And not in a good way, either.

Using the core set, she usually plays Stark and I go with Lannister. I almost always get beat, and now with the addition of the Stark box, it's looking worse. All I've managed to add are some Greedy councillors. Not a fan of using the shadows mechanic.

Basically, I'm guessing that I should be able to outspend her, kneel her characters and minimize her hand.

But it seems she has at least as much money, if not more, and she keeps her annoying people like Sansa or Robb alive with Nymeria, and uses Frozen solid on my Lannisport Brothel. The kennel dude is pretty invincible, as are the Rangers.

I'm reading that the Lannister deck is supposed to strong enough to not have an expansion until last - but I don't see it.

Is it tactics? Do I not know what I'm doing? (actually, I'm pretty sure I don't.)

are you using Valar Morghulis as one of your plots? This may help you considerably in dealing with her problem characters...

Gary3911 said:

Gary3911 said:

Thanks. My wife has Lords of Winter to boost her deck, whereas I have a few cards from Winds of Winter . I did buy Battle of Ruby Ford and Epic Battles yesterday. But apart from Castellan of the Rock , they didn't really blow my skirt up.

Am I basically doing it wrong? I try and get a few small fry and Greedy Councillors out, and then the first big gun I can - hopefully Jaime or Tywin to fend off and military onslaught, and then try and reduce her hand with intrigue. The problem is, by the second or third round she often has two or three wolves and someone like Sansa or worse the Rangers. Are you saying I should be less attached to my characters and just go for the killer plots like VM and Wildfire Assault to just get everyone out the way when it gets annoying?

Pretty much. Plots are a huge part of the game obviously. But you can get control through other cards as well - obviously Castellean is REALLY good (why it is a restricted card in competative play), and the Cache is great (drawing). But, also Lanni's Pay their Debts and all the kneeling cards. You keep them down with your superior draw until Wildfire/Valar (hopefully mixed with some saves on your best people - either with duplicates or Bodyguard) hit.

Good luck!...~wish I was being spanked by my wife...

Oh, and from Core I am You Writ Small is great for a surprise and then kill/win (especially in non-Military challenges).

try combining the two strategies mentioned already: when you've got Stark down to 2 or 3 cards in hand, that Valar Morghulis will be a lot harder to come back from, while you'll have a nice robust hand full of options.

Ok, I get it.

I think the problem is that I'm trying to fight a Lannister war using Baratheon tactics. Instead of trying to fight with the Starks, I should be concentrating on minimising their hand, and then wiping the whole table out - and if Stark is only drawing 2 cards a round, and I'm drawing 2 plus 1 from the mines plus 1 from Tyrion, barring terrible luck, I should be able to steamroller through a bunch of unopposed challenges.

Thanks

You wait to use valar until you cant wait anymore. Then, you wipe the board and rely on kneel and card advantage to win it out. Try and get all the city plots from the kings landing cycle and you should be able to lock her down. Also, try and get kings landing (location), tommen (character), pyromancers cache (attachment) to increase your card draw. Then, for kneel mechanics, get alchemists guild halls, flogged and chained, enemy informers, distractions, you killed the wrong dwarf, etc. Its nice to throw in some kill/discard as well if you have it via dissension, varys, lannister pays his debts, etc.