Age of Empires 3 might not have been the most iconic game in the series (it’s my personal choice, make of that what you will), but it’s amazing how much a mod can do. Especially when that mod draws on one of the most failsafe fantasy franchises in history. So it seems only natural that one modder would be working to combine Age of Empires and The Lord of the Rings.
While we wait for Wars of Middle-Earth, here’s everything we know about Age of Empires 4.
Wars of Middle-Earth is a mod for Age of Empires 3’s expansion The Asian Dynasties (which takes players to China, Imperial Japan, and Colonial India) which aims to bring 14 factions from across Tolkein’s work into the game. Modder Checanos has been working on the mod since 2013, regularly updating his page on modDB with articles showcasing realms, races, and units. Their most recent update, posted a couple of weeks ago, looks at The Iron Hills, a range of mountains home to Durin, eldest of the seven Fathers of the Dwarves.
The dwarves are just one of more than a dozen of the factions from Middle-Earth featured in Checanos’ mod. Some of them, such as Mordor, Rohan, and Lothlorien, will probably be familiar, but others, like Arnor, Rhun, and Mirkwood delve deeper into Tolkein lore.
For the most part, the mod draws from in-game assets, but there seem to be a few brand-new units, as well as new artwork, scattered throughout. You can get a closer look at the mod in action via its YouTube channel.