My background: Just finished playing my second game of Battles of Westeros. (BoW) I have Battle Lore, (BL) and I am a fan of George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series of novels.

Components: Awesome as always. Great production values. Usual heavy card stock components, and quality cards. Art is top notch. Minis continue to be the soft plastic. Minor difficulties mounting the minis. But I made quick work of the model assembly with a modeling knife and liquid model glue. The modeling knife was not strictly necessary, but I found it helpful.

Impressions: The new command system is excellent. It provides a much greater opportunity for strategy/tactics. And the system deals with the swirling maelstrom of combat found in BoW much better than BL's system would have. The combat system has also been updated a bit.

Players alternate back and forth numerous times during a "turn," keeping the game much more interesting. (I used turn in parenthesis, because a "turn" in these rules is a much smaller segment than commonly found.)

The first game we played was primarily to understand the rules. The second game was very close, with the objectives going back and forth several times, right down to the last die roll of the game! Lots of fun.

Conclusion: If you are looking for an upgraded version of Battle Lore, this game fits the bill quite nicely. If you are a fan of the book series, you will find this game an excellent implementation of that background. Overall, I am very pleased with Battles of Westeros and highly recommend it!

Your comments agree with my first impressions as well The soft plastic is only a problem in basing,out of all the figs I only have around 4 I need to do the old hot/cold routine to straighten out the waepons.With BL it was like 40%.

OD

I agree with your assessment. The chap that I sat down and learned the game with is one of the people that I have played MM44 with and he caught on pretty fast because the battle mechanic was more or less the same. We were both pleased that the game incorporates a more in depth command system and that there more options as to what units get activated in a turn compared to the C&C based games. Yet the game still managed to retain the feel of the C&C system that I really enjoy. Overall we were both pretty impressed and delighted and I feel that FFG did a pretty good job of taking the best of C&C and adding just enough tweaks to make it even better without sacrificing the elegance of the system. I was afraid that is would be another clunky counter heavy tedious logjam of a game like so many FFG games are (although I seem to keep buying and playing them anyway, I think I have been somehow brainwashed). Overall I would give BoW 4 out of 5 stars. My only gripe was that I felt that the components were kinda chincy. The cards seemed thin and flimsy and same with the figues. I dont see these components being very durable over time. A couple of weeks ago I payed $50 for a comparable style game with crazy awsome components.

It looks like everones' first impressions are favourable. Mine certainly are. Only got the game this morning (UK) and spent all afternoon checking out the bits. Mine had 1 extra Lannister Archer but 1 less Heavy Infantry. Certainly a loss in strength, but clip off the bow and it wont be noticed. Must invest in a little glue as the figures are fiddly when loose. After playing the game - still am actually but taking a break - has confimed my guess from the on-line rules posted by FFG, that this game really revolves around the Commanders. The 1st scenario is must for Lannister to use its forces efficiently. 5 Rounds is a short time and the incentive is theirs to push the attack. Only 1 extra unit, slightly better Ranks and slightly better Commanders to overcome the constant 'Pinging' from the Stark Archers which in turn, must stay out of melee. Am I right in thinking that both Infantry and Cavalry can get around the 'crossing ford penalty' by ending their final movement hex on the ford? Addam Marbrands' Command ability of ignoring terrain restrictions - including impassible - is very good. Rivers, woods, pallisades, buildings etc., are just moved through like normal hexes. Of course, he can't end movement on an impassible terrain. Every round seems to throw up an interesting situation, so I expect to be engrossed for a while yet. With the alternating 'Turns' to take 'Actions', have other players found that a lot of flanking goes back and forth? With units gaining 'Stalwart' and thus being able to 'Counterattack', by having 2 adjacent friendly units, it can make a big difference between wiping out a unit or at least retreating it, than leaving that pesky odd figure. Breaks over. Back to more BoW. Enjoy. Cheers!

FFG is great about replacing parts-e-mail Customer Service & you'll get your missing man

OD