[Board/Tactical Game]: A Game of Thrones: The Board Game, reviewed by ShannonA (5/5)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9931.phtml

Shannon Appelcline's Summary:

An excellent modern war game that's heavy on the diplomacy & very true to George R. R. Martin's novels.

Go to the full review for more information.

Post originally by Robert A. Rodger at 2003-12-10 12:44:01
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I’d like to disagree with a couple things in this review, although over all I agree.

I’ve found the Raven Power isn’t minor at all, and we did not forget it one bit. It was a very important piece of strategy in all the games we played once we really appreciated what it could do for you.

I’ll also disagree that it was “really designed for 5” players. Actually, both three and four player games play as well, and it was recently pointed out to me that a three player game models the first book, “A Game of Thrones,” the four player game models “A Clash of Kings,” and the five player game “A Storm of Swords.”

Post originally by John Fiala at 2003-12-10 14:51:29
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I'm going to agree with Robert here. I played the game once (when an RPG game had too few to run) with three players, and the game was a blast. I've never read the books, but I had a lot of fun with the game, and so did our two other players.

The Raven's power is also very good - knowing that you can swap in a 'support' or a 'raid' depending on what your opponent does is fantastic.

I strongly recommend this game.

-john

Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2003-12-10 15:06:12
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I totally agree with the usefulness of the Raven power. It just happens to be possible to forget because of its out-of-turn effect. The first holder of the Raven remembered just a little too late the first round or two, then we started to catch on.

Good to hear it works well with 3 or 4; I actually didn't have much doubt there based on 'net comments. Nonetheless it was *designed* for 5, and thus I think you'll get the optimal experience there, as planned for by the designer.

Shannon

Post originally by xero at 2003-12-10 17:15:40
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C'mon! Who wasn't looking forward to having the red viper of dorne kick some Lannister butt?

Post originally by Ralph Mazza at 2003-12-11 06:19:44
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I don't think he was saying the Raven Power was "minor" I think he was indicating that his complaint about it being easy to forget was just a minor issue.

Post originally by Wombat at 2003-12-11 07:41:15
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Well, at least the game has one great thing going for it...

...unlike the books, it has an identifiable ending, instead of turning into another "Wheel of Time" fiasco...

Post originally by DariusSolluman at 2003-12-11 07:53:12
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A) Maybe it was just the people I played with, but the game we played ran long. Like, 6 hours. Mind you, one of the players is notoriously slow, and probably did take ten extra minutes on ever Planning phase but... geh...

B) A bookish quibble- Greyjoy is set up for an 'easy' attack on Lannisport, with no real incentive to sail north to Stark lands. This resulted in Greyjoy and Lannister fighting back and forth for a majority of the game over that one bit of land.

C) The precise rules for consolidating Power weren't terribly clear to several of the players for the first several turns of the game. Some thought you could only Consolidate on fiefdoms with a Crown, and some thought the Star Crown gave 2 Power instead of 1.

D) The Iron Throne's 'Decide Ties' ability virtually never seemed to come up, except in placing the ties for the other two tracks. I can't decide if that was intentional or not.

E) If a nation has all it's ships destroyed, they're basically cut off from the ocean forever. Again, can't decide if that was intentioal or not.

F) A means of 'demoting' Knights to be able to muster them elsewhere would have been nice. Also, some Characters have special abilities with Footmen that make them more valuable than they seem at first blush.

G) Whoever designed the pieces holder should be shot. They're just too large to have the pieces fit snuggly, and just too small to actually be able to reach in and pluck them out. Frankly, plastic baggies would have been better.

Overall, twas fun I want to play it again when I'm not falling asleep, but I also do want to play it again.

Post originally by Shannon Appelcline at 2003-12-11 11:46:43
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> A) Maybe it was just the people I played
> with, but the game we played ran long.
> Like, 6 hours.

I think it was your group. Our playtest game was 5 players with three of us never having played before and two of us not having read all the rules. From rules explanation to setup to game finish took under 4 hours, with the game ending on round 9 (out of max 10).

> B) A bookish quibble- Greyjoy is set up
> for an 'easy' attack on Lannisport, with
> no real incentive to sail north to Stark
> lands.

And in our game, Lannister and Greyjoy allied, and Greyjoy then went forth to annhilate Stark.

> D) The Iron Throne's 'Decide Ties' ability
> virtually never seemed to come up, except
> in placing the ties for the other two
> tracks. I can't decide if that was
> intentional or not.

We had it come up exactly as you described, where it was very useful because he could reward allies and punish his worst opponents. We also had it come up in a tie-for-the-least-commitment after a successful wildling attack, where the Iron Throne holder (Greyjoy) used it to take a heavy toll from his opponent (Stark), which was a chunk of what took Stark out of the game.

> E) If a nation has all it's ships
> destroyed, they're basically cut off from
> the ocean forever. Again, can't decide if
> that was intentioal or not.

Yeah, we talked about that during the game though it never came up. It was a vaguelly troubling balance issue, and should have made it into the review.

Shannon

Post originally by DS at 2003-12-11 11:56:39
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Whoawhoawhoa- no comparing a series to the Wheel of Time until it hits the fifth book, or twice exceddes the author's predicted number of books