Before we nose dive into this, I need to get something off my chest...
I'll be straight with you, because that's how I like to do things here at Astro Meeple Forge.
It genuinely pains me that I can't get a distributor to supply this game. If I could, I reckon I'd sell a thousand copies through sheer love alone. I'd be shouting about it to every customer who walked through my (virtual) door. This is the kind of game I want in people's hands — not because it'd move units, but because I think people who love Tolkien, who love co-op games, who love that feeling of a story unfolding on the table, deserve to experience it.
For now, all I can do is tell you how good it is and point you toward it. If you can find a copy, grab it. You won't regret it. It's actually the only board game I play solo.. I love it so much.
That aside, lets get into our Game of The Month
Game of the Month: The Lord of the Rings — Fate of the Fellowship
Every now and then a game lands on my table and reminds me exactly why I fell in love with this hobby. This month, that game is The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship — and I'll be honest with you up front: this one's personal.
What it is
Fate of the Fellowship is a cooperative game for 1–5 players, designed by Matt Leacock — the mind behind Pandemic. Each player controls two characters from across Middle-earth, lending their unique abilities to a single shared goal: protect Frodo, evade the Nazgûl and the searching Eye of Sauron, defend the havens of the Free Peoples, and ultimately get that cursed Ring to the fires of Mount Doom.
It's built on the bones of the Pandemic system, but if you're expecting Pandemic in a cloak, think again. Leacock has refined and reshaped his original formula so heavily that it's barely recognisable. The crucial DNA is there — escalating threats, shared decisions, that creeping sense of dread as the board turns against you — but everything has been rebuilt to serve the story.
Why it's my game of the month
Here's the thing that gets me about Fate of the Fellowship: it's so thematic it hurts.
I love games that make mechanics disappear into story, and this one does it better than almost anything I've played. You're not just moving tokens around a map. You're holding the line at Helm's Deep while the shadow spreads. You're agonising over whether to send a character to help Frodo or to defend a haven that's about to fall. You're watching the Eye of Sauron sweep across the board, hunting, and feeling that familiar Tolkien tension of so little time, so much at stake.
The other thing I adore is how it blurs genres. It plays like a war game and an RPG had a child. There's the troop movement, the strongholds, the battles at pivotal locations — that's your war-game brain firing. But then there's the character-driven side: 13 playable heroes, each with their own abilities and feel, each lending their personality to the unfolding story. You get attached to your characters. You make decisions as them. That mix of tactical depth and personal investment is rare, and it's exactly the kind of game I can't stop thinking about between sessions.
The replayability is real
One of my biggest fears with a heavily themed game is that it becomes a one-and-done — beautiful the first time, shelved by the third. Fate of the Fellowship dodges that completely. With 24 different objectives, 14 events, and 13 playable characters, no two games tell the same story. The objectives shift, the threats escalate differently, and the character combinations change how you approach every single playthrough. It's the kind of game that earns its place on the shelf rather than just decorating it.
And for the solo players out there — and I know there are a lot of you — there's a dedicated solo mode designed by Leacock himself. So whether you've got a full table of five or just you and a quiet evening, the journey to Mount Doom is always within reach.
Should you play it?
If you love:
- Cooperative games where everyone's in it together
- Deep, evolving challenges that change every play
- Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's world
- That sweet spot between tactical war-gaming and character-driven storytelling
- Solo play that actually feels complete
…then Fate of the Fellowship belongs on your table.
It's the finest Lord of the Rings board game I've played, and it's earned its spot as my game of the month without breaking a sweat. The amount of love poured into this adaptation is obvious in every component, every card, every agonising decision. Matt Leacock has taken a system the whole world knows and turned it into something that feels like Middle-earth itself.
One does not simply walk into Mordor… but with the right fellowship at your table, you might just make it.
At Astro Meeple Forge we're all about getting the most out of your game nights — from the games we love to the upgrade kits we design and 3D print right here in Melbourne. Browse our range of game-themed accessories and give your favourite games the table presence they deserve.