A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) FAQ
232 questions players ask · Updated Nov 9, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
- Does House Lannister start with an extra ship?
- How many Power tokens does each house start with?
- Is a player's available Power public information?
- Is there a Highgarden Neutral Force token in a 4-player game?
- In games with fewer than six players, are the absent houses' Garrisons placed on the board?
- What do the "~" Neutral Force tokens in a 3-player game mean?
- Are Neutral Force tokens the same as Garrisons?
- Can the base game be played with two players?
- Which houses can't be chosen in 3-, 4- and 5-player games?
- Who acts first in the first round?
- Why are the Valyrian Steel Blade and Messenger Raven tokens different on each side?
- Are the white boxes around Pyke and Dragonstone sea areas?
- Can the Dance with Dragons, Feast for Crows and Mother of Dragons expansions be combined?
- Can I trade or give Power tokens to other players?
- Do alliances let allied houses share areas or use each other's ships?
- Does a Neutral Force token stay in the area after I destroy it?
- What counts when attacking a Neutral Force?
Westeros Phase
- Is the Westeros phase skipped in the first round?
- Are the three Westeros cards revealed all at once or one at a time?
- When the Wildling track reaches 12, does the attack happen before the Westeros cards are resolved?
- What is the Wildling attack strength when a Wildlings Attack card triggers it?
- Can the Wildlings attack twice in one Westeros phase?
- Does a Wildling icon on the replacement card drawn after Winter Is Coming count?
- What gets reshuffled when Winter Is Coming is drawn?
- Can Rodrik the Reader pick a Westeros card that was already resolved?
- How much Power do I get from the Game of Thrones Westeros card?
- Do ports give Power when Dark Wings, Dark Words is resolved?
- Do I gain Power before Clash of Kings is resolved?
Supply and Mustering
- Do the Supply track limits mean exact army sizes, or maximums?
- Does my Supply drop immediately when I lose an area with a Supply icon?
- Can I move or retreat so that I exceed my Supply limit?
- Do ships in a port count as a separate army from land units?
- Can I voluntarily destroy my own units to free up pieces or supply?
- Can I split a castle's or stronghold's mustering points across units, or pool points from several castles?
- Can I muster ships at a castle or stronghold that has no port?
- Can I muster ships into a sea area containing enemy ships?
- Can I muster by trading two Footmen for a Knight or swapping a Knight for a Siege Engine?
- Can I muster in a castle area I only control by a Power token?
- Can I muster with a normal Consolidate Power order?
- Can I muster in my home area just because a Garrison is there?
Influence Tracks
- Who breaks ties in Influence track bidding?
- Can I take back tokens after seeing other players' Influence bids?
- Can one player hold the first position on several Influence tracks?
- If my King's Court position changes, do my placed Special Orders still work?
- Can the Iron Throne holder choose to act later in turn order?
- When does the Valyrian Steel Blade become usable again?
- What can the Messenger Raven do and when?
Planning Phase
- Must I place an order on every area containing my units, or can I leave some blank?
- Can I place an order token on an area where I have no units, such as one held only by a Power token or Garrison?
- Does a ship in a port need its own order token?
- Can I put a Consolidate Power order on a sea area, and can it be pillaged?
- How many Power tokens does a Consolidate Power order give?
- When can the Messenger Raven be used, and can it swap in a forbidden order?
- Can the Messenger Raven swap a Special order for another Special order?
- Can the Raven holder look at the Wildling card and also swap an order?
- What if I place more Special orders than my King's Court position allows?
- How many order tokens of each type does a player have?
- Does the -1 March order penalize me when I am defending?
- What can a Special Raid order remove?
- Can a Raid order on a land area raid an adjacent sea area, and vice versa?
- What can the Special Consolidate Power order do?
- Are orders placed at the same time, and can I show my order tokens to other players?
- If ships in a port are replaced after the land is captured, does their old order stay?
Action Phase
- When do orders return to my hand?
- In what order are Raid, March and Consolidate Power orders resolved?
- Can I choose not to use a Raid order's effect?
- What is pillaging?
- How many battles can one March order start?
- Can I chain March orders so units move more than one area?
- Can I resolve a March order without moving any units, or decide not to use it?
- When a March order splits units into several areas, when is the battle resolved?
- Can I cancel a March once I have moved into an enemy area?
- Can one March order attack both a house and a Neutral Force?
- Does a player resolve all his March orders in a row?
- What happens to the March order after it resolves, and does it follow the units?
- Can units that just moved into an area march on again with another March order in that area?
- Does a March order's bonus or penalty carry to battles started by other March orders?
- Can I march into an ally's area or pass through it without fighting?
- Can I use a Consolidate Power order and still march out of that area?
- Are Special Consolidate Power musters resolved in turn order?
- Can a Special Consolidate Power order muster and also gain Power?
- If I lose King's Court stars during the Action Phase, do my placed Special orders stay?
- When do routed units stand up again?
- Can ships move through several sea areas with one March order?
- Does moving from a port to the adjacent sea take a March order?
- Which orders can a normal Raid remove?
- Can ships in a port be raided?
Winning the Game
- Does the game end immediately when someone gets a seventh Castle or Stronghold?
- How are ties broken at the end of round 10?
- Are orders in round 10 still resolved before the winner is decided?
- Does retreating into an empty Castle or Stronghold give me control of it?
- Is there any score beyond 7 on the Victory track?
- Does a port count as a land area for scoring or tiebreaks?
- Is a house eliminated if it loses all its units and castles?
Combat
- Does a Support order go away after it supports a battle?
- If my last unit in an area is destroyed, does its order stay?
- If I'm attacked and win as the defender, do my orders stay?
- Can ships support a land battle, and can land units support a sea battle?
- Is there a battle when I attack an area holding only routed units?
- What can routed units do?
- Can routed units support a battle?
- When does a Siege Engine add combat strength?
- Can a Siege Engine be taken as a casualty or retreat?
- Do Castles and Strongholds give the defender extra strength?
- Can combat strength go below zero?
- Which areas can give support?
- Can I split an area's support between sides or give only part of it?
- Can a supporter withdraw after I have revealed House cards or after a promise?
- Can I decline support from my own Support orders?
- How much does a supporting Siege Engine add?
- Does marching into an area with only an enemy Power token start a battle?
- Does an attack on a Garrison alone start a battle, and can I support it?
- Do a Garrison's strength and supporting ships both count when a home area is attacked?
- Must I play a House card in every combat?
- What happens to my House cards when I play my last one?
- Are House card hands and discards open information?
- In what order do House card abilities resolve when they conflict?
- Who wins a combat tie, and does holding the Valyrian Steel Blade matter?
- How do Sword and Fortification icons work?
- Who chooses which units are destroyed as casualties?
- Where can a defeated defender retreat?
- Where does a defeated attacker retreat?
- Can retreating units use ship transport, and must they respect Supply?
- After winning a battle, can I leave my units behind or retreat?
- Does the loser always retreat, even if he takes no casualties?
- Which tokens are removed after a battle?
- When does the winner take control of the embattled area?
- Can ships attack a land area or a port?
- Can ships in a port support a battle?
- Does a Defense order work against more than one attack?
- Can ships have Defense orders?
- Are sea battles fought like land battles?
- If a card destroys a side's only unit before strength is totalled, does the battle still go on?
Houses and House Cards
- Can a House card affect a player who isn't the opponent in the battle?
- Which orders can Queen of Thorns remove?
- How does Robb Stark's ability work, including when defending?
- If Mace Tyrell's ability destroys the only enemy unit, is the battle over?
- What does Arianne Martell do when the opposing attacker wins?
- Which resolves first, Tyrion Lannister or Aeron Damphair?
- How do Salladhor Saan, Victarion Greyjoy and Xaro Xhoan Daxos interact?
- Does Balon Greyjoy's strength reduction stop other card effects?
- Whose order can Cersei Lannister remove?
- In what order do Roose Bolton and Patchface resolve?
- How does Ser Loras Tyrell's carried March order work?
- Does Doran Martell's track move cancel already placed orders?
- Does Winterfell count toward the five castles in the Stark card's condition?
- What does "ignore" mean on a House card?
- What does "immediately" mean on a House card?
Tides of Battle
- Are the Tides of Battle cards reshuffled before every combat?
- Can the Valyrian Steel Blade both redraw a Tides of Battle card and give +1?
- What if a Tides of Battle skull destroys the last unit of a winning attacker?
- Are Tides of Battle used when attacking a Neutral Force?
- Does the battle continue to the Tides of Battle step if a House card destroys a last unit?
Wildlings
- Does a Wildling attack happen if the Wildling track is at 0?
- Where does the Wildling Threat token go after an attack?
- Who breaks ties in Wildling bidding?
- When a Wildling penalty makes players move on tracks, who resolves first?
- Who gets the Night's Watch reward and who gets the Wildling penalty?
- Who destroys units first when Mammoth Riders hits after a Wildling victory?
Areas, Control and Power Tokens
- Do I need a Power token to keep control of an area I move out of?
- Can I take back a Power token I placed on the board?
- Does an area held only by my Power token count as controlled?
- What happens when I march into an area holding only an opponent's Power token?
- Is a house eliminated if it loses all units and castles?
- Does a Garrison give control of a home area, and is the printed shield the same as a Garrison?
- Does an order token left in a vacated area keep control of it?
- Can I place a Power token when my last unit is destroyed rather than moved out?
- What counts as an army, and are two ships in one sea an army?
- If I leave an area and combat follows, when do I decide to leave a Power token?
- Can units cross rivers?
- Are Pyke, Dragonstone and the Arbor land areas?
Ports and Ship Transport
- Is the Sunspear port adjacent to the Sea of Dorne?
- Does the Arbor touch both the West Summer Sea and the Redwyne Straits?
- Is a port part of its land area or sea area?
- What happens to ships in a port if the connected land area is lost?
- Can a ship enter an unoccupied port whose land area I don't control?
- Can a port be attacked or marched against from the adjacent sea?
- Do ships have to be in the port to ship-transport units, or only in the sea?
- Can a Power token in a sea act as a bridge for troops?
- Can ship transport carry several units in one March order?
- Are land areas linked by ship transport adjacent for support or raiding?
- What happens to ships in a port when the land area is attacked?
- Can I use Consolidate Power in a port, and what happens when enemy ships are in the connected sea?
- How many ships can a port hold?
- Which sea is a port adjacent to?
- Who can muster ships into a port?
- What happens to my ships in a port if I leave the land area uncontrolled?
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) – Mother of DragonsExpansion
- Does a vassal leave a Power token when it marches out of an area?
- Can I march into an area controlled by my own vassal?
- How are vassals chosen each round?
- Where do vassals sit on the Influence tracks, and what do they bid?
- If a Westeros card bans an order type, can a vassal's mixed order still be played?
- How does a vassal choose its House card in battle?
- Does the commander gain Power when his vassal wins a battle?
- Can a commander and his vassal support each other?
- Where can a vassal muster?
- Do vassals attack Wildlings or score victory?
- How many players can use Targaryen, and what if nobody does?
- Where does a dragon retreat after losing?
- When does Targaryen gain a Loyalty token and its victory point?
- What can the Iron Bank order token be used for?
- How do Iron Bank loans work?
- What happens to a sea order token placed on a land area, and can regular orders go to sea?
- Is the King's Court overlay used with vassals?
- Do castles and strongholds in Essos count for victory?
- Which Westeros seas connect to Essos seas, and can units cross them?
- What do the Spymaster and Fire Made Flesh cards do exactly?
- When Viserys uses a discarded card, does its text apply?
- Can the Dance with Dragons alternate House cards be used with Mother of Dragons?
- How does Targaryen win?
- Can players trade Power tokens with Mother of Dragons?
- Can dragons be mustered, and what orders can they take?
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) – A Dance with DragonsExpansion
- How do Mance Rayder and Margaery Tyrell's final-strength abilities work?
- When does Ser Ilyn Payne's footman removal happen and can Blackfish stop it?
- What does Reek's text do with Ramsay Bolton?
- How does Greyjoy's The Reader work?
- How many cards can Melisandre buy back?
- If Ser Gerris Drinkwater gives me the Valyrian Steel Blade after it was used, can I use it?
- What changes at setup in A Dance with Dragons?
- Can Stannis Baratheon's ability remove my own Support tokens?
- Can Qyburn copy a card from any discard pile?
- Can Walder Frey force support on another house?
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) – A Feast for CrowsExpansion
- Is the King's Court overlay used in a 4-player A Feast for Crows game?
- What garrison does House Arryn use in Feast for Crows?
- Do house objectives count for Ironborn Raid or Mercantile Ventures?
- Do scored objectives stay scored if I lose the castle?
- Does a tie in Power tokens satisfy Lysa Arryn or the Arryn objective?
- Does Winterfell count toward the five castles in the Stark objective?
- How long does A Feast for Crows last?
- Do the neutral Power tokens at setup reduce players' starting five, and how many does Arryn have?
- Can I skip the Power from a Consolidate Power order?
- Does Nothing But Ghosts need exactly one unit in Harrenhal?