In terms of gameplay, it is very similar to the 1988 War in Middle Earth, except the setting was downsized from the entire world just to the land of the Rohirrim, engulfing mostly the storyline from The Two Towers, and to a small extent ending in The Return of the King.

In a combination of a single-unit adventure, small-scale battlefield tactics and broadscale campaign warfare, the player must coordinate the Fellowship and Rohan's troops in order to fend off the invasion of Saruman's Orcs and save the Rohirrim lands, as well as mounting enough forces to push the war on the fronts in the east in order to contribute to Sauron's defeat.

The practice folds down to tutorials in single-fighter combat: - Archery: the player takes control of Legolas attempting to shoot down (18) Orcs from a wall, while crouching from their spears.

- Duel: the player chooses between four Heroes: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Éomer, to fight either an Orc or a Dunlending in melee combat.

The game ends when Sauron is destroyed after the Battle at the Black Gates and Frodo and Sam reach Mount Doom.