Despite being over 70 years since its publication, Tolkien's masterwork The Lord of the Rings remains the standard by which fantasy epics are judged. It continues to exercise a powerful hold on the collective imagination, influencing films, collectible figures and, of course, games of every stripe, from video to role-playing to board and card games.We’ve all been burned often enough to know that licensed games can be an unfortunate commercial grab-bag where quick profit comes before quality. And, unfortunately, the world of Middle-earth is no exception. Happily, however, it has also inspired some of the very best battle, cooperative, and adventure games yet seen on the tabletop. Here are the top examples to make sure you get your money’s worth.Featured in this articleIf you're not a fan of reading blurbs, you can scroll through the full list of board and card games above. Otherwise, keep reading to find out more info about each game.War of The RingEver since its release in 2004, War of the Ring has been held as the apex of board gaming in Middle-earth. One player controls the Fellowship and the free peoples, while the other the ringwraiths and the armies of Sauron, both using an unusual action dice mechanism to determine options each turn. Although long and demanding, War of the Ring provides a superlative game within a game, as Frodo tries to sneak through the traditional wargame unfolding all around him on his way to destroy the ring. Between knotty spatial and card-driven strategies, every play is a plausible retelling of Tolkien's masterwork, which might see Gimli rousing the dwarfs of the north, or Gandalf bypassing Moria to dare the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood.The Lord of The Rings: Fate of The FellowshipPerhaps the only game that can rival War of the Ring for an overall retelling of Lord of the Rings, Fate of the Fellowship is a more accessible, cooperative board game where players work together to protect Frodo and delay the inevitable march of Sauron’s forces while he gets the ring into Mount Doom. Based on the enormously successful Pandemic system, which is barely recognizable under layers of theme, its clever mission system ensures you hit plenty of plot beats while ensuring that each playthrough tells its own story. And its more approachable nature shouldn’t be mistaken for a cakewalk: this is tough to beat, and offers tons of variety to keep up the challenge once you’ve learned the basics.The Fellowship of The Ring: Trick-Taking Game and The Two Towers: Trick Taking GameYou’re probably familiar with the concept of trick-taking from any number of popular playing card games like Whist and Bridge, where one player lays a card and others have to follow suit if they can. The Fellowship of The Ring: Trick-Taking Game and The Two Towers: Trick-Taking Game subvert that concept to make it cooperative. Each player takes a character across a range of scenarios that accompany the plot of the relevant book; each has a goal, and all must pass to win. The joy of these games isn’t only in the glorious stained-glass art but the subtle and creative ways in which the designer effortlessly evokes plot beats from so few rules and components, as discussed in our reviews (click the titles above to read more about each).The Hobbit: There and Back AgainFrom famed designer Reiner Knizia this is very unusual as a competitive, interactive roll and write game. Most of the dice have path diagrams on them that players take turns drafting, removing that die from play and plotting the route onto the map of whatever scenario you’re playing, whether that’s guiding the dwarfs to Bag End, or the folk of Laketown running to survive Smaug’s attack. Every map has various extra rules ways to score, and you’ll need to make better use of the options at your disposal than your competitors if you want to win. See our review for more information.War of The Ring: The Card GameAlthough this is from the same designers as the War of the Ring board game above, and it handles the same topic, it’s a fascinatingly fresh take on the genre. The ideal setup is four players who play in two teams, representing the free peoples and the shadow. Each turn, these sides wrestle for control of two locations – but it’s the core card play, where you discard cards that’ll be reshuffled to pay for played cards, which are permanently gone, that makes the game so clever. It gives you strategic control over your card flow, adding a deck-building-like layer of decision making in addition to the text-heavy tactics of each turn, with the team play aspect adding a fascinating layer of uncertainty.The Lord of The Rings: Duel for Middle-EarthAn adaptation of the very popular 7 Wonders Duel, this game sees two players constructing card tableaus via an innovative mechanism of selecting from a “pyramid” of face-up and face-down cards. The latter don’t become available until face up cards around them have been taken, mimicking the tension and uncertainty of a multiplayer draft and leaving players with awkward choices about the potential for increasing their opponent’s options. Card symbols advance you toward various victory conditions like finding the Ring, conquering Middle-Earth or allying with sufficient factions like elves and ents. Short, taut, and guaranteed to fill with mounting excitement as the game progresses.The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game - Revised Core SetOriginally released in 2011, this cooperative card game has recently seen a spectacular revamp that increases the player count and adds a campaign mode. Players create their own decks from cards provided in the game, then assign the heroes they control to travelling, defeating enemies and furthering the current quest objectives. It’s a complex and demanding game that is very tough to beat, but it tells an epic story every time you try and eventual victories are all the sweeter for being so hard-earned.The Battle of Five ArmiesAlso from the same designers as War of the Ring and using a variant of their action dice system, this is a more military-focused game than its predecessor that depicts the huge clash at the end of The Hobbit. Although it loses the wider story aspect, as a result there are some big gains, too. The narrative of the battle is much tighter, with Bilbo potentially vanishing, citadel walls crumbling and cracking, and thematic faction interplay such as the earth-bound orcs living in terror of the airborne eagles. Plus the game is simpler and shorter while still letting players enjoy the delicious decisions engendered by the action dice.The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-EarthWhile it takes a few liberties with Tolkien's legendarium, this is a top-drawer fantasy adventure board game in its own right, and the Middle-earth setting is just the icing on the cake. An app guides players through a series of adventures where their characters must work together to explore the land, battling Saurion’s minions and helping those in need. Afterwards, you can use your loot and experience to upgrade your character’s deck of skills and powers. The required app isn’t just a dumb dungeon master, either, but uses the digital component in interesting and creative ways to enrich the challenge and the narrative.Lord of The Rings: Adventure BookMany of the titles we’re recommending here are pretty demanding in terms of time, strategy or complexity, but if you want a really family-friendly option that doesn’t skimp on flavor, this is the game for you. Players work together to guide the fellowship through a campaign of adventures, carrying stats like dangerous corruption from one game to the next. The mechanics are based on collecting and cashing in card sets, but particular powers and cards can swing the game wildly, making it tremendously exciting, alongside the scenario structure giving the game a strong and engaging narrative backbone.Hunt for the RingYet another game from the War of the Ring crew, this one adapts their signature action dice mechanic to the first part of the novels, where the Hobbits are trying to escape from pursuing wraiths. Thematically, this adds a hidden movement mechanic to proceedings, with the Frodo player moving in secret while the wraith player uses his pawns to try and hunt down clues to his location. It can be hard for the poor hobbit to escape if found, but that contributes to the thrill of the hunt and chase, while the stealth aspect makes this feel very different to the battle focus of the designer’s other games.Matt Thrower is a contributing freelance writer for IGN, specializing in tabletop games. You can reach him on BlueSky at @mattthr.bsky.social.