Is there any way that my friends and I make the game any different by adding some new house rules?

We use the tides of battle cards but they don't do too much other than forcing you to outnumber your opponent 5-1.

What kind of "different" are you looking for?

What don't you like about the game? What do you think needs changing?

Here are my house rule suggestions:

Knights can move 2 spaces normally, but don't establish control in the first space they pass through. NOT on the first round. (War hasn't started yet?)

Units can surge though a space with just an enemy control marker in it, removing it, but not claiming it. Enemy established roads? Knights STILL get only two spaces. Claimng the space still has to be done by keeping a unit there as normal.

Bidding is much different: Each player on the influence tracks is considered to have bid as much as their position (6-1). If you already own a token (throne, sword or raven) you are considered to have bid as much power as there are players in the game (for instance). Therefore, player 6 (1 bid point) could not just jump to the throne without moving up slowly or bidding LOTS of power to take the throne.... This can really OP some houses, but it really makes the tokens so much more valuable and so much harder to capture. I've had games where it changed almost every round. That was just plain stupid if you read the books. Also, it makes the wildling attacks much more important of a factor, since the Greater houses (higher on the tracks) need to do more to prevent attacks. This rule seems common sense, since if I sit the throne, it takes a lot less to hold it than to take it.

We wished there was a King's Road on the map to try to capture and contol since it could facilitate faster travel. Instead, we use the rule that if you own all the spots next to either side of the river, you can shuttle units like there are ships in between (boat travel?). But one lost areas stops the travel freedom. This both causes the battle for the neck to become so much more important. This rule makes ship travel so much more important also.

If you take either side of the Twins and the other is unoccupied, you take the other also. Trying to take either side and the other IS occupied, you fight both at once regardless of their current orders. (It is suposed to be hard) This makes diplomay and alliances vital, not to mention betrayals so much more poignant.

Harenhall is impregnable without a seige engine once taken. The Erie takes two once taken (Canon from the books?? We all agreed without discussion haha)

You CAN support across ships and the sea, but only in ONE area. (You effectively landed there then went back to the original area after the fight?) TOTALLY changes lots of tactics.

We've been toying with the idea of razing strongholds... destroying their ability to provide defense for the duration of the game but not the areas benefits including mustering (only defense is destroyed)... a pilage order is given AND LEFT THERE (signifying the razing) after the round. Units CAN retreat on the next round also. Notice this expends a Pilage token for the rest of the game. Perhaps a Gather power or Muster order can be used to restore the keep (by the same or different player?) Would this return the original token? I'd think not.

Units can "ride" ships... just waiting to be used. 1 Unit per ship, regardless of value. If they are sank in battle (normal ship combat rules apply, they are lost if the ship is) They (fleets) don't count as armies in this manner. There's no limit to the number of units riding ships in an area, but only the ships participate in combat, the riding unit do not participate in any way, other than hopefully dying spectacularly when the ship is sank.

Another Wild ass rule is ALL movement is done FIRST, THEN combat is resolved. This makes planning and support more effective. It can also cause armies to totally pass by each other like in the books (and real life).

Woah those are quite some rules you have there!

I'm not to sure on which ones I'd use though, I was thinking more on the lines of leadership rather than style of play.

I was wondering people thought on using power tokens as bartering chips. If you wanted someones support then you could exchange a few of your tokens in the token pool for theirs.

I've been thinking the same thing... Like you could give (tribute?) power for alliances, turn units over to other houses, even turn over territories. Now diplomacy isn't so intangible.

Also, how about a rule where anyone is allowed to be in an area as long as they don't exceed the supply of the owning area. For instance allowing allies units to pass through an area, or help garrison a Keep... Casualties are determined by the area owner, so they could easily decide their ally takes the casualties :/ Yes, I know that support can be given by neighboring allies, but this is just another option.

The cool thing about house rules is anything goes as long as you all agree.

Has anyone tried using all 6 house in a 3 player game, like two house are permanently allied for the duration of the game or something similar?

check "VARIANT OF PLAY" posts in the AGOT forum.

most of the ones i have added have been played MULTIPLE times before posted.

Is there one link for all variant of play posts?

Stolid said:

Sounds good about the power thing. How would you give units? Just replace yours in an area with theirs if you are ajdecent to them?

I'd say they swap out yours for one of theirs, but that can quickly lead to them having no more available units... UNLESS... everyone agreed that the unit piece is still yours, but they now own the unit. That way it still counts against the original houses unit limit. You'd have to keep track of which units were just passing through and which were owned by another player. Small chits of some sort under tributed units would make that easy enough.

Would that mean I would have to invent a new phase? The diplomacy phase; where you get to barter and stuff right before the westeros phase.

I think you should be able to do diplomacy at anytime. Especially when you just got attacked by someone, what better time?? I would say that if a unit was given to another player, to be careful to keep track of whether it moved or not, preventing units from being over utilized. I think the tribute should happen during the tributing players turn, moving into an area and tributing could occur in the same round though... If it was moved to get to an area, it can't be activated again by the receiving player. As always, supply must be properly observed.

tl;dr? No new phase imho. Like the rules say, diplomacy and outright lieing is encouraged So form alliances, tribute power to do so, give away units... I think it helps add diplomacy that people are saying is sorely lacking!

But again, these are all just suggestions. Do whatever you guys agree on!

My friends and I started playing like a week ago. We used the Tides of Battle cards and liked the randomness of it. Like war, you aren't sure if you will take casualties or survive.

We also decided to add a 6 sided dice to the battle. If you roll an Odd number, you take the cards, if you role an even number, you don't take any cards.

It made going to battle a little scarier, and a lot more fun.

i would suggest playing war if you want a complete element of chance to allow you to win or lose a battle.

one might as well roll a d6 for each player and then add that to your strengths.

my 2c on the use of tides of battle cards.

jhagen said:

I can't say that I know anybody who prefers playing with tides of battle cards.

The tides of battle cards make it a little bit harder to strategize but it works well. It makes using Gregor Clegane much more exciting when you pick up a +1 sword card meaning he gets strength 4 and 4 swords