The First Tilt - Making the Most of Marshalling

The First Tilt – Entry 3: Basic Strategies and Tactics, and How to make the most of your Marshaling Phase.


Welcome to “The First Tilt”, a blog dedicated to helping new players get their bearings in A Game of Thrones LCG. We’ll be covering a wide variety of topics, from what to buy, basic strategies and tactics, and getting acquainted with basic themes. So, by now you’ve probably played a few games and are beginning to get your bearings in A Game of Thrones; and you’re just now beginning to understand all the rules. That’s great. This week’s article is going to take things one step further and begin to discuss basic strategies and tactics for A Game of Thrones and then we’ll move on to get the most for your money in your Marshaling phase.

Let’s begin with basic strategies and tactics; and before we dive too deeply into this subject, let’s define “strategy” and “tactics” and how they are different. “Strategy” refers to your overall goal, your long term plan in a game. “Tactics” on the other hand refers to how you handle situations turn to turn. Now that you know the difference, let’s discuss them in depth and let’s start with Strategy.

One of the things I love the most about AGoT LCG is that it offers a wide variety of strategies for players to employ for the various houses. A majority of these strategies revolve around the use of traits. Traits are those words printed in italicized bold at the top of the text box on a card (i.e. Night’s Watchor Direwolf). Some of the best strategies revolve around traits and can benefit from just having a large number of cards with the same trait on the field. Trait strategies are some of the best strategies for new players, since it can help players easily identify the types of cards they need. For example, the Tully deck from the Lords of Winter expansion is a trait based strategy. Essentially, it boils down to getting as many Tullys on the field as possible. Many Tully cards boost the abilities of others, and the Riverrun location allows each House Tully character in play to claim 1 power each if you haven’t lost a challenge. I once claimed 18 Power in one turn during a Melee game by not initiating any challenges and having such a staunch defense that no one wanted to initiate any challenges against me in turn. I won the game by simply putting House Tully characters into play. That’s it. However, there are other strategies in A Game of Thrones: attachment control in Targaryen, gold manipulation in Lannister, choking and intimidation in Greyjoy just to name a few. Finally, the real key to a player’s strategy is Plot cards. Plot cards can affect your strategy in huge ways: gold availability, character bonuses, etc. When considering how your Plot cards effect your strategy, think about the following things: 1.) What are the gold and initiative benefits? 2.) How does the Plot card’s ability benefit me? 3.) How does the Plot card’s ability hinder my opponent? Ideally, a Plot card should always benefit you or hurt your opponent, while providing you with atleast a decent amount of gold or initiative each round. The sequence in which you play your Plot cards also has a huge effect on the outcome of the game. You do not want to play Valar Morghulis when it hurts you, but rather when it hurts your opponent the most. The Minstrel's Muse from DotN is an excellent "nail in the coffin" Plot card, but one that requires planning and forethought. Plan your Plot cards carefully.

Tactics, how you handle the situation turn to turn. Tactics are more difficult to manage successfully than Strategy. Strategies revolve around planning and preparedness, while Tactics have to roll with the punches. Tactics require far more risk and timing. But don’t be afraid, we’ll walk you through it. The most important thing to remember considering your deck’s tactics is timing: when you need to do something to benefit you. Timing is everything in tactics. Proper timing can keep your opponent completely off balance and allow you to maintain control of the game. For example, you have a card in your hand that will boost your character’s strength by 3 during a military challenge. If you play that card immediately and reveal to your opponent how much strength you actually have, then your opponent knows everything they need to know about how to beat you. But, if you attack first and see how your opponent defends against the challenge, then you have the advantage of surprise and control the situation. Your opponent might not defend the challenge at all, or only defend it with a weaker character to prevent you from winning the challenge unopposed. In that situation, you win. If your opponent defends it with just enough strength to defeat you, then you can play the card, surprise them and take control of the game. Traits also play a big part in tactics. Let’s use the example of the House Tully deck for Stark I used earlier. In my House Tully deck, I also use Robb Stark (LoW). The Lords of Winter version of Robb is great because during the challenges phase, you can choose a trait and every card you control with that trait gains +1 strength (+2 if it’s Winter, and I run Crown of Winter for that alone). In a tactical situation, blanket strength bonuses are great. Your opponent will know how much strength you’re showing on the field, but that can work to your advantage. On more than one occasion, I’ve convinced an opponent to defend my challenges lightly and not to attack me in turn because of blanket strength bonuses. The big thing to remember with tactics is control and timing. Act and force your opponent to react.

Finally, let’s discuss Marshaling effectively. Marshaling is the most important phase of the game for an obvious reason. But how do you Marshal effectively? Simple! First, when you are looking at what cards to play, look for cards that have abilities that occur during the Marshaling phase, especially ones that lower Gold costs. I turn into a real cheap skate when Marshaling, I want to get the most for my money and try to have some left over. The first cards I’ll play during my Marshaling phase are locations that lower the costs of cards. By lowering the costs of the subsequent cards I play, I can play more cards and even have some gold left over. Also, look for combos and other benefits when Marshaling, and don’t be afraid to hold on to a card if you don’t feel like it’s the right time to play it. Timing is everything when it comes to tactics, but the same can be true of Marshaling.

I think that’ll do it for this week. Next week, we’ll start discussing the themes and flavors of the various Houses of Westeros and finding out which House is for you!

Thanks for playing along,

Ben