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Confront Sieges and Despair in Middle-earth, and Head West in Quartermaster General

tonyheth January 22, 2026

Less than a week prior to the opening of the Spielwarenmesse toy and game fair in Nürnberg, Germany, Italian publisher Ares Games has announced upcoming titles for 2026, with these items to shown during this event.

▪️ War of the Ring: Sieges of Middle-earth is a new expansion for Roberto Di Meglio, Marco Maggi, and Francesco Nepitello‘s War of the Ring: Second Edition.

Here’s how the publisher describes this Q4 2026 release:

During the War of the Ring, the strongholds of the Free Peoples faced their darkest hour, under assault by the relentless armies of the Shadow. Siege towers advanced against mighty walls; catapults battered the defenders day after day. Yet these assaults – those that took place, and those that might have – were decided not only by swords and engines of war, but by the endurance and courage of the brave souls standing against overwhelming odds.

Sieges of Middle-Earth focuses on the siege battles against the main strongholds of the Free Peoples. New game mechanisms bring those desperate battles to the forefront of the conflict: the Shadow player can field powerful siege engines to smash fortifications and spread despair among the defenders, while the Free Peoples player may attempt heroic feats, lead bold sorties, and inspire last stands that can turn the tide of battle.

New components include plastic figures, special dice, tokens, and cards to add to the core game, expanding the strategic options of both players and enhancing storytelling possibilities.

▪️ Another The Lord of the Rings-based expansion due out in Q4 2026 is War of the Ring: The Card Game – Hope and Despair, which designer Ian Brody had teased on BGG in early January 2026. Here’s the publisher’s pitch:

The heart of Middle-earth beats within its lore, its moods, its ethos. Tolkien’s words immerse the readers into his wondrous creation, weaving beautiful and powerful stories.

Hope and Despair adds a new type of card to War of the Ring: The Card Game: the story card. Inspired by key events and turning points of The Lord of the Rings, story cards represent natural and supernatural influences on the events of Middle-earth, providing a powerful way to modify your playing decks.

This expansion includes 54 story cards, 40 story tokens, and rules for adding story cards to your game, both in multi-player and solo scenarios.

Hope and Despair can be used in conjunction with Fire and Swords, or just with the base game alone. A set of Shadow “bot” cards are provided for use with Against the Shadow to play solo or co-operatively.

▪️ Another Ian Brody title due out from Ares Games in Q4 2026 is Quartermaster General: West Front, the third title in Ares’ two-player Quartermaster General game line. Here’s the short pitch:

Quartermaster General: West Front is played over 23 seasonal game rounds, from Fall 1939 through Spring 1945, with one player controlling the Allies’ forces — United Kingdom, United States, and France — and the other playing the Axis: Germany, Italy, and other associated countries (the “Pact”, so called after the Tripartite Pact).

West Front also includes components and rules to create massive, combined games with Quartermaster General: East Front and South Front.

Note that the Quartermaster General: West Front cover shown at right is not final.

▪️ Looking even farther out, Ares Games will run a crowdfunding campaign in Q1 2026 for Mega Empires: The Far East – North and Mega Empires: The Far East – South, which it describes as two standalone games that expand the Mega Empires series. From the publisher:

These games will explore peoples, dynasties, and historic developments from the easternmost regions of Asia, from Japan to Indonesia. Both games are designed for 3 to 5 players, and they can also be combined together or with previous Mega Empires games (Mega Empires: The West and Mega Empires: The East).

Ares expects that the two Mega Empires: The Far East titles will be released in Q2 2027.

▪️ Q1 2026 will also see the release of Altay: Seafarers from Roberto Di Meglio and Fabio Maiorana, which adds three elements to 2024’s Altay: Dawn of Civilization:

— A new game board featuring the Forgotten Sea where players can establish harbors and expand their civilizations through maritime routes.

— New rules for shipbuilding, sailing, and naval combat, which will be accompanied by new action cards and technologies such as shipwrights, explorers, and astronomy.

— A new playable faction, the Waterfolk: “Through the magic of their wise ones, tied to wavebending and song, they can travel the seas without ships. With their cards, they offer an entirely different playstyle, combining flexibility, resource control, and manipulation of discarded actions.”

▪️ Finally, Guido Albini, Martino Chiacchiera, and Luca Maragno‘s Viking Route, which was crowdfunded in late 2024, is scheduled for release in Q2 2026.

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