Wolf and Lion

“A Lannister always pays his debts.”    
   –Tyrion Lannister

From the scheming south and the savage eastern lands, to the frozen north and the ancient Wall that protects the realm from the darkness beyond, two powerful families are engaged in a deadly cat-and-mouse game for control of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. As betrayal, lust, intrigue, and supernatural forces shake the four corners of the Kingdoms, their bloody struggle for the Iron Throne will have unforeseen and far-reaching consequences.

Game of Thrones: The Card Game lets two players choose their House and experience their own battles between House Stark and House Lannister.

The Lannisters are the wealthiest family in Westeros, and they make good use of their coin by recruiting mercenaries to their service and ensuring they have eyes and ears following their enemies’ movements, wherever they should go. Cersei Lannister is Queen of the realm, married to King Robert Baratheon. Her twin brother, Ser Jaime Lannister, known as the “Kingslayer,” is infamous for murdering the Mad King Aerys Targaryen, whom he was sworn to protect. The Lannister sigil is a golden lion upon a crimson field, and their words are Hear Me Roar!

The greatest House in the North, House Stark is led by Eddard Stark, who helped his friend, Robert Baratheon, overthrow Aerys Targaryen and seize the Iron Throne. The challenges of holding the North have made the Starks a strict and dutiful people. They are skilled with their swords and well-versed in military tactics, but they are less comfortable finding their ways through the intrigues and subtleties of King’s Landing, where Eddard serves as the Hand of the King at King Robert’s request.

Game of Thrones follows these two families and their lords, ladies, knights, renegades, liars, and thieves throughout the twists and turns of their deadly game for power. Two fixed decks of fifty cards each, one for House Stark and one for House Lannister, allow players to command the show’s most recognizable characters and locations, including Eddard Stark, Cersei Lannister, Robert Baratheon, Littlefinger, and Jon Snow.

Intrigue and Warfare

“Winter is coming.”    
   –Eddard Stark

In this tense struggle for power, each player attempts to outmaneuver his foe on the battlefield, at court, and with the people of Westeros, positioning his House to claim the Iron Throne (a feat represented by the acquisition of fifteen power tokens). Over the course of a game, players use their plot cards, which represent their Houses’ various schemes and pursuits, to gain various advantages. Then, they marshal their forces. By playing characters, locations, and attachments, a player can put himself in a better position to engage his opponent in the game’s three types of challenges:

• Military: These challenges represent the fierce battles taking place across the war-torn realm. Unless he wins the challenge, the defending player must choose and kill a number of his characters in play equal to the claim value on the attacking player’s revealed plot.
• Intrigue: These challenges evoke the subtle and secretive betrayals rampant at court. Unless he wins the challenge, the defending player must randomly discard a number of cards from his hand equal to the claim value on the attacking player’s revealed plot.
• Power: Finally, these challenges represent the overt political maneuvering and dealmaking that can so often lead to influence. Unless he wins the challenge, the defending player must move a number of power counters from his House banner to the attacking player’s House banner equal to the claim value on the attacking player’s revealed plot.

Some of the game’s characters also feature keywords that allow them to change the ways that challenges are contested.

• Renown: If a player wins a challenge, each of his participating characters with the Renown keyword gains one power from the power bank after the challenge resolves.
• Stealth: When a player declares attackers in a challenge, for each of his attacking characters with the Stealth keyword he may choose one of his opponent’s characters without Stealth. Any characters chosen this way cannot be declared as defenders during the challenge.

As players win challenges, they claim power for their House. The first player to gain fifteen power wins the game!

The Plot Draft

As players learn how to navigate their way through the challenges of Game of Thrones, they’ll want to look for ways to surprise their opponents… and to outmaneuver their rivals’ intended surprises.

In addition to the two fifty-card decks for House Lannister and House Stark, Game of Thrones includes thirty-two plot cards. Fourteen of these are marked for introductory use, as players contest their first games. However, once players have learned how to anticipate their enemy’s movements, they may wish to draft plots from the remaining eighteen plot cards.

The plot draft ensures that Game of Thrones remains a fresh and deeply strategic game long after players have familiarized themselves with the characters, locations, and events in each of the two decks. Not only does the plot draft allow players to craft their own strategies from the available schemes and intrigues, but it guarantees that no player can ever be certain of what plot his opponent may choose to reveal.

You can anticipate your opponent’s plot, but you can’t know what’s coming. Intrigues, secrets, and deception are at the heart of HBO’s Game of Thrones, and the plot draft ensures they’ll long remain at the heart of Game of Thrones: The Card Game.

Ongoing Adventures in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros

“Honor? I've got Seven Kingdoms to rule! One king, Seven Kingdoms! Do you think honor keeps them in line? Do you think it's honor that's keeping the peace? It's fear! Fear and blood!”    
   –King Robert Baratheon

The rich strategies, straightforward mechanics, and iconic characters of Game of Thrones are designed to present players with hours and days of thoughtful entertainment. Still, for those called to explore the world of Westeros more deeply, Game of Thrones may serve as an excellent introduction to the expanded challenges of the full Seven Kingdoms in the A Game of Thrones Living Card Game® (LCG).

With its deep, expanding card pool, A Game of Thrones: The Card Game allows players to reenact the struggles between eight of their favorite factions: Baratheon, Greyjoy, Lannister, Martell, Stark, Targaryen, Tyrell, and the Night's Watch.

Though the fundamental mechanics of both Game of Thrones: The Card Game and A Game of Thrones: The Card Game are identical, the two games are not compatible, nor are Game of Thrones: The Card Game cards legal for LCG tournament play. The two-player Game of Thrones features photographs and artwork from the television series. Its simplified, streamlined rules and fixed decks are meant to help players dive into new intrigues and battles as quickly as possible and make it an ideal, accessible game for fans of the HBO series.

In the A Game of Thrones LCG, players construct their own decks and vie for the Iron Throne in a world of even more deception, intrigue, and infamy. Additional keywords, mechanics, and hundreds of new characters permit players unprecedented freedom to imagine their own bids for the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

Muster Your Armies

“If you lose, your father dies, your sisters die, we die.”    
   –Catelyn Stark

In Game of Thrones: The Card Game, two of the Great Houses of Westeros plot, conspire, and battle for control of the Seven Kingdoms. Memorable heroes and villains may become living legends, while others meet terrible, untimely ends.

Gather your wits and muster your armies, for when you play the game of thrones, you win, or you die; there is no middle ground.