Restoration Games has announced it plans to remake Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit, this time as a Lord of the Rings-themed game. Today, Restoration Games announced plans to release The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit, a new joint collaboration between Restoration Games, Space Cowboys, and Asmodee Studios. The Queen's Gambit was originally released in 2000 as a Star Wars: The Phantom Menace tie-in, featuring 155 miniatures that duked it out on three separate fields of battle, mirroring the Battle of Naboo. Design will be led by Rob Daviau, who also worked on the original Queen's Gambit game.
In the new King's Gambit, players will battle over four distinct fields of play. The Riders of Rohan will face off against the Orcs on Pelennor Field, while the forces of Gondor battle against the forces of Shadow in Minas Tirith. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas will fight Haradrim at the Great Port of Pelagrir, while Frodo and Sam traverse Mordor on their way to Mount Doom.
There will be two versions of the game released. The first will only be available through a crowdfunding campaign coming later this year, which includes three-dimensional versions of Minas Tirith and Mordor. Space Cowboys will release a retail version in 2027, assumably with lesser components.
One interesting tidbit about this announcement - Restoration Games noted that they had reached out to Middle-Earth Enterprises, which is owned by the Embracer Group, at the same time that Space Cowboys (an Asmodee subsidiary) reached out to them about resurrecting the Queen's Gambit. Asmodee has released a plethora of Lord of the Rings-themed games since Embraced acquired Middle-Earth Enterprises, but the fact that Restoration Games had reached out to Middle-Earth Enterprises signals that the rights holder to Lord of the Rings could be expanding its license granting to companies outside the Asmodee umbrella.
