I have seen a passing reference to Diplomacy as having some aspects similar to AGoT, but I was wondering if there were some other games you might all enlighten me about. I am trying to diversify my gaming library without using too many similar games to fill the shelves. Any information you could all share about personal opinions would be greatly appreciated!

It depends what do You compare: mechnics, design, number of players, playing time, category, or theme. If You haven't tried maybe You'd enjoy War of the ring for example. It has the same deep thematic feel and kind of similar order system (You don't place orders but roll what kind of orders can You issue this turn). As a drawback there's a whole bunch of plastic guys who all look the same although they should be elves, Rohan or Gondor warriors... very confusing...

Maybe Dune? Maybe Britannia?

As for me it's the only "wargame" I got so what do I know

Are you looking for war games that don't use dice? That seems to be what most people I know enjoy about the game.

Thank you for the input... as far as the diceless aspect, that was what I was looking for. My group relies on theme mainly with the primary mechanic as a secondary focus. If two games have a similar primary mechanic they seem to only want to play one of them. For example, I have Thunder's Edge and Twilight Imperium. They don't even want to touch Thunder's Edge because it relies on the hexplay mechanic with political advancements.

I am sorry if I didn't portray my thoughts correctly. I should of directly asked what games are similar to the primary mechanic at play. If it is diceless warfare, then I can see how diplomacy is automatically associated with it. What information you two have given me has already helped me immensely in my endeavor to amass a slightly larger collection for my game group. For that I thank you.

Try Dune.

Can be hard to get (it's been out of print for about 20 years now), but ebay usually has a copy for sale at any given time. If you can snag it for about 50-60$ it's a good deal.

Very strong theme, wonderful mechanics that reinforce it, and no dice.

Well it's OoP but it fits what your looking for:

Machiavelli recreates the historical situation of the fast developing and ever shifting balance of power struggle in Renaissance Italy. There are five major powers: The Republics of Florence and Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples and the Papacy (which was a secular power in this era) along with 3 major foreign powers: Valois France, Hapsburg Austria and the Ottoman Turks. All of these states singly of in combination compete for control of the peninsula.

Machiavelli recreates the historical situation of the fast developing and ever shifting balance of power struggle in Renaissance Italy. There are five major powers: The Republics of Florence and Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples and the Papacy (which was a secular power in this era) along with 3 major foreign powers: Valois France, Hapsburg Austria and the Ottoman Turks. All of these states singly of in combination compete for control of the peninsula.

OD

azuredarkness said:

Not to mention that FFG will be releasing a game with Dune mechanics based in one of their fantasy realms if I recall correctly.

mawiker said:

Actually, It'll be themed to the Twilight Imperium universe (sci-fi).

But I'm slightly skeptic about the result, since the original theme plays a huge role in my enjoyment of the game. The same system with a different setting would be pointless to me.

Funny, seeing as Dune was originally a game about Rome until they got the rights to the Frank Herbert series.

The basic mechanics (movement + combat + leaders) could go with any game.

However, the storm, the landing phase. spice blows and harvests are pretty much unique to Dune.

Also, what really makes you fell like you're a certain faction, is their unique abilities, which indeed bind mechanics to theme in this game. If you're playing the Harkonen, you're treacherous. If you're playing the BG, you're scheming and mistrusted, and get to use the Voice.

I don't know how far FFG policy will extend to this, but you are right in saying that Diplomacy has many similarities, as an influence primarily on the games designer for AGOT. It's worth looking more closely at the older game, if only for the playability of its diplomacy phase. The game itself is relatively simplistic in comparison with the multitude of rules for AGOT, but good for all that. Since others have mentioned the similarities of Dune, which would be difficult to acquire, there are other games which focus on avoiding dice and are perhaps more 'political' or 'commercial' in their bent, like Agricola, Caylus, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Power Grid or Thebes - these all offer a varied gaming experience for your group without the use of dice - something which FFG also avoid with their card games, like Wings of War or Citadels - both of which are eminently playable w/o dice!

Very few conquest games, apart from those mentioned (AGOT, Diplomacy or Dune) seem to be able to avoid dice altogether, so if its games in this category you are looking to expand with, this may prove more difficult.

Try "Nero: something or other" by Phalanx. I just picked it up and its got similar components. Basically, there's 3/4 generals that start in one part of the Roman Empire and you use randomly dealt cards for either movement, attack, or its special ability. The goal is to get more points, mostly by becoming emporer, by the end of the game. I haven't had a chance to play it yet but other than a few minor changes to fit my group's play style (they have it that when you win a battle you take the losers legion), it seems like a lot of fun .

No one has mentioned it yet, but the relatively new game Senji is pretty similar to AGoT. You use order tokens the same way and the game relies heavily on diplomacy. Senji does use dice but not regular dice like Risk or Axis and Allies.

One of the best mechanics of Senji are your house cards. Each player (or house) gets a number of cards that do one of three things: you have family members that you can give other players as hostages to cement alliances, you have reinforcement cards that let you use neutral dice in battle, and there are merchant cards that let you steal the *fourth* kind of card, the Hanafuna cards, from your opponents. What's so great about Senji is that you are not allowed to use any of your own house cards. You can hold onto them, or trade them with other players for their cards... or trade their cards to a 3rd player.

The Hanafuna cards are special in that if you collect sets of them, kind of like rummy or mahjong, they give you honor or more samurai to control.

I'm probably doing a terrible job at explaing the game, but you should definitely check it out.

As much as I enjoy AGoT, I don't really think it captures the spirit of the books. It relies too much on combat and not enough on intrigue. Senji, in my humble opinion, is the opposite side of the coin. It looks like just another feudal Japan wargame, but relies a lot more on intrigue and diplomacy than on just conquering territory.

I read this and checked out Senji... which is an easy think to do as there are two video reviews of the game. I thought it looked very interesting and I'd like to play it some time, but I'm a bit concerned that the scores can swing so much. Thanks for the tip!

Trump said:

Good call. Senji is a game I'd recommend to a fellow AGoT fan. I own both and really like them.

I would actually say Mare Nostrum most reminds me of AGoT.

I'm not 100% certain why , but there is something there.

SJBenoist said:

Mare Nostrum?! Um... no. Not that it's a bad game (with the expansion). It's just not like AGoT. I mean, if you're willing to dismiss the diplomatic aspects of AGoT, there are a LOT of games "like" it then.

??

It looks like the OP asked for games that were similar in core mechanics, so they can be avoided.

When did the diplomatic aspects of AGoT become the focal point?

Also, you don't negotiate during trade when playing Mare Nostrum? We do

Diplomacy has always been a focal point of AGoT. Sure, there are other things going on, but when you look for what differentiates the game from other 'wargames', the Diplomacy is the key. Wheeling and dealing and placing your orders is so much like the old Diplomacy game that it's hard to not see a comparison between the two. I guess it really depends on what the OP is truly seeking. Without more information, I would guess that they're interested in the Diplomacy play style, but I could be totally wrong. Maybe they just like moving armies around and conquering land. If that's the case, there are PLENTY of similar games out there.

Negotiating during trade is hardly diplomacy. I'd never looked into Senji before, but I can easily see the diplomatic aspects there. You're making deals that can make the differencve between war and peace. Trading two wines for your pottery is hardly the same thing.

Anyway, there are many good game suggestions on this thread, whether or not they'd be considered similar to AGoT. Anyone interested should trot over to BGG and investigate further and see what might appeal to them.

Hi everybody,

I find it amazing that nobody sugested " Warrior Knight " from FFG.

The game contain politics, war, duplicity, advancements,diplomacy and hidden agendas, all this and no dice!!!

Take it from a current player and look it up

Don't forget the " crown and glory " expansion, very well done.

Cheers,

My first thought was StarCraft. The orders are played in a similar fashion and the card driven combat system is pretty nicely thought out. The base game by itself will keep you happy for a while and of course it looks beautiful on the table. There's no trading and very little negotiation as no one can be trusted for long and it can be a relatively short game. It does work well with 2 or 3 players though.

I suggest to try "Imperial" - game without dices, a lot of possibilities to negotiate , and some pacts are forced in a very subtle way.

In this game you don't control one nation all the time - you just buy influence in them. Biggest influence means possibility of controling the nation, but for every amount of influence you get some money from the nation, and earn more points if this nation is better at the end.

Really interesting, and for me (I have played a loooot GoT ) the feeling during the "Imperial" is very close to it, and diplomacy here is maybe even more sophisticated (with the good group)

ps. one more advantage- Imperial works great even with 2,3 people playing, and up to 6 .

Old Master said:

I second Warrior Knights. Pretty deep game with lots of options and possibilities. Turn order is a bit random, but can be controlled somewhat with your card orders. I want to play it now!

I also like how Warrior Knights doesn't have dice, although there is more to keep track of than in AGoT. Imperial is another I'd suggest, no dice --- but I would say that it is more of an economic game rather than a wargame (although there can be some battles, they are not the focal point). Plus, Imperial scales well and because Influence and power changes hands, people are not eliminated early on, always have a chance, and even if they don't, you can have fun thinking you're in it if you just play rather than trying to figure out points as the game goes along.

Warrior Knights is awful. Slow, long, tedious. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Imperial is nothing like AGOT. I don't care for that game either, but I'll conceded that it IS a decent game. Just not my cup of tea. It's really a corporate manipulation game masquerading as a war game.