Customer Reviews

A Game of Thrones: The Card Game

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What this is: a CCG-type fantasy strategy game with some board-game-ish components to give a nice tactile feel to things. The goal: to accumulate 15 Power tokens (representing political clout) before any other player. Plays 2-6.

This game is beautiful; let's start with that declaration. The core set includes 4 pre-made decks for the Stark, Lannister, Targaryen, and Baratheon Houses; six grey plastic moulded pieces that represent various courtly positions like Crown Regent, Hand of the King, Master of Coin, etc.; really pretty Gold Dragon coins and blue Power pieces; and a very nice, durable board for the coins and power pieces that centers the field of play nicely.

Onto the gameplay: there are three different types of attacks or "challenges" that can occur - military, intrigue, and power (aka political). Each character is marked as able to participate in some (generally, not all) types of challenges, meaning that deploying a character that can handle Intrigue on a field full of Military and Power characters can lead to a broadening advantage.

Different types of Challenges yield different results: successful military challenges let you kill off the defending player's characters, intrigues force the defending player to discard random cards from hand, and power challenges let you poach Power points from your foe. Intrigues are probably the least direct in achieving victory - holding the lead in in-play characters gives you Power points late in the turn, and Power challenges directly grab them for your side - making Intrigues sort of the "Dishonor"/bad guys strategy.

Finally, a very neat gimmick is the Plot Deck - reminiscent of the old Middle Earth CCG's long-events, i.e. cards that linger from the start of one turn to the start of the next, then are discarded, but produce some game-changing effects temporarily that can be really nice. These cards are actively chosen from a special, small deck, meaning you can pair a short-term strategy with your long-term goals. Plot Cards also have "claim" - this affects how much oomph successful Challenges have, and can make a huge difference if you pull off more than one Challenge in a single turn.

All in all, this is an excellent game with solid components, clear and helpful rules and rulebook, and a fascinating strategy that builds on such CCG classics as Magic, Battle Tech, Middle Earth, and Guardians (tangentially, anyway). It executes its design with a very strong flavor all its own, and its mechanics are distinctive. A very worthwhile purchase!

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 got this for Christmas and it really is a much more flexible Magic. You can play 1v1 3 players or 4 player free for all or partners game. It works best with 2 core sets since you can deck build 4 different balanced decks. Plays in about an hour and has been very fun.

Also I have read the books and this game really matches the theme and feeling of the books. Also I hate Magic for its same same game play and this really has a different feel and it is allot more affordable and controllable.

Also I have not bought any expansions nor chapter packs and we are having a blast.

I bought this game as a gift for my husband in his birthday.
This is a perfect combination between a board game and a card collector's game. My husband can have fun reading reviews in forums, buying expansions, planning and trying new decks (he likes that stuff) and I can join him just playing with what this box has (just as a traditional board game, what I like).
The only downfall: it's a long game to play if you are not a teenager that can learn all the cards by heart. With our thirty-and-a-bit years old pace, the game takes about 4 to 6 hours to play. (Not very good if you have young kids and must play after they are all asleep - you end up getting to bed very late and having to wake up very early anyway).

Old time magic player that bought this game based off a recomendation. Must say its really amazing. There seems to be much more planning and strategy involed than the typical CCG'S/LCG's as with a seperate plot deck you can determine the order of powerful effects. Additionally I found that the decks play very different when facing different oppenets which provides numerous hours of entertainment. With this set you get enough cards to play with anywhere between 1-4 players. If you want to you can stop at this point and have 4 relatively balanced decks or you can continue to expand the decks with further sets.

I've played plenty of CCGs over the years: Magic, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Seventh Sea, Austin Powers, Jedi Knights, Magi Nation and so on. This is the first LCG I've played though and I quite like the fixed card distribution format. Gone are the days of spending several hundred dollars every few months for the latest and greatest. Now you can get it all for about $10-$30 per month depending is a larger expansion out in addition to the chapter pack.

The artwork is good and the cards look nice. Fantasy Flight always puts care into the look of their products (boardgames, cardgames, etc). As for actual gameplay, I quite enjoy it. I haven't had a chance to play 4 players yet, but I didn't love 3 players. However, everyone else online seems to say the multiplayer is best. 2 players is quite fun though. It bares some resemblance to the Babylon 5 CCG in that characters can participate in military fighting, power claims, or intrigue (or all 3, depending).

Give it a try!

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.

The best card game ever played. Perfect for groups who love big challenge, twists, intrigue, deception and attacks change the situation of the game each round.
Lots of fun and situations worthy of the books have even more fun.
Depending on the group will be well spent countless hours. Not recommended for those seeking more superficial games.

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've read the books, you may have too, I've watched the show, as too you may have, and now I've played the game.

If you're not committed then you're a easy player, like me, if you're more committed it becomes a whole lot more fun, but also a time taker! Let me explain that, I play for fun with the decks I'm given, I don't need to make extra decks or nor do I wish to.

So I play against others with the normal decks, we have fun we play, we laugh we lose, lose and sometimes lose! So we have fun and play, everyone knowing it's all sort off equal :)

I tried 'pack' games and I'm lost, who do I put in and why, why leave him out and place him they both have 1 strenght and ooh man. That is just me, others find it a great skill and have wonderful times playing it, give me a pack and I can do the same, but don't ask me to build a pack!

If you like family friendly games, no, go elsewhere, if you like intelligent thought out games, yeah, you get out what you put in, the more I learn the more I like it.

I hope you do too :)

Rocky