A Game of Thrones

I had my first game of the Game of Thrones boardgame, with five other players. It is a nice little design based on The War of the Five Kings, with armies and fleets plodding about the board. The first player to get seven castles wins, or else whoever has the most at the end of ten rounds. As soon as someone gets close to winning, his (or her!) rivals tear them down. There's some additional friction with unpredictable end of round events, and the intrigue is abstracted by blind bidding to decide turn order, tie-breakers, and other hierarchy. You cannot lose characters, which detracts from GRRM's vision somewhat!

I was House Greyjoy (black), and I can't say things went well. I was hit by a surprise attack from the Lannisters (red) led by Gregor Clegane and Tywin Lannister, their most powerful generals, which took Pyke and left me permanently reeling for the rest of the game and struggling to stay alive.

Game start- Westeros from the northwest

There was a continuous back-and-forth between Houses Martell (sand), Baratheon (yellow), and Tyrell (green), whilst Stark (white) built up their force and inexorably marched south. I threw myself behind House Stark lest they crush me alive, but wasn't surprised when they eventually stabbed me in the back! Curse your sudden and inevitable betrayal!

The overall winner was House Tyrell, with six castles, in a tie-breaker with House Stark. I felt somewhat vindicated that, since the Lannisters had expended so much energy attacking me, they ended up coming second last.

Game end- Greyjoy slinks away on their sole remaining ship!

I enjoyed myself (since the pressure to compete and win was off)! It's a nicely presented game that works well with six players, that captures many (but not all) of the saga of AGoT. Where were my dragons?!

This is as good a time as any to show some figures I painted in the just-finished Analogue Winter Challenge:

First, some crows. These are for the board game Zombicide, but are available separately, and I thought they would complement my SAGA revenants nicely. They could work as fatigue markers, and generally look good en masse.

Next, a boy and his wolf. The boy is from Elladan, and I worry about the join between his wrist and his sword-hand. The wolf is from Reaper and is my first figure from their Bones range.

Finally, my first figure from Annie at Bad Squiddo was her 'Little Lady Warmonger', which comes with a mounted and dismounted version. A cracking little sculpt!

So, I'll be keeping a close eye on Fireforge's upcoming figure ranges...