FFG continues to out guess me on Expansions but I'm glad to see the Game support continues to keep product coming.I rather thought the Mountain Tribes would have been part of of an Expansion rather than one by itself.So we get 3 Troop Types & 3 Commanders plus the usual Terrain & Card goodies.

Nice balance for Lannister after Stark's Tully Expansion ,I'm still waiting to see if House Fey & Boulton turn up & I can't see FFG going to another Major House until they do.I love to see Stark & Lannister done up right but maybe we'll see another Major House by next year.I figure Lords of the River is on the Boat,Tribes is at the printersso we still have some room for another Expansion this Year.

OD

Ooooh, good catch!

I actually sorta thought the Tribes of the Vale would be next as they were active in the first book which is the part of the war they're covering at the moment and it is a Lannister alley. Also the Stark forces have more "flavorful" units with their war hounds and tridents/warrior women and of course the Tully's have that independent spirit. But the Clansman will give the Lannisters something different than their usual more standard house troops.

Plus "Clansman" is already a trait in WotW and Tyrion is a popular character. I really hope they are given the "clansmen" trait to use with Tyrion.

As I will probably play Lannister more than Stark I'm pretty excited about the choice for the expansion and the flavor they bring and something that'll be a bit "different".

The key to how this game will evolve going forward to my mind is what the expansion AFTER the Tribes of the Vale will be. I am going to go out on a limb and say it will be House Baratheon and I will go even further out on a limb and suggest it'll come out around Gen Con. I say that for a few reasons. Other houses that might alley with Lannister or Stark like Fey, Bolton, and Tyrell all really have their most important moments so far in the mid-war after the first book and a half. Once Baratheon comes out it really opens the options up if you're going through the war chronologically which I think FFG's is for this game (at least they have so far). And of course Baratheon has a lot of fans and is involved in alot of conflicts during the war.

Mind you I could be misrembering how thing's played out in the books (I really need to reread them).

If I'm right then the next question is will they release House Baratheon as one big expansion or will they release it as two smaller expansions?

Either way once Baratheon is out it opens up the conflict a lot and the available factions for future releases.

But until then bring on the Stone Crows, Black Ears, and Burned Men! I can't wait to see what kind of abilities they might bring. Something fierce and savage that's for sure. And I don't know if it's just me but I'm often just as excited to hear about the special rules/tokens added to the game with each expansion. For example I really love the preview to the outposts given in the House Tully preview.

Can't wait to see what the Tribes of the Vale will add to the mix.

@Old Dwarf: Come by and post more often. We need to get some conversation going on here. Hopefully if we start up others will join in more.

And an image from the box from BoardGameGeek: Tribes of the Vale .

hehe, I'm even more excited now. That cover really stands out.

DW your rational for Baratheon makes sense,it's been awhile since I read the books but getting The Stag involved does seem logical.It will be interesting to see the price point as it would seem to have to be greater that the Expansions to date as it would need to support an entire Baratheon Army,but less than the Base Game which has 2 Armies.Maybe $50 (US$)?

OD

Part of me wants another big expansion. It would have one army but would also include neutral colored war machines such as bolt throwers, catapults, and trebuchets we could field on the map rather than off-map.

Notice how the neutral color just HAPPENS to be brown? I think someone was thinking ahead even if they don't end up in the Baratheon expansion. A good color for ships too now that I think about it.

I'd really love to see a new map board included as well. Maybe Snow/city or eventually harbor/sea when we get ships. And include a large tile (like the entire uncut tile that comes in the smaller expansions) that's a castle for sieges.

Just imagine how much variety that single set would bring. Totally worth the money.

Alternatively I'd be good with a more modest Baratheon set (or even split it into two to make them normal sized expansions) and then put the warmachines in an Accessory Expansion set... maybe with plastic palisades too. And outposts. *grins*

There's really a lot they could do.

And of course ships. They could be put in neutral brown and you just add the proper house flag to the mast just like you would a normal unit. Or provide different sails for each house.

I really like the idea of war machines and ships though to help break up the calvarly/infantry on the battlefield. It'll bring visual appeal. And outposts. And palisades. And... *grins*

Though if I end up painting them... I might prefer the smaller sets to more easily keep up.

Wow, the actual news item for the Tribes of the Vale actually has a pic of the full contents, miniatures included. Which is sorta amazing given we haven't gotten that for Lords of the River yet. Way to go FFG!

Thoughts:

-Nice to see the new premium banners in action.

-The Banners are very striking on the black side with the red fist. They look very cool. Sorta an Isengard feel but I like that.

-The tan is lighter than I'd imagined for allied forces but I like them. There's likely to be a LOT of allied forces eventually so it's important it be a good color.

-Miniatures that you can make out seem to be a two-handed swordsmen, calvalry, and infantry with axe and shield.

-No idea what the tokens and terrain are yet. Terrain might be ruins?

Looks great.

My guess on the terrain in 'impassable hills / mountains'

I bet you're right actually. That would make a lot of sense given the first "battle" we see the Mountain Clansman in during Game of Thrones .

Taking a look at the calvalry artwork at the bottom the horseman might be spearman. Reminds me of the Riders of Rohan from GW's LotR's game. I wonder if they'll be able to throw the spears before entering melee battle with h-to-h weapons? Or will they just be treated as lances? The spears do look to be light and balanced for throwing however.

I haven't managed the finish painting the minis in the Core set yet, let alone any of the expansions. I'm going to end up with a neverending backlog if FFG keep this release shedule up (either that or I'm going to have to stop procrastinating and actually finish painting) Bitching aside, I'm liking the way the two sides are being balanced out (Reinforcements and then Allies each) in a sensible order relating to the books, before the other Houses.

A bit of idle speculation - does the 12/12/9/3 format of the troops in this expansion suggest a similar number of troops for the Tullys - 12 Tully Longbowmen, 12 Warriors of Wayfarer’s Rest, 9 Tully River Riders and 3 Commanders (Edmure Tully, Brynden “Blackfish” Tully and Marq Piper)?

I was quite surprised, in a good way, with this expansion. I have been hoping that FFG would continue to make sure the War in the Riverlands is 'done' before heading off into new territory, and including the Mountain Clans helps see to that! Agree that the tan color seems to look pretty good.

In terms of near-to-mid future expansions, I could see a couple of different directions-

New House- I agree it would most likely be Baratheon, as they are next-most active house in the early books. I'd prefer to see it just be Baratheon on its own, rather than plastic minis for catapults and so on (we already have tokens for those). Whether they make it one big box with 7 units and 8 leaders or two smaller boxes (4 units/5 leaders and the misc stuff like skirmish cards, and 3 units/3 leaders) I don't know - they might also surprise us and change up what each house gets in terms of numbers of units and leaders. The on advantage of a two-box approach is that players who do not have Wardens could buy just the 'basic' Baratheon box and still have the houses on an even playing field. The only tough thing here is how, or if, to do the split of House Baratheon between Stannis and Renly. Maybe the 'main' box would be Stannis and the expansion box Renly, but this would probably be better handled with special scenario rules.

Accessories Box- this would be the place for plastic catapults and siege towers and so on I think. I admit I am skeptical the game system could handle ships very easily, and if we did see them I'd anticipate them being counters, not miniatures. That way you could place the ship on the board and then place units on it. A new map, covered in snow or what have you, would be neat but not vital to my mind.

Additional 'Ally' Boxes- The last one that I think might be 'needed' for the current focus is a 'Mercenaries and Sellswords' box that includes the Bloody Mummers, and/or the 'Brotherhood without Banners'. If it followed the current box format maybe there would be two 'Bloody Mummer' unit types (cavalry and infantry?) and 1 leader (Vargo), and the BwB would have two leaders (Beric and the priest whose name escapes me) and 1 unit type. I also am sort of a fan of sticking Frey and Bolton into one Ally box as well, since they are both 'turncoat' houses.

There might also be room for new expansions for Stark and Lannister as well, though in terms of units I think FFG have pretty well filled the design space in. New Leaders might be possible though.

-Will

For FAR future releases, I admit I'd really like to see a 'Roberts Rebellion' expansion- this is the best way to introduce the Targaryens into the game, IMHO. It could even be a 'big box' game with, say, the Arryns vs. the Targaryens, units and leaders for each, etc.

-Will

The ships could be like the creatures expansions in BattleLore, coming with only a few, larger miniatures. I admit that would probably be a longer term thing with any need for ships in the immediate future being fulfilled by counters.

But it's nice to think where it could all go one day.

Your thoughts on seperating House Baratheon into two sets makes sense. I think it's a real possibility just to keep the costs down and not scare people away from expanding but that it allows the first set to match the original boxed set would be a nice bonus for FFG. Though I'd hope for more scenarios at least. Three doesn't seem enough to cover the introduction of a new major faction.

My guesss is that Renly and Stannis will share the troops and maybe the house will get a couple of extra heroes to cover Renly. Basically the House will be themed for Stannis but allow it to be used for Renly in certain scenarios.

A bit of idle speculation - does the 12/12/9/3 format of the troops in this expansion suggest a similar number of troops for the Tullys - 12 Tully Longbowmen, 12 Warriors of Wayfarer’s Rest, 9 Tully River Riders and 3 Commanders (Edmure Tully, Brynden “Blackfish” Tully and Marq Piper)?

That would make sense but we don't know for sure except for the commanders I think.

The cover to the new Game of Thrones LCG expansion really has me longing for a Targaryen army for BoW even more than I already did.

Queen of Dragons cover

Honestly it might make me get the LCG.

DragonWhimsy said:

Ah, but would you want Dany and her units but no scenarios where she fights anyone else, or a 'Battle of the Ruby Ford' expansion where the Targs fit in but we don't get all the cool stuff?

Of course, the only answer is 'both'.

Call me naively optimistic but I'm thinking by the time we get through Baratheon and Greyjoy A Dance with Dragons will already be out and have solved the problem.

But yes both.

DragonWhimsy said:

I call you naively optimistic

OD

The ships could be like the creatures expansions in BattleLore, coming with only a few, larger miniatures. I admit that would probably be a longer term thing with any need for ships in the immediate future being fulfilled by counters.

It also depends on how ships get handled in the game- if the theoretical rules focused on boarding actions between a few ships and such it probably makes more sense from a sea-land game interface viewpoint to make the ships counters and have exisiting units placed on them. If the the ship rules focused on bigger naval battles where each single unit was a ship itself then minis would work fine. I am still not sure I think ship rules would be vital, but I admit I'd like to see them since it would make my planned epic Battles of Westeros + A Game of Thrones board game integration much easier.

Your thoughts on seperating House Baratheon into two sets makes sense. I think it's a real possibility just to keep the costs down and not scare people away from expanding but that it allows the first set to match the original boxed set would be a nice bonus for FFG. Though I'd hope for more scenarios at least. Three doesn't seem enough to cover the introduction of a new major faction.

My guesss is that Renly and Stannis will share the troops and maybe the house will get a couple of extra heroes to cover Renly. Basically the House will be themed for Stannis but allow it to be used for Renly in certain scenarios

It also allows more flexibility in how players get into the game- something FFG has so far allowed and I hope they continue. You don't appear to need the Wardens boxes to use the Ally boxes, or vice versa. So it would be nice to have players be able to choose what they want more and go with it- do they want more troops for the starter houses, additional troops either house can use, or a new house, etc. If they DID do the 'House Baratheon in two boxes route' I also hope and think they'd include more then 3 scenarios in the first box- the box would already be bigger then the Warden boxes as it would have more 'stuff' in it like the skirmish cards and so on.

The more I think about it the more I agree that it makes sense to 'theme' the house to Stannis overall, with Renly being a hero with a couple of special rules to cover how he gets used and what troops he can take, etc. It might even make sense to have Renly be in the Tyrell box we will likely see some day, rather than in the Baratheon boxes themselves.

And in regards to the whole Renly vs. Stannis thing, House Florent screams for inclusion in an Ally box- they might fit fine into a box with Bolton and Frey.

Ah, but would you want Dany and her units but no scenarios where she fights anyone else, or a 'Battle of the Ruby Ford' expansion where the Targs fit in but we don't get all the cool stuff?

I'd actually like to see a 'Battle of the Ruby Ford' box for sure- Roberts' Rebellion is my favorite conflict in the books, and it would be a great way to introduce all those important but not easy to wedge into the current story elements like Robert himself, the Targs and the Arryns, etc.

I call you naively optimistic

ditto.

EDIT: How the heck do you 'quote' somebody with this forum software? The usual <q> or

tags don't look like they work.

-Will