https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=w2NewlJEyWQ

No more guessing new houses.

aaaww no house Bolton?

This looks really slick now, much more polished imo.

I love the double sided faction cards, too.

Fantastic artwork, card layout, lots of options to build right out of the box . . .

Yea, I'll be picking this one up.

This looks seriously slick. No release time frame though? :-(

Also: how many LCGs is too many to keep up with?

Release has been known since it was announced. Gencon 2015.

Aha! Any volunteers for a ninja shopper role?

Watched the video pretty much frame by frame now, relentlessly pausing it to look at the various cards. Seems an incredibly matured card game with crisp delineation of traits, abilities, and just really clear presentation of card info.

I like the alliance cards forcing you to include a minimum number of cards from a given faction, shows how alliances in New Barathea, or whatever the world is called, will mean that the house seriously sticks their nose (and therefore their people/actions) into your business, and not accept a role with just a token representative of two.

A Game of Thrones - Plot
4 / 2 / 1
Scheme.
A player cannot initiate a military or power challenge unless he or she has won an intrigue challenge that phase. Per deck limit 1.

So was the video just showing the new cards? Sweet. I'm pretty stoked the Night's Watch is a faction. Also is it Night or Knight lol.

Really amped for this. I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I am really glad they rebooted this game. It looks so much more polished now, and actually looks like there is a long-term vision for it. Can't wait for GenCon =)

So was the video just showing the new cards? Sweet. I'm pretty stoked the Night's Watch is a faction. Also is it Night or Knight lol.

It's Night's Watch. Lots of those who take the black have less than knightly backgrounds.

Thematically, the inclusion of the Night's Watch as its own faction I find a bit dubious. And if they were to choose a banner (which they don't have), I don't think they'd go with what the wildlings use as a derogatory term for them. I can understand why FFG went with them as a faction, though. The Night's Watch is a lot more fleshed out than many of the remaining Houses in Westeros. The Boltons are too close to the Starks; the Arryns may have been a contender in terms of size, but have been largely uninvolved so far; the Tullys don't have enough going for them, and the rest are not really relevant.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the new card design and layout (although something about the challenges icons doesn't feel good to me). I do really like that new factions system, and I'm curious to see how much they've cleaned up the rule set. I quit Thrones a couple of years ago for a variety of reasons, but I think I'll be giving this one a shot.

Looks good, because cards look really clean.

Also, it seems we'll be playing a lot more gold sources.

I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I am really glad they rebooted this game.

You'd be surprised. There are players around here who invested heavily in the first edition, but agree it's time for something fresh.

Thematically, the inclusion of the Night's Watch as its own faction I find a bit dubious. And if they were to choose a banner (which they don't have), I don't think they'd go with what the wildlings use as a derogatory term for them. I can understand why FFG went with them as a faction, though.

I wouldn't call it derogatory. It's probably what they do look like from seven hundred feet below (on both sides of the Wall, no less). But if they really wanted to stick to canon it wouldn't necessarily have to be a "banner" per se. The agenda could be called "Support of Castle Black" or some-such. Or they could be uniquely unable to support anyone else, and must be your primary faction if you choose to play as them; this would be much more in keeping with the IP, and as for the Night's Watch actually being a faction in this game, I'll admit: I first had the same reaction. What part of "The Watch takes no part" was the design team not getting?

But Nate mentions in the new article that "The Night's Watch are trying to defend The Wall, and playing them puts you in a completely different frame of mind from everyone else." And I hope this means that playing them isn't going to feel like you're interfering, but are playing a defensive game and perhaps slowly acquiring power, which for you could represent the accumulation of men and resources with which to defend the Realm from wildlings.

But Nate mentions in the new article that "The Night's Watch are trying to defend The Wall, and playing them puts you in a completely different frame of mind from everyone else." And I hope this means that playing them isn't going to feel like you're interfering, but are playing a defensive game and perhaps slowly acquiring power, which for you could represent the accumulation of men and resources with which to defend the Realm from wildlings.

That's how I'm thinking of it right now as well. Ultimately, fun and playability will always trump theme when it comes to designing a game, and so it should be (within reason). I feel the Night's Watch has always strongly resonated with people in the fandom, so I think it's a reasonable addition from that perspective. Though I do wonder how they'll handle the Wildlings -- I guess they'll simply have them represented through neutral cards, but I think it would be fun if they got to be their own faction (perhaps through a deluxe expansion).

Anyhow, I'm getting more and more excited to play a "fresh" Thrones, without the bloat of naval icons and the like, without the weight of years and years of expansions.

On an unrelated note, anyone else think the bear on The Bear and the Maiden Fair looks like it's made of chocolate?

I think another viable faction idea would be going further in depth with the Free Cities. I know Targ uses a bunch of Dothraki and the like and you can see some other Eastern elements in the other houses, but I think as a faction the Free Cities would be awesome

I agree wholeheartedly. I did not like how in First Edition everything in Essos was tied up with Targaryen, when most of these people are at best neutral towards Dany, or at worst sworn enemies. Contrast this with House Bolton, who while secretly enemies of House Stark, are nonetheless sworn to them and therefore make sense as a part of that faction.

But Nate mentions in the new article that "The Night's Watch are trying to defend The Wall, and playing them puts you in a completely different frame of mind from everyone else." And I hope this means that playing them isn't going to feel like you're interfering, but are playing a defensive game and perhaps slowly acquiring power, which for you could represent the accumulation of men and resources with which to defend the Realm from wildlings.

That's how I'm thinking of it right now as well. Ultimately, fun and playability will always trump theme when it comes to designing a game, and so it should be (within reason). I feel the Night's Watch has always strongly resonated with people in the fandom, so I think it's a reasonable addition from that perspective. Though I do wonder how they'll handle the Wildlings -- I guess they'll simply have them represented through neutral cards, but I think it would be fun if they got to be their own faction (perhaps through a deluxe expansion).

Anyhow, I'm getting more and more excited to play a "fresh" Thrones, without the bloat of naval icons and the like, without the weight of years and years of expansions.

On an unrelated note, anyone else think the bear on The Bear and the Maiden Fair looks like it's made of chocolate?

I love that "The Bear and The Maiden Fair" artwork looks like it's from a tapestry or painting, too.

I can't get enough how elegant all those cards look.

Jon Snow is intrigue!?
I'm getting excited to come back to AGOT.

I am really really REALLY pumped!!

This looks so much better than the previous game. The artwork and card layouts are leaps and bounds ahead of the previous editions and the mechanics seem more streamlined from the barebones I know.

I had bought the original core set and faction expansions for the previous game but was never able to get into it. The card pool was enormous, the rules all over the place, and I just couldn't must the gumption to go head-first with it like I did with every other LCG.

But that's all changed. Night's Watch and Martells. CANNOT WAIT!

Jon Snow is intrigue!?

I'm getting excited to come back to AGOT.

He's more clever than his father, I believe.

Based on the events in Dance, I'm not sure that's true. Sometimes he's more pragmatic than I imagine Ned would have been, but Jon has a lot of the stoic naivety that got his father into trouble. I think the intrigue icon is not unwarranted, but marginal. He's a good leader, but hardly a master of intrigue.

He fooled Mance Rayder, Ygritte, Tormund, etc.

It's a perfectly Nedly icon to have. His Power and Military strength come from standing with his brothers.

He fooled Mance Rayder, Ygritte, Tormund, etc.

That's a fair point, though I remember Mance and Tormund always being wary of Jon (but I might be misremembering), and I don't believe he ever really fooled Ygritte, but wishful thinking got the better of her (but that's just my reading). Still, fair point.

The card layout and art looks so much better than most of what I've seen of 1st edition. I've got to say I'm really surprised to see Jon Snow without a military icon.