Game of Thrones Board Game: A Hidden Gem

Have you ever read the fantastic series by George R. R. Martin, called A Song of Ice and Fire? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to raise your banners and call your armies, crushing your enemies (your friends) under your steel boot as you take the Iron Throne by force and declare yourself King? Well, if you haven't heard of the Game of Thrones board game yet, then your in for quite the surprise!

The board game is for 3-5 players, ages 12 and up, playable in 2-3 hours. As the leader of one of the most powerful noble families in Westeros, your goal is to crush your opponents through intrigue, plotting, alliances, backstabbing, and last but not least, crush them with your mighty hosts. The game takes place a bit into the first book, don't worry if you haven't read the series yet I won't go into exact detail as it may contain spoilers. Needless to say, when you play you will have your hands full in trying to manipulate and overcome your opponents in a bid for the Iron Throne.

The game is played on a board that divides the continent of Westeros into several regions. Most regions have at least one icon representing a city, a stronghold, a support barrel, or a power icon, and some key locations have multiples of such icons. Along the way you'll earn special tokens that give you special powers, such as the Iron Throne, Valyrian Steel Blade, and Messenger Raven tokens. To give you an example, if your the one holding the Valyrian Steel Blade, you decide the outcome of a battle that comes to a draw, even if it's not your army in the battlefield, but two other opponents. Who do you let win? Who do you let lose? It's things like this that cause tension in the game.

There is no dice rolling in the game, the game is pure strategy and manipulation. Different territories offer different resources: Troops, Supplies, Power. Do you risk and expend resources to try and conquer a valuable area of land in a bid to gain more supplies? Do you make an alliance with your friend, promising that you'll not attack his land for three turns, and then immediately attack anyways when he's not expecting it? That is the type of game that you will play, alliances are a fragile thing just as in real life. They can be made and broken on a simple whim.

You can play as House Stark, House Lannister, House Baratheon, House Greyjoy, House Tyrell, and as of the expansion A Clash of Kings, House Martell.

The game is great, as there are a lot of components to the game that give the game enough depth to make it interesting, yet it's not overbearing. There really isn't anything in the game that causes it to screech to a halt, which is a good thing. Because you have to do a little bit of resource management, you need to decide just what resources your going after. Are you going to have a lot of power, or will you concentrate on supplies which will let you field more troops?

I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a war-game fan, even if you haven't read the books. In a fashion, just imagine playing Risk but with more control, more decisions, and where you can manipulate the game and win, even by not using your armies much. Or you can use your armies and crush your opponents under your boot. There are a lot of opportunities to claim victory, and many paths. Such as in Risk, the only way you can win is by using your armies. In this game, using your armies or not is totally up to you. You could literally win by not even moving your armies an inch, although you have to be really creative and manipulate your opponents into making that happen (in other words, cause them to attack each other and not you).

After I've played a few games I've noticed a trend, and I've re-confirmed that trend by searching around online and reading other player's reviews of it. When your attacked and severely punished in the game, your pretty much out of getting the Iron Throne (winning). It's hard to make a comeback, but it's not entirely impossible. On the bright side, you'll be much more careful about what you do because of the consequences of losing. If you notice that your slipping behind your opponents, that is the time to strike bargains and alliances by writing notes to each other (we allow it in our games, it's a part of the intrigue and it leaves people wondering). Get your opponents to attack each other, and especially get them to gang up on the person who is in the lead. In a sense, at that point, even if you don't make a comeback, you could very well be a king-maker due to you manipulating the system and your opponents. The person who crushed you, you hate him, and your going to do everything it takes to make sure he doesn't get the crown.

I do recommend getting this, even if you haven't read the books. It's a deep yet fluid game, full of a lot of possibilities. I've won the game by using my navy strategically, blocking off portions of the surrounding sea while my armies set up a blockade, and at the same time I was hording the best pieces of land in the game. I've also been knocked out of the running by being attacked from the top, right, and behind (by a navy) all at the same time. But that didn't stop me though, I made it perfectly clear that the person responsible for organizing that wasn't going to get the crown either, and he didn't. This is one of those rare games that even losing, isn't technically losing. If your weak in the game, become that king-maker. Make sure the person who did you in doesn't come out winning.

If your thinking about playing the game you may want to check out the books, which are a part of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. I would consider it to be a mature series due to the content, bloodshed, and such. The author doesn't hold back from killing off main characters, but that's fine, it keeps you on your toes. You'll always wonder who will get it next, and the people that you do think will get it, won't (yet). I kid you not, every single person that I've borrowed my books to loved the series and went out and bought their own books. It's one of those rare gems that you only find every now and then. I highly recommend at least considering reading the books, although I wouldn't say it's necessary if your just looking at playing the board game only.