Designer, Artist
Team: 3 people
Creation Time: 2 weeks
• Designed a card/board game based on a scene from The Lord of the Rings.
• Playtested and iterated frequently to balance the cards’ damage values and effects.
• Created card layouts, graphics, and backs and imported them into Tabletop Simulator.
The Amon Hen Clash is a card game based on The Lord of the Rings where two players relive the battle between Aragorn, a nimble hero, and Lurtz, a lumbering orc. Each card represents a battle action that the player can take, and the game operates in phases. First, players take turns placing cards from their hand onto the board to try and counter each other’s strategies. Then the action is resolved in a designated order, shown on the game board. Aragorn has more tactical moves and is limited by his stamina, while Lurtz has heavy-hitting attacks. This asymmetrical balance was playtested and revised extensively.
Created in two weeks with a team of three, The Amon Hen Clash began as an assignment to create a tabletop game based on this video of Aragorn and Lurtz fighting:
We decided to design a card and board game combined. We knew that to represent the physical differences between Aragorn and Lurtz, which were apparent in their fighting styles and movements in the movie, the gameplay had to feel different for players playing as each character.
In the earliest stages of development, the game board started off as a map representation of the battlefield with lines and dots representing where players could move. Aragorn could move two spaces every turn and attack from two spaces away, but Lurtz could only move one space per turn and attack adjacent spaces. The game would end if Aragorn could survive until reinforcements, which moved closer every turn, arrived. We soon found a map-based approach to be difficult to integrate cards with, so we changed our focus to the play order and variety of cards.
We added a health and stamina system. Aragorn’s attacks deal less damage to health than Lurtz’s, but he has more utility. Aragorn’s stamina also depletes over time, which limits his actions, because we imagine that in a fight against Lurtz, Aragorn runs the risk of tiring out. Balancing these mechanics with the cards was a difficult task because by nature, Aragorn has more options than Lurtz, and therefore more interesting gameplay. With the strategic nature of the cards, the unknowns of playing against another player, and extensive card balancing, we have achieved a game that is fun for both players despite the asymmetry.