Hi,

A friend and me have been playing using the LCG cards (I mainly use Lannister/Baratheon against Targaryen/Stark/Greyjoy) and we are unsure whether gold on Tywin's card is used for dominance. Having re-read the rules we think not as his gold can be spent as if in the gold pool but is not actually there. Can anyone please clarify this?

By the way we love the game but are still learning regards putting decks together. We only play 1 vs. 1 so perhaps we are missing out but we cannot get the decks to work fast enough and frequently play more than 7 rounds before someone wins. I guess we'll just have to be more ruthless but all those cards are so nice it seems a shame not to use them.......

Thanks

fisherdownunder said:

This is correct. The gold on Tywin is not in the gold pool. Therefore, it does not count when resolving things that only look at the gold pool (like Dominance or Littlefinger's ability). Similarly, it is not sent back to the treasury during the Taxation phase for the same reason.

fisherdownunder said:

Some of that may be the learning curve of the game and deckbuilding. It might be more helpful if you were to post one of your decks on the deckbuilding board for suggestions on how to speed up the games. One thing I will mention as a complete generality is about game play, though. I've noticed that a lot of newer players feel the need to defend every challenge, either to win or to stop the opponent from getting extra power for unopposed challenges. The end result is often that #1, they have less to attack with so find it hard to win challenges of their own, and #2, neither player generates power very fast. There is an art to knowing when it is okay to lose a challenge and take the 1 step back in order to take 2 or 3 steps forward later on. A really good example is, if you are going second in the first round, to let a military or intrigue challenge you cannot win anyway go through unopposed. Then, when your opponent claims a power for winning the unopposed challenge, there is something for you to steal with your own power challenge. This is all just experience. It'll come.

Welcome to the game!

Hi,

Thanks for the swift response. We are finding that there really are many layers to this game and we are thoroughly enjoying playing it. My Lannister deck is proving hard to beat but Dave's Targ deck runs it pretty close. The theme is great, especially if you have read the books - by the way George RR, get on with the next book! - and the differences between the houses are fascinating. I think as far as deck building is concerned that we need to work on refining combinations as just having the most powerful cards isn't always the best tactic. I will put my Lannister deck up for comments but that's for another day as I'm in England and it's nearly 1 a.m.

Thanks.