Naturelich Games

Mid-game position

Shelak and Raven stayed over the weekend and we were (finally) able to give a Christmas present a try: Der Eiserne Thron (A Game of Thrones), designed by Christian T. Peterson. The board game is based on the novel by George R. R. Martin. In Germany, the game is published by Fantasy Flight Games. The game is set in the lands of Westeros where different factions are vying for control of the Iron Throne.
In principal, it is a wargame with elements of resource control as well as negotiation and diplomacy. The game board depicts a map of Westeros which has a striking similarity to England. We wondered how this game was received in Scotland: one game element is the "wildlings" from the North who wreak havoc in the southern (more civilized) territories from time to time.

Shelak played the Baratheons who occupy the Iron Throne when the game starts. Raven played the Lannisters and Naturelich got to play the Starks. The Starks are located in the North. I can tell you: they are wild, but not as wild as the wildlings. Shelak studied the rules and that took quite a bit - A Game of Thrones is certainly not a light game. After one game I would give it at least a medium-heavy rating. As it qualifies as a hybrid between wargames and euro-games we had to understand both the empire building rules (=resource management) as well as the combat rules. Once the introductory hurdle was taken it took another 2.5 entertaining hours to finish the game. A Game of Thrones has only little thinking downtime. Each player plans in parallel and assigns tasks to their troops. Once everyone is done, the orders are resolved in a particular order. The game mechanics are very logic and atmospheric, so this game could be a potential keeper for me.

Shelak started with a very clever first move which gave him a large area of control in the southern part of the map. While I was doing pretty good in the North, Raven stayed a little bit behind. She was improving her position and was starting to retaliate quite extensively, but Shelak had already occupied eight castles. It might have been interesting to see a couple of more rounds. Probably, this game will also play well with four or five players, but it will certainly lengthen it a little bit.

The final position: Shelak wins, controlling 8 castles