Hobbit card game -- Der Hobbit: Das Kartenspiel by Martin WallaceIn April, the cover image of a new ‘Hobbit’ card game from game designer Martin Wallace was leaked — a very nice illustration indeed, and attributed to Ted Nasmith.

Now German publisher Kosmos has announced the publication of this game for October 2012.

“In Der Hobbit: Das Kartenspiel, two teams play against each other: good versus bad. The basic game mechanism is trick-taking, but whoever wins the trick can distribute the cards amongst all the players, depending on his character’s ability. Some cards hurt, some heal — and only one team can win the game.”

The publisher of the English-language edition is yet to be announced.

Lord of the Rings 'Return of the King' game published by Kosmos in 2003

Martin Wallace is generally known for fairly complicated and somewhat ‘unforgiving’ games (Age of Steam, Brass, Liberté), but his talents have recently been tapped for games with a more general appeal.

Notably, a Doctor Who card game was recently announced.

Incidentally, I just noticed that Wallace had a Lord of the Rings ‘Return of the King’ game published by Kosmos in 2003.

An English-language edition was never published.