"All I can think of is that room they have in the Dreadfort, where the Boltons hang the skins of their enemies."
- A Song of Ice and Fire, Volume I: A Game of Thrones

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

The Dreadfort Betrayal, the sixth and final Chapter Pack of the Brotherhood Without Banners cycle, should be arriving in stores very soon, so we thought we would wrap up our previews of this pack, and the cycle in general, with one last look at House Bolton.

For those of you who have been following the Brotherhood Without Banners cycle, you will already be familiar with the on-again, off-again allies of House Stark, House Bolton. The Boltons bring high-strength, low-cost power to House Stark with the fairly significant drawback of being vulnerable to going over to your opponents when you lose challenges. Nobody who wants to win wants to do their opponents any favors and giving them free characters can be a big one. Even so, with the Dreadfort in your arsenal, you can make the Boltons' wandering ways work for you.

With the Dreadfort in play, you can get a boost from House Bolton both coming and coming back. As any Lannister player will tell you*, card draw is a huge advantage in the game and House Stark tends to lack card draw. Apart from having few in-house effects that let you draw cards**, House Stark also tends to have only a few intrigue icons, which means that against an opponent with them, a Stark player can find himself empty-handed and out of options quickly. With the Dreadfort, you can draw cards when you play House Bolton characters and when you take control of them (most of them are 3 STR or higher). In this case, it can be advantageous to you to let a few Boltons go if you think you can win them back quickly and draw cards because of them***. It's a risky proposition, but playing House Bolton in general can be wild, but exciting ride.

And of course, what would House Bolton be without a good scourging? This attachment is another risky card to play because it can only be played on a House Bolton character, and because it's a Weapon it can be played on any of them, meaning that its ability to discard kneeling characters can be pointed back at you if your opponent takes control of your Bolton. Also, since it's not unique, multiple kneeling characters could be discarded each turn at the hands of aggressive Boltons. If you're playing against House Bolton - or with it - watch out for the Bloody Scourge.

So that's it for our previews of The Dreadfort Betrayal and Brotherhood Without Banners. We hope we've given you plenty to discuss here in the comments and on the A Game of Thrones forums. We also hope you've enjoyed these spoilers for the last couple of months and that you'll like the upcoming card previews for the Secrets of Oldtown expansion, as well as some other surprises we have in store. Until next time!

* Except perhaps a Clansman player.
** Although House Stark leads the pack in "search your deck" effects, which are similar.
*** If you're also playing In Ramsay's Name (A Song of Silence, F62), letting a Bolton go and come back a few times can gain you some cheap power.