My FLGS has an open copy of the base game for play at the store, so I checked out the contents the other day, and it looks pretty cool. I have been buying the books as they've been coming out, but never started reading them (afraid to due to bad memories of ending up hating Robert Jordan halfway through book 6 and increased interest in nonfiction over fiction). Does the game give a similar feeling as the books do, like for example War of the Ring does? Will not having read the books detract from the enjoyment of the game, or will having played the game spoil the books when I get around to reading them? Does the theme seem pasted on, or an integral part of them game? Thanks for any info; it will help me decide if I should get the game and expansions or play it a few times before deciding.

Not at all. I played the game first and had no idea what was going to happen in the books. Afterward my feelings do change somewhat as I now have favourite houses and houses I want burned to the ground (Lannister) and so feel compelled to destroy the person playing them but that's just me. Either way, the books won't affect he game.

Theme's more difficult. It's a good war game but you can add a lot when you've read the books, like making sure players act like their houses. It also lets you play out "what I would have done" scenarios and generate some book related discussion which I always enjoy. Unfortunately if you hate the books the game could be spoiled. Unless it's related to who gets killed off. Then the "what I would have done" cancels it out.

I've been dying to play this game. From everyone I know that has played it and is familiar with series, it captures the feel pretty well. The game is brutal. Alliances are made and broken at convienence. It's probably not the perfect blending of game and theme, like say the old "Dune" board game, but it seems pretty close.

I would say that the game has been well balanced with the books thus far. In most of the games I have played from the original edition (with the 'Clash of Kings' expansion) House Stark has generally done very well - mostly staving off the squids in the North, and then invading the south when Lannister and Baratheon have exhausted each other. From experience, playing Lannister can be quite a challenge, sandwiched as it is between several opposing forces, while in the six player game House Tyrell and Martell often get ineffectually embroiled.

From reading the books too (and when is George R R Martin going to complete the next part!?) I would say that knowledge of this doesn't limit the game badly at all. It's useful to needle the other players with details about their activities in the books, but the game effectively covers the whole history of the books over its course anyway.

I would love further expansions to at least pay some lip service to the surviving Targayen heir, which could influence play? I am imagining that she will shortly have a major part to play in the novels anyway!

I don't think the game captures the theme and atmosphere of the book. It's a very good game in it's own right, regarding the game mechanics and all, but it hasn't too much to do with the book. All sides are equal in strength, the characters on the combat cards are only namedropping (seriously, Old Nan as battle commander?!) and so forth. So, not the atmosphere of the books at all.

I have yet to play the game even though I have had a copy for three years. A **** shame.

Wilfred Owen said:

I have a similar feeling. I played it the instant it came out and was disappointed. Nobody liked it and I sold it off. I hear that the expansions have fixed many of the problems, but I'm not about to drop another dime in this game until I've played it... yet nobody owns it.

Oh, and there's next to no real connection between the game and the books. One might make you interested in the other, but that's it.

Stefan said:

You are right about the character cards not representing the books well. . . but I do think the mechanics of essentially forcing players to make (more importantly--break) alliances captures the feel of the books rather well. As for all sides being equal in strength. . . I would say for game balance purposes that has to be the case, but it is not like they start out on exact equal footing. Some houses are harder to win with than others.