Disclosure: While LayerUp Games did buy this bundle with real money, a 20% discount was provided by BoardGameWow on the understanding that a review would be published.
Inside this Post
- BoardGameWow Etsy Deluxe Bundle Comnponents
- General Construction Notes
- Component Reviews
- Should You Buy These?
The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship is a cooperative game designed by Matt Leacock and based on his Pandemic System. It made quite a splash when it came out last year, with lots of positive reviews (and one fairly consistent complaint: many believe the board is too small).
Its popularity has led to a host of aftermarket upgrades. Perhaps the most common are unofficial playmats that provide the same functionality as the game board at a much larger size (this review used the excellent Gripmats playmat, which is no longer available). However, there are also replacement meeples, tokens, card trays, and other upgrades available for purchase or 3d printing.
Deluxe Bundle Components
BoardGameWow sells several of these via their Etsy shop, and this is a review of all the components in their Deluxe Bundle, which contains:
- A set of two card trays
- Two-slot (draw and discard) tray for player cards
- Three-slot (draw, resolve, discard) tray for shadow cards
- Replacement heart, sword, cloak, and ring tokens
- A four-slot tray for those tokens
- Troop holders
- Four-slot tray for armies of the free peoples
- Bowl for armies of shadow
- Miniatures for all havens, strongholds, and Mount Doom with bases for them (except Mount Doom) and white LED “balloon lights”
- Replacement Hope and Threat trackers
As each of the above is also sold separately (except the Hope and Threat trackers, which don’t appear to be on the store listing anymore), I’ll be giving them each a separate review section.
General construction notes
- All elements are 3d printed in PLA, transparent PLA, and/or silk PLA.
- Many elements have then been hand-painted and/or washed to draw out the detail.
- The stronghold miniatures and army tray/bowl set are available in two sizes:
- Original − for use with the standard board
- Large (depicted) − for use on 3rd party playmats
- All trays and bowls (cards, armies, tokens) have had appropriately-sized “grippy” feet attached, which appear to be made out of silicone.
Fate of the Fellowship Deluxe Bundle Component Reviews
Card trays review
At a glance
The card trays product is made up of one two-slot player card tray and one three-slot shadow card tray. The shadow card tray is made up of two pieces that connect together for use. All trays have silicone “grippy” feet attached to their bottoms. They are dark slate-grey in color with white highlights.
In use
These trays are sized in such a way that they overlay the card slots printed on the original board and replacement playmats, without taking up any additional space. My cards are not sleeved, but the trays appear to be sized to take sleeved cards if you prefer.
The grippy feet elevate them above the board/mat slightly, protect the surface from possible scratching, and help keep them being bumped out of alignment during play.
All slots have low sides that make it easy to take cards out of them, with the middle resolution slot on the shadow tray’s gap facing up towards the interior of the board.
Opinion: Very good!
These are very well designed as functional objects, and it’s clear that a lot of thought was put into them. The combination of the gaps in the sides and slight lift from the feet ensured I never once struggled to take cards from a tray.
I was initially a bit concerned that these might impact visibility for players on their side of the map. Their walls are fairly high (likely to accommodate sleeved decks). However, they work perfectly with the map’s design…the player tray is meant to go just below the furthest end of Mordor, where there isn’t much information to be blocked. The Shadow resolve and discard trays are noticeably lower than the draw deck one, helping to ensure they don’t block players’ view.
Artistically, they are very pretty and thematic, enhancing the game without distracting from it.
Upgraded tokens and token tray review
At a glance:
The tray is beige with a wash applied to accentuate details. Each token bay has slanted interior sides. Silk PLA gold finials decorate each corner. On the bottom of the tray there are grippy silicone feet that elevate it slightly, prevent movement, and protect your table.
The ring tokens appear to have been printed in gold silk PLA. They do have noticeable vertical seams on the outside and inside, but they are physically pretty close to flush with the surface of the ring.
Sword tokens and heart tokens are composites of two different colors, with visible ironing lines that I think actually enhance the look. Some of the tokens I received have slight gaps in a few interior points where lines of filament have not aligned perfectly, but they are not big enough to detract from the look.
The cloak tokens are the simplest design and are printed in a single dark green color. All of mine have shallow pockmarks on one side. Some of them have strings visible in the gap that serves as the top of the hood.
In use
Tokens have a nice heft to them and are easy to pick up from the table and (in particular) from the tray, thanks to its sloped interior sides.
Opinion: Good, except the cloaks
In my opinion, the cloaks do not look as nice as the other tokens. They kind of stick out and feel like an afterthought compared to the care taken elsewhere in this product. Add to that the visual print quality issues I mentioned above and it feels like there must be a better alternative out there if you want to bling out your game.
I really liked the sword and heart tokens. The visible seams on the rings are a shame, but otherwise they’re really nice.
Army tray and bowl review
At a glance
The free people army tray has a colored sticker in the bottom of each bowl indicating which faction goes where. While this does make setup easier, on mine it doesn’t appear to sit flush with the bottom of each bowl, and a few may be starting to peel.
Both the bowl and the tray have angled interior sides and sit on grippy silicone feet that keep them from scratching your board/table or moving. The free people tray’s shape as a series of four connected bowls mirrors the symbols in the upper-left corner of the board, and it is sized (depending on whether you pick original or large) to overlay that spot on the board/mat.
In use
Both the tray and the bowl have large interior cavities (though keep in mind this is the “large” product vs the “original”) which make it easy to see how many of each meeple type you have at a glance. They also appear to have plenty of room to accommodate larger replacements for the standard meeples if you wanted to use them.
Opinion: Good, with caveats
The glossiness of the stickers at the bottom of the bowls is a bit out of place with the rest of the tray. It looks a little cheap by comparison. The peeling is also a bit of a concern.
Otherwise, these work very well, and the large size could also be used with the stock board in a pinch. I like the idea of having room for upgraded replacements, as the meeples are especially tiny on a larger mat.
Stronghold and Haven miniatures review
At a glance:
All Stronghold and Haven miniatures are made up of two parts: a miniature and a base. Mount Doom has no base. They can be used without the base, but the base provides extra color recognition for their associated faction, and will also accommodate a LED “balloon light” (included) for lighting effects.
Extra bases are provided for when havens/strongholds are overthrown during the game.
While they look beautiful on the board without LED lights installed, they’re particularly striking with the LEDs (note that I used colorful LEDs in the below shot. I'm not sure how much of this color is due to the light and how much is due to the filament), as it’s clear a lot of thought has gone into placing gaps and transparent/silk filament to showcase a nice glow. That said, you may be giving up some clarity on the board if you dim the lights enough to really show off their effect.
In use:
It’s undeniable that these minis increase the thematic impact of the game and give players something neat to look at. They obviously do add to the amount of items on the board, and the effect can be particularly pronounced in the smaller provinces. The large size is not so big that it can’t be used on the original board in a pinch, although of course that will exacerbate the problem even more.
Large mini on the small board:
Opinion: Very pretty, and over the top
These are undeniably neat. That said, Fate of the Fellowship has always had a board clutter issue. Certainly the larger mat helps fix that (though the troops are now tiny), but using these miniatures will increase clutter again.
I think it’s probably still worth it on the mat…but even with a smaller size available I’d hesitate on the board.
One small issue: I appear to have been provided with two Moria strongholds instead of a Moria stronghold and an Erebor haven…but the two look similar enough that I can understand the mistake and guess other people won’t notice when they’re on the board. BoardGameWow guarantees 100% satisfaction, so I imagine they would sort this mistake out if it happened to your order.
Closer look at the Havens and Strongholds
Large Hope and Threat trackers review
At a glance:
The hope token is gold with white decoration on top. The threat token is red with a silver Sauron helmet. Both fit perfectly into the tracks printed on the Gripmat. They would be too big for the stock game board.
In use:
These slide easily across the mat and are much easier to see from a distance than the standard game-board-sized trackers would be.
Opinion: Great if you have a mat, unnecessary for the board
However these also appear to be unavailable at the moment.
Should you buy these?
Honestly, I’m not sure I can answer that for you. It’s going to depend a great deal on how you feel about the price tag (which seems reasonable for the amount of work involved in producing these, but may still be higher than you want to pay) and about The Fate of the Fellowship. If this is THE game for you…it may well be worth it. I can’t deny I’ve spent that kind of money on a game before, but I usually reserve outlays this significant for content rather than cosmetics.
You should be aware that if you get the whole bundle you may not be able to fit the trays in your game box (possibly they'll fit without an insert and the tower? I have not tried). I think BoardGameWow should consider making a custom, thematic box for all this stuff that they can also sell ;) It'd be particularly cool if they had named slots for each of the minis to make setup even easier.
That's all have to say on these. I hope the above has given you the information you need to make that decision for yourself!
If you would like to purchase some or all of these items (except the trackers, for now), you can find them all on BoardGameWow's Etsy shop.
Now…I have just one more thing to say: don’t talk to me or my son ever again.
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