Hello and Welcome Back, Loyal A Game of Thrones Fans!

Kings of the Storm should be hitting your local game store and the FFG webstore this week, so we won't bother with doing a spoiler for something you're probably in the process of eagerly unwrapping right now. Instead, we will move on to the next exciting Chapter Pack in the Brotherhood Without Banners cycle, Mountains of the Moon.

The Brotherhood cycle has been developing sub-themes within each of the existing Houses - Asshai, Raider, Dothraki, etc. Throughout this expansion, Lannister's Clansmen will be getting a boost and in Mountains of the Moon they will be getting a little extra.

Traditionally, it is one of Lannister's strong suits to kneel opponents' characters, a la Castellan of the Rock, Enemy Informer, etc.* In the case of this expansion's Clansmen, kneeling is generally not an impediment to them and sometimes they are stronger when knelt, as in the case of Clansmen under the effect of Timett, Son of Timett, included in this pack. In this cycle, they are also generally stronger if their controller has fewer cards in hand that his or her opponent. This plays against type for Lannister, with its wicked card draw and intrigue strength. In this expansion, however, the unsubtle Clansmen have almost no intrigue icons among them, but this can be a benefit, if playing to their strengths.

Tyrion's Enforcers is a good example of what is going on with House Lannister in this cycle. On offense or defense, you can kneel them for use in a power challenge and they become unkillable if Timett is in play and, if you have fewer cards in hand, you can use them again in a military challenge. With Valar Dohaeris (The Wildling Horde, F80) in play, players are extra-incentivized to kneel everything out, but, in general, that means that most of their characters are one-shot and their characters that don't kneel become vulnerable. The right Clansman deck can shrug off such threats.

There is more to come for Clansmen, and for all of the other interesting little sub-themes, but we hope we've given you an adequate taste of what's to come that you can discuss here in the comments and on the A Game of Thrones forums.

Until next week!

* Battle of Ruby Ford, F93 and Core Set, L48, respectively.