Hi there, I'm new to the forum, and just learning the game. I was wondering if there was anyone here from in and around Atlanta?

Sorry if such a topic already exists, I looked through several pages of the archive without seeing anything. And unfortunately Card Game DB's members map shows no one in the area. If there are any players or groups around, I'd love to know. I'm going to be trying a couple boardgame groups in the area that I found through Meetup, we'll see if that presents some leads.

Hey Alpha! I'm just north of Atlanta and have been dying to find a group to play Thrones with. I'm pretty much a newbie too, though I've been floating on the outskits of the game for a while. I recently decided to dive into Thrones but have not had luck in finding other to play. Where are you located? Maybe we can get a local group started up, or at the very least be able to play some games ourselves!

Hiya NthDoctor. I'm in Atlanta proper, the Druid Hills part of town. I'm almost certainly more of a newbie -- as in just got my core set, still learning the very basics of the game -- but I'm definitely up for trying to scrounge together some more players.

As I mentioned, I'm gonna try my hand at attending a couple boardgame groups in the area, might be I can find more interested parties, and I'll be campaigning to get some friends to give it a shot. If you're interested, the two groups I'd found that I was planning on checking out are this one and this one .

I'm not to far north of Atlanta, just up 400, so coming down to meet up for some games is no problem. I grew up not to far from Druid Hills so I'm pretty familiar with the area. As far as my play level goes, I've gotten a handful of chapter packs, but never really played with them. I got a good deal on some of the older stuff that a game shop was selling marked down. Now I just need to try them out!

As far as the game meetup groups, I couldn't do the group that meets on Fridays, but I could probably swing the other one from time to time. If you just wanted to get together and play sometime, Saturdays are best for me, but I'll work with you if I finally get to play! Another idea may be to look at a local game shop. I actually just found one yesterday that actually carries AGOT stuff. They have a really good selection with almost a full stock of chapter packs. I'm going to assume that someone buys it, or they wouldn't carry so much of it. I asked the clerk if anyone met at the store to play and he didn't know. But I'm sure we could always ask to set up a meeting time at the store and see if anyone comes. The store is called The Tower and its up I-85, just past Gwinnett Place where it splits to 316.

So let me know if you want to meet sometime or plan to attend one of the meetups, or if you want to try and start something at a game shop. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Well, unless I'm absolutely about-to-pass-out tired tomorrow -- which, given the week I've had, is a possibility -- I'll definitely be swinging by that Friday meetup, particularly as the place they meet is practically around the corner from me. I wasn't necessarily say that's where we'd meet, but it might be a good place to try and find other interested players. I'll bring my Core Set with me, see if anyone wants to play.

I'll check out my nearest store this weekend, Oxford Comics, I know they sell a lot of board games, not sure how many they carry AGoT, but it'll be worth checking out.

As for meeting up, I'd definitely be down for something. Of course, if either the Friday meetup or Oxford Comics provides any leads, we might be able to scrounge up more players, but I'd be more than happy to give joust a whirl.

Let me know how the meetup group goes if you make it. I'd love to gather more people into a playgroup. I think I'm gonna try to get in touch with someone else up at the Tower to see if they know who's buying the stuff from them and if they play there. If not I'll ask if we could put a flyer or something there to try and get people who play, or want to play, into a larger group. Again, if you can, go check out the Tower (www.thetowergamecenter.com). The store really is amazing. They have a great stock of just about any game you can think of and a large play area. It's a drive for me, but I really want to go back... especially if I can play Thrones while I'm there!

Aside from trying to get a group together, where/when would be good for you just to get together and try out some joust games? I can be available most weekends and can do weeknights, though Wednesdays would be difficult and I can't do every other Friday. I don't know of any shops really between me and you off the top of my head where we could meet up at to play. Any ideas?

Back from that Friday meetup at the diner. Got two games of AGOT in, my first two. Neither was with anyone who'd played before, but one of the guys I played with was remarkably good at picking up on rules, so much so that there were times he was correcting me.

The first game was a shortish joust, me playing Stark, the other guy playing Baratheon. Not the best matchup, honestly. He didn't seem to get many characters out at first, and I ended up quickly amassing enough characters that I was trouncing him every time my challenge phase came around. In fact I even dragged it out a bit, feeling bad and wanting him to get some better footing. Not sure if he just happened to have sh*tty draw, or if the base decks in the Core Set don't work as well in the joust formula, or what, but it was a one-sided game.

The second game I played was a three player melee, me playing Lannister against two others playing Stark and Targ. This was definitely a much more enjoyable game, at least with the cards I have now I think aiming for 3 or 4 players makes the most sense. It remained a pretty close game throughout, the guy playing Stark was further behind for a lot of the game, but made a late game surge so that we were all within a few victory points of each other when I finally won.

Definitely need to figure out more about the game, figure out which cards we were playing incorrectly. Is a card like Viserys supposed to be effectively immortal, just constantly bouncing back to the hand every time it would die? Was I abusing Lannisport Brothel, standing it then immediately kneeling it again to keep another character locked out? To what extent do plot cards effect everyone, when it refers to "you" I assume that means just the player who uses it.

Anyway, though I think the people I played with enjoyed the game, they aren't clamoring for more, and it didn't seem like anyone else there knew much about the game. As for where we could meet, I honestly have no idea. We'll figure something out.

Glad you were able to get your first games of Thrones in! I'm sure it was a little strange playing your first games trying to teach other! Again, I'm no expert, only having played a handful of games over the years with my friends, but from what I understand you were playing the cards you mentioned correctly. As long as you can use the response, you can bounce Viserys back to had. Since all cards stand at the same time, then you have the opportunity to respond, Lannisport Brothel can be used to lock down a character. I think that's why it was made unique. If you haven't already, print out a copy of the FAQ. The flow charts in there are very handy in learning timing and key concepts. Timing in Thrones can be difficult because it doesn't use the timing from the majority of other card games. There is no last in, first out stack like in Magic, which is something most card games use. It was very difficult for me to remember that in my games.

It's a shame that they didn't fall instantly in love with the game. Are you planning to go the the other meetup group next Sunday, the 28th? I can meet you there at that one, but I won't be able to make it there until about 6. If you want to meet up earlier, or can't make the upcoming meetup, we can setup our own meetup. Depending on when we do it, I may even be able to convince a friend of mine to come along. As for places to play, all I can think of is either a coffee shop, some restaurant that won't mind us camping there, or a games store with a play area, and the only one I know of those is the one up I-85.

I should be at the meetup on Sunday. Hope to see you there.

Great! I should be there around 6ish. I guess we'll just look for the guys with the Game of Thrones boxes

I went to the Atlanta Diner again tonight for the board game group there; I brought AGoT with me, though I wasn't sure I'd end up playing. I was more than prepared to play something else, but as it turned out a couple that was there that were also into the series, so we ended up playing. The two of them seemed to enjoy the game quite a bit. We also got a fourth, a woman who I'm sad to say didn't seem to enjoy it all that, and never really figured out what was going on. I suspect she hadn't had much experience playing games in general; as she herself noted, the game she brought with her was Yahtzee.

Other than the woman who wasn't enjoying herself, it was a fun game. This was the first time I was playing with the decks I'd built with my second Core Set and the Refugees of War pack I'd gotten. The decks still feel kind of weak (or at least the deck I was using did), though I don't know if I need to reevaluate the choices I've made with the cards I have or if really the only way to make these stronger is to get more cards. It's probably both, I'll probably be picking up some of the Deluxe Packs soon, which should boost some houses and will dramatically increase the available plots I have to use.

I was playing Stark, the woman who didn't get the game was playing Lanni, and the couple were playing Bara and Targ. Fun, though not successful for me. I got absolutely destroyed. Even the woman who didn't get the game was way ahead of me at the game's end. I had pretty dreadful draw, and just couldn't get many characters out. I didn't get a single of my Refugees out, even though my Stark deck has more as I gave it two Vale Refugees. And I was constantly getting steamrollered by Intrigue, which I pretty much never got to defend. One round I finally got Catelyn and Cat o' the Canals out; the next round Valar was played. The Targ player managed to bounce back from the Valar remarkably well, and he ended up winning shortly after. (Just was looking over the cards from the game, realized Cat o' the Canals shouldn't've been killed by Valar. Oh well, I'll remember next time.)

One thing I'm realizing is that I am absolute **** at explaining how the game works. This, I suppose, is not too surprising given that I'm still learning the system. There were several points throughout the game where I had apparently failed to wholly explain how something worked, which resulted in the other players getting stuck doing actions that they thought would work but wouldn't. For instance, the Bara player chose Master of Whisperers one round, thinking the +3 to Intrigue would allow her to initiate an Intrigue challenge without an icon. I also did a poor job explaining how dupes work. Neither of the two people who were into it seemed to mind too much, and the Lanni player was just so completely lost that I doubt I could've made it clear.

I think the major question I had about the rules was just how to count up Dominance. It's the Str of the standing characters, but is that just the printed Str? Once or twice I won dominance because I had Winterfell Castle giving +1 to all my characters, though perhaps maybe I shouldn't've counted that.

I was also pleased to see that the sleeves I'd gotten worked better than I'd expected. I bought some cheap penny sleeves off eBay, and they seemed like they utter crap when I got them, but they worked pretty well. At some point I should probably invest in some higher quality sleeves, but for now they get the job done.

Hopefully next time I get to play it'll be with people who know the game

Hey guys I'm going to be in the Atlanta area in the next few days if you still meeting to play?

Send me a friend request with details. I'm going to be in Augusta for the next two years but can travel across to Atlanta every so often.

Beast, I just sent you a friend's request. Hope you can join us for some games sometime.

I will but not until December I'm afraid. I'm travelling at the moment. I will be at the Days of Ice and Fire in November if anyone else is going.