An asymmetrical Stratego-like game themed around The Lord of the Rings. Each player controls a force of 9 unique characters (light vs. dark) whose identities are hidden from their opponent at the beginning of the game. Each player also starts with a hand of 9 unique cards, which are used in resolving combats as the characters move out across the board. The victory conditions of the players are also asymmetrical: the Fellowship player wins by moving Frodo into Mordor (thus destroying the One Ring), while the Evil player wins either by killing Frodo or by moving 3 Evil characters into the Shire.

Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation has also been the object of an extended edition (see Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation) comprising the original characters and a full set of new characters.