“And now it begins,” said Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. He unsheathed Dawn and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milkglass, alive with light.

–George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

The world of Westeros is a land of knights and lords, noble Houses and lowly peasants, outlaws and courtiers, stretching from the icy wastes of the north to the sands of Dorne. All this realm is ruled from the Iron Throne in King’s Landing, currently occupied by Robert Baratheon, the First of His Name. Yet even the Iron Throne is not the supreme force in Westeros. Behind the throne, there swirls a maelstrom of intrigue and politics, secret assassinations and open battles, where the Great Houses have everything to gain and everything to lose. This is the game of thrones.

Now, you can enter the deadly game and the world of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire with the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, now available at your local United States retailer!

A Game of Thrones: The Card Game is a Living Card Game® of battle, intrigue, and trickery for two to four players. In every game, you take command of a key faction from A Song of Ice and Fire, controlling iconic characters like Eddard Stark, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and Robert Baratheon. Using these characters, you will attack your opponent on three fronts—on the field of battle, in back alley intrigues, and in the constant struggle for power over the Iron Throne. The first player to reach fifteen power tokens claims the Iron Throne and wins the game!

The Battle for the Realm

Before the game’s initial limited release at Gen Con Indy, we provided a series of in-depth previews that examined every aspect of the game. In our first preview, we explored the plot cards that provide the engine for every deck. For every deck, you will carefully choose seven plot cards to support your standard deck, which contains your faction’s characters, locations, attachments, and events.

At the beginning of each round, you must look through your available plot cards and choose the plot that best suits the current situation. These plots provide the gold to play your other cards, determine which player wins initiative, decide how powerful your challenges will be, and set how many cards you can carry over to the next round. In addition, every plot has a powerful ability that can change the face of the game. For instance, Wildfire Assault (Core Set, 26) forces both players to choose three of their characters. All characters not chosen are killed!

Our next preview looked at the heart of the game of thrones: the challenges phase. After you and your opponents have had the chance to marshal more cards, you attack each other using three types of challenges: military, intrigue, and power. Winning military challenges kills your opponent’s characters, victory in intrigue challenges discards random cards from your enemy’s hand, and winning a power challenge moves power tokens from your opponent’s faction card to your own.

Every character possesses a number of challenge icons that determine which challenges he can participate in, and a strength (STR) value that shows how powerful this character is. For instance, Eddard Stark (Core Set, 144) has a STR of five combined with military and power challenge icons. As the ruling lord of House Stark, Eddard commands significant military and political power. However, he’s woefully unprepared for the intrigues of court and so cannot participate in intrigue challenges. Despite Eddard’s greater strength, a lowly spy with an intrigue icon could slip right past him to enact foul intrigues and discard cards from the Stark player’s hand.

Countless Gameplay Options

Two distinct game types are included in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game—the carefully planned, two-player joust; and the frantic, back-and-forth, multiplayer melee. Our third preview explored the differences between your jousts and melees with a special focus on the title cards used in the melee game. During a melee, players take turns selecting these titles and taking their places on the king’s Small Council. Each title confers special abilities on its bearer, as well as predetermined alliances and oppositions that quickly turn any melee into a morass of deals, intrigues, and grudges!

You’ll find even more replayability in the eight factions featured in the game: House Stark, House Lannister, House Baratheon, House Targaryen, House Greyjoy, House Martell, House Tyrell, and the Night’s Watch. Each faction offers its own unique play style with powerful characters, locations, attachments, and events: for instance, House Greyjoy launches lightning-fast raids that slip past your opponent’s characters, while the Night’s Watch draws power from defending the Wall. House Martell prefers to play the long game and take revenge for past wrongs, while House Targaryen unleashes dragon fire on anyone who opposes their rule!

What’s more, you can combine two factions into one deck by using the banner agendas on the back of each faction card. You may support the claim of House Baratheon with Eddard and other members of House Stark, or House Tyrell may unite with the Targaryens to claim the Iron Throne.

Finally, we presented a video tutorial of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, which you can watch below or on YouTube!

The Throne Is Yours

In the world of Westeros, everyone plays the game of thrones, but the simple truth is that when you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. Will you lead your House to greatness and claim the Iron Throne? Or will your name fade into ignominy as another leader who reached too high?

Join the only game that matters when you pick up your copy of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game from your local U.S. retailer today!