Does anyone else really want to see House Arryn get its own faction in the 2nd edition? I was really bummed to see that they didn't

No.

They're the only faction *less* involved in the wars of the realm than the Night's Watch.

Maybe it would have been, but eight is enough.

Only so far.. I feel like they will have a much bigger role in the next two books with the change in leadership. They are still one of the most influential houses in the Seven Kingdoms and played a huge part in Robert's Rebellion.

They'll probably be treated as a Trait -based house, similar to House Tully, another Great House that does not take part in the war of its own volition. When this game was first announced, I thought that each of the Great Houses would get its own faction, so that the second edition could take a more "timeline neutral" look at the World of Ice & Fire, rather than having the occasional oddball cards like Balerion or Mad King Aerys seen in the first edition. But it looks like that will not be the case, at least initially.

Yeah, I was really hoping for each of the Great Houses to get its own faction. A separate House Tully faction would have been awesome as well. A "timeline neutral" look would have been very cool. I can only hope.

Not sure if you can hope, even. Catelyn Stark has been spoiled as a House Tully character, rather than simply having dual-affiliations.

Yeah, I was really hoping for each of the Great Houses to get its own faction. A separate House Tully faction would have been awesome as well. A "timeline neutral" look would have been very cool. I can only hope.

Agree with this (had been hoping for since the CCG days). I don't really see a need for a separate NIght's Watch faction (especially without a Wildlings or Others faction); but, I understand there is a fan segment who enjoys them. I would have kept it to the 9 Great Houses.

The main reason to make NW its own faction is so they can't be splashed as Neutrals.

And as tangential as the whole beyond-the-Wall storyline is to the noble conflicts the game focuses on, those characters and situations need to find expression in the game through whatever means. Making NW its own faction was the most obvious direction to take in this regard.

The other reason to make NW its own faction is they have had a heck of a lot more screen time and page time than either House Arryn or the Wildlings.

I never played the first edition. I'm planning on getting into the game with the 2nd. Can anyone explain why the Night's Watch is there at all? They stay out of the politics and fighting of the 7 kingdoms, that's their whole deal... right?

I'm about halfway through the 2nd book, but I've seen everything in the show, so maybe there's something they changed there that I'm missing. I've played the board game quite a bit, and I really like how the Watch was represented there: the great houses are supposed to send them support, but our own squabbles usually take precedence so we ignore their pleas for help. Exactly like what really happens.

Considering how their entire faction seems to be based on fending off challenges from their opponents and playing the defensive game, it seems like their bag is "we won't start a fight but we'll sure finish one."

With The Wall out, you could theoretically win the game without ever declaring a single challenge.

I never played the first edition. I'm planning on getting into the game with the 2nd. Can anyone explain why the Night's Watch is there at all? They stay out of the politics and fighting of the 7 kingdoms, that's their whole deal... right?

I'm about halfway through the 2nd book, but I've seen everything in the show, so maybe there's something they changed there that I'm missing. I've played the board game quite a bit, and I really like how the Watch was represented there: the great houses are supposed to send them support, but our own squabbles usually take precedence so we ignore their pleas for help. Exactly like what really happens.

Like I suggested above, I really think a big part of it is simply that the Night's Watch comprises a good chunk of the story's content. And to be fair, while officially they are neutral, in practice they're just as "involved" (if not more so), as the Targaryens who are on the other side of Narrow Sea when the story opens.

I think it will be fun for the NW player to get into his role and just think about defending the Realms of Men aka The Wall. True, you have completely different agendas, but you still have to know how the Game of Thrones is played, so you can use it to your advantage, to achieve your goal of defending the Wall. Watch those idiot houses out there fighting each other. Ignore their little games and ****** (recruit) men from under their nose while they are busy hurting each other. Get your resources together. Build your army against the dangers from the North. Strengthen the Watch, for the best of the people, not those noble suckers.

If you try to see it that way, it begins to make much more sense.

I imagine that 2E will have faction specific agendas that benefit the different house 'sub-factions'. Like Bolton being Stark. They belong with the Stark faction, but play very different. They should have an agenda that drives the deck towards using their characters and not all of the Stark options. Same with Renly/Stannis Baratheon factions, Dothraki v Meereen Targ, House Tully, etc.

It's a thought. Way to early to tell, though.

More than anything, what I don't want to see is them lumping anything and everything in Essos into House Targaryen again. The books make it very clear that the majority of the people on that continent would prefer it if Daenerys and her khalasar were dead; she should not be randomly commanding the architects of her demise.

More than anything, what I don't want to see is them lumping anything and everything in Essos into House Targaryen again. The books make it very clear that the majority of the people on that continent would prefer it if Daenerys and her khalasar were dead; she should not be randomly commanding the architects of her demise.

I'm not going to argue against what you say, but maybe it would be fun to speculate what Targaryen could do to replace all of the parts of Essos you think shouldn't be included?

It is very clear that there is content possibilities from the following:

Dragons

Dothraki

Unsullied

Meereen

Queensguard

Advisers(which some are the Queensguard)

Handmaidens

Mercenary groups, depending on the point in the story.

Personally, I wish they had done more with the Unsullied in first edition. They play a very important role in her rise to power and continue to be important going forward. Maybe they were a little too generic outside of Grey Worm, but I still feel they should have had more support thematically. (Were there any other uniquely named Unsullied?) I would like to see some cards that represent the process of turning a boy into an unsullied. Unsullied do nothing but eat and take orders. They basically wear nothing but Weapons and Armor(maybe their common attachment restrictions).

• There is the altar at the Lady of the Spears , where they burn their manhood after it is removed. This could be a location that buff an unsullied or maybe turn a character into an Unsullied by giving them the trait and maybe some additional boost.
• There is the Wine of Courage , which is what the unsullied drink on a regular basis. This drink makes them less sensitive to pain, and thus makes them more dangerous in battle.
  • This could be an attachment.
    • It could do something like the attached unsullied would be killed during a challenge where you are the defending player, you can kill an opponent's attacking character. I'm just trying to simulate how it actually may affect the outcome of a fight between an unsullied and another character. Since there is no damage or hit points, I imagine this could be a possibility.
    • It could give the attached unsullied some kind of a STR boost, but each time YOU kill an opponent's character(for Military claim or by using a card effect), give the unsullied some kind of STR reduction. If the unsullied reaches 0 STR AND has been hit by this STR reduction, then he is killed. So, it's kind of a way to make the unsullied stronger NOW, but in the long run will end up killing him because he's taking too many battle wounds.
  • If this was an event card. (Probably more thematic as an attachment)
    • It could do something like the first attachment idea above where when an unsullied is killed during a challenge, you get to kill an opponent's attacking character.
    • Maybe temporarily boost the STR of a number of unsullied characters until the end of the phase.
    • Stand an unsullied character and give it +STR and Intimidate. I imagine someone who doesn't show any pain will be intimidating.
• Name Disc/Token drawing is something the unsullied do on an everyday basis. Each day, they each draw a new name tokenfrom a barrel full of them. These tokens are different colors and each has a type of vermin written on them. Their new name for the day would be " [Type of Vermin]". The most known example would be the unique unsullied character, Grey Worm.
  • This might end up being best represented as an attachment thematically.
    • The attachment can move around amongst the unsullied you have in play to represent that no unsullied keeps the same name each day.
    • The attachment could be considered to provide uniqueness to otherwise non-unique unsullied, if that ends up mattering.
    • The attachment could also be easily argued to provide non-uniqueness to otherwise unique unsullied. I believe the exercise is meant to train the unsullied that they in fact have no name and should not be remembering their new names.
    • I am struggling to come up with better ideas on this, so here's a long shot that may be too much for a text box.
      • The attachment will allow you to discard or reveal the top of the opponent's deck. If the card is of a specific faction type, you get a unique buff or bonus for each. This is meant to represent the color of the name token drawn by the unsullied.
      • If the top card of the deck is the following faction, you get the following bonus:
        • Night's Watch - Gain a challenge icon of your choice.
        • Baratheon - Kneel an opponent's character. (Maybe add play restrictions as to what can be knelt)
        • Greyjoy - Kneel an opponent's location. (Or something more akin to their faction strengths, but we haven't seen anything really for them. I'm assuming they have good location control for now)
        • Tyrell - I'm not sure what Tyrell's faction strength is, but for now I will assume they are intrigue heavy, so maybe look at the opponent's hand or give the unsullied Insight?
        • Stark - +2 STR on defense or maybe give them "does not kneel to defend military challenges".
        • Martell - No idea what their focus is yet, but for now let's say "Reveal a card from your deck and add it to your hand."
        • Lannister - Take 2 gold from the gold pool.
        • Neutral - Nothing happens or maybe some kind of penalty for it being neutral.
      • I think the textbox will be too large for an effect like that, but you could also maybe lump two factions together for the same effect.
• They must earn their Spiked Cap by strangling a puppy, killing a slave mother's baby in front of her after buying it from her, as well as successfully completing a number of other tasks. Now, I'm not sure if they should make cards representing the killing of puppies and babies, but the Spiked Cap they earn could be something. The problem I'm starting to see is this is becoming too much of an attachment focus with the unsullied unless some of the above can just become an event card. Spiked Cap would definitely need to be an attachment though.
  • This attachment would be an Armor attachment.
  • Upon "winning" the Spiked Cap, they are now ready to be sold. Unsullied are only sold in by the century or by the thousand.
  • The effect could be "Unsullied character only. Attached character +1 STR for each Unsullied character you control. If you control 3 or more Unsullied characters, attached character gains 'cannot be discarded from play'."

OK. That post was very off topic and a bit of a ramble. I stop now.

Faction specific agendas could work well. I definitely hope they continue sub factions, like Bolton.

I never played the first edition. I'm planning on getting into the game with the 2nd. Can anyone explain why the Night's Watch is there at all? They stay out of the politics and fighting of the 7 kingdoms, that's their whole deal... right?

I'm about halfway through the 2nd book, but I've seen everything in the show, so maybe there's something they changed there that I'm missing. I've played the board game quite a bit, and I really like how the Watch was represented there: the great houses are supposed to send them support, but our own squabbles usually take precedence so we ignore their pleas for help. Exactly like what really happens.

It is a bit strange, but there are some ways to justify it. As the books go on, there are moments where some of the other houses definitely try to influence goings on in the Night's Watch and it definitely seems like the NW will get more wrapped up into things in the future. (I'm being intentionally vague to not spoil anything for you.) Abstractly, I think of the NW getting 15 power as them pulling strings and playing the game well enough to get what they want from the houses (men, resources, etc.), while not being taken over by idiots and preparing for the war to come.

I do predict, though, that the Night's Watch player will find himself wishing he were cutting down more Wildlings and Others and fewer Lords and Ladies .

I never played the first edition. I'm planning on getting into the game with the 2nd. Can anyone explain why the Night's Watch is there at all? They stay out of the politics and fighting of the 7 kingdoms, that's their whole deal... right?

I'm about halfway through the 2nd book, but I've seen everything in the show, so maybe there's something they changed there that I'm missing. I've played the board game quite a bit, and I really like how the Watch was represented there: the great houses are supposed to send them support, but our own squabbles usually take precedence so we ignore their pleas for help. Exactly like what really happens.

It is a bit strange, but there are some ways to justify it. As the books go on, there are moments where some of the other houses definitely try to influence goings on in the Night's Watch and it definitely seems like the NW will get more wrapped up into things in the future. (I'm being intentionally vague to not spoil anything for you.) Abstractly, I think of the NW getting 15 power as them pulling strings and playing the game well enough to get what they want from the houses (men, resources, etc.), while not being taken over by idiots and preparing for the war to come.

That sounds about right to me. I think it's also worth considering that winning the game might not entail claiming the Iron Throne for a lot of the other houses as well. Greyjoy doesn't want to rule the Seven Kingdoms, it wants to be independent; 15 power could be successfully establishing the Iron Isles' claim. Similarly, Robb seems more interested in his claim as King of the North, not as a claimant to the Iron Throne. Alternatively, a Stark player could play from Ned's perspective, which might be to support Robert's claim; 15 power could be that he has successfully navigated court intrigues and avoided the traps he falls into in the book, effectively avoiding the war all together.

The Night's Watch has goals and agendas in Westeros, even if they may not be actively engaged in the war. They must play the game, even if they say that they do not, to receive the support and supplies they need to man the wall.

I do predict, though, that the Night's Watch player will find himself wishing he were cutting down more Wildlings and Others and fewer Lords and Ladies .

Heh. That does bring up a question I've had though. I'm not super familiar with AGOT 1.0 beyond the Core Set. Was there any representation for wildings and Others in the game?

Wildlings (Like Night's Watch) were all Neutral cards that could be splashed in any deck, with agendas that let you make a Wildling-focused deck if that was your cup of tea. (not terribly competitive though.)

Others, really nothing of note.

Wildlings (Like Night's Watch) were all Neutral cards that could be splashed in any deck, with agendas that let you make a Wildling-focused deck if that was your cup of tea. (not terribly competitive though.)

Others, really nothing of note.

Interesting, thanks. I wonder if wildlings will be tied to Night's Watch this time as a sub faction. I wonder if we'll ever see Others-related cards in 2.0. Hard to do because no one should control them, but I could see a plot of some kind working for this purpose.