I reckon you'll all be in shock to hear that I picked up war of the rings a few years ago and never found the time to play it.

Truth be told I've only opened the box a few times, determined to have a go, but allways something turned up that robbed me of my time.

Recently the box has seen more 'openings' with me getting ever more excited about wanting to have a go, especially when I stumbled upon the expansion on a gameshop site. Alas they only sell the two games as one set, so I have to try and convince them to only let me buy the expansion, but .. from what I've read this looks like great fun and I really want it, even though I don't know the game.

Saw some great pictures on BGG though, wish that I could paint like that, but I guess I'd have a hard time putting them back in the box. These seemed more suitable for display than play.

Now tell me, did I understand correctly, does the expansion come with an own gameboard?  and if so, does this fit onto the basic game board, I mean, can you put it next to it to make one LARGE gamboard?

Will go now and try to nag that gameshop into selling me the expansion only.

This expansion comes with "two games". First is actual expansion for WotR with new fractions and some new game mechanics (which are really good and balance the original game). Second is the "standalone" game that needs to borrow components (mostly figures) from WotR in order to play. This "second" game has its own board.

This expansion comes with "two games". First is actual expansion for WotR with new fractions and some new game mechanics (which are really good and balance the original game). Second is the "standalone" game that needs to borrow components (mostly figures) from WotR in order to play. This "second" game has its own board.

To elaborate further on what Morpheus said, the "standalone" game is a campaign-level game with two scenarios, Battle for Rohan and Battle for Gondor.  The maps are on opposite sides of the board.  They share a lot of mechanics with the base game, but they are also quite different in a lot of ways.

 alas I was too late. They'd sold all the expansions and I'm not sure if they'll get them again.

I could get it somewhere else if I was willing to pay an extra 20 euro, but as you'll understand I'm not to keen on that. So I'll just wait and keep my fingers cross. Maybe I'll get lucky.