Hey Gamers
3 of us got together for a 6 player game each player commanding 2 Houses.
Player 1: House Baratheon & House Stark (suiting)
Player 2: House Lannister & House Greyjoy (strange)
Player 3: House Martell & House Tyrell (the south)
We began with the understanding that the Houses each player controls will be Allies until the Alliance served its purpose. So, essentially, until a player deemed otherwise; each player was Allied to him/herself. The only player to break it's own Alliance was Player 2 after losing a battle with Player 3. Player 2 used House Greyjoy to steal Riverrun from House Lannister after House Lannister lost to House Tyrell in a battle north of Highgarden. (House Lannister had a ship to transport +Support) This move made by House Greyjoy would unintentionally/inadvertantly make a Stronghold (3) victory when the game had to end at Round 6.
A noteable battle was between Player 1 House Baratheon and Player 3 House Martell.
House Martell took 3 ships into Shipbreaker bay to attack 2 Baratheon ships. House Stark lend his Support from the Narrow Sea (1 Ship) as well as House Baratheon lending Support from Blackwater Bay (1 Ship) giving an initial strength to House Baratheon of 4 and House Martell with initial strength of 4 (March+1). House Martell used The Red Viper (4), House Baratheon used Renly Baratheon (3), adding the Tides of Battle Cards, House Martell won the battle with 1 Baratheon Ship destroyed (House Martell ToB had a Skull).
-The second battle ensued was for Dragonstone (in the same turn sequence: House Martell's next March Order) House Martell captured Dragonstone.
-The third battle was pushed back by House Martell with the clever use of Arianne Martell Card (because I knew House Martell would not win this battle), therefore; House Baratheon had to retreat back to Blackwater Bay and House Martell used Dragonstone's Port to retreat 1 Ship and Storm'sEnd Port to retreat 1 Ship. House Martell would have 2 more ships in East Summer Sea to advance the next round of fighting.
Long story short, House Martell cut off House Baratheon from their main Stronghold thus making the game more interesting.
In the end, House Greyjoy won due to technical. House Tyrell was bolstered (strong) as the newly bidded holder of the Iron Throne. House Martell was tied at 6 castles on the Victory Track. House Greyjoy had 3 Strongholds while House Martell only had 1.
This was fun, I hope to try this 6 Player variant again. BTW: the Houses were all drawn at random at the beginning of the game. We have not played this game where we chosen our own Houses, this was only done the first 2 games ever and they were complete write offs because the first ones always are (due to learning the game).