Monday, February 21, 2011

A Game of Thrones....

I've never read the books, and I'm unlikely to see the TV miniseries, but I have played the board game a couple of times.
The game is from Fantasy Flight Games, who made Chaos in the Old World and many other modern board games with high production values and well thought out game play.  The aim of the game, presumably based on the books is to take control of a number of key cities on the map to seize overall power; however, before all that can be resolved there are several other factors that have an influence on game play. 

One player for example will control the throne, and have power to determine the winner of draws in the game, another will have the raven and can change commands, whilst another will have the sword, and thus more power in battles.

The turns are played by issuing orders in secret to each of your forces, and then playing them out in an established sequence.  Orders include raids, advances, defends and consolidations.  How they interact vary, but obviously when one force advances into another's territory, battle ensues.

Battle is a simple affair, of adding up the values of attacking, defending and supporting units, and then factoring in a commanders card of varying value.

Like many boardgames with a map as opposed to an abstract symmetrical grid for a board, certain players have an advantage in comparison to others, blessed with strong, secure bases of power, or largely free of enemies until later in the game.  This does not detract from the pleasure of the game, but does ramp up the challenge of playing as certain sides

Recommended, so long as you can muster four or five players and about four hours to play.

No comments:

Post a Comment