LogFAQs > #937513956

9. A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (2nd Edition) (2011)

Category: Player vs Player
Genres: Combat, area control, bidding, simultaneous action selection
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 6
Game length: 240-360 minutes
Experience: 8-12 plays with 3-6 players (2015-2019), incl Feast for Crows expansion
Previous ranks: 7/100 (2016), 12/80 (2018)

Description - Six players take the roles of six of the great houses of Westeros (from A Song of Ice and Fire). Each player starts in their home territory with a fixed number of troops and, over the course of ten rounds, attempts to control the most castles (winning automatically if they reach seven castles). Each round consists of a Westeros phase, in which randomly revealed cards trigger events such as bidding on turn order/for tiebreaker preference/ability to use special order tokens; a planning phase, in which a special order token is placed on each territory in which you control a soldier, both land and sea; and a resolution phase, during which those orders are executed - primarily raiding, marching (and initiating combat), and consolidating power for power tokens or more troops.

Design - This is one of the only games on my list that's based off an IP, and I think it's fair to say that AGOT wouldn't particularly be the same game if it weren't based off ASOIAF. While not always the best for readability and visibility, AGOT's map is a beautiful recreation of Westeros, with the territory divided up much how George R. R. Martin's world is laid out. The free-for-all nature of the game also feels true to form; the combat character cards are recognizable; the order tokens all have houses' sigils on them; and the dominance tokens are large and thematic.

AGOT is heavily influenced by Diplomacy, which also uses the "planning phase" mechanic. The crux of the game relies on your troops: they defend your territory, support others in combat, march, and fight. You place face-down tokens simultaneously with other players, one on each troop, and then simultaneously reveal them. Then players go one-by-one to resolve the effects of the active abilities, most notably marching. Marching is the most fun activity, but you can only march a maximum of three times per turn without rules exceptions, and if you don't have one of the coveted star order token permissions, you can't march that third time at all. You also have a limited number of Support tokens and Defense tokens. With both soldiers and order tokens in short supply, expanding and holding territory forcdes difficult decisions the more you grow.

But aside from the core mechanics of the game, the game is the least elegant of all the games in my top ten, easily. There's a strange bidding mechanic that uses "power tokens," which are a completely unnecessary form of currency. The Westeros cards create swing-y effects each round. The balance can be off (with Lannister notably underpowered) and the kill system depending on winning a battle is rough. The house-card combat system is excellent with the simultaneous selection, but having to know your opponent's entire hand can slow the game down for anyone who doesn't know it intimately, and can result in a long analysis paralysis each battle. The swords/shields system can be really punishing and frustrating. Boats and ports have fiddly rules and are arguably overpowered. Mustering troops can be extremely frustrating.

So yeah, it's fiddly. Overall, does it add to the game? My answer is... probably. The fiddliness of the rules definitely exceeds the depth that's added; however, the thematic touches and randomness can actually be welcome. The random Westeros cards absolutely make the game more interesting; the star order icons are vicious but making the bidding crucial; the fine details are classic Ameritrash that rather enhance the sensation of it being "immersive." Of course Robb Stark has to worry about things being unfair if he's not busy mustering out ships. Sometimes you just lose the favor of the king's court and you just can't come back.

Experience - AGOT from April 2015 is easily the longest board game experience I've ever had. My first game was the only one I managed with the full count; with three or four completely new players - and novice gamers - it stretched out around nine hours, including rules explanation and teaching and stopping to eat. It was punishing; I played as the Lannisters and wound up only holding one or two castles after an extremely uneasy truce with the Greyjoys. It was a formative experience, my first time voluntarily delving into such a long experience with anticipation instead of fear. (Shoutout to the 3.5-game of Agricola around the same time, utter misery.) But despite being rough, it was memorable: I didn't have much at the end, but still managed to keep my home castles and to punish my neighbors, whom I at least ensured were unable to win as well.

From an emotional perspective, that first play was one of the tipping points that convinced me it was time to start watching Game of Thrones as well - I knew a ton from cultural osmosis, but had thus far held off on delving in. Game of Thrones (and ASOIAF) became my favorite IP until Seasons 7 and 8 and the interminable wait for Winds of Winter mostly killed it.

Since AGOT was too demanding in player-count and time and arguably emotion for regular game nights, I wound up joining a meetup group dedicated to the board game. I made it out maybe four or five times, playing with various sub-optimal player counts. During one of those games, I played Lannister and got blown off the map by the Greyjoys, which wasn't so fun, and during one of them, I played as House Tyrell and won on the tenth round, with the final march of the game, because we used the Tides of Battle cards and I drew a 3 to my opponent's 0.

My most recent play was just around a year ago. In anticipation of the final season of Game of Thrones, I finally bought my own copy of the board game and organized a game night with my main group. Only five of us played, and it was the zippiest of any game I'd played, clocking in around the four-hour mark.

Future - I bought my copy of AGOT knowing that I'd probably play it less than once a year. But I'm happy to have it in my collection because of what it's meant to me, and it's an event I can look forward to savoring again, if I can wrangle the friends for it.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness