I purchased the core set a while back, but only to study the mechanics.
As a game designer I do this quite a bit...in fact I hear from my friends and family all the time about how I have so many games that rarely get played.
Anyways, thanks to the HBO series, I really want to get into this game for fun.

I was wondering if since I just want to play with friends for the multiplayer aspect if I should skip the monthly packs and just buy one copy of each house's expansion?

Are any of the cards included int he house expansions from the core set or any sets for that matter?

Recently we have been playing a ton of Cosmic Encounter. Waiting on Chaos and Twilights expansions this week. Other games we like are Citadels, Yomi, and Dungeon Twister.

I don't really want to buy the monthly packs if I can avoid them. Mainly because it feels weird playing a game that is based on a pre-written story. And also because I can foresee myself spending a lot more time with Chaos and Twilight Imperium's expansions.

Thanks for the help.

The house expansions are great buys as you get a lot of cards in them for a great price. Even if you went with just the core set you can still play it fine multiplayer. AGoT is the best core set for any of the LCG's in my not so humble opinion.

However if you want to get extra cards to add to the core set then for sure getting Lords of Winter, Kings of the Storm and Queen of Dragons are great buys. And the eventual Lannister house box as well. Each of them comes with a lot of cards as well as two deck lists that can be built using just 1 core set and 1 House expansion. They are well worth their cost if not more, I could have paid more and still have been happy with them.

There are some similar locations in the house boxes as the ones that come in the core set but as they are core locations for each house they are worth having extras of. Everything else is new in them.

If you want to see the cards use either www.cardgamedb.com/ or agot.dbler.com/

Curator said:

A small number of the resource providing locations have been reprinted in the house expansion, other than those it's all new cards. As Toq said, the house expansions make for great purchases if you're looking to expand on the core set but are not interested in the chapter packs. The deck lists provided in the house expansion should help creating some balanced decks for fun casual multiplayer sessions. If you want to keep a sort of board-gamey feel, I would probably avoid the Kings of the Sea and Princes of the Sun expansions, as they add new houses that, while they are fun to play, are not as well supported if you only have the core set.

You can get by without the chapter packs. You will be missing out on some great cards, but theres no reason you can't make decks without them.

As for the expansions: Obviously each one focuses on a specific house. If you don't want to make decks for all 6 houses, you don't need to buy all 5 expansion packs.

Thanks guys.

IMO 3x Core Set to get a full playset of the 1x cards, then get the premium expansions with 3x every card (QotD currently, and the reprints of the others later this year.)

Xenu's Paradox said:

You forget there was Lords of Winter and Kings of the Storm well before QotD. And Kings of the Sea,Greyjoy, reprint is already out. Only Princes of the Sun is the one coming out later this year in August.

The game and packaging is playable enough that the core set can keep you playing many games on its own. I have yet to purchase any of the deluxe sets but I can tell you that if you become a fan at all of the series either tv or books or both there is alot of stuff in the chapter packs that is just plain cool. Some however isnt that great. However there is probably more cool stuff than not. I would at least look into the defenders of the north packs as they provide probably the equivilent of a setting extension. However the Nightwatch are my favorite faction in the setting so I am biased.