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, fortifications, and even (rarely) a skull icon "that destroys one enemy unit even in defeat.

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.

Your role One of the great houses from the Game of Thrones vying for control of Westeros Stark Greyjoy Lannister Tyrell Martell Baratheon

Your goal Be first to control 7 strongholds or castles through combat – and cunning

Combat

Orders

Adjusting supply limits when triggered by Westeros cards

Each round, all houses secretly place at the same time one order for each area with their units March (or sail)

into adjacent areas, starting at most one combat

Defend area, i.e. add to

defense strength

Support battles in all adjacent

areas

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

Consolidate power i.e. get 1 power

token plus 1 extra for each crown in area

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 Can cancel

enemy defense order as well

Muster in a stronghold/castle

area, or gain power token(s) as normal

In any given battle, higher combat strength wins, with ties broken by position on the sword influence track. Combat strength is determined by 1. UNITS IN AREA 2. ANY SUPPORT? 3. HOUSE CARD (you choose*) 4. TIDES OF BATTLE CARD (random**) 5. VALYRIAN STEEL BLADE?

Footman +1 on land

Knight +2 on land

Ship +1 at sea

Siege engine +4 when attacking area with stronghold

or castle; otherwise 0

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.

Order strength + or -

Character strength

In victory, each sword icon destroys one

enemy unit (chosen by defeated player)

% In defeat, each fortification

icon negates one sword icon House characters often have unique text abilities instead of icons.

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.

[*] REUSING HOUSE CARDS

After using a card, discard it.

When all are discarded, recover all except the last one you used.

You can inspect enemy’s house cards before either chooses.

[**] USE TIDES OF BATTLE?

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.

Retreating when defeated in combat

A new footman costs 1 point

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)

Strongholds provide 2 mustering points

Castles provide 1 mustering point

Mustering new units when triggered by Westeros cards

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).

A GAME OF THRONES: THE BOARD GAME (2nd ed.) – illustrated tutorial & cheat sheet

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

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

To beat the Wildlings, players must collectively contribute enough power tokens to at least match the current number on the Wildling track .

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.

At unpredictable moments, you must bid for position on the three influence 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.

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.

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.

  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.

Ship transport to move land units across sea areas

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.

Rivers and islands i.e. special features of land areas

Game rounds

Garrisons for extra defense at home

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!

Independent houses

Rivers can’t be crossed…

… unless there is a bridge.

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

To take over an independent area, attack with enough strength to at least match that house’s printed strength.

Don’t use house cards or Tides of Battle cards. Can’t use blade. Support for the independent house not allowed.

Influence tracks

Maintaining control In land areas you vacate

Fighting off the Wildlings when attacks are triggered by Westeros cards

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.

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.

Setting up

The game last up to 10 rounds. Here’s 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 who’s winning with the victory track. Keep track of game rounds with the hourglass token on the game round track.

  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