The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II is a 2006 real-time strategy video game developed and published by Electronic Arts.

At the end of March 2006, The Battle for Middle-earth II reached fourth in a list of the month's best-selling PC games.

A Windows expansion pack for the game was released in November 2006, called The Rise of the Witch-king, which features a new faction known as Angmar, new units, and several gameplay improvements.

Similar to its predecessor, the game requires that the player build a base with structures to produce units, gather resources, research upgrades, and provide defenses.

The troops of Gondor provide a solid offense and defense with standard infantry and archers, and the Rohirrim of Rohan act as elite cavalry.

Although slow and expensive, Dwarven infantry, pikemen, and axe-throwers are very powerful and well-armored allowing them to prevail in even the longest clashes with enemy troops.

Berserkers are used by Isengard as one-man armies that move extremely fast and deal significant damage (particularly to enemy buildings and heroes).

Trolls contribute greatly to the Mordor offensives, having strong melee attacks and the ability to throw boulders or wield trees like swords.

[5][12] In addition, Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit lends several elements to the game, including characters such as the Giant Spiders from Mirkwood.

After their victory, the heroes are informed that the Goblins on Sauron's command enlisted the service of a Dragon named Drogoth who is laying waste to the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains.

Elrond leads the first attack, but later, Thranduil, Glorfindel, Glóin, Arwen, and King Dáin all unite under the Dwarven-Elven alliance for a final battle in Dol Guldur, the stronghold of Sauron in Mirkwood, aided by the Ents and Eagles.

His lieutenants lead the Goblin army and the Trolls and launch an assault on the Elven forest of Lórien while freeing three trapped Mountain Giants.

The Mouth of Sauron peers eagerly into the captured Mirror of Galadriel for his next attack as his Goblins celebrate their triumph over the Elves amidst the ruins of the once-mighty ancient stronghold.

Gorkil's horde manages to crush the Hobbits and burn their country to the ground, but Saruman's servant Gríma Wormtongue suddenly appears with a large army of Isengard Uruks and claims the land for his master.

The orcs from Dol Guldur eliminate the Elves and the Ents that guard the Forest Road in Mirkwood, defeating the Elven lord Thranduil.

After the fall of Mirkwood, the Mouth of Sauron leads his horde to Withered Heath to recruit the Dragon Lord Drogoth after destroying the Dwarves in the area and freeing the captive Fire Drakes.

Eagles, the Dead Men of Dunharrow, Galadriel and her surviving Elves, and the remnants of the Fellowship of the Ring arrive to help Arwen and Elrond, but Sauron (having attained full power through recovering the One Ring from the dead Frodo) and all his gathered forces of Goblins, Orcs, Trolls, Mountain giants, Spiders, Dragons, and Fellbeast enter the battle and completely destroy the remaining Good forces in the North.

That agreement gave Electronic Arts the rights to build video games based on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

The new deal gives Electronic Arts the opportunity to create video games with original stories tied closely with the Lord of the Rings universe.

Water was chosen as the first graphical component of The Battle for Middle-earth II to take advantage of DirectX 9 programmable shaders.

These additions were part of an overall Electronic Arts strategy to continue the Lord of the Rings experience that began with the trilogy film series.

[19] As cinematic director of The Battle for Middle-earth II, Richard Taylor was responsible for designing the game's opening and closing sequences, as well as campaign and mission introductions and endings.

Taylor considered it essential to use good graphical and audio combinations when telling a story, and he was pleased to have Weaving on the project as the primary storyteller.

[20] The game was initially released by Electronic Arts for Windows in North America on February 28, 2006,[30] and in the United Kingdom on March 3.

[21] Praise focused on its successful integration of the Lord of the Rings franchise with the real-time strategy genre, while criticism targeted the game's unbalanced multiplayer mode.

IGN considered the high quality of The Battle for Middle-earth II proof that Electronic Arts was truly interested in building great real-time strategy games.

[3] Despite a few minor issues, GameZone was happy with the gameplay of The Battle for Middle-earth II, believing that the game did a good job of enabling the player to experience the turmoil of the fantasy world.

[39] Playing within the universe of The Lord of the Rings was appealing to a number of reviewers, which found that it generally increased the game's entertainment value.

PC Gamer shared this sentiment, calling Lord of the Rings "arguably the best fantasy universe ever",[28] and GameZone asked the question, "What self-respecting Tolkien fan can be without this title?

The game, produced by Amir Rahimi, promised players the opportunity to fight in wars that precedes the events of the Lord of the Rings novels.