Circle of Conflict (Essen 2026)

About The Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict, from BoardGameGeek:

It is the Third Age of Middle-earth, and a great war between the many nations is unfolding. In The Lord of the Rings: Circle of Conflict, you simultaneously command both The Shadow and The Free Peoples armies; your Free Peoples will fight the Shadow of the opponent to your left, and your Shadow will fight the Free Peoples of the opponent to your right. As the dice are rolled, you will decide how to apply the results. Will you recruit iconic characters for The Free Peoples or perhaps muster the troops of Mordor to fight for The Shadow in one of two pivotal battles? Will you hunt your opponent's Fellowship with your Nazgûl or secretly move your Fellowship to evade Sauron's watchful Eye? To win as The Free Peoples, get The Fellowship to reach Mount Doom or defeat The Shadow in battle. As The Shadow, you must fully corrupt The Fellowship or defeat them in battle. When all the victory points have been tallied, the player with the most points wins! -description from the publisher