plays his influence game against the heroes. It does seem that in the beginning the person who knows the rules best will be Sauron, but that doesn't mean they will have to just sit there and run the game. Playing Sauron is a lot of fun.

This one may be next after Cosmic Encounter...

I soloed twice to learn the game and we had two 4 player games going on at the same time tonight at game night. After 1 full play, I'd have to say, Corey Konieczka has done it again. It's now 3 near brilliant games in row (StarCraft, BSG and MEQ). Two of the guys at game night said they like MEQ even better than Arkham Horror because your competing against a player vs. the deck or game. I don't think the game is perfect but just like Arkham Horror I find myself want to play it again as soon as possible.

My favorite game of 2007 = StarCraft
My favorite game of 2008 = BSG
So far this is my favorite game of 2009 = MEQ

My vote for the the worst game reviewer of 2009. The guy who reviewed MEQ even before he saw the game = SW

KingPut wrote:

Uba is right about GMing boardgames. I would hate to the GM in Doom, Descent or Fury of Dracula but for some reason I don't think I'll have any problem playing the Shadow player in MEQ.

Woah! You think playing Dracula in FoD is an experience like being a GM? Man, you really need to try the old-fashioned version!

flim_flam:

If you know what you are doing, I can definitely see this getting around 2.5 hours. The player turns move pretty quick.

If this prediction proves true then I'm becoming more interested in getting this, although the UK price is a very hefty chunk of change to drop on a board game. I'll have to keep an eye on play time estimates as people get in more and more plays of the game. I know the "official" line is 3 hours, but "offical" play times are often short on reality by an hour or two.

The two games last night clocked in at 2:30 and 3:15. However, I can understand how games could take 4-5 hours.

Both games were with 4 new players. My game was the 3:15 game. I play quick and I push players to play fairly quickly vs. over analyzing cards. Our game took longer because it was very close and went the full 10 turns. The other game went real quick because the Shadow player ran away with the game early so that game took only about 6 turns vs. 10 turns for a full length game.

Personally, I would rather play the game with only 3 players. There less down time. And the game should be about 1/2 hour shorter. You don't lose anything playing with 3 vs. 4 players.

MattDP wrote:

KingPut wrote:

Uba is right about GMing boardgames. I would hate to the GM in Doom, Descent or Fury of Dracula but for some reason I don't think I'll have any problem playing the Shadow player in MEQ.

Woah! You think playing Dracula in FoD is an experience like being a GM? Man, you really need to try the old-fashioned version!

Amen.

When this comes out to the table I usually say "I will wrestle you to play Dracula." That's where the fun is to me. However, I've been known to get bossy with the other hunters as well (Grudunza wrote an article about it), so it's probably in everyone's best interests.

MEQ is definitely rising in interest as we continue to discuss it.