War of the Ring questions

I just recently purchased War of the Ring, and after two plays, I am very happy with it. It's a deep, heavily thematic game that is a pleasure to look at. I am however, a little concerned that it could get samey with successive plays. So I am curious about the Battles of the Third Age expansion. Is it indispensable for someone who enjoys the base game, or can I put off getting it for a while (or maybe skip it altogether)?

It doesn't get samey with successive plays. Even if you try to do the exact same thing every time, the dice won't let you.

I never use the expansion. The tactical games are crap and half of the strategic stuff is crap too. I think I'm alone in this opinion though.

Battles adds a few things to the basic game, but they're cool things. Not necessary by any means though. You get ents, wildlings and corsairs factions that replace some of the strategy cards. Also a few new characters, Galadriel, the Balrog and a hunting Witch King.

The new games are really pretty cool though, you can recreate the entire battles for Rohan or Gondor. They basically use the same system as the base game, although they go into a bit more detail. Obviously the hunt for the Ring is out, but some other timing mechanics are added instead.

All in all I think this expansion is worth it, but you can still enjoy your game for a while before going out and getting this.

What Columbob said. The strategic expansion is brilliant in how it presents "what if" scenarios, and it's so incredibly thematic and makes a lot of sense. We just find that we don't do a lot of it. Corsairs? No way. Dunlendings? Nope. Balrog? As if. Ents? I prefer the originals. The hunting Witch King is cool and we like Galadriel's early FP die.

We only played the Minas Tirith tactical battle -- and then only once -- and that was enough for us.

I think you'll find the base game will give you plenty of entertainment. I've played it 20+ times and it's always fresh.

Galadriel also gives some much-needed staying power to LothLorien, so it's not always an obvious early target for the Shadow to deprive the Fellowship of its most direct resting spot.

I'd say put it off for a while. After you've played the base game enough and if you do find it a bit same-y but still want to play it, you will really appreciate the additional stuuf in the expansion. I haven't tried the tactical games though.

there's several different strategies for both the Free Peoples and the Sauron Posse, so it doesn't get samey for a long time. I suggest you don't give up on experimenting with different strategies and card play.

Of the expansion I have only played the Battle for Rohan, twice, and I liked it a lot. It is different in feel from the grand strategic game, but the decisions for Saruman in speeding up the game or slowing it down gives it a lot of tension. Fun as it is, if money is a limitation I think you can put off the purchase for some considerable time exploring the possibilities of the basic game

I think the base game offers a ton of replay value in terms of how the event cards come up and are used and in terms of how the action dice present choices for the players. Most of the dozens of games that I've played come down to the losing side having been within a game turn of winning ("If you hadn't dunked the ring this turn, I would have taken Lorien next turn and won"). The journey to get to that point varies quite a bit in terms of where the Shadow attacked, where the the Free Peoples held out for a while, what events occured, etc. As an example, in one game as the Shadow player, I won without ever bringing the Southrons and Easterlings into battle -- the events and the rolls just played into my hands to manage a military win without them.

That said, I love the expansion and don't want to play without it. First off, I think the base game is slightly pro-Shadow. The expansion adds enough to balance the game nicely (especially with Galadriel). Also, the expansion adds more options for both sides to consider (although I rarely see the Corsairs used).

I haven't played the Gondor or Rohan games (although I plan to eventually) and I'll acknowledge that the expansion's price is rough if you never do play them. But I'm very happy with how well the expansion rounds out the base game.