Last night, my friends came over and played AGoT with my daughter and me...and it was my daughter's first experience with the game. We chose our Houses blindly from a cup, and ...
Mr. Olympia: Stark
Ms. Yoga: Tyrell
Newbie Girl: Lannister
Me: Baratheon
Things went well the first turn...I grabbed King's Landing , Tyrell marched into the Reach and both Lannister and Stark made other common first moves.
Then, we had a Muster card to start Round 2...that's when things started getting interesting. Stark through a few Ships into the Sea, while the others bolstered their Footmen and Knights . When I attempted to move into the Reach , Tyrell completely shut down that idea, forcing my units to rout, while Stark moved down against my fleet, destroying it in the process. Lannister and Tyrell made a few moves toward castles, while Stark started to head south with similar designs.
During the opening to Round 3, the I-III Cards had managed to advance the Wilding token to 10. All of the Houses had vacillated between 2-3 Castles at this point. With no navy, I decided to advance my remaining continent-based troops against Lannister with similar results, thanks to an alliance Lannister had forged with Tyrell ...with Tyrell holding the Blade , the tie ended badly for me.
Round 4 started with bidding on the various Tracks , and sadly leaving us no Power Tokens to prevent the Wildings from attacking and scoring a victory. During Round 4, Tyrell advanced south from Highgarden , picking-off an easy castle, Lannister moved eastward and northward, forgetting to place a Power Token and ending her turn with four castles instead of five. Stark moved south and launched an attack with his Siege Engines against a castle, winning his fourth. As for Baratheon , with his other forces cut-off, launched a desperate attack and was once again repelled by Lannister's army.
On Round 5, things went from bad to worse. Despite having both the Iron Throne and the Sword, I failed to capitalize on this boon, and declared no Defense tokens could be played. In a desperate attack against Lannister , Stark had first decided to lend support to me ( Baratheon ), but changed his mind when Lannister promised to retreat south, leaving him the northern lands. When the battle ended, my forces were routed to King's Landing . The remaining March Orders moved apace, with Lannister picking-up one castle to the south, the one for which she hadn't placed a Power Token , and finally, marching from Moat Cailin to White Harbor , the very one she said she wouldn't invade...completely violating the agreement she had made with Stark and thereby winning the game.
While it's difficult for me to applaud my child's deceitful ploy, I have to admire how quickly she picked-up the game. Now, if she would stop insisting that I cal her "Your Grace" until the next one.
Cheers,
Joe