Clash of Kings Rules
Clash of Kings Rules
Clash of Kings Rules
It is with no small delight that I am able to present the CLASH OF KINGS expansion for the A GAME OF THRONES board game. The creation of the A GAME OF THRONES board game itself was a lengthy process that started in the early fall of 2002 and continued to the late spring of 2003. The design that you have gotten to know draws its inspiration from both a love of George R.R. Martin's wonderful books and from a deep love of the classic intrigue/diplomacy games of my gaming past. An obvious inspiration for the game design is the classic DIPLOMACY (a game that both George and I admire greatly), and a much less obvious inspiration is that of the brilliant EL GRANDE by Wolfgang Kramer. I have also heard that A GAME OF THRONES has passing similarities to the old game KINGMAKER, which I have never played (but I know that it certainly shares a theme with A GAME OF THRONES). The initial key concepts of the simultaneous order system and the structure of the Westeros Phase were designed during countless hours of brainstorming and scribbling on notepads at weekend visits to coffee shops. The supply system and the key idea of the central Influence Tracks came to me after the first testing sessions at the FFG offices. The first incarnation of the A GAME OF THRONES board game featured a dice-heavy battle system, which was scrapped for the very deterministic and structured system that the game has today. In the end I think that we ended up with a really solid, elegant, and quite clever system. It is also worth noting that A GAME OF THRONES would not have achieved the same success and critical praise if not for the stellar graphic design of FFG's Scott Nicely and input from the other excellent developers at FFG. In many ways, the A GAME OF THRONES board game was a "perfect storm" of game mechanics,
beautiful graphics, and a great setting. So why an expansion? Most filmmakers will tell you that "no film is ever really finished, just abandoned." Unlike my good friend Reiner Knizia, who can brilliantly design (and at a far faster rate than me) a principal game mechanic from the core and build up, I tend to design games from the "top down." This means that my initial prototype designs are often riddled with mechanics and complexities that are, one by one, shaved away and/or adapted until they form a simpler whole. Thus, the version of A GAME OF THRONES that you play is actually a far simplified and far different version than my original prototype. The success of the A GAME OF THRONES board game has given me the luxury to add some more elements to the game, making the game (in my opinion) deeper, richer, and more complex. The additional game options included in A CLASH OF KINGS are partially derived from my original design, partially born from new ideas, and partially in response to player suggestions. They are ideas nurtured from countless games and tempered by the reactions and observations of the marketplace. As you peruse the CLASH OF KINGS expansion, you will find it a potpourri of options, rather than an ambitious change to the core game state. These options reflect the ideas and issues I wanted to include in the game for reasons of both theme and actual play. As much as the original AGOT game remains my definitive vision of the core game, I love the concepts and details that this expansion will allow players to experience. In the end, I very much hope that the CLASH OF KINGS expansion will allow players to approach AGOT in a new, refreshing way and be enticed to stay under the exciting blue skies of Westeros for just a little while longer. Winter is Coming, Christian T. Petersen Designer, A GAME OF THRONES C.E.O. Fantasy Flight Games
Game Option 1) House Martell Game Option 2) The new House Cards Game Option 3) Fortifications Game Option 4) Siege Engines Game Option 5) The Ports of Westeros Game Option 6) The One-Time order tokens Game Option 7) Westeros Phase game variant Game Option 8) Battle variant Game Option 9) The revised three-player game
Also, at the back of this rules set, you will find a comprehensive list of the most frequently asked questions for the A GAME OF THRONES board game.
Components
Enclosed in this box you will find the following components:
7 House Martell House Cards 42 New House Cards 6 House Start Cards (for the six-player game) 15 House Martell Order tokens 20 House Martell Power tokens 3 House Martell Influence tokens 1 House Martell Supply token 4 Wooden House Martell Knight units 6 Wooden House Martell Ship units 10 Wooden House Martell Footman units 18 Wooden Siege Engine units (6 colors) 9 Wooden Fortification tokens (Grey) 30 One-Time order tokens 8 Port tokens 1 Influence Track board overlay (in two pieces) 1 Westeros board overlay (in two pieces)
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Before you play the game for the first time, carefully punch out the cardboard tokens from their frames so that they do not tear.
changes the political and military situation of the game, so be ready for a whole new A GAME OF THRONES experience!
In your CLASH OF KINGS expansion, you will find a complete new set of House Cards for the six great Houses. The card backs of these new House Cards are illustrated with the respective House shields as well as a crown. This differentiates them from the normal House Cards found in the basic game that featured only the single House Shield on the back. The new set of House Cards found in A CLASH OF KINGS completely replaces the House Cards provided in the original game and gives players seven entirely new cards for their House. These new cards have new text abilities and a higher variance in combat strength, giving the characters from A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE a more pronounced role in the game.
Enclosed in your A CLASH OF KINGS expansion you will find the components needed to use House Martell (orange pieces) to play a six-player game of A GAME OF THRONES.
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It is important that you do not mix the two card sets (the old and the new) and that all players play with the same type of House Cards (the two sets are not designed to intermix). Note that the CLASH OF KINGS expansion includes two sets of cards for House Martell. One set for playing against the original House Cards (without a crown printed on the back) and another set for this game variant (printed with the crown). The new House Cards are played exactly like the House Cards in the original game.
Attacking a Fortification
Enclosed in your CLASH OF KINGS expansion, you will find nine grey wooden Fortification pieces. Fortifications are used to strengthen key defensive areas when your forces may be weak or are allocated elsewhere.
Last turn, the Baratheon player built a Fortification in the area of Kings Landing. This turn the Baratheon player has again placed a Consolidate Power Order on Kings Landing (hoping to collect 3 power tokens during the Resolve Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase). The patience of the Lannister player has run out, however, and the Lannister player decides to March upon King's Landing with his army of 3 Knight units from Blackwater (using a +0 March Order).
Because of the Fortification in King's Landing, the basic attacking combat strength of the Lannister army is 3 (one for each Knight) and the basic defending combat strength for Baratheon is also 3 (one for each Footman and one for the Fortification token itself). Without the Fortification, the Lannister army would have been an overwhelming 6 strength against a defending Baratheon strength of 2.
Abandoning Fortifications
As soon as a player's last unit leaves the area (by either Marching out voluntarily or retreating), the Fortification is immediately removed. Thus it is not possible to take over an opponent's Fortification. Note that Fortifications are always lost when the last friendly unit leaves, even if the player has established control over the area with a Power token. Fortifications cannot be placed in a Sea area (you will remember that Sea areas cannot receive Consolidate Power tokens). Also, Fortifications may not be placed in a Port (see the optional rules for Ports later in this rules set).
Effects of a Fortification
An area containing a Fortification grants the defending player an automatic +1 to his total combat strength and reduces the combat strength of all Knight units attacking or supporting the attack by 1. Note that this penalty is applied to any Knights that are supporting the attack as well as the Knights that are actually marching into the fortified area. Also note that defending Knight units, or Knights supporting the defense, do not suffer this penalty. Page 4
There can only be nine Fortifications in play at any one time. If all Fortifications are in play, players cannot build additional Fortifications until one is removed from the board and becomes available once again. Since Consolidate Power Orders are resolved in the order of play, two players will never claim the last Fortification token simultaneously. An area can never contain more than one Fortification.
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- Ships in a Port area may receive Order tokens as normal (but note that a Defense Order given to a Port is useless, since Ports can never be attacked directly). Under certain conditions, Ships in a Port may receive the Consolidate Power order, see more details below. - Ports function as special areas between the Land and Sea area. Only the player controlling its land area may use the Port and is considered the Port owner. - A Port owner's ships may March from the Sea area into the Port, or may March from the Port into the Sea area. Note that enemy ships may never March into a Port owned by another player. - A Port may never contain more than three Ship units at one time. Ships in Port are still subject to normal supply rules. - When a Land area that contains a Port musters new units, the mustering player may place Ship units directly into the adjacent Sea area (using the normal rules of mustering) or the player may place a newly mustered Ship directly on that area's Port. Important note: Players are allowed to muster new Ship units into a Port, even if the Sea area is occupied by enemy Ships. - Ships in Port may Support a battle in the Sea area but may not support a battle in the Land area. - Ships in Port may Raid the Sea area, but not the Land area. - Enemy Ships in the Sea area may Raid any Support, Raid, or Consolidate Power orders in the Port as normal. - If a Port's land area is successfully invaded by another House, the conquering player may immediately replace the Ship units in the Port area with his own unused Ship units. That player must still stay within his supply limits, and if he cannot, he must remove the Ship units, one by one, until he is in compliance with his Supply limit. Such an invading player may choose not to take over the Ships in the Port and destroy them immediately after invading the Land area. If the player does decide to take the Ships, however, he may not choose to destroy them at a later time. - A One-Time order (see later) may never be placed in a Port area.
mal. This simulates trade with the free cities and the other exotic locations in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. - During the Westeros Phase, when a 'Game of Thrones' Westeros Card is resolved, players receive one Power token for every friendly Port containing at least on Ship unit, as long as the Port's Sea area does not contain enemy Ship units (in which case the player receives nothing). This also represents the wealth of trade, as mentioned in the point above.
Port token
Enclosed in your CLASH OF KINGS expansion, you will find eight circular tokens, each representing a Port in the land of Westeros. Each Port token belongs to a specific Land and Sea area. If a Land area meets multiple Sea areas, the Port token will denote exactly which Sea area it adjoins. Before beginning a game, place the eight Port tokens on the map, so that they partially overlap the Land area and the adjoining Sea area.
The square One-Time order tokens represent an exciting addition to the A GAME OF THRONES planning phase and add a new layer of strategy options to the Planning Phase.
As illustrated above, at the beginning of the game, the Sunspear Port is placed so that it partially overlaps the land area of Sunspear and the Summer Sea (note that this Port does not enter into the Sea of Dorne).
The Planning Phase: 1) Place One-Time orders 2) Place regular orders 3) Reveal all orders
During step one, in the order of play, each player may place one (and only one) One-Time order on the board. As with the normal orders, the One-Time order must be placed in an area containing at least one unit of a player's House. The One-Time order is placed face down and is revealed at the end of the Planning Phase along with the regular orders.
Using Ports
Ports represent a new special area governed by special rules. These are as follows: - Port areas may only be occupied by Ship units.
- During the Planning Phase, a player may place a Consolidate Power order on a Port that contains at least one ship. If, during the Resolve Consolidate Power Orders step of the Action Phase, there are no enemy ships in the Sea area, the player may execute the Consolidate Power order to claim a Power token as norPage 6
During Mustering, the Martell player uses the two Sunspear Stronghold mustering points to muster one Footman and one Ship unit which he places on the Port of Sunspear (the Ship unit could also have been placed directly into the Sea of Dorne, but not into the Tyrell-occupied East Summer Sea). During the Planning Phase, the Martell player gives the Fleet a Raid order, which he later executes during the Action Phase to cancel a Support order on the Tyrell fleet
Note: Since players only have access to a total of five One-Time order tokens, it is quite normal for a player to decide not to place a One-Time order during any given Planning Phase (either because he is saving the OneTime order for a later turn, or because he has used all of his One-Time orders). After all players, in the order of play, have had a chance to place a One-Time order, proceed to placing regular orders. Regular orders are placed in the usual fashion, with one important exception: Players are allowed to place a regular order in the same area as they have placed a One-Time order token. In this way, it is possible for one area to have two orders: A single One-Time order, plus a single regular order.
Example: During the One-Time Orders Segment of the Planning Phase, the Stark Player places a Recruit order on Winterfell. Later (as Winterfell was neither invaded or Raided), the Stark player resolves his Recruit order. Winterfell is a Stronghold and provides two Mustering points, so the Stark player upgrades an existing Footman to a Knight (for one mustering point), and adds an additional Footman to the area (spending the second mustering point). Note that a Recruit order placed in an area without a City or Stronghold has no effect when resolved.
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Forced March order to bring together a substantial force, and later use a regular March order (assuming that one was placed in the same area during the Planning Phase) to move the gathered force into battle.
two adjacent orders (including Defense Orders and March orders, but not other One-Time orders). Note that The Iron Fleet, like a regular Raid order, is vulnerable to cancellation by a Raid resolved earlier in the order of play. (This goes for all One-Time orders affiliated with the Raid icon).
The Young Wolf, the Stark player cannot move any units into an area containing enemy units). Note that since The Young Wolf order is executed before the regular March Orders, it can be used effectively as a surprise advance (particularly in combination with other regular March orders) or as a quick reinforcement move to a vulnerable area.
it in the newly created position immediately above each deck. In this way, during each Westeros Phase, the top card of each deck column is resolved, and the other six cards are pushed a turn closer to resolution (and a new card appears). This unique mechanic grants players the foreknowledge (except for when "Winter is Coming" is resolved) of what will happen during the Westeros Phase in the three upcoming turns. This option can dramatically change the way the game is played, as the need for strategic flexibility can be replaced with focused certainty. The "Winter is Coming" Westeros Card provides the only element of uncertainty in this variant. Resolve this card as you would in the regular game by placing the card back in its respective deck, shuffling the deck, and drawing a new Card which is immediately resolved as if it were the top-most card of the column. See the detailed example on the next page.
When playing a 5-player game, if you feel that Lannister's starting position is too weak, then we recommend the following minor change to the game setup: In the 5-player game, switch the starting "Tyrell" and "Greyjoy" position on the "King's Court" track (thus leaving Greyjoy in the 5th position and Tyrell in the 4th position).
1) It is the first Westeros Phase of the game, and the players are using the A CLASH OF KINGS Westeros Phase variant. The three cards to be resolved this turn (the top cards of the three columns) are "Mustering," "Clash of Kings," and "Winter is Coming." The Mustering card and the "Clash of Kings" card are resolved normally, and then placed on the bottom of their respective decks. "Winter is Coming" in column III is resolved by placing "Winter is Coming" back on the bottom in deck III, shuffling the deck , and then drawing (and resolving) the top card immediately. The new card drawn is the "Last Days of Summer" forcing the players to advance the Wildling Threat counter. Then the Last Days of Summer" is placed at the bottom of deck II (because that card in itself does nothing).
2) After the three top cards have been resolved, the remaining six cards are moved up (so that the new top cards for next turn are Last Days of Summer (I), A Game of Thrones (II), and Storm of Swords (III). After the cards have been moved, the three top cards are drawn from each deck and placed in the newly vacated position above each respective deck. After this, the Westeros Phase is over and play proceeds to the Planning Phase. Note that when using the Westeros Phase variant, players will be able to see the upcoming Westeros cards for the next three turns.
Supply
Q: What are the starting "Supply" levels for each player? A: Each player has a starting Supply equal to the barrels in the territory they control at the start of the game. That is, 1 each for Stark and Baratheon, 2 each for Lannister and Greyjoy, and 3 for Tyrell. Q: Can I make a march that violates my Supply limits in order to voluntarily remove some of my units on the board? A: No. You can never voluntarily violate your Supply limits when moving units.
Wildling Assault
Q: When a Wildling Attack has been lost, if you surrender a unit, leaving a region vacant, can you place a power token in the region to retain control of the region? A: No. You are only allowed to establish control of a region by placing a power token when your units are leaving the region. Being killed by the Wildlings is not "leaving." Q: When you lose a battle to the Wildlings, can you downgrade knights to footmen to pay for the muster points instead of removing units? A: No. You can only remove units to pay for Wildling losses.
When using this option, before starting a three-player game, simply place the map overlay on top of the game board, completely covering the Areas of Influence with the new information. This simple variant changes the availability of Special orders, and makes a good position on the Kings Court track more important.
Placing Orders
Q: Do you have to place an order in each of your areas with units in them if you can? A: No. You do not have to give an order to each area you have units in. However, units in an area with no order
to see an opponent's hand and discard pile unless they are currently in a battle and have already chosen a House Card. Q: Are Melisandre and Maester Luwin's special abilities meant to be done secretly between the involved players or should everyone know exactly which House Cards are involved? A: The effects of these cards are public knowledge. Q. If Tyrell attacks a region containing a single defending Footman, and, for his House Card, he selects Ser Loras Tyrell ("Immediately kill one of your opponent's attacking or defending Footmen units"), is that an automatic victory, or do the defense and support values still count? A: Although not specifically stated in the rulebook, whenever the last unit on one side of a battle is eliminated through a special ability, the battle immediately ends in victory for the side that still has units. The House Cards' strength is disregarded, and the House Cards are still considered used. Q: When playing Melisandre, if my opponent has just used his last card on the battle, can I discard any one of his cards, or is her ability wasted? A: Because used House Cards are not picked back up until after all effects of the battle have resolved, her ability is wasted. Q: When using Salladhar Saan (Ships provide no combat strength while supporting), and a Special Order Support +1 is played in an area with one Ship, how much combat strength is provided from that area? A: 1. Only the 1 from the Support +1 order actually counts. The ship technically has a 0 combat strength while supporting in this battle.
Removing Units
Q: Can you voluntarily remove one of your units from play? A: No.
Turn Order
Q: What order are units mustered in and casualties from Wildling attacks removed in? A: Normal turn order, as dictated by the Iron Throne track. Game Design A GAME OF THRONES Board Game: Christian T. Petersen Game Design A CLASH OF KING'S expansion: Christian T. Petersen Additional Development and Playtesting: Kevin Wilson, Darrell Hardy, Carl Hotchkiss, Eric Lang, John Goodenough, Scott Nicely, Eric ('Mace') Tyrell, Greg Benage, Patrick Harrigan. Cover Illustration: Thomas Denmark Other Illustration and Artwork: Bob Stevlic, Anders Finer, Roman V. Papsuev, Timothy Truman, Jim Pavelec, Sedone Thongvilay, Franz Vohwinkel, Mark Evans, Thomas Gianni, Chris Dien, Kory Heinzen John Matson, Martina Pilcerova, Jean Tay Icons and Graphic Design: Scott Nicely Rules: Christian T. Petersen Editing: Greg Benage Publisher: Christian T. Petersen Production Administration: Darrell Hardy Special Thanks to George RR Martin for his trust in the Fantasy Flight development team.
Executing Marches
Q: Do I have to move units out of an area that I've placed a march order in? A: No, you may remove the March order for your turn and state that you are not moving your units.
Rivers
Q. There are several land spaces that are divided by major rivers which are impassable to marching units. Does this apply to raiding and supporting units as well? A: Correct. You cannot move, raid, or support across a river (unless it's across a bridge).
House Cards
Q: When participating in a battle, do I have to play a House Card? A: Yes. However, note that House Cards are not played against neutral armies. Q: Are used House Cards public information? Can you look in your opponents' discard piles to see what House Cards they've played? A: House Cards are public knowledge, and you may ask
Immediately remove any two adjacent orders (except for other One-Time orders).
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