A Game of Thrones: The Card Game

I only have the this stand alone set and no other expansions. I have had a chance to play around and get a good feel for it. I wont go into depth of how the game mechanics work, thier is a how to play video here on amazon that pretty much covers all of that. I have played a bunch of other card games such as magic, call of cthulhu, WWE Raw and others. I mention this because I think this game is easier to learn than many other card games. I am sure many people enjoy complex games that take a long time to figure out the rules and the long discussions on how the rules exactly work. This is pretty cut and dry and that makes it easier for other people to pick up on. I would call it a good gateway game. I have read the books and love the show and this conveys the theme and feel very well. The people who make this game (Fantasy Flight) Always make beautifully crafted and illustrated componets. One thing I was concerned about was that the cards might contain accidental spoilers to the story. (I am avidly against any spoilers) But I was pleased to see that it does not do so. The bad part is that the 4 pre-made decks are not exactly balanced. The Lannister is a beast for acumilating gold. The Starks are almost unable to participate in intrigue challanges. (I understand that the intrigue challanges are meant to be such as shady under the table kind of actions, yet not being able to attack or defend in one of these challanges makes you discard cards from your hand and your opponet get more power tokens.) While this may be realistic to the story, it is not balanced. You can view it as a challange or a negative. If you buy expansions you may be able to level the playing field. Though it may add more depth to the game and add the enjoyable possibilty of custumization this stand alone set is really all you need. Overall the game is worth the money and is allot of fun. It takes about an hour to play and can get intense with how fast the scales of victory can be tipped. Unlike in games like magic where if you have the correct cards you can build a nearly impenetrable defense this game pushes you to try and win while forcing you to become paranoid if you are making the right move.

I recently purchased this game to give it a try on our weekly game night. Our game night consists of 4-6 guys playing things like Axis and Allies, Magic: The Gathering, Risk, Stratego, or just Super Smash Bros, and we all got into the new Game of Thrones HBO series, and some of us got into the books. So when an Amazon search of "A game of thrones" brought up this LCG I gave it a shot. For under $30 it seemed like a worthwhile set since it comes with enough for 4 players right out the box. The details of the set have been covered in other reviews so I'll skip that. My set however came missing the "Stark" deck. Undaunted I emailed Fantasy Flight Games and they sent me the Stark deck right away, I had it in 3 days from noticing the deck was missing. All in all I can't complain about the missing deck because it instilled a great deal of faith in Fantasy Flight Games for their quick and ZERO hassle resolution of the issue. Now we are all old school MTG players who no longer have the money or desire to keep up with the full time investment that can be MTG. The concept of an LCG rather than a CCG appeals to that greatly as it allows for casual and even competitive play with a much lower monetary investment. Many of the conceptual elements of the game will be familiar to MTG players. But the addition of plotting, multiplayer titles, three types of conflict, and other developments make this, in our opinion anyway, a superior game for older and more casual players. No you do not have anywhere near the level of deck variety as MTG, but it is affordable, each part of the game is very strategic, the balance is impressive (Save the Lannisters are a bit overpowered), and the learning curve is only about 2-3 games. After a couple game nights and about 6 four player melees we have decided this game will be a regular part of game night. Everyone is already finding their favorite houses and everyone had already chipped in to buy one of each of the deluxe house expansions and another core set to get us all deck building for the game. But honestly you could have an awesome time with just the core set for many nights of games, and for under $30 I would say I've gotten much more than that amount in enjoyment of the games. And again I have to mention that in an ocean of horrible customer service Fantasy Flight Games impressed me with their quick and easy service. That alone puts me at ease buying from this company from here on out.

I like the idea of limited card games. All the deck building fun of Magic the Gathering without all the cost and balance issues of the random collectible cards. My friends and I play tons of video games and board games - Axis and Allies, Pandemic, Dominion, Ticket to Ride, D&D adventure series (Ravenloft, Drizzt), Magic the Gathering, and 4th edition dungeons and dragons. I love the Game of Thrones books and TV show, so this should be a good fit. I haven't played the game yet, but having read the rulebook, I'm not too excited play yet. I feel like I'm going to have to make my own cheat sheet to teach anyone else how to play. I'm not even going to try this game with my casual-gamer friends and family. The rules are just plain poorly written. For example, it states each turn is broken into ~7 phases; then the first phase has 3 parts... well isn't that acutally 9 phases? Honestly, I get why it might be organized that way, but I think it could be better. I'm sure I'll play this eventually. And I think my dedicated group will enjoy it, but I don't see it displacing any of the more simple and just as fun games mentioned above.

3 of us, none of us had read the cards previously and only I had even one quick read of the instructions. We just followed along with the manual and learned as we went. It was fun enough, considering we were floundering our way through. Fortunately the online community and FFG's web site provide some helpful information and resources for the inevitable questions that pop up. I just downloaded the FAQ which looks a bit daunting, starting to wade through it. While I like the game, I don't know how suitable it is for novices. The basic rules laid out in the included instructions are pretty straightforward, but the interactions of the cards and especially timing rules aren't so obvious. If I have to compare it to other games, it's got a bit of Babylon 5's mechanics and social aspects, with the complex timing rules of Magic (the last time I played it, anyway) combined with the cutthroat nature of Seventh Sea. You've probably heard of one of those games, don't know how helpful the others are... We're all old time B5 players, still play regularly, and as a long running group we've tended to use less confrontational, "friendlier" decks built around a fun experience for everybody. This didn't really work with this game. It seems pretty combative and brutal. Not that that's a bad thing, just the nature of the game.

We are avid strategy gamers and we really despised this game. We like Dominion, Puerto Rico, Settlers of Catan, Risk, Carcasonne, Ticket to Ride, to give you an idea of our style. This game is overly and unnecessarily complicated, they could have taken out so many factors to make it more playable. The learning curve of any of these games is going to be steep, but this one required at least an hour of reading and following instructions. Then the actual gameplay was incredibly slow, highly complicated, nearly impossible to see how you would ever get your brain around a strategy. I admit we only gave it one try, but we could scarcely stomach that. We pushed our way through thinking that it would click, that it would get simpler, and it just dragged on and on. It was torture.

Edit: It's funny coming back to this review two years later to see how many people have found it "unhelpful". I highly doubt most of those who found this review unhelpful were people who did not already own and enjoy the game. For anyone who is on the fence about buying this game, I'd be very wary about the "helpfulness" of most of these reviews, since I suspect at least a few overzealous fans have voted down any reviews that are critical of the game. If you're looking for a card game and you are familiar with and enjoy other card games like Magic the Gathering, then you'll probably like this game. If you're looking for a standalone board game that is game of thrones themed, then steer clear. I've played many, many other board games that were far more interesting and fun than this in just the last two years. Since I originally wrote this review, FFG has released A Game of Thrones: The Board Game Second Edition which I would highly recommend over this game. It's more of a war strategy game which does a far better job of matching the atmosphere of the Game of Thrones world. ----------------------------- Original Review: I bought this hoping it would be a fun card-based board game for 4 players set in the aSoIaF world. The game mechanics are very attack based which makes any card you play seem pretty trivial. One of us would play a character card that seemed very cool and interesting, only to have it be killed in the same round by another player. This makes the game feel like Magic the Gathering and less like a really fun standalone game like Race for the Galaxy. The materials and cards themselves are well made and interesting to look at, but not much fun to play with which is why I'm giving 2/5 stars.

I played this before it was ever released as a CCG back in 2001 or so when FF brought it to an industry game day at a distributor that I worked for at the time and it was a really fun game even then. It was just the right amount of complicated with several different ways one could win during the turns to ultimately win the game. I think the word "revolutionized" is used way too often and has lost a lot of it's meaning because of people throwing it around way too much describing things that do not deserve it, but in this case FF actually did revolutionize the Collectible Card Game industry by implementing the Living Card Game format.The tactics in play changed slightly when FF made it into an LCG, but personally I think it was for the better over all and for years they put out expansion packs that you only needed to purchase one of to get the tournament play legal limit of all cards. No longer did you have to worry about getting all the rare chase cards in order to have a viably competitive deck. One purchase and you were set till the next expansion deck came out roughly a month later. They came out in sets of six expansion decks that followed story-lines or themes usually focusing on a single house with the occasional slightly larger expansion called Deluxe Expansion Boxes containing roughly 11/3 as many cards as the smaller individual story packs. Recently FF had discontinued this version in favor of a newer one. I have not heard of any promises of better or even different mechanics, if the cards are different or if they are simply reprinting the same things on different art. The thing is, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the original game. FF are just being money grubbing feces heels by resetting the entire game like they have completely invalidating thousands of cards for tournament play just to turn a buck. Don't get me wrong, I want them to profit and stay in business because they make some really great games, but I am intentionally not going to ever purchase the new version of "Game of Thrones" LCG in protest to this obvious corporate sleaze tactic that has left me with functionally useless cards if I ever wanted to play in a tournament. The plus side to this is that if you just want to have some quality time with friends and family you can purchase the previous set ridiculously cheap at this point, so take advantage of that if you can.

I've played a few games of Magic over the years, it's a fun game. What turned me off about it is the fact that you have to spend a good deal of cash on cards to come up with a competitive deck. The system is similar to baseball cards, you have to buy a lot of random booster packs in hopes of gaining a decent card. Any more there are online sites that offer singles, but they can be ridiculously expensive. The system in this game is quite different, and I like it. You don't buy boosters, you buy monthly chapter packs, and you know exactly what comes in each pack. Unlike Magic, this game doesn't reward the person who spent the most money on their deck or bought the most boosters. Ten bucks gets you a chapter pack containing 60 cards. There are also a few of 110 or 165 card packs available that focus on one house for around $20. That being said, this game is by no means free. I have a few different decks which I would consider competitive (not on a national level or anything, but good solid decks), and I have sunk around $140 into the game. That may sound like a lot, but ask a person who plays in Magic tournaments how much money they've spent on the game. The answer will probably amaze you. Other than the cost factor, this game is a good time. I have a number of friends who meet regularly to play board and card games, and this has become a favorite of ours. It's engaging, tactical, and is complex enough to keep us interested in the game long term.

I gave this Item a 5* review due to the engaging gameplay experience and the brilliant card designs. I found the gameplay and general premise of this game rather easy to pick up, which is contrary to some opinions that the game is over convoluted, I found that after investing a short time reading the instructions we were ready to play and we hit the ground running, there may of been a few brief pauses whilst we consulted the rules, but it did not detract from this enthralling game - infact I for one find the intricacies the thing that make this game so appealing. I would recommend this game to people who enjoy games of strategy but who also enjoy sudden turns of fortune to keep them guessing. This game is also a must for people who like me crave more from the world of A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRM, with its extracts from the books and all of the characters we know and love on top knotch quality (illustrated) card deseigns. We will be playing this time and time again.

Il gioco mi è piaciuto proprio tanto. Ho preso il set base per provare le meccaniche del gioco e perchè consente di giocarci in 4. Le meccaniche sono valide, il gioco è complicato e bisogna metterci la testa ma giocarci da soddisfazioni. Sono soddisfatto solo in parte perchè in 4 perde tantissimo, diventa praticamente ingiocabile.

Es un juego muy divertido y en el que hay que jugar con amigos, pero recordar que son amigos. No hay que enfadarse, es solo un juego. Y sabemos lo que es juego de tronos, un juego de traiciones

This game is so detailed that it will probably take the average person between 4 and 8 hours to finally understand and grasp the rules. Enjoyable so far, but I have unfortunately not been able to play a full game as I have only about half way through the rule book. I wouldn't let this review prevent you from buying the game, just let you know you will need a LOT of patience.

El Living Card Game de "Game of Thrones" es la primera compra que debe hacer todo el que quiera iniciarse en este complejo juego. Hay que advertir que es un juego que involucra mucha estrategia y tener en cuenta muchas cartas sobre la mesa. Para algunos puede ser demasiado lento. Pero cuando pierdes, te quedas con la sensación de que has perdido por tomar malas decisiones y no por el azar, y eso no es algo que se pueda decir de otros TCG/LCG. En sí, con los cuatro mazos que vienen aquí ya puedes empezar a hacer partidas entre dos o tres jugadores, porque yo recomiendo o comprar ya una expansión, o bien desmenuzar uno de los mazos (preferiblemente el Targaryen, que tiene menos feedback entre sus cartas) para alimentar los otros tres hasta que lleguen a 60 cartas.