Fantasy Flight has a long track record of bringing amazing tabletop games to the hands of players. Tolkien fans will be excited to hear that the next game on the company’s list is a fantasy themed co-op game called Lord of the Rings: Journeys of Middle Earth.

The board game maker recently announced that the tabletop adventure will feature a blend of exploration and combat for up to five players complete with digital app support. Players will be able to gather a Fellowship of Heroes to explore the wilds of Middle Earth through a 14 chapter campaign. A smartphone/tablet can be used as a sort of Dungeon Master, controlling the game’s encounters and moving the story forward when necessary.

Players of games such as Mansions of Madness or Descent will find that Journeys in Middle Earth is fairly similar. Play within the game is split between two boards, the expanding Journey Map that adventurers can explore and the Battle Map that’s a smaller board reserved for combat encounters and features movable terrain. Depending on how each game goes, players can potentially never even need to use the combat map.

Rather than use dice for a skill check, Journeys in Middle Earth uses a card system that has fans draw from a deck according to their character’s stats. Over the course of play, players can grow their deck, swap out cards, or even use them to give a boost to certain abilities at the cost of removing them from play.

Players will be able to choose between a selection of characters such as Bilbo or Gimli, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. While these two are the only confirmed characters for the game, there are figures that indicate who will be revealed next:

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth game is set to arrive sometime during the second quarter of 2019, though no specific release date has been set. The game can be pre-ordered now for a price of $99.95. Let us know your thoughts on the Tolkien-inspired tabletop game and more in the comments section below. Don’t forget to also hit us up over on Twitter @Don’t Feed the Gamers for 24/7 coverage of all things gaming and entertainment.

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