Mance Rayder Query

By zh1, in A Game of Thrones: The Board Game - A Dance with Dragons

So I have been playing this game for a few months and every time Mance Rayder is played there is always a debate. Should the tides of battle cards add onto Mance's wilding strength? In the rules (p20) it makes no mention of tides of battle cards. Only that the initial, House Card, House Card modifiers and Valyrian Sword are used to calculate it. I have always assumed that the tides of battle cards simply add on to the final combat strength. Lucky it hasn't made a difference to any battle as the outcome would of been the same if we had used either set of rules. If I could get some clarification on this it would perhaps put an end to an future arguments. Thanks.

So I have been playing this game for a few months and every time Mance Rayder is played there is always a debate. Should the tides of battle cards add onto Mance's wilding strength? In the rules (p20) it makes no mention of tides of battle cards. Only that the initial, House Card, House Card modifiers and Valyrian Sword are used to calculate it. I have always assumed that the tides of battle cards simply add on to the final combat strength. Lucky it hasn't made a difference to any battle as the outcome would of been the same if we had used either set of rules. If I could get some clarification on this it would perhaps put an end to an future arguments. Thanks.

Mance rayder (or Marg) are not affected by the tides of battle modifiers. Final combat strength is final. Valyrian blade +1 would be ignored as well, and that decision is made after tides of battle cards are drawn (and revealed if the holder decides not to use it) [see faq on blade and tides of battle - https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/agot-bg-2nd-ed/support/faq/VA65_AGoT2_FAQ_v1_4.pdf]

So final combat strength for the relevant player is set by Mance (or Marge) in battles involving those cards - if both are involved, it goes by iron throne order. However, you would still resolve the icons from the tides of battle (sword, fort, or skull)