by Cain.rpgorg in Mar 14,2012

   The new board game from Wizkids, the intriguing The Lords of The Rings: Nazgul is due to release at May 16. There is few thing we already know about the title, but there are already some info available now, before the official previews start in April.

  I have to say that the game is promising with it's theme and good look. But while I really like the Nazgul figures too, this is a game I will definitely pass. Why ? Because it's insane price tag.

But back on that later.

The game

    In The Lord of the Rings: Nazgul the players are Nazguls in the service of Sauron. As the game goes they have two thing to worry about : they must stop the enemies of Sauron, while proving that they are the best of the Nazguls by collecting the most victory points, so one day they may replace the Witch King.

   So they must stop the cursed hobbits, crush the remaining resistance of the men, finish quests and collect victory points. It's important to point out, that regardless how many victory points they collect they all lose if they can't finish the main quests, and the One Ring is destroyed. (so in the novels our Nazguls definitely failed they task. Maybe they spent to much time with rivalry ?)

And the bad news...

The game comes with the following components : 5 pre-painted minia,tures, about 200 cards and 200 wooden cubes, a handful of counters and tokens, and some paper sheets. And the cost ? $75 (or more, depending on some sources)

I have to say, that the price is plainly ridiculous. As a comparison a 6-figure Fast Forces pack for HeroClix cost about $12, which feature miniatures with the same quality (also from WizKids), plus a 2 sided map and 2 dice. So if I don't count the miniatures, does the other components warrant a price tag of $65+ ? Definitely no, at least not for me, and it seems that there are others who feel the same (link).

  Of course, I know that WizKids is used to somewhat overprice it's boardgames, and it was a deciding factor to me to don't consider a purchase either with Star Trek: Fleet Captains and MageKnight. They are good, but not that good for me. On the other hand I purchased Quarriors! from them, but that was a love for the first sight.

Regardless, I'll try out the game if I can, but I won't even consider a purchase for this cost. I hope they will settle with a more reasonable price.

Zoltán "Cain" Mészáros