
Case study
of
War of the Ring
the boardgame

UX + UI
update
by
Roman Šeiner

Why even having this case study
Because using UX UI standards on raw product is always great idea to use creativity and help yourself in the future.
Why + How do you approached it
Checking player´s actions, session analysis, design rework and player feedback. Also AI assistant
Refresed gaming experience
If the heavy-rules games can beupdated, players are to replay the game thus engaging tournament activity and support actively the community.

This is no longer just nostalgic entertainment for rainy weekends. It’s a fierce business boasting year-over-year growth of over 12%. It’s scaling so rapidly that interest in the Czech Republic in 2024 actually surpassed the strongest COVID-era peaks, generating a momentum that leaves plenty of digital startups in the dust. Today, adult players are investing more money than ever before in premium physical experiences. So, if you're looking for an industry with massive capital potential—where exceptional UX and design directly dictate sales success—you're looking right at it.

Research
Game Scale
Huge map, 200+ miniatures, cards, dice, tokens miniatures, all enough to choke your cat / baby on. Any organizers will serve you well.

Organized components and comfort setup
Map Design
Game is played on a map - continent of Midddle-Earth. Surrounded by elements related to mechanisms, completely flooding edges of map.

Cleaning UI so player can focus on map
Players Comfort
You are managing your units in war times. Combination of painpoints, components, game tempo and other leads to having a bad time. This can be solved.

Goal is to create WotR Companion


Critical sources, feedback, help and much more. Thanks to all creators.

Discord
Subchannesl to discuss anything
New videos summarized
Memes

Youtube
great long game videos by Pros
Mechanics Teaching videos
Video reviews

BoardGameGeek.com
Great files to download
Active forums
Feels like dedicated wiki

Product `& setup
Few facts about the game so you can imagine product I focus with redesign
since
0
0
Playtime
0+ min
0+ min
Expansions
0
0
Logged online games
0+
0+
3-5 hours long
2-4 players
War game
Massive User interface
Dice
Lots of text
Challenging difficulty

Players usually sit oposite ways, thus views map upside-down. Plastic miniatures are puton board. various tokens around the map.
Your actions: Draw card, roll dice, move armies and heros. cards, token on carton board.
Difficult to get into proper player flow. But even then, painpoints bug your experience. Not hard to fix it!

Similarly designed games
these games have usually same Vibe, if these themes fit you more, go for it.
Dune: War of Arrakis
Star Wars: Rebellion



Painpoints
Tideous game setup
Original
Original

View Details
Not intuitive
Need rules fo setup

View Details
No need for rules
Region related mark
Fast
Proper Haptic experience
Original
Original

View Details
Light weight
Damages overtime

View Details
Better weight
Protected
Smooth slide effect
Unique details in rules
Original
Original

View Details
Hard to search
1 reader at a time

View Details
Fast
Lists sources
Unique cases smart search
Unclear interface
Original
Original

View Details
Discomfort location on map
UI not descriptive enough

View Details
Located in middle of map
Dice related location indicated
Miniatures
Original
Original

View Details
Poor identification
In plastic bags

View Details
Painted standees
Army organizers
Painted Minion / Companions

Feedback & Recommendations

This case study resulted into clear identification, that are responsible for great experience:
player's comfort & control over the game's components.
WotR is a big scale wargame where every mistake is well punished and it often comes to messy sideboard, so overflown attention is well done. This should lead to smooth gaming experience and reshape what boardgame experience can provide in it's gameplay.
I am not changing the rules.

Design approach

Top and bottom sides are cleaner, so players can place their cards here and rest hands.

The middle is reserved for redesigned Hunt pool.

Left side shows Strongholds of Free people, which are main target for military victory.

Below is Shadow's space for his giant armies, so you can keep it army here and use one Flag token.



Righ side keeps Fellshowip / Corruption counter and Diplomacy track.

Shadow player usually takes bottom right for his cards, while keeping his armies closer.

Victory points are stored next to each of cities or stronghold.
Overall colours, fonts and markers were updated.


Plastic covers
card sleeves, plastic cases on tokens etc.
Adds weight and feels great in hand
Price: 3€

Neopren playmat
playmat is every game's pleasure point.
So naturally I changed UI so map is clean
Price: 80€ +

3D Printed elements
3D print mountains or even cities and srongholds. Middle Earth is
Price: 5€ +

Army bento boxes
Organize your armies. Better UX and important to know during play
Price: 3€

Rules fast and precise
Ask your favorite AI client, all you need is to upload official rules.
Price: 0-15€

Sideboard storage
Game gets messy as you progress, what's active, how many dice can you roll, etc.
Price: 3€

