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Welcome to another “Don’t buy this game if…”review , if this is your first, you can check out the other ones I wrote (Space Hulk, Descent and Dominion).
As with other titles, I do believe MEQ is an excellent game. Actually, it’s a game that hit the table night after night for more than a week, and every gaming session for two months after that. Nonetheless, I will try to give you some reasons not to invest your had earned money in this big and shiny box. Why? Mostly because I believe that MEQ is not a game for everyone and as much as some (like me) may find it really smashing, others may feel they bought something different from what they expected.
So, without further ado, let me give you reasons for not buying Middle-Earth Quest by Fantasy Flight Games:
1. Don’t buy this game if you’re looking for a typical adventure game. Middle-Earth quest is not a roll-and-move, happy-go-lucky game like Talisman or Runebound. For starters, one of the players is not a “hero” but Sauron, the Dark Overlord himself. He is constantly working against the rest of the players (or, to be more precise, the rest of the players are working against him, trying to foil his carefully laid-out plots), so definitely not every player has the same, light role. Also, the game needs concentration and is highly engaging, so you won’t have time to chat between the moves (something I actually like about Runebound – it’s a great game to crack open with a band of boardgaming friends you have not seen for a long time: you can play and have the opportunity to catch up, as it engages only one player at a time). The system that leads to the high level of in-game concentration is a thing that deserves it’s own point, though.
2. Don’t buy this game, if you like luck-based, American dice-fests, mainly because there are no dice included. It is true that the box contains heaps of trashy-style chrome, but it is certainly not an overproduced, random monster. The heroes use a hand of cards to move and fight (occasionally also for other, event card based purposes) and a clever hand management is a required skill. Also, since Sauron is usually getting stronger every turn, the hero players just have to plan ahead, knowing what their characters can and cannot do, basing their plans mostly on how many cards and what kind of symbols they have on them. Sometimes it pays of to take a risk of being held by a minor opponent just to replenish one’s hand and, after a quick victory, cover more land. Although Sauron does not base his actions on a similar hand of cards (the Sauron player has cards at his disposal, but these work completely different from what the heroes have), the Overlord player also needs to think ahead (usually even more than the players), for although he can hamper the heroes’ movement, he can also never dispose of them definitely (heroes are never killed – only “defeated” which makes them lose precious time and some resources).
3. Don’t buy this game, if you can’t stand Fantasy Flight rulebooks. Middle-Earth Quest is fairly complicated game, although after a few plays everything comes together as logical and streamlined. However, having a lot of aspects, elements and options requires a big, long rulebook to cover them all. The rulebook has nice, big font, lots of helpful diagrams, it’s laid out really well and ends up with an index. Still, I know that there are some people who fling into nerdrage just seeing the number 40 (yes, the MEQ rulebook is 40 pages wrong). If you’re one of them, don’t buy the game or buy it and ask a friend to copy the rulebook’s contents and put it in an image-free file, small font, black and white, 12 pages long.
4. Don’t buy this game, if you hate heavily themed fantasy games or J.R.R. Tolkien. For me, Middle-Earth Quest drips and oozes with theme and flavour. I’m a fan of The Professor and his work, I enjoy a well written fantasy novel or a well designed, fantasy themed game, but if you just want to buy the game for the clever hand-management mechanic and semi-area control, hoping you can get past the theme… well, I don’t really believe anyone would want to do that, but I just had to add the point for decency.
5. Don’t buy this game, if you love J.R.R. Tolkien and want to play one of your favourite characters. You won’t. The game is set in an about 20-year long period before the War of the Ring, and the players get to be a band of rather generic characters, solely invented for the game itself. You get a Rohirrim rider, a Gondorian noblewoman, a female Guardian, an elven ranger/archer and a dwarven warrior to choose from. Yes, they do have names but they lack any kind of back stories, which I personally found a bit off-putting (since, for example in Arkham Horror, you got a nice introduction for every single character). I’m an old roleplayer, so inventing the background information for every hero came naturally, but still, I felt a tad disappointed after opening the box, because I was genuinely interested in where the heroes came from and why they are doing what they are doing (apart from the sheer desire to fight for the Light).
6. Don’t buy this game if you want to face-off and slay hundreds of monsters and feel like the Middle-Earth’s heroes of old. You will get almost none of that. The hero player’s are powerful, usually able to survive a battle (easily killing weaker monsters, surviving or occasionally slaying the stronger ones and the minions), but killing the Enemy’s servants is not the key. Some even say, that the heroes from the game are not very “Tolkien-esque” in terms of how weak they are when facing multiple opponents on a single turn. To me, MEQ feels very much like what you find in the books concerning all the characters that had to slip unnoticed, under the ever-watchful, lidless Eye (like Aragorn leading the Hobbits out of Bree) or travel with great speed to be ahead of the sevants of evil (like Gandalf, looking for information and council about the Ring). They usually are able to dispose of most of the foes Sauron can throw at them, but they do risk being delayed in the fulfilment of their mission.
7. Don’t buy this game if you are hoping for equipment-based development. It is true that characters develop in an interesting way (getting new cards for their deck and raising their attributes) but you only get three items per hero. Like I said before, MEQ is not your typical adventure game, an it also applies here. No Magic Swords, no plus five Wands of Trollslaying, no new spells to cast. If you were hoping to find hundreds of nicely illustrated and strangely named items and abilities, you are certainly not in for a treat. The only items you get are: a horse, and elven cloak and a boat, you can carry around. Wait a second… a boat? A pocket sized boat? An inflatable boat? Never mind, it’s magic!
8. Don’t buy this game if you want a lot of characters to choose from, because you’re getting only five. This means, that after a few games you will know exactly what each of them is capable of. No great surprises here. On the other hand, being familiar with the characters’ decks and abilities is extremely valuable for both: the Sauron player and an effective group of heroes.
9. Don’t buy this game if your game group sucks at co-ops. Yes, I know I had the same point in my Descent review, but it is one hundred percent applicable in the case of MEQ. A group of hero players goes against a single, sinister mind with lots of possibilities to choose from. If all the hero players first and foremost look to enhance the power and abilities of their characters, Middle-Earth is bound to fall to the Shadow (unless, that is, the Sauron player is as competent as a chimpanzee). The heroes have to cooperate, plan together and learn to work effectively to counter Sauron’s actions.
10. Don’t buy this game if you hate Arkham Horror for its mechanics. Middle-Earth Quest is somewhat similar: there are specific chits you need to gather (Clues in AH and Favours in MEQ), the heroes can never die (I know there is a way to be eliminated in AH, but, really, how often does that happen?), and they can help each other out mainly by exchanging items, Favours and quests while at the same location. Both games share a great downtime… which is mostly not really downtime at all (planning the actions together as heroes, or having a close eye on what the next steps of the hero-players may be, while playing Sauron, plotting and modifying one’s schemes) and a valuable resource gathering system (the aforementioned Clues and Favours), so if you totally and absolutely dispase everything Arkham Horror, chances are you will hate Middle-Earth Quest as well.
11. Don’t buy this game if you love Arkham Horror and want a fantasy-themed copy of it. Although both games utilize similar ideas and mechanics, they do play quite differently. The main point is that you do not get a clever card-and-arrow based AI to grind you, you get a (hopefully) clever and formidable human being as an opponent. A human being who has a lot of options, who observes and reacts accordingly to what you do as heroes. As Sauron, you are playing a game that is completely unlike Arkham Horror (since there is no living counterpart of the Sauron player in AH), having to deal with very mobile and quite powerful heroes. So don’t be misguided by the favour-gathering system and the square monster chits: these games are similar but by far not identical.
12. Don’t buy this game if you hate everything that stands for Euro-styled games. I know this may sound contradictory or even ridiculously, but as I’ve pointed out earlier, Middle-Earth Quest utilizes some clever mechanisms that work very well, but are still somewhat abstract (the hand-management and the excellent combat system), which may be really off-putting for a hardcore American-style gamer. I know that I already wrote points about MEQ not being your regular adventure game and about not being a dice-fest, but I still feel that in some aspects it plays so much different than seemingly similar games, that it needs highlighting once more. To put it bluntly: if the reveal one card at the same time – check the result combat system from Lord of The Rings: Confrontation makes you hopelessly nauseous (I know it’s a simplification, but still…) you may rethink buying MEQ.
13. Don’t buy this game if you hate everything that stands for Ameritrash. Despite clever hand management and an interesting bluff-logics based combat mechanism, Middle-Earth Quest is a lot of what the American-style games stand for. You still have some random elements (like the event cards), you play with miniatures representing characters, there are no meeples and the only wood you find inside is the one processed into becoming cardboard and paper.
14. Don’t buy this game if you can’t stand a handful of typos and some broken miniatures. Unfortunately, FFG went a little too fast with releasing MEQ, which resulted in some minor mistakes on the cards and a painful mistake on the board (Sea of Udun), which may make a hardcore fan of Tolkien squeal in pain. Also, there is a chance you will get some bent and/or broken miniatures with your box. If having to wait a couple of days for replacements (it took the replacements a little over two weeks to arrive – but I live in Poland) puts you off, save your money for something else, because chances are that you will find some broken axes/sabers/hands/legs in the box you open.
15.. Don’t buy this game if you only collect the FFG coffin boxes and/or standard square boxes, and have shelves that perfectly support those… this one will fit nowhere.
16. Don’t buy this game if you want something as big and time-consuming as War of the Ring. Although it took me 4 hours to play MEQ for the first time, once everyone knows what they’re doing, the game plays fairly quickly (as for a rather monstrous adventure game, that is) and can easily fit in 2-2.5 hours (for 2-3 players, I haven’t yet played it with 4 or 5)
17. Don’t buy this game if you don’t own a big table. Although I don’t find Middle-Earth Quest overproduced (all of the components have a use, not much space is wasted on needles doodads), it still takes a lot of space. Not as much as World of Warcraft: the Board Game (my personal high-score table space consumer), but still a lot. Not only that, the gameboard is made of two separate elements, which do not stick together by any means (just the size and shape of the board from War of the Ring), so it’s prone to easily split, especially if you have a table too small to support the whole thing (as it is in my case: about an inch of the board goes over the tabletop on one side), sometimes causing a small scale cataclysm (but luckily, there are no locations on the edge, so the scale of the cataclysm is actually quite small).
Conclusion
I think the 17 points above summarize what most people may have against Middle-Earth Quest. Like I said, I find it to be an excellent game, at the same time having a potential of being a major disappointment for some people willing to buy it blindfolded. So, if any two or three above points apply to you, you should probably rethink ordering the game without a prior game session. It may just turn out that MEQ was not what you were looking for…
If, on the other hand, you find most of my points minor drawbacks (or even advantages of the game), I think you may decide in favour of buying the game, especially that with the right group of people it will hit the table quite often, being quite satisfactory and yet leaving some time for a smaller title or some fillers on the same game night.
PS. If you liked this review, check out my other Don’t buy this game if… reviews.
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Well done, that is a f**king outstanding contribution 
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Rauli Kettunen
Finland
Oulu
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
irondeav wrote: 16. Don’t buy this game if you want something as big and time-consuming as War of the Ring. Although it took me 4 hours to play MEQ for the first time, once everyone knows what they’re doing, the game plays fairly quickly (as for a rather monstrous adventure game, that is) and can easily fit in 2-2.5 hours (for 2-3 players, I haven’t yet played it with 4 or 5)
MEQ with 2 takes about 90 minutes max these days, 75 or less is fairly common. War of the Ring is under 2 hours as well.
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Bob McFadden
Canada
Ontario
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Well done - first time i have seen your "don't buy thus if ..." format but it is a great idea. In telling us what it is not, you by definition tell us a lot about what it is & I found this much easier to read and stay with that most reviews. I would say the majority of people on BGG are very knowledgeable about other games so comparing it and contrasting it to other games (such as Arkham Horror and War of the Ring) seems to work beautifully - It certainly helped me understand more about this game.
Hope you stay with this format !
Thanks,
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Jennifer Schlickbernd
United States
Pasadena
California
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Great review style, I like it 
I don't know how you would word this, but this game is really for Tolkein 'fanboys'. This game will not resonate well with fans who haven't read the books or just heard about the movies and are expecting a game that would address their level of knowledge. For them I'd recommend the Lord of the Rings game by Knizia.
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Pelein de Cratia
Spain
Guayota City
Nivaria
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
MEQ is a game. Runebound is part of your live. 
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Konstantin Ilchenko
Ukraine
Kyiv
Kyiv
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
pelein wrote: MEQ is a game. Runebound is part of your live.
Yess!!!
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Roland Wood
United States
Visalia
California
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
This review reminds me of that old job interview tactic:
Employer: "What are your weaknesses if any?"
Applicant: "Sometimes I am too empathetic and helpful. I tend to try and smooth over conflict and work a bit too much at keeping the peace. I also tend to work too hard...."
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Milvus
Ireland
Wicklow Town
Co. Wicklow
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
I shouldn't have bought this game 
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Don't read this review if you want to stay blissfully ignorant to Middle-Earth Quest! 
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Joe Fling
United States
Texas
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
I bought this game and have played it well over 50 times. While it is not quiet the game War of the Ring is, i really do enjoy playing it and would recomend it to any board game geek. This game is just itching to be expanded. When the expansion come out (and one eventually will) it will go from a good game, to a great game.
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Marco Poutré
Canada
St-Jean-sur-Richelieu
Quebec
Yes... I still like 'em 28 years later...
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
joefling34 wrote: I bought this game and have played it well over 50 times. While it is not quiet the game War of the Ring is, i really do enjoy playing it and would recomend it to any board game geek. This game is just itching to be expanded. When the expansion come out (and one eventually will) it will go from a good game, to a great game.
Don't want to derail the thread (Actually, it may be a good idea to start a new one) but I'm curious as to what they could do to expand the game.
New heroes is a no-brainer, though their "class" and origins would have to be stretched a bit (Remember that hobbits are downright clueless about anything out of the Shire pre-LOTR). New characters would be welcomed but would have to come with new Event cards so they could see some play. Maybe a new deck for Sauron and new monsters? New quests and maybe more variety for them (Exploring locations is pretty much all you get).
I'm not a big fan of this type of "reverse-psychology" review but I think a careful reader will have noticed that the author mostly recommends the game.
-Marcon
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Nick Bornschein
Germany
Darmstadt
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Quote: MEQ with 2 takes about 90 minutes max these days, 75 or less is fairly common. War of the Ring is under 2 hours as well.
The game really takes only max. 1.5 hours to play for 2? How fast do players internalise the rules in your opinion?
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Rauli Kettunen
Finland
Oulu
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Kopernikus wrote: Quote: MEQ with 2 takes about 90 minutes max these days, 75 or less is fairly common. War of the Ring is under 2 hours as well. The game really takes only max. 1.5 hours to play for 2? How fast do players internalise the rules in your opinion?
That's the time in our games, I know we tend toward the faster end of the scale. MEQ is pretty much about getting the turn sequence down. Once you have that, it'll flow very smoothly (and fast). 2-3 games and you should have the game down to a pat rules-wise.
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Nick Bornschein
Germany
Darmstadt
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Thx.
I'm still thinking about buying the game, but my husband never liked War of the Ring because of its complexity and lenght... 
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Rauli Kettunen
Finland
Oulu
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Kopernikus wrote: Thx. I'm still thinking about buying the game, but my husband never liked War of the Ring because of its complexity and lenght...
Just as a reference for my game lenghts, 2 games of WotR this month, first took 1h 45 min, second 75 min.
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Who Am I Now?
United States
Rochester
Minnesota
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
I like this quote:
irondeav wrote: 3. Don’t buy this game, if you can’t stand Fantasy Flight rulebooks. Middle-Earth Quest is fairly complicated game, although after a few plays everything comes together as logical and streamlined. However, having a lot of aspects, elements and options requires a big, long rulebook to cover them all. The rulebook has nice, big font, lots of helpful diagrams, it’s laid out really well and ends up with an index. Still, I know that there are some people who fling into nerdrage just seeing the number 40 (yes, the MEQ rulebook is 40 pages wrong).
Seems like I've come across some other games like that...
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Nick Bornschein
Germany
Darmstadt
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Uh, thanks. That's a pleasant time.
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Larry Cross
United States
Dallas
Texas
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Love it.... superb perspective. These 17 points provide amazing clarity into why I like this game vs every adventure game I've played thus far.
Thanks - Larry
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Sam Butler
United States
Fort Walton Beach
Florida
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Roliander wrote: This review reminds me of that old job interview tactic:
Employer: "What are your weaknesses if any?"
Applicant: "Sometimes I am too empathetic and helpful. I tend to try and smooth over conflict and work a bit too much at keeping the peace. I also tend to work too hard...."
Do you also tend to go after your girlfriend's job? (Great to see another Office fan on here!)
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Wolbert van Wageningen
Netherlands
Winsum (Gn)
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Marcon wrote: [q="joefling34"]
Don't want to derail the thread (Actually, it may be a good idea to start a new one) but I'm curious as to what they could do to expand the game.
what about:
Easterlings going rogue on Sauron
Rebellious OrcsTom Bombadill
Ancient Elven races
mini games in locations
battles for heroes and followers
hero allies
sea battles
....
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Joe Wasserman
United States
Portland
Oregon
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
One of the best reviews I've ever read! Thank you so much! I sincerely hope you keep doing this kind of review, since I'm looking for things to deter me from buying games... and this makes it sound like I'd love it! Unfortunately, I just don't have room for it right now... Anyway, terrific, informative, and humorous review style. Thanks again.
Oh, and i should mention that this entirely negative review prompted me to add Middle-Earth Quest to near the top of my wishlist.
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Excellent review, I really, really like this. I can get mechanisms and hype and "good stuff" from other reviews, and your review style points out the "dark side". Not "flaws" but the things to consider.
Very good.
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Harri Toijala
Finland
Valkeakoski
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Excellent format!! Please, keep these coming...
BTW. Just ordered the game. I was interested before but your points #12 and #13 together finally made my mind.
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Re: ["Don't buy this game if..." #4] Middle-Earth Quest: don’t buy this game if…
Reviews like this are really helpful! Thanks!
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Posted Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:33 pm
