A Game of Thrones: A Clash of Kings Expansion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Using this Expansion
• Option One: House Martell
  • Preparing for the six-player game
  • Setting up the Six Player Game Board
  • Randomly selecting a House
  • Playing the six-player game
  • Six-Player Game Victory Conditions
• Option Two: The New House Cards
• Option Three: Fortifications
  • How to build a Fortification
  • Attacking a Fortification
  • Effects of a Fortification
  • Abandoning Fortifications
• Option Four: Siege Engines
  • Using Siege Engines
  • The Effect of Siege Engines
  • Example of using Siege Engines
• Option Five: The Ports of Westeros
  • Placing A Port Token
  • Using Ports
  • Example of Port Usage
• Option Six: The One-Time Order Tokens
  • Playing with One-Time orders
  • Two Order Tokens
  • Using the One-Time Order tokens
  • The Common One-Time Orders
    • Recruit
    • Supply Caravan
    • Forced March
  • The Unique One-Time Orders
    • House Greyjoy: The Iron Fleet
    • House Stark: The Young Wolf
    • House Tyrell: The Might of Highgarden
• Option Seven: The Clash of Kings Westeros Phase Variant
  • Example of the Westeros Phase Variant
• Option Eight: The Clash of Kings Battle Variant
• Suggestion: Competitive 5-Player Games
• Option Nine: The Three Player Game Variant
• Frequently Asked Questions
  • The Westeros Cards
  • Supply
  • Wildling Assault
  • Placing Orders
  • The Messenger Raven
  • Executing Marches
  • Controlling Areas With Power
  • Attacking Neutral Armies
  • Rivers
  • House Cards
  • Routed Units and Routing
  • Removing Units

Components

Enclosed in this box you will find the following components:

• 7 House Martell House Cards
• 42 New House Cards
• 6 House Start Cards (for the six-player game)
• 15 House Martell Order tokens
• 20 House Martell Power tokens
• 3 House Martell Influence tokens
• 1 House Martell Supply token
• 4 Wooden House Martell Knight units
• 6 Wooden House Martell Ship units
• 10 Wooden House Martell Footman units
• 18 Wooden Siege Engine units (6 colors)
• 9 Wooden Fortification tokens (Grey)
• 30 One-Time order tokens
• 8 Port tokens
• 1 Influence Track board overlay (in two pieces)
• 1 Westeros board overlay (in two pieces)

Before you play the game for the first time, carefully punch out the cardboard tokens from their frames so that they do not tear.

Using this Expansion

While the A CLASH OF KINGS expansion introduces a significant number of new game options, it is intended that you should only select the game options that are most interesting to your play group. Each option is flexible enough to be added to a game of any number of players, and all the options are compatible with each other.

Option One: House Martell

Enclosed in your A CLASH OF KINGS expansion you will find the components needed to use House Martell (orange pieces) to play a six-player game of A GAME OF THRONES.

Preparing for the six-player game

The first thing you will do to prepare for a six-player game is to place the two map overlays (the 6 Player Areas of Influence Overlay and the Southern Westeros Overlay) on top of the original game board as show on the diagram. These overlays change the geography of Westeros and the Areas of Influence, allowing for the addition of House Martell.

Note that the "neutral army" Sunspear token found in the original game is not used in the six-player game.

Setting up the Six Player Game Board

When playing a six-player game of A GAME OF THRONES, it is necessary for the regular map and the Areas of Influence on the game board to be changed to accomodate the addition of House Martell.

After you have taken the game out of the box, set up the game board as illustrated above using the two Map Overlays that are provided in your A CLASH OF KINGS expansion set.

Note that you place the Westeros map overlay (showing the new Southern Westeros) directly on top of the bottom portion of your regular board by carefully lining up any overlapping areas. Likewise, the new six-player Areas of Influence overlay is placed directly on top of the Areas of Influence on your old board, completely hiding the old information.

Randomly selecting a House

Note that, for the six-player game, the starting positions for the houses have changed, and, of course, House Martell has been added. Thus you will find 6 new House Start Cards included in this expansion for the purposes of randomly drawing a players House and for providing players with their new starting positions.

Playing the six-player game

Other than the changes to the game board and the new positions in the Areas of Influence, the rules and structure of the six-player game remain identical to the regular A GAME OF THRONES game (with the exception of the new victory conditions, see below). The addition of House Martell, however, dramatically changes the political and military situation of the game, so be ready for a whole new A GAME OF THRONES experience!

Six-Player Game Victory Conditions

In a six-player game, the player to first control 6 cities and/or strongholds immediately wins the game.

It is recommended that House Martell only be used in a full six-player game.

Option Two: The New House Cards

In your CLASH OF KINGS expansion, you will find a complete new set of House Cards for the six great Houses. The card backs of these new House Cards are illustrated with the respective House shields as well as a crown. This differentiates them from the normal House Cards found in the basic game that featured only the single House Shield on the back.

The new set of House Cards found in A CLASH OF KINGS completely replaces the House Cards provided in the original game and gives players seven entirely new cards for their House. These new cards have new text abilities and a higher variance in combat strength, giving the characters from A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE a more pronounced role in the game.

It is important that you do not mix the two card sets (the old and the new) and that all players play with the same type of House Cards (the two sets are not designed to intermix). Note that the CLASH OF KINGS expansion includes two sets of cards for House Martell. One set for playing against the original House Cards (without a crown printed on the back) and another set for this game variant (printed with the crown).

The new House Cards are played exactly like the House Cards in the original game.

Option Three: Fortifications

Enclosed in your CLASH OF KINGS expansion, you will find nine grey wooden Fortification pieces. Fortifications are used to strengthen key defensive areas when your forces may be weak or are allocated elsewhere.

How to build a Fortification

During the Resolve Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase, rather than executing a Consolidate Power Order token to receive power, a player may choose to execute the order and place a Fortification in the area instead (thus forfeiting any power that he may have received).

Example: The Baratheon player has placed a Consolidate Power order on King's Landing here during the Planning Phase. During the Resolve Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase, the Baratheon player may now execute this order to either a) collect three power tokens (one for the order itself and an additional two for the two crowns on King's Landing), or b) place a Fortification on the King's Landing area.

The Baratheon player, worried about the Lannister army directly to the West, chooses to place a Fortification token on King's Landing.

Attacking a Fortification

Last turn, the Baratheon player built a Fortification in the area of King's Landing. This turn the Baratheon player has again placed a Consolidate Power Order on King's Landing (hoping to collect 3 power tokens during the Resolve Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase).

The patience of the Lannister player has run out, however, and the Lannister player decides to March upon King's Landing with his army of 3 Knight units from Blackwater (using a +0 March Order).

Because of the Fortification in King's Landing, the basic attacking combat strength of the Lannister army is 3 (one for each Knight) and the basic defending combat strength for Baratheon is also 3 (one for each Footman and one for the Fortification token itself).

Without the Fortification, the Lannister army would have been an overwhelming 6 strength against a defending Baratheon strength of 2.

Effects of a Fortification

An area containing a Fortification grants the defending player an automatic +1 to his total combat strength and reduces the combat strength of all Knight units attacking or supporting the attack by 1. Note that this penalty is applied to any Knights that are supporting the attack as well as the Knights that are actually marching into the fortified area. Also note that defending Knight units, or Knights supporting the defense, do not suffer this penalty.

Abandoning Fortifications

As soon as a player's last unit leaves the area (by either Marching out voluntarily or retreating), the Fortification is immediately removed. Thus it is not possible to take over an opponent's Fortification. Note that Fortifications are always lost when the last friendly unit leaves, even if the player has established control over the area with a Power token.

Fortifications cannot be placed in a Sea area (you will remember that Sea areas cannot receive Consolidate Power tokens). Also, Fortifications may not be placed in a Port (see the optional rules for Ports later in this rules set).

There can only be nine Fortifications in play at any one time. If all Fortifications are in play, players cannot build additional Fortifications until one is removed from the board and becomes available once again.

Since Consolidate Power Orders are resolved in the order of play, two players will never claim the last Fortification token simultaneously.

An area can never contain more than one Fortification.

Option Four: Siege Engines

Using Siege Engines

Under the right circumstances, Siege Engines are the most potent military unit. Yet they are extremely vulnerable on defense, and they rely greatly on attacking first, which makes initiative and the order of the Iron Throne especially important.

Due to their fragile nature, Siege Engines are best used as support in attacks against Cities, Strongholds, and Fortifications. By supporting rather than marching into battle themselves, they are not vulnerable to immediate destruction from retreat in the event that the attack is lost.

Enclosed in the CLASH OF KINGS expansion, you will find three Siege Engine units for each of the six great Houses (for a total of 18 wooden tokens). These represent the men, beasts, and wooden devices of destruction, used to assault and besiege Fortifications, Cities, and Strongholds.

The Siege Engine is a land unit like Knights and Footmen. Siege Engines count towards Supply limits, and they come into play via mustering like any other unit. Siege Engines cannot March into a Sea area, yet are allowed to use Sea Transport.

When built, Siege Engines, like Knights, cost two mustering points. While mustering, a player may upgrade a Footman to a Siege Engine at the cost of one mustering point (following the same rules for upgrading as apply to Knight units).

The Effect of Siege Engines

Siege Engines, when attacking (or supporting an attack against) a City, Stronghold, or Fortification, have a basic combat strength of 4. When defending, however, or in all other combat circumstances, a Siege Engine has a combat strength of 0.

Siege Engines cannot retreat and are immediately destroyed if forced to do so. Siege Engines cannot be chosen as casualties due to House Card sword icons. Note that this forces a losing player to choose other (non-Siege Engine) units to be put to the sword, potentially resulting in devastating losses as both regular casualties are inflicted and Siege Engine units are automatically destroyed.

Example of using Siege Engines

House Lannister is again marching on King's Landing. Lannister attacks the Stronghold with an army of one Knight and one Siege Engine from Blackwater, supported by a Stark army of one Siege Engine and one Footman from Crackclaw Point. This makes for a total attacking combat strength of 11 (8 for the two Siege Engines, plus one for the Footman and two for the Knight).

The defending Baratheon player has two Knights, a +2 Defense order, and is supported by his own fleet of one Ship in the Blackwater Bay. This gives him a defending combat strength of 9.

Should Lannister lose the battle, the attacking Siege Engine from Blackwater would be immediately destroyed, but Stark's supporting Siege Engine would be unharmed.

Option Five: The Ports of Westeros

Enclosed in your CLASH OF KINGS expansion, you will find eight circular tokens, each representing a Port in the land of Westeros.

Each Port token belongs to a specific Land and Sea area. If a Land area meets multiple Sea areas, the Port token will denote exactly which Sea area it adjoins.

Before beginning a game, place the eight Port tokens on the map, so that they partially overlap the Land area and the adjoining Sea area.

Placing A Port Token

As illustrated above, at the beginning of the game, the Sunspear Port is placed so that it partially overlaps the land area of Sunspear and the Summer Sea (note that this Port does not enter into the Sea of Dorne).

Using Ports

Ports represent a new special area governed by special rules. These are as follows:

• Port areas may only be occupied by Ship units.
• Ships in a Port area may receive Order tokens as normal (but note that a Defense Order given to a Port is useless, since Ports can never be attacked directly). Under certain conditions, Ships in a Port may receive the Consolidate Power order, see more details below.
• Ports function as special areas between the Land and Sea area. Only the player controlling its land area may use the Port and is considered the Port owner.
• A Port owner's ships may March from the Sea area into the Port, or may March from the Port into the Sea area. Note that enemy ships may never March into a Port owned by another player.
• A Port may never contain more than three Ship units at one time. Ships in Port are still subject to normal supply rules.
• When a Land area that contains a Port musters new units, the mustering player may place Ship units directly into the adjacent Sea area (using the normal rules of mustering) or the player may place a newly mustered Ship directly on that area's Port. Important note: Players are allowed to muster new Ship units into a Port, even if the Sea area is occupied by enemy Ships.
• Ships in Port may Support a battle in the Sea area but may not support a battle in the Land area.
• Ships in Port may Raid the Sea area, but not the Land area.
• Enemy Ships in the Sea area may Raid any Support, Raid, or Consolidate Power orders in the Port as normal.
• If a Port's land area is successfully invaded by another House, the conquering player may immediately replace the Ship units in the Port area with his own unused Ship units. That player must still stay within his supply limits, and if he cannot, he must remove the Ship units, one by one, until he is in compliance with his Supply limit. Such an invading player may choose not to take over the Ships in the Port and destroy them immediately after invading the Land area. If the player does decide to take the Ships, however, he may not choose to destroy them at a later time.
• A One-Time order (see later) may never be placed in a Port area.
• During the Planning Phase, a player may place a Consolidate Power order on a Port that contains at least one ship. If, during the Resolve Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase, there are no enemy ships in the Sea area, the player may execute the Consolidate Power order to claim a Power token as normal. This simulates trade with the free cities and the other exotic locations in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Example of Port Usage

During Mustering, the Martell player uses the two Sunspear Stronghold mustering points to muster one Footman and one Ship unit which he places on the Port of Sunspear (the Ship unit could also have been placed directly into the Sea of Dorne, but not into the Tyrell-occupied East Summer Sea). During the Planning Phase, the Martell player gives the Fleet a Raid order, which he later executes during the Action Phase to cancel a Support order on the Tyrell fleet.

Option Six: The One-Time Order Tokens

The square One-Time order tokens represent an exciting addition to the A GAME OF THRONES planning phase and add a new layer of strategy options to the Planning Phase.

Playing with One-Time orders

Before the game begins, each House receives their five One-Time order tokens (identified by the House Shields). These represent three new special orders for all the Houses and one new unique special order to each House. Unlike the regular orders, which are retrieved after each turn and may be used again and again, the One-Time order tokens are single-use orders and are removed from the game after they have been in play.

Each House is provided with two "Recruit," one "Supply Caravan," one "Forced March," and one unique order.

When playing A GAME OF THRONES with One-Time orders, the Planning Phase is divided into three separate segments as follows:

The Planning Phase:

1. Place One-Time orders
2. Place regular orders
3. Reveal all orders

During step one, in the order of play, each player may place one (and only one) One-Time order on the board. As with the normal orders, the One-Time order must be placed in an area containing at least one unit of a player's House. The One-Time order is placed face down and is revealed at the end of the Planning Phase along with the regular orders.

Note: Since players only have access to a total of five One-Time order tokens, it is quite normal for a player to decide not to place a One-Time order during any given Planning Phase (either because he is saving the One-Time order for a later turn, or because he has used all of his One-Time orders).

After all players, in the order of play, have had a chance to place a One-Time order, proceed to placing regular orders. Regular orders are placed in the usual fashion, with one important exception:

Players are allowed to place a regular order in the same area as they have placed a One-Time order token. In this way, it is possible for one area to have two orders: A single One-Time order, plus a single regular order.

Two Order Tokens

When an area is assigned two order tokens as described above, the following rules apply:

1. If the area is Raided, both order tokens are removed (if vulnerable, i.e., March and Defense orders are still safe). This can result in a "double pillage."
2. If, via a March Order, a player moves all of an area's units away (leaving the area empty of units), the second order is immediately removed without effect.
3. Each order is activated one at a time like normal orders.

As mentioned above, after a One-Time order has been placed on the board, it does not return to its owner, but is removed from the game after its activation or loss (place it back in the box).

As is the rule for normal orders, if an area that contains a One-Time order is successfully invaded by an opponent, it is removed without effect.

Using the One-Time Order tokens

Although each One-Time order represents a new order, it is also identified (on its top left hand corner) with one of the familiar order icons. This denotes the rules of activation and vulnerability of the One-Time orders.

Example: The "Recruit" order (which allows its owner to Muster units in the City or Stronghold of the area) shows the "Consolidate Power" symbol in its upper left-hand corner. This represents when Recruit can be executed and what its vulnerabilities are (but it does not make it a Consolidate Power order). Thus, the Recruit order is activated along with the Consolidate Power orders during the Resolve Consolidate Power step of the Action Phase. Since it is affiliated with the Consolidate Power icon, Recruit is vulnerable to be removed and pillaged by an adjacent enemy Raid order.

The Common One-Time Orders

Recruit

The Recruit order is resolved during the Resolve Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase. When executed, Recruit allows its owner to immediately muster units from the City or Stronghold in that area. The normal rules for mustering must still be followed, and the new units must conform to supply limits.

Example: During the One-Time Orders Segment of the Planning Phase, the Stark Player places a Recruit order on Winterfell. Later (as Winterfell was neither invaded or Raided), the Stark player resolves his Recruit order. Winterfell is a Stronghold and provides two Mustering points, so the Stark player upgrades an existing Footman to a Knight (for one mustering point), and adds an additional Footman to the area (spending the second mustering point).

Note that a Recruit order placed in an area without a City or Stronghold has no effect when resolved.

Supply Caravan

The Supply Caravan is resolved during the Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase. When resolved, its player may immediately increase his/her Supply level on the Supply track by the number of Barrel icons in the area.

Thus a player can temporarily inflate his Supply until the next Supply card is resolved during the Westeros Phase (when the player must move his Supply level back to its accurate level).

Example: During the Planning Phase, the Lannister player has placed a Supply Caravan order in the Blackwater area (which contains two Barrel icons). During the Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase, the Lannister player executes the One-Time order and moves his supply token from 3 (his current level) to 5, allowing him to field dramatically more and larger armies. Two turns later during the Westeros Phase, a Supply card is drawn, and Lannister must adjust his Supply to its true level once again.

Forced March

The Forced March order is resolved during the Resolve March Orders step of the Action Phase.

When executing a Forced March, a player may immediately move any number of friendly units from one or more adjacent areas into its area. Note that any areas reached by friendly Ship Transport are considered adjacent for the purposes of Forced March. Also note that this order may be used both in Sea and Land areas (but, as always, Land units cannot move into a Sea area or vice versa).

When using a Forced March, you must still stay within your supply limitations at all times.

The Forced March can be a powerful tool of mobility, especially when combined with a regular March order. A great tactic is to use your Forced March order to bring together a substantial force, and later use a regular March order (assuming that one was placed in the same area during the Planning Phase) to move the gathered force into battle.

Example of a Forced March: The Baratheon player has played his Forced March and a regular March (+0) order on King's Landing. During his first March option, he chooses to resolve the Forced March, and moves a Knight unit from Dragonstone (using Ship Transport) and one Footman unit from Crackclaw Point into King's Landing.

For his next March option, the Baratheon player will execute his regular March order in King's Landing to March against the Lannisters in Blackwater.

The Unique One-Time Orders

The following orders are each unique, with each House receiving only one such order for their House.

House Greyjoy: The Iron Fleet

The Iron Fleet is resolved during the Resolve Raid Orders step of the Action Phase. When executing this order, the Greyjoy player may remove any two adjacent orders (including Defense Orders and March orders, but not other One-Time orders). Note that The Iron Fleet, like a regular Raid order, is vulnerable to cancellation by a Raid resolved earlier in the order of play. (This goes for all One-Time orders affiliated with the Raid icon).

House Stark: The Young Wolf

The Young Wolf is resolved during the Resolve Raid Orders step of the Action Phase. When executing this order, the Stark player may immediately move units from this area as if a March Order had just been executed, except that that no battle may result from this movement (thus when executing The Young Wolf, the Stark player cannot move any units into an area containing enemy units).

Note that since The Young Wolf order is executed before the regular March Orders, it can be used effectively as a surprise advance (particularly in combination with other regular March orders) or as a quick reinforcement move to a vulnerable area.

House Tyrell: The Might of Highgarden

The Might of Highgarden is resolved during the Resolve Consolidate Power Step of the Action Phase. When executing this order, the Tyrell player must immediately discard a House Card from his hand. He may now claim a number of Power Tokens from any combination of other Houses with units adjacent to the area. The total number of Power tokens claimed in this way must be equal to or less than the Combat Strength of the discarded House Card.

If the Tyrell player discards his last House Card in this fashion, he may immediately reclaim all his discarded cards (as if he had just used his last House Card in a battle).

House Martell: The Scorpion's Sting

The Scorpion's Sting is resolved during the Resolve Raid Orders step of the Action Phase. When executing this order, the Martell player may select and discard a single House Card from every House with units adjacent to its area, with the following exceptions:

1. "Melisandre" (Baratheon) may never be discarded as a result of the Scorpion's Sting.
2. House Martell may not discard a player's last House Card (thus a player with only one card remaining in his hand is not affected by the Scorpion's Sting).

House Lannister: The Lion's Cunning

The Lion's Cunning is resolved during the Resolve Raid Orders step of the Action Phase. When executing this order, the Lannister player may name a House with units adjacent to its area. The named House may not March, Support, or Raid against (but may still support in defense of) an area controlled by House Lannister for the remainder of that turn.

House Baratheon: The Will of R'hllor

The Will of R'hllor is resolved during the Resolve Raid Orders step of the Action Phase. When executing this order, the Baratheon player must immediately discard the "Melisandre" House Card from his hand, after which he may do one of the following: A) remove one Defense Orders from anywhere on the board, or B) remove one Support order anywhere on the board.

If the Baratheon player is unable or unwilling to discard the "Melisandre" card, the Will of R'hollor is removed from the game with no effect.

Option Seven: The Clash of Kings Westeros Phase Variant

The original Westeros Phase in the A GAME OF THRONES board game was designed to create a sense of strategic uncertainty, rewarding players who were willing to adopt a flexible strategy as well as rewarding players willing to take a chance. The original Westeros Phase also keeps every session of A GAME OF THRONES unique and fresh. Yet, there are many experienced players who may wish for a more predictable series of events during the Westeros Phase.

A game that uses the CLASH OF KINGS Westeros Phase variant uses the Westeros Decks in a much different manner than during a normal game. To set up your game for this variant, follow these steps:

1. Separate and shuffle the three Westeros Decks (as normal).
2. Draw the top three cards from each deck and place them face up neatly in a column of three cards above their respective decks.

When the first Westeros Phase is resolved during the second game turn, do not draw any Westeros Cards to begin the Phase, but resolve the TOP CARD of the three columns in order (I, II, and II) [sic: column III is meant] as if those three cards had been drawn during a normal Westeros Phase.

After the cards have been resolved, do the following:

1. Place the used Westeros Cards on the bottom of their respective decks.
2. Push the two remaining cards above each Westeros deck up so that new space is created for a third card just above each deck.
3. Draw a new card from each Westeros Deck and place it in the newly created position immediately above each deck.

In this way, during each Westeros Phase, the top card of each deck column is resolved, and the other six cards are pushed a turn closer to resolution (and a new card appears). This unique mechanic grants players the foreknowledge (except for when "Winter is Coming" is resolved) of what will happen during the Westeros Phase in the three upcoming turns. This option can dramatically change the way the game is played, as the need for strategic flexibility can be replaced with focused certainty.

The "Winter is Coming" Westeros Card provides the only element of uncertainty in this variant. Resolve this card as you would in the regular game by placing the card back in its respective deck, shuffling the deck, and drawing a new Card which is immediately resolved as if it were the top-most card of the column.

See the detailed example on the next page.

Example of the Westeros Phase Variant

1. It is the first Westeros Phase of the game, and the players are using the A CLASH OF KINGS Westeros Phase variant. The three cards to be resolved this turn (the top cards of the three columns) are "Mustering," "Clash of Kings," and "Winter is Coming."

The "Mustering" card and the "Clash of Kings" card are resolved normally, and then placed on the bottom of their respective decks. "Winter is Coming" in column III is resolved by placing "Winter is Coming" back on the bottom in deck III, shuffling the deck, and then drawing (and resolving) the top card immediately. The new card drawn is the "Last Days of Summer" forcing the players to advance the Wildling Threat counter. Then the "Last Days of Summer" is placed at the bottom of deck II (because that card in itself does nothing).

2. After the three top cards have been resolved, the remaining six cards are moved up (so that the new top cards for next turn are "Last Days of Summer" (I), "A Game of Thrones" (II), and "Storm of Swords" (III). After the cards have been moved, the three top cards are drawn from each deck and placed in the newly vacated position above each respective deck.

After this, the Westeros Phase is over and play proceeds to the Planning Phase.

Note that when using the Westeros Phase variant, players will be able to see the upcoming Westeros cards for the next three turns.

Option Eight: The Clash of Kings Battle Variant

This game option is one for players (like the designer) who seek's a little more excitement, bluffing, and unpredictability during the battles of the A GAME OF THRONES board game. When using this option, the procedure for battles changes to the following:

Proceed with a battle as usual, until it is time for each player to secretly pick a House Card. Instead of choosing just one House Card, a player must now secretly choose three cards from his hand. After both players have secretly picked their three cards, the opponent draws a random card from the three. The two House Cards that were not drawn are immediately returned to their owners' hands.

The two cards that were drawn are now the House Cards that will be used in the battle, and the battle continues as normal.

When using this game option, a player returns all of his House Cards to his hand after using or discarding his fifth House Card (normally this would happen when the seventh card is played). Thus a player will never have less than three House Cards in his hand at any one time.

This option places a greater risk and uncertainty in battles, and makes for a less deterministic approach to battles. It also creates an interesting conundrum of strategy, bluffing, and card management when planning your attacks and defenses for the turn.

Suggestion: Competitive 5-Player Games

When playing a 5-player game, if you feel that Lannister's starting position is too weak, then we recommend the following minor change to the game setup:

In the 5-player game, switch the starting "Tyrell" and "Greyjoy" position on the "King's Court" track (thus leaving Greyjoy in the 5th position and Tyrell in the 4th position).

Option Nine: The Three Player Game Variant

When using this option, before starting a three-player game, simply place the map overlay on top of the game board, completely covering the Areas of Influence with the new information.

This simple variant changes the availability of Special orders, and makes a good position on the 'King's Court' track more important.

The above overlay is found on the reverse side of the Areas of Influence game board overlay used for the House Martell option described earlier in this rules set.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions for the A GAME OF THRONES board game as well as a few game suggestions.

The Westeros Cards

When the Westeros card 'Winter is Coming' comes up, do I shuffle and redraw or shuffle and wait until next turn to draw?

You reshuffle and redraw a new card immediately.

When Rains of Autumn (Footman units provide no combat strength while supporting) is active, and a Special Order Support +1 is played in an area with one footman, how much combat strength is provided from that area?

1. Only the 1 from the Support +1 order actually counts. The footman technically has a 0 combat strength while supporting.

Supply

What are the starting "Supply" levels for each player?

Each player has a starting Supply equal to the barrels in the territory they control at the start of the game. That is, 1 each for Stark and Baratheon, 2 each for Lannister and Greyjoy, and 3 for Tyrell.

Can I make a march that violates my Supply limits in order to voluntarily remove some of my units on the board?

No. You can never voluntarily violate your Supply limits when moving units.

Wildling Assault

When a Wildling Attack has been lost, if you surrender a unit, leaving a region vacant, can you place a power token in the region to retain control of the region?

No. You are only allowed to establish control of a region by placing a power token when your units are leaving the region. Being killed by the Wildlings is not "leaving."

When you lose a battle to the Wildlings, can you downgrade knights to footmen to pay for the muster points instead of removing units?

No. You can only remove units to pay for Wildling losses.

Placing Orders

Do you have to place an order in each of your areas with units in them if you can?

No. You do not have to give an order to each area you have units in. However, units in an area with no order cannot act that turn.

The Messenger Raven

If I have the Messenger Raven, and I want to swap a unit's order with another one that is already on the board, may I?

No. You may only swap a unit's order with an unused order.

Executing Marches

Do I have to move units out of an area that I've placed a march order in?

No, you may remove the March order for your turn and state that you are not moving your units.

Controlling Areas With Power

When establishing control of an area using a power marker, does the marker come from the stock of power that the player has already acquired or from the general supply?

Power used to establish control of an area must come from a player's personal supply, i.e., available power.

Once I've placed a power marker to control an area, can I voluntarily remove it later? Is it removed from the board if I move my own units into that area later?

No. The only way it can be removed is if it is destroyed by enemy units.

Attacking Neutral Armies

Can you attack both a neutral army and an enemy army with the same march order?

No. You can only make one attack with each march order, and attacking a neutral army still counts as your attack.

When an opponent is attacking a neutral army, can I provide support to the neutral army and increase its strength?

No.

Rivers

There are several land spaces that are divided by major rivers which are impassable to marching units. Does this apply to raiding and supporting units as well?

Correct. You cannot move, raid, or support across a river (unless it's across a bridge).

House Cards

When participating in a battle, do I have to play a House Card?

Yes. However, note that House Cards are not played against neutral armies.

Are used House Cards public information? Can you look in your opponents' discard piles to see what House Cards they've played?

House Cards are public knowledge, and you may ask to see an opponent's hand and discard pile unless they are currently in a battle and have already chosen a House Card.

Are Melisandre and Maester Luwin's special abilities meant to be done secretly between the involved players or should everyone know exactly which House Cards are involved?

The effects of these cards are public knowledge.

If Tyrell attacks a region containing a single defending Footman, and, for his House Card, he selects Ser Loras Tyrell ("Immediately kill one of your opponent's attacking or defending Footmen units"), is that an automatic victory, or do the defense and support values still count?

Although not specifically stated in the rulebook, whenever the last unit on one side of a battle is eliminated through a special ability, the battle immediately ends in victory for the side that still has units. The House Cards' strength is disregarded, and the House Cards are still considered used.

When playing Melisandre, if my opponent has just used his last card on the battle, can I discard any one of his cards, or is her ability wasted?

Because used House Cards are not picked back up until after all effects of the battle have resolved, her ability is wasted.

When using Salladhar Saan (Ships provide no combat strength while supporting), and a Special Order Support +1 is played in an area with one Ship, how much combat strength is provided from that area?

1. Only the 1 from the Support +1 order actually counts. The ship technically has a 0 combat strength while supporting in this battle.

Routed Units and Routing

What happens to a unit that has nowhere to retreat to after losing a battle?

A unit that cannot retreat after losing a battle is killed.

If I am unable to retreat a knight into a territory where my footman is routed, due to supply limits, can I choose to remove the routed footman instead of the knight?

No. The retreating unit leaves the board if it cannot legally move back into an area.

If my opponent only has routed units on his side of a battle, are House Cards still played?

Yes. Although routed units have a combat strength of 0, they are still present for the battle and can win due to House Card play and other modifiers.

Can routed ships still transport troops?

Yes.

Removing Units

Can you voluntarily remove one of your units from play?

No.

Turn Order

What order are units mustered in and casualties from Wildling attacks removed in?

Normal turn order, as dictated by the Iron Throne track.