Looking at the images of the cards, they are certainly graphically superior to those in BattleLore. This is not my favorite system, but I can see that this could be a fun game. I look forward to learning more about it.

However, I'm not so sure what the fantasy element is here. I haven't read the books, but I gather there's little magic in use, in the stories or on the battle field. Is that right? Aside from the pleasure of recreating familiar and dramatic battles for those familiar with the books, I'm not sure what this game offers over BattleLore itself. And if there's no magic at all, then it's just a straight-up medieval battle game of which there are others on the market. Of course it does have the special FFG glitz and production values with miniatures, great cards and all, but I wait for more information to see if this game really offers something special and new. Aside from the Westeros flavor, what makes this game stand out? There is a need, I feel, for a great tactical fantasy game, a sort of ToI with magic and strange races and beasts, but this doesn't appear to be anything like that.

From the latest preview, looks like no magic in Battles of Westeros.

"Battles of Westeros, which will take on the role of our gritty, no-magic, medieval warfare game, while the classic “BattleLore” game’s trajectory will be of more traditional fantasy."

Yes, I read that, too...definitely answers my question!

Magic has ceased to exist in the world of Westeros with the death of the dragons but with three more being born it is making a return, though the extent hasn't been explored yet. There are also the original residents of Westeros (green men?) who maight not be extinct who had some powers, a few people with powers of minor prophecy, people able to posses animals, and the Others but they're mostly beyond the Wall and an unknown. So BoW will certainly start with a medieval feel but when Martin starts getting his books out on time there could be magical additions in hero characters. Likely some level of warging for Stark kids and maybe green dreams, fire magic and shadow assassins for Baratheon's Mel, franken-Gregor for the Lannisters, dragons for the Targs, giants and warg scouts for combined Night's Watch/Wildlings. Of course, that could be divided into pre-winter where it's all medieval and whatever's next gets a more traditionally fantasy feel.

Yes there will be magic. It will involve sucking money out of our wallets from around the world and having it materialize in Minnesota...

Torbal said:

That's not magic. That's alchemy.

Hi!

David Spangler said:

They are more realistic then the ones in BL!

BR

Pom

As it was already said, there is magic in the world of Westeros, but it's a rare thing. It is gaining more presence in the world as the books evolve, and I'm sure we are going to see magic getting more and more important - even in the fields of combat. At the battle north of the wall, Stannis forces combined with the Night's Watch against the wildlings, there were magic on either side: the wildlings had their skinchanger leader, and Stannis had Melisandre. Their importance was little compared to everything the warriors from both sides did, but it was there nonetheless.

I agree that probably we will see magic as character's powers in the future. Also, we could see some special abilities which source is magical.

Magic in the world of Westeros is very interesting indeed, for it is not a very organized field of study, it could go anywhere and be anything. Also, magic is very costly, often demanding a lot of sacrifice for it to work. That's why it is not as fantastical as in the majority of fantasy scenarios. I think it will be very interesting to see how FFG will emulate it in the game. But I also think it will be a while before we see any magic in it. It will probably be an expansion after we see a lot of different houses, armies, troops, extra rules, scenarios, effects and so on...