The Lord of the Rings tabletop fans can expect a brand-new adventure in Middle-earth very soon, as The Lord of the Rings: The King's Gambit has been announced by Restoration Games for a 2027 release. The announcement comes at a time when The Lord of the Rings IP has been slated to receive multiple new games, with one notable cancellation also recently happening.
On the gaming front, besides the disaster that was Lord of the Rings: Gollum, the franchise has seen some solid entries, including Tales of the Shire and Return to Moria, that have easily found their niches within the fandom. The future of LotR games is also looking strong, with Warhorse Studios, the team behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance, announcing its work on an open-world RPG set in Middle-earth. Amazon's gaming division still plans to explore the IP following the cancellation of its upcoming MMO. However, there is also the tabletop front, which is getting some love next year.
New Lord of the Rings Game Canceled
Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO has been officially canceled, but the company is still trying to make an experience set in Middle-earth.
Restoration Games Gives Lost Strategy Game New Life with The Lord of the Rings
Among the multiple upcoming Lord of the Rings projects, Restoration Games has revealed a new tabletop strategy game set during The Return of the King, titled The Lord of the Rings: The King's Gambit. It is a revival of the long-out-of-print Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit from 2000, now taking place throughout The Battle of Pelennor Fields, Minas Tirith, the Great Port at Pelargir, and Mount Doom. Additionally, Restoration Games is starting a crowdfunding initiative later this year to create a Deluxe Edition of The King's Gambit, featuring large-scale models of Minas Tirith and Mordor as deluxe exclusives. The retail edition launches in 2027 after the release of the Deluxe version.
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Restoration Games has also released a "Behind the Scenes" trailer for The King's Gambit, where players can get a small look at the upcoming 3D models, miniatures, and maps coming in the retail and deluxe editions of the game. A few of the spotted miniatures and concept art include the Riders of Rohan, The Witch King, and a full 3D model of Minas Tirith. These models seem to retain all the staple elements of the various Lord of the Rings factions, but with their own artistic twists on aesthetics.
For those who may not keep an eye on what's coming next in the board game scene, Restoration Games is a studio that specializes in finding out-of-print tabletop titles and reviving them with new features for modern gamers. In other words, the company acts sort of like a remake studio, but for board games. To that end, the long-gone Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit that The King's Gambit is based on has been a highly sought-after piece of tabletop history, often fetching high prices on resale websites, making this particular revival a rather exciting one for the tabletop community.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
With a new tabletop game on the way and a whole open-world RPG from a critically acclaimed studio coming in the future, there is certainly a lot to look forward to for The Lord of the Rings fans. Tabletop fans should be doubly excited, as the return of the fan-favorite Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit marks the end of searching for a once-lost game, except now under the Lord of the Rings IP, and hopefully with new features and rules to shake things up a little. Moreover, recent announcements of a Harry Potter tabletop game and the upcoming Fallout: Wasteland Warfare will keep tabletop gamers occupied while they wait for The King's Gambit to launch in 2027.