Hi,

Just started with the new Core LCG and I have a few questions:

1. I'm confused about the house specific keywords (Ambush, Stalwart etc) and their symbols, which are referenced in many cards but don't actually appear in the keyword text for any cards. From the challenge example in the rules (p.14) it seems that Raff the Sweeting has Infamy - I'm guessing this is because he is House Lannister, but can't see where it makes this connection anywhere in the rules. But by the same token I'd then guess that Sansa Stark should be Stalwart, but later in the same example when she gets killed she is put on the dead pile, whereas I'd expect her to be placed on top of the owner's deck instead. Sorry if I've missed something, but where are the rules that say which cards have the house keywords and which symbol corresponds to which house? (though I agree the latter's fairly obvious!)

2. Just to check how Deadly works. Suppose the defender loses a military challenge which involved 2 defending characters against 1 attacker with deadly. The defending player kills one of his two characters that participated to meet the claim. After that has resolved, must the second defending character also be killed or was the deadly requirement already satisfied by the first kill?

3. The plot Planning Ahead states "Skip the taxation phase this round" - do all players skip it (ie. the round itself is skipped) or just the player who owns the plot?

Thanks for any clarifications. I checked the FFG FAQ document but these didn't seem to be covered.

Welcome to the game.

Celeborn said:

The house specific keywords don´t apply to every charachter from the same house. The explanation in the rules book means that only cards with the e.g. house Stark affiliation have the keyword stalwart, so you won´t find the stalwart keyword on cards which only have the Lannister affiliation.

Celeborn said:

In your example the second charachter will die because of deadly. First you satisfy the military claim and than you satisfy the deadly loss. So it could be a smart move to use only 1 charachter to defend in the given situation, if it´s obvious right from the start that the defending player will lose the challenge.

Celeborn said:

The whole taxation phase is skipped. Otherwise the plot would be worded "Skip your taxation phase."

Just a little clarification and additional information on these for generalization:

1. As Old Ben mentions, the "House specific" keywords are called such because (to date) the keywords in question only appear on cards with the associated affiliations. But the keyword still needs to be written on a card with that affiliation. As it stands, there is only one card in each of the 4 Core Set decks with the associated "House specific" keywords (Eddard Stark for Stark/Stalwart, Jaime Lannister for Lannister/Infamy, Lightbringer for Baratheon/Vigilant and Flame Kissed for Targaryen/Ambush). Also, the entry on House Specific Keywords on p. 21 of the rule book is a little misleading. The symbols that appear after the name of the keyword do not represent the keyword; they represent the House. For example, the use of the wolf's head symbol on the card "Godswood" doesn't indicate that you reduce the cost of the next Stalwart character by 2, but rather you reduce the cost of the next Stark character (regardless of any keywords or traits it may or may not have printed on it) by 2

2. Keep in mind that satisfying claim happens first for all challenges, then Deadly (if it applies). Remember also that Deadly can only kill characters that participate in the challenge on the defending side. So that trick that Old Ben mentions (defend that Deadly military challenge with just one character, then kill it for claim so there is nothing left to kill for Deadly) has the potential to make Deadly mean more during intrigue and power challenges than during military challenges.

3. It takes some getting used to, but players do not have separate phases in this game. There is only ONE of each phase, so if one player skips the phase, all players skip the phase. If there is an extra phase for one player (and there are cards that do that), there is an extra phase for all players. That concept can get a bit confusing because characters have separate turns as the "active player" in the Marshaling and Challenge phases, but there is still only one phase for all players each round.

Thanks for the explanations!

I checked back to the Five Kings ruleset and that also made it much clearer that the symbols represent each house. I now see the source of my confusion - the core rules unfortunately don't list each symbol against its house. This creates the impression that the symbols represent each house keyword (not the house itself) since that's the only place they're printed in the rulebook.

I've played a few other ccgs and this is looking like an excellent game, particularly in its depth of play and theme.

Celeborn said:

You're not alone -- I had the same problem figuring out what those symbols meant. Why didn't they just re-use the symbol from the House Shield, I wonder?

Where did you find the Five Kings ruleset? I tried to find a copy to answer some other questions I had about the Core Set rules, but couldn't find one to download anywhere.

You can find older rules sets here: www.agameofthrones.com/support.html

I hope that these documents will also be added to the new website.