Hello, I am looking for a new game to buy and I saw this game at a local hobby store in my area. I am starting to play a lot of strategy games and was wondering if some players could direct me into what I should buy and what expansions to get? What the games is like compared to other games and what you all enjoy most after finishing a game? How long does a game, when all the rules are known, last?

Cheshire said:

The most similar game to the AGoT is Diplomacy. The mechanics are very alike with the only difference that in Diplomacy the orders are written down not put on the board as tokens. As for the rules it depends - they are not very difficult but there may be some misunderstandings. In the beginning we played very wrong....

As for the expansions it depends what do You prefer to get in Your games. And also available players. The Clash of Kings expansion adds another (6'th) player to the game with some other cool stuff (e.g. ports, siege engines, forts). The Storm of Swords comes with a new map for 4 players. It also includes leaders (e.g. Jamie Lannister running around with troops - very cool and useful), tactic cards and allies that make the game very real-like and even more similar to the activity in the books. I'd recomend SoS since it has very unique strategical options

To be honest, I was hesitant about buying the Game at first. I saw it at a con, and it looked complicated enough. Once I learned it was based off of a book series, I was curious and began reading the series. I liked the books, so decided to buy the game. I was surprised about how simple the rules were to learn, but how complex game play could be. Its a worthy investment to me, since I've played the game a few times and enjoyed it very much.

I agree w/ Chesire that it's most like Diplomacy but has the advantage of being more able to kill/save your units via the house cards. It also has randomized events which includes mustering (getting units) and supply (allows more/larger armies). Play time is between one and four hours depending on how you play. New players defenitely take a longer time to finish (in my exp) but people who play politically also take a good deal of time. I think I once spent about half an hour defending the moves I'd made and hammering out a truce carefully enough that I could hold the High Garden and keep his ally weak without breaking the agreement. If you're big on free for alls, one or two hours.

At the end of the game there is much greater satifaction all around because there isn't the randomization you get in Risk. If you have a massive army it will not be decimated, even if the other player played their best house card while you were stuck with your worst. Few players are ever eliminated so they usually don't feel the crushing defeat you'd get in other games too. There's also a great deal of satisfaction in manipulating others and well-timed backstabbings.

1-4 hours? Last time we spent 8 hours behind the board. About 50 min/turn. The auctions made it so long since we had loooong discussions about truce and border-contracts. In the end it didn't really matter anyway

Yeah, bidding goes fairly fast since bribe each other shamelessly during the planning phase. And having only 1 or 2 manipulators in the game tends to make it go fairly quickly too.

For some added perspective, I have never had a Risk game go over 3 hours and usually finish in roughly 1, minus set up.

Gatha said:

See, I've never played a game of Risk that didn't go under three, but I've always played with atleast two other people

Thanks all, I have decided to get the game and find the expansions. My house is slowly becoming the strategy gaming house and I believe Game of
Thrones will be a good addition.