So I have been a fan of the books since they came out, since the HBO series and release of the 5th book Ive been getting into some newer things such as the card game and board game.

I picked up X2 Core set and a bunch of the revised chapter packs to start and planning on getting some of the deluxe expansions today after work. After having my first game last night versus a friend I had a few questions.

1. During a challenge phase let say I initiate a military attack with a strength of 10 and he has a strength of 7 with military for defence, since he cant win can he just opt not to tap his guys to defend and let the challenge go through unopposed ?

2. While attacking or defending during a challenge your characters are only killed if the challenge is successful and the claim amount is used ( unless some special ability or card ) ?

3. I noticed on some of the newer chapter cards there is a small s next to the gold value ? what does that mean like s4 etc.

4.Is there a limit on how many cards you can have in your hand? also if you run out of cards can you re-draw more then the default two during draw phase?

5. During the first setup phase where you pick 5 gold worth of chars/locations to place this is only done once at the very start of the game right? you dont do this right before every plot phase?

Thanks!

SerArthurDayne said:

Sounds like another careful read of the core set rules is in order

1. The defender player may declare as many (eligible) characters as defenders as he sees fit, or none at all. See also the rules for unopposed in the rule book. Whenever the defending player counts 0 Str during the challenge resolution, the attacker claims 1 power for their house

2. I'm not sure I understand the question. Only the defending player has to fulfill claim. Claim is only settled if the attacking player wins the challenge (i.e. if the defending player does not count more strength than the attacker)

3. Those are the cost to bring that card out of Shadows. The Shadows mechanic was introduced in the King's Landing chapter pack cycle and the corresponding rules can be found here .

4. The rules don't impose a limit to your hand size, so there is none. You don't draw extra card if you have no cards in hand. If it's not in the rules, don't make stuff up (Unless you want to implement a house rule, which you are free to do, of course)

5. Correct. It is done only once, before you begin the first round.

Thanks a lot for answering my questions! It is appreciated.

Also, yes I have read the core rule book plus the FAQ, Its just this game seems to be one of the more complex card games ive ever played.

One other question,

With power tokens, why do they sometimes get placed on characters? so I know they are supposed to count towards your total power total, however if that character who has say 3 of them on him dies, do those power tokens go back to the bank and leave my total?

SerArthurDayne said:

Have you ever played L5R? That is retarded complicated.

Game of thrones isnt all that hard to get the hang of. I played one game and felt like I had a good understanding of it. Now, playing without a veteran there to show you how, well that might be different.

Fieras said:

Forget L5R... the Dune CCG had a 68 page rules book(let) that came with it. And you needed 3 types of counters plus a D6 for the exchange rate. Strangely, it did play better multi. Also, a Valar-equivalent would have been nice had it lasted.

Yes, when a character has power on them it goes towards your victory total, then once they are killed that power is removed and no longer counts towards your total.