Games Workshop is making a Lord of the Rings board game where the Fellowship are enemies

Imagine if The Lord of the Rings hadn’t been about the power of co-operation and friendship, and had instead been about everyone in the Fellowship only being out for themselves.

That’s the lore-breaking setup for Quest to Mount Doom, a new board game set in Middle-earth being developed by Warhammer studio Games Workshop.

Quest to Mount Doom ditches the typical co-operative format of most games based on Tolkien’s fantasy saga, pitching the members of the Fellowship against each other in a race to discover the One Ring, get it to Mount Doom and destroy it.

Gameplay details are brief, but there appears to be Talisman-style adventuring to the combination of a central game board and item and event cards. Players pick their member of the now-dissolved Fellowship, each with a different talent, and search for the Ring that begins hidden somewhere in Middle-earth.

Once they find it, they’ll need to keep it secret (and keep it safe) in their hand to avoid other players going full Gollum and stealing it off them. Hopefully without the loss of fingers. From there, it’s a jaunt up Mount Doom to cast it into the flames and destroy it, avoiding the gaze of Sauron as they go.

Quest to Mount Doom looks like it will follow the suit set by Games Workshop’s other recent board games in reusing some of the studio’s miniatures, with the nine members of the Fellowship represented by proper models.

The game is due for release later this year, but is yet to get a price and date confirmed.