Mark's #33: Lord of the Rings

When you first open the box, it's the John Howe art (he was one of the concept artists for the Peter Jackson films as well as being one of the foremost Tolkien artists around) that blows you away. Soon, though, it just becomes the very convincing backdrop for a spectacularly good cooperative game that manages to evoke the feel of Middle Earth while still being a relatively straightforward game system.

I enjoy Lord of the Rings with or without the two expansions: Friends & Foes makes the game tougher (boy, howdy!) and Sauron offers 3 different ways to alter the game, including a variant in which one player controls the evil forces.