Games Of Thrones

Here is a Koffee Klub report from a few weeks back. We continue to grow in popularity due to the smooth roast blend of relaxed atmosphere and friendly competitiveness, if not in fact for the quality of the coffee on offer. The high standard of the boardgames we have been playing recently has swelled our numbers so much so that we are going to have to branch out a couple more tables.

Last night was no exception as I rolled out the much anticipated Game of Thrones board game (Second edition). This was a timely selection given that the second series of the HBO adaptation of George RR Martin's fantasy epic starts tonight on Sky Atlantic. Having played the original board game and remembering it fondly I immediately snapped up the new edition also by Fantasy Flight games. I hoped that it would serve as a taster for the new series of the TV show, and boy was I right.

We selected the houses randomly with Andy (R1Pped) selecting House Baratheon, Dave (BloddshotDAVE) House Martell, Dale (corpze) House Tyrell, John (johnkell) House Greyjoy, and most fitting I thought given our traditional sparring Gary (twyearling) House Lannister and myself House Stark. The game started slowly with a few scuffles between Baratheon and Tyrell and Martell with Tyrell coming out the early forerunner eventually siezing both the Iron crown and King's Landing. Greyjoy and Stark had somewhat of a bash bosh at this point but in the end this amounted to nothing more than handbag slinging. The real victor of the mid game was Lannister who made solid territorial gains against Tyrell and after Baratheon rebuffed and counterattacked a Tyrell castle assault that would have fairly much wrapped up the game for the Flower-Girls, it was Lannister who suddenly looked the most likely House to win. In the end it was House Stark through sneaky use of my ships to transport my troops into key positions and then a cruel un-Stark-like betrayal of House Baratheon to sieze the final castle to win the game.

The Game of Thrones was a great, fun game to play. More than that it is a game that plays very true to the feel of the stories from which it has sprung. I think everyone enjoyed the game and certainly there was a lot of enthusiasm for a replay. Bring it!