Why many night's watch don't have an icon?

By ktei2008, in 2. AGoT Rules Discussion

I just noticed that many night's watch men don't even have an icon... (no power, no military, no intrigue at all!)

Then how's that possible to use those characters in challenges if they don't even have an icon? I know that in dominance phase they can contribute their STR, but this still doesn't make sense to me.

Can anyone explain their usage? Thank you guys~

You can use The North agendas to grant icons to your Night's Watch characters as well as other cards/effects granting icons.

Yes, they are designed to be used with a number of agendas released as part of the Defenders of the North chapter pack cycle: The Builders, The Rangers, The Stewards. Each agenda grants one icon to your Night's Watch characters in play.

An ufortunate design decision, in my humble opinion, but that's how it is. There's also a key location for the Night's Watch, The Wall (also from the Defenders of the North cycle) that let's you put Night's Watch characters into play as defenders during a challenge, in which case they icons or lack of icons also does not matter.

Thank both of you... Yeah, in this case, night's wathc kind of... suck...

ktei2008 said:

Thank both of you... Yeah, in this case, night's wathc kind of... suck...

They can be fun to play in a casual setting, and can do well against other non-top-tier decks. Just don't expect to win a regional with them.

What I hate about their design is that all the icon-less characters have no value outside of a dedicated Night's Watch deck playing with the agendas. The Wildlings are also significantly weaker without their agendas, but there's a couple of cards that have been playable outside a dedicated Wildling deck.

Well, I think it's all pretty thematic. The Night's Watch doesn't take part in the struggles of the Seven Kingdoms, hence the iconlessness, butb they're beasts when defending the Wall.

Ratatoskr said:

Well, I think it's all pretty thematic. The Night's Watch doesn't take part in the struggles of the Seven Kingdoms, hence the iconlessness, butb they're beasts when defending the Wall.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. But to me it's a case where Nedliness got in the way of good design.

Ratatoskr said:

Well, I think it's all pretty thematic. The Night's Watch doesn't take part in the struggles of the Seven Kingdoms, hence the iconlessness

So why Builder of the Watch and Old Bear Mormont have icons?

Rogue30 said:

So why Builder of the Watch and Old Bear Mormont have icons?

One wonders.

Saturnine said:

Rogue30 said:

So why Builder of the Watch and Old Bear Mormont have icons?

One wonders.

I don't know... if lacking icons is what keeps Nights Watch out of decks, perhaps an icon (esp. when you don't care/need to use the Builder's ability) is to make them playable?