The Pandemic game to rule them all

🌋 Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is an epic cooperative game based on the Pandemic system but it is certainly the one that feels the least like Pandemic thanks to some tweaks and fresh ideas.  While it borrows elements from others in the series, it truly stands apart - let's do a brief overview. 🙃

📜 Similar to Wrath of the Lich King, you need to complete Quests in order to win the game. There are always 3 random quests, followed by the final challenge: you have to destroy the One Ring by throwing into Mount Doom.

🏳️ As usual there are multiple things you want to avoid, but instead of tracking several loss conditions, everything is funneled into the hope track. If that runs out, Sauron wins. 😱

🎲 Instead of disease cubes, you fight Shadow troops. There are also no outbreaks when more than 3 are at a location, and for combat you need to have troops present, and roll dice too. There is also a cool Eye of Sauron dice tower. 😉

🥾 Like in Fall of Rome, Troops move along lines as dictated by the threat cards you draw at the end of each turn. Multiple invasion lines intersect making things more unpredictable and exciting: an army might move forward, then pivot directions based on the next card.

👥 Each player controls 2 characters but only has 1 hand of cards. You take 4 actions with one character and 1 with the other each turn. This adds a fun strategic flexibility, as you can be present in different places at once. Characters also have asymmetrical abilities as usual in Pandemic, but here they are even more diverse.

🃏 Last but not least, cards work differently. You are not collecting sets for curing diseases, nor can you use cards to fly around the map. Instead, you use suits to muster troops, reroll dice, sneak around and complete quests. Cards are always high in demand!

I think it's all masterfully crafted together, invoking the theme of Lord of the Rings - and you are immediately thrown into the epic conflict in Middle-Earth. Fate of the Fellowship might be the Pandemic game to rule them all. 😁