A Game of Thrones the Board Game: 2nd Edition [Toy]

I came into this game not as a board gamer but as a fan of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Like most people I have played my share of board games in my life, but not many more complex than Monopoly, Clue, or the occasional game of Risk. I'm sure that a more serious board gamer will review this product here in the future, so I will provide what perspective I can.

This game is incredible and has made me interested in playing more serious board games in the future. I will not attempt to explain the complex rules of this game. Fantasy Flight Games's website has very helpful resources for this, including the complete rules PDF and a tutorial video.

I recommend that any group intending to play this has each individually watched that tutorial video. On top of that, at least one person will need to read (at least two times probably) the rule book. Trying to explain this game to others is a tall order. However, once the game is understood and a few practice rounds done, the game takes on a life of its own.

The six houses available for play are extremely well balanced and each has its own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to geographical board position, supply, influence, and unit types. These houses really each lend themselves to different play styles, but nevertheless challenge the players to do something outside of this comfort zone.

For example, the Starks have a near unconquerable hold on the snowy North (as in the books). Based on the geography, if the Stark player chose he could easily defend his homeland against all comers. However, Stark will never win the game this way and it is only when he stretches his resources thin that his land is more vulnerable. Other houses such as Tyrell are thrown into the fray from the beginning and have no such defensive strategy available to them. Greyjoy has absolute dominance over the sea and if played well can serve as a naval raiding nuisance that others must band together to defeat. I suspect that players will quickly see which houses are ideal for the way they wish to play.

The game is for 3-6 players and I don't really recommend 3. Without the more Southern houses, Baratheon is able to take over the territory requisite for victory pretty quickly unless the other two players band against him. The manufacturer has made changes in this 2nd edition that have improved this kind of problem over the original, but it's still possible. 4 players is more balanced and quite fun, but 5 or 6 is ideal. The games will certainly take 2 hours at the minimum and realistically probably 3 or 4. The game length could reach up to 6 hours if the group is particularly engaged.

On that note, no other game I've played does as good a job of drawing the players in as this one. The game encourages alliances as well as betrayals. With my group we would talk and roleplay somewhat during the game. Meanwhile, we opened up text messages to each other to facilitate backdoor betrayals so that other players could not hear. This is all made ten times more fun if you are a fan of the series and can get that giddy excitement by virtue of fighting over a familiar city like Harrenhal.

A few other notes:

- Combat is entirely luckless and based on strategy and skill. There is an optional module included that allows you to introduce a small element of luck, which I think is a good idea after a few games.
- The board game components themselves are amazing. Everything feels very well designed and produced. I especially love the army units and their marbled plastic design.

All in all this is just a fantastic board game, especially for those who are a fan of the book and TV series. For those who aren't, it's still an excellent game in and of itself, and it might introduce you to one of the greatest fantasy series of all time.

EDIT 1/12/12:

Thought I'd throw an edit into this review after some time. First of all the game is still great. The main point of this update is to say that there is an issue with the original printing of this game involving warping of the board. My board is slightly affected by this. Others have it worse and some have no issue at all. However, Fantasy Flight Games will be correcting the issue on future printings, and will be sending out free replacements to those who need them. You can contact their support via their website, they are very helpful people.

So first off I have played a few board games before this one mainly like Risk and Axis and Allies type stuff. I'm a huge fan of the books series and now as a result the HBO show as well I suppose. This game has blown me away with how much fun we have had with it. The rules do take some time to get a feel for and we even made sure to copy some quick reference sheets for each player. With six people there is really a surprising balance to the kingdoms. So much of the game is based on alliances and the right strategies.

We have played four games so far. Three of them had six people and the other one had four. First off I want to say that the Westeros cards have made it so each of the four games have gone completely different. Its too hard to explain without explaining all of the rules, but more or less at the start of each round there are a series of cards that are drawn at random. Depending on what those cards do the game will change accordingly. One game it was a while before we were really able to make a lot of troops, another game there were so many troops on the board so fast the map was just one big powder keg. In the games we have played there has been great shifts in power within the games. The latest game we played, we were more than halfway into the game and all six houses still had an equal chance of winning. Diplomacy is the key. You need players who know what they're doing, players who aren't afraid to backstab a good friend. I have never been more addicted to a board game in my life. Just try to make sure you have six people who can think strategically. (We have actually been nerdy enough that we do all of our diplomacy through text messaging so we can communicate while looking at the map and not let the other houses know what our messages are)

So all in all
Pros:
1. Surprising Game balance
2. Awesome replay value. We've played four games, all four games have gone differently not just based on alliances but based on the randomized Westeros cards
3. Forces diplomacy. If you're going against strategic minds you're going to have to make alliances just like in the books.
4. Great attention to detail with house cards - cool powers that change strategies and alter games.

Cons:
1. The rules are a bear. I almost didn't want to put this on cons since I think its also what allows it to be such a great game. But I can see how they can be intimidating. There have been some minor rules that we even initially messed up in one game, fixed it in another game, etc.
2. We feel Tyrion and Melisandre are underpowered in their house card powers. Really minor fanboy problem

Notes:
Better the players, better the game will be
Strategies change when playing with fewer players, people need to adjust
Diplomacy is a must
Get through the rules, play some practice rounds, well worth it

After getting into A Song of Ice and Fire, I decided on a whim to pick up the Game of Thrones board game. My group of friends and I really enjoy board games, and we usually wind up playing Arkham Horror, but I though this might be an interesting change to our game nights.

This game absolutely blew me away. I can say that it can seem a bit daunting at first, and our first play-through with 5 people took an incredibly long time. I've now played the game 6 times and it gets progressively quicker to finish each time we play. Once you figure out and become comfortable with the rules the game REALLY takes off and becomes interesting.
In every game so far, it has come down to the wire. It's all about calculated movements, and unlike Risk (where-in you become more and more likely to win the more territories you take) Game of Thrones forces you to strike a very delicate balance between sweeping in with masked attacks, fortifying crucial positions, and gathering resources to ensure your victory. At any given moment, any player could win/lose the game. There's this tension that every game has that makes it so exciting every turn. You second guess every move you make, and you just KNOW that you should have seen what your enemy was planning.

All in all, this is an incredibly well put-together game, and I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who has a love for strategy games. Try to have patience through the first couple games if you haven't quite got the hang of it, as every game becomes more intricate and the players experiment with new strategies.