Do I love Earthborne Rangers yet?

I spent the two weeks leading up to Christmas in the USA, visiting my son Phil who back in early 2024 moved to Richmond VA, taking my daughter-in-law and three of my grandchildren with him. We had a great time, and lots of games were played, including some bizarre games of chess (with a 4-year-old), some Micro Macro for kids, and Outfoxed! which was a huge hit. The kids rapidly dispensed with the need for adults to be involved, and set the game up for themselves any time they had a spare moment. (Incidentally, I was put onto Outfoxed! by a recommendation from Actualol.) Anyway, this is all tangential to what I'm posting about...

I spent the last couple of weeks before our transatlantic trip playing my new copy of Earthborne Rangers (ER). I am very drawn to sandbox games – my shelves include copies of Sleeping Gods, Xia Legends of the Drift, Star Trek Captain's Chair, Oath (yes it feels sandboxy to me), and Merchants of Venus. I was getting past the initial learning hump and starting to feel at home in the game's very appealing world. There were some weirdnesses about time and location which I was deciding whether or not to be irritated by. But the trip meant I had to put the game aside for a few weeks – which is blessedly simple to do.

When we got back home I felt the urge to set up a meaty game on my desk to play in solo mode. I had been reading and listening to enthusiastic raves about Fate of the Fellowship (FotF), but was of course unable to find a copy. So my thoughts turned to War of the Ring (WotR), in particular my copy of the 2nd edition of which I am very proud with its painstakingly painted miniatures. So after a brief struggle I mentally set on one side the idea of picking up ER again – at least for the time being – and carefully set up WotR for 2-handed solo play (inspired by memories of Ricky Royal's video play through) and had a great time. Just look at this photo, the two hobbits with their heads down, plodding across the emptiness of the Emyn Muil. Enemies in every direction, shelterless, friendless. I admit this game elicits feelings in me of pity, sorrow, anxiety; doubtless gaining power from its peerless source material.

So the question that bothers me is – given that I passed over ER to play WotR, does this mean I haven't quite been hooked by ER yet. Indeed, I quite fancy having another go at WotR, this time with the Lords of Middle Earth expansion (with miniatures I recently painted). There's a lot to be said for doing this while the rules are still fresh in my head. I do hope to get back to ER soon, but if FotF comes back into stock any time soon, it could be a while.