Using Damphair house card - last card in hand. And capturing hostages!

By Derfel Cadarn, in A Game of Thrones: The Board Game

hello all. My first post on here. Only played GoT a few times but last night we had the situation where one of my opponents played the Damphair card as the last card in his hand, payed his tokens, picked up his entire discarded pile of house cards and played a much more powerful card. We argued about this. I don't believe you can do it. The card specifically states you can change it for another card "in your hand (if able)". The last part, "if able", really convinced me he was wrong. If you could pick up the discard pile then you would ALWAYS be able to play another card. The fact it says "if able" suggests to me you cannot do this. Who agrees?

One other thing, we played a fun house rule where if an army was destroyed (not routed), whichever house card was played with the defeated army was "captured" by the victor. He held onto it until agreeing "release terms" with the loser, such as giving power tokens (the loser putting the agreed number of his own tokens into the pool and the victor taking the same number of his own tokens from the pool), or performing a certain action on the next term, such as withdrawing from an area or supporting a particular battle. It was good fun and more in keeping with the books somehow! Anyone else tried it?

Whoops. Just seen that the capture idea has been used by others, in a more advanced form. Sorry, should have done a forum search first.

I agree Derfel. If he has no cards in hand then he cannot draw a card. The "if able" clause is the clincher.

Per the rules, you do not retrieve your discarded house cards after playing your 7th until the end of combat. You can't play "another" card from your hand, if your hand contains no other cards.

Does this include the Stark House card " Roose "???

roose bolton card is clear:

If you lose this combat, return your
entire House card discard pile into
your hand (including this card)

NOTE: this card is usually used on the 2nd or 3rd attack to cycle back in the 3 and 4 cards into your house hand. Using it as the last card in your hand would be a SERIOUS tactical error.

As for the Aeron Damphair card:

You may immediately discard two of
your available Power tokens to discard
Aeron Damphair and choose a
different House Card from your hand
(if able).

NOTE: this card is usually used on the attack (usually mid to late game) against your enemy's depleted house deck so you may use what minimal card is needed to beat them. Using it as the last card in your hand would be a SERIOUS tactical error.