A Game of Thrones (board game)

The game is based on the A Song of Ice and Fire series of high fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin.

The basic gameplay mechanics are reminiscent of Diplomacy, especially in the order-giving process, though A Game of Thrones is significantly more complicated overall.

Starting with the second turn, at the beginning of each round, the top card from each of the three Westeros decks are revealed, and their effects carried out.

During a battle, each player totals the strength of all of his non-routed units in the disputed region, which may be modified by values on an appropriate March or Defend orders.

The player with the highest total wins the battle, and the losing units must leave the region routed, or possibly be removed entirely if enough damage was inflicted.

Once per round, the player holding the Valyrian Steel Blade special token can add a +1 bonus to their side of a battle.

The expansion A Storm of Swords was released in 2006, and adds more variant rules to be used with the original A Game of Thrones, either with or without A Clash of Kings.

In October 2011, the revised second edition was released by Fantasy Flight Games, with some minor changes to gameplay as well as new updated board and House card graphics.

The second edition includes the additions introduced in the A Clash of Kings expansion to the base game (House Martell, siege engines, and ports, which are printed on the board).

Also included is a special scenario and alternate setup to reflect the current states of each of the six playable Houses and shorten the total turn length from ten down to six.

The rulebook is short and well-illustrated with examples that cover most situations, and Fantasy Flight's website is updated with a current FAQ for more rare occurrences.

The randomizing factors — from house selection to the Clash of Kings bidding event — ensure that the game has a lot of variety, and calls for players to think quickly to react to new and unexpected situations as they arise.