A GAME OF THRONES: THE BOARD GAME (2nd ed.

) illustrated tutorial & cheat sheet Your role

Stark Greyjoy Lannister Tyrell Martell

Unofcial guide by Ien Cheng (ghopper21 on BGG). Artwork FFG, used with permission.

One of the great houses from the Game of Thrones vying for control of Westeros
Baratheon

Your goal

Be first to control 7 strongholds

or castles

through combat and cunning

or have the most strongholds or castles after 10 rounds, with the number of strongholds then supply limits being tiebreakers.

Orders

Each round, all houses secretly place at the same time one order for each area with their units
Defend area, i.e. add to defense strength Support battles in all adjacent areas Consolidate power i.e. get 1 power token plus 1 extra for each crown in area Raid 1 adjacent area, i.e. cancel enemy support, raid, or power order. If raiding power order, you get and enemy loses 1 power token

March (or sail) into adjacent areas, starting at most one combat

You can place special orders up to the number of stars you have on the raven influence track
Extra attack strength Extra defense strength Extra support strength Muster in a stronghold/castle area, or gain power token(s) as normal Can cancel enemy defense order as well

Combat

In any given battle, higher combat strength wins, with ties broken by position on the sword inuence track. Combat strength is determined by
1. UNITS IN AREA Footman +1 on land Knight +2 on land Ship +1 at sea 2. ANY SUPPORT? Owner of supporting units must declare which side (if any) to support. Ships can support adjacent sea or land areas. Land units can only support land areas. 3. HOUSE CARD (you choose*) Character strength 4. TIDES OF BATTLE CARD (random**) The unpredictability of war. Attacker then defender draws a card. They add up to 3 strength often 0, rarely 3! They also can add swords, fortications, and even (rarely) a skull icon " that destroys one enemy unit even in defeat. Either redraw Tides of Battle card (before they are revealed) Or get +1 strength after all combat info revealed The holder of blade can use it only once per round. % In defeat, each fortication icon negates one sword icon House characters often have unique text abilities instead of icons. [*] REUSING HOUSE CARDS After using a card, discard it. When all are discarded, recover all except the last one you used. You can inspect enemys house cards before either chooses. [**] USE TIDES OF BATTLE? A new footman costs 1 point Your position on the supply track limits the number and size of armies you can have at any time. An army is 2 or more units in the same area. Each numbered flag represents one army with that number of units (or less). Solitary units forage and do not count against limits. The number of supply icons you control determines your new position on the supply track when supply adjustment is triggered. Decide together before the game whether to play with Tides of Battle cards. You can also lower unpredictability, e.g. by removing the +3 and half of the +2 cards. If you play with Tides of Battle cards, always have the attacker reshuffle the entire deck after a battle to ensure randomness. 5. VALYRIAN STEEL BLADE?

Siege engine +4 when attacking area with stronghold or castle; otherwise 0 Order strength + or -

In victory, each sword icon destroys one enemy unit (chosen by defeated player)

Retreating
when defeated in combat Some units may be destroyed by sword or skull icons (see above). Any defeated units that are not destroyed are routed: They must retreat to controlled or empty areas (one or more). They are inactive (turned on their sides, with zero combat strength) for the rest of the round. If there is nowhere for them to retreat, they are destroyed. Siege engines can never retreat they are always destroyed in defeat (and cannot be chosen as targets of sword or skull icons).

Mustering new units

when triggered by Westeros cards Strongholds provide 2 mustering points Castles provide 1 mustering point

Adjusting supply limits

when triggered by Westeros cards

A new knight costs 2 points (1 to upgrade from footman) A new ship costs 1 points (muster to adjacent sea or port) A new seige engine costs 2 pts (1 to upgrade from footman)

Ship transport
to move land units across sea areas

Ports
for using special tactics with ships Ports are separate areas in between sea and land areas that can hold up to three ships (and no land units). Ports interact with adjacent sea and land areas according to special rules: Ships in port can always go out i.e. march into, support, or raid the sea area. Ships in the sea area can only go in i.e. march into a port if you control the land area.

Rivers and islands

i.e. special features of land areas Rivers cant be crossed

Garrisons
for extra defense at home

unless there is a bridge.

Each house starts with a garrison that provides extra defensive combat strength in its home area. If you are ever defeated in your home area, your garrison is destroyed. You can never get it back!

Land units can move from one land area to another land area that is connected only by sea via ship transport as long as you have ships in each of the connecting sea areas. Ship transport can be used for march orders and retreats, not for support. All you need is one ship in each sea area even a routed ship to transport one or more land units.

You can raid but not directly attack a port. Instead, when you take over the land area next to a port, you can destroy or convert (into your own ship) any enemy ship in that port. You can consolidate power in a controlled port if you also control the sea area (i.e. free trade). Ports must get order tokens like any other area.

Islands function as a single land unit within the white lines.

Independent houses
To take over an independent area, attack with enough strength to at least match that houses printed strength. Dont use house cards or Tides of Battle cards. Cant use blade. Support for the independent house not allowed.

Inuence tracks

At unpredictable moments, you must bid for position on the three inuence tracks using your power tokens to gain political, military, and logistical power in the realm.
When influence bidding is triggered by a Westeros card, everyone must bid on the throne, blade, and raven tracks, in order. To bid, hold zero or more power tokens in a closed hand, then all reveal at once. Discard any tokens you bid and reorder houses on the relevant track based on who bid the most.

Maintaining control
In land areas you vacate When you vacate a land area, you can leave behind a power token (if you have one), allowing you to maintain control. You never get the token back. If an enemy marches in, the token is discarded. When attacking with all units, you must decide whether to leave a token behind before combat.

The throne track determines turn order i.e. higher goes first. Top bidder also gets the throne token which means you break all power token ties, i.e. when bidding for influence and Wildling attacks. The blade track determines combat ties, i.e. higher wins. Top bidder also gets the blade token which you can use once per round for +1 combat strength or to redraw your Tides of Battle card before they are revealed. The raven track determines available special orders, i.e. one per star each round. Top bidder also gets the raven token which you can use once per round to swap in an unused order token when orders are revealed, or to peek at the top Wildling card and optionally bury it at the bottom of the deck.

Fighting off the Wildlings

when attacks are triggered by Westeros cards To beat the Wildlings, players must collectively contribute enough power tokens to at least match the current number on the Wildling track .

Players should announce the number of power tokens they have before secretly bidding. Ties for the throne track are broken by the existing holder of the throne token, not the new one about to be crowned. Ties for the other tracks are broken by the new throne token holder. Once used, the blade and raven tokens are flipped over to indicate they are unavailable for the rest of the current game round.

Bid with closed fists, then all reveal. Then the group draws the top Wildling card to see what happens. If the Wildlings are beaten (enough tokens): The highest contributor gets the printed benefit The Wildling track is reset to 0 If the Wildlings are not beaten (not enough tokens): First, the lowest bidder suffers an extra painful consequence, as printed on the card. Everyone else also suffers a bad consequence. The Wildling track is moved back by 2 spaces As with influence track bidding, when fighting Wildlings players should announce the number of power tokens they have before secretly bidding.

Game rounds

The game last up to 10 rounds. Heres what happens each round:

1. DRAW WESTEROS CARDS This step is skipped on the first round. The top card from the 3 Westeros decks (I, II, III) is drawn and resolved, in order. These cards trigger key events, including mustering, supply limit adjustment, bidding for influence, and Wildling attacks. After each Westeros card is resolved, the Wildling track is advanced one spot if that card has a Wildling icon. Whenever the Wildling track reaches the highest position (12), a Wildling attack automatically happens! 2. PLACE ORDER TOKENS At the same time, all players secretly place (i.e. face down) one order token for each area that has at least one of their units. 3. RESOLVE ORDER TOKENS All players reveal their orders, i.e. turn them face up. As a special move, the raven token holder either replaces an order or peeks-at-and-optionally-buries the top Wildling card. Then resolve all raid orders then all march orders and finally all consolidate power orders. Resolve 1 token per player in throne track turn order and then cycle through again as needed. Players can ignore their own orders. Keep track of whos winning with the victory track. Keep track of game rounds with the hourglass token on the game round track.

Setting up
Players choose or randomly pick houses Follow setup instructions inside player screens Every player starts with 5 power tokens Place independent house tokens based on number of players (see player number indicator on the lower right of those tokens). Shuffle the Westeros, Wildling, and (if used) Tides of Battle decks