Overview

A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Second Edition) is a Living Card Game where players take control of Great Houses of Westeros, competing for power through military strength, intrigue, and political maneuvering. Players build decks around a chosen House, deploy characters, locations, and attachments, and compete in three types of challenges (Military, Intrigue, Power) to claim 15 power tokens and win the Iron Throne.

Components

• 4 pre-constructed House decks (Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen)
• Character, Location, Attachment, Event, and Plot cards
• Power tokens
• Gold tokens
• Reference cards

Setup

1. Each player selects a House and its deck (or builds a custom deck).
2. Each player places their faction card face-up.
3. Each player selects 7 plot cards to form their plot deck (face-down).
4. Each player shuffles their draw deck and draws 7 cards.
5. Each player may set up cards from hand with total printed cost of 8 or less.
6. Place power/gold tokens in the supply.

Turn Structure

Each game round consists of 7 phases:

1. Plot Phase

• Each player simultaneously selects and reveals 1 plot card from their plot deck.
• Compare initiative values; highest initiative is first player.
• Collect gold equal to plot card’s gold value (modified by locations/abilities).
• Resolve “When Revealed” effects.

2. Draw Phase

• Each player draws 2 cards from their draw deck.

3. Marshalling Phase

• Starting with first player, players alternate playing cards from hand by paying gold costs.
• Characters, locations, and attachments enter play.
• Limited cards (one per round).

4. Challenges Phase

• Starting with first player, each player may initiate up to 3 challenges (1 of each type):
  • Military: Win to choose and kill defending player’s characters (claim value).
  • Intrigue: Win to force defender to randomly discard cards from hand (claim value).
  • Power: Win to move power tokens from opponent to your faction card (claim value).
• Attacker kneels (exhausts) characters to attack; defender kneels characters to defend.
• Compare total strength; higher total wins.
• Unopposed challenges grant +1 power to attacker’s faction card.

5. Dominance Phase

• Each player counts total strength of standing (non-kneeling) characters plus unspent gold.
• Highest total gains 1 power on faction card.

6. Standing Phase

• All kneeling cards stand (ready).

7. Taxation Phase

• Return all unspent gold to the supply.

Actions

Challenge Type	Win Effect
Military (sword)	Kill defending characters equal to claim value
Intrigue (eye)	Defender discards random cards from hand equal to claim
Power (crown)	Move power tokens from defender to attacker equal to claim

Card Types

| Type | Description | |——|————-| | Character | Has STR; participates in challenges; has icons for challenge types | | Location | Provides ongoing abilities; does not participate in challenges | | Attachment | Modifies a character (equipment, conditions) | | Event | One-time effect played from hand | | Plot | Revealed each round; sets gold, initiative, claim, and reserve values |

Scoring / Victory Conditions

• Win condition: First player to accumulate 15 power tokens on their faction card wins.
• Power is gained through: winning Power challenges, unopposed challenges, Dominance phase, card abilities, Renown keyword.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Golden Rule: Card text overrides rulebook; Rules Reference overrides Learn to Play book.
• Keywords: Stealth (bypass defender), Insight (draw extra card), Intimidate (kneel after winning), Renown (gain power on winning character), Ambush (play from hand during challenges), Pillage (discard from opponent’s deck).
• Duplicates: Playing a duplicate of a unique card you control saves it from being killed (discard duplicate instead).
• Dead pile: Killed unique characters go to the dead pile and cannot re-enter play (unless specifically revived).
• Reserve value: Maximum hand size at end of round (discard excess in Taxation).
• Claim value: Determines how many characters die / cards discarded / power moved on a challenge win.
• Plot deck: Once all 7 plots are used, shuffle them to form a new plot deck.
• Melee (3-4 players): Title cards add diplomatic layers; players may support each other.

Player Reference

Phase Order	Phase
1	Plot (reveal, initiative, gold)
2	Draw (2 cards)
3	Marshalling (play cards)
4	Challenges (Military, Intrigue, Power)
5	Dominance (standing STR + gold)
6	Standing (ready all)
7	Taxation (return gold, check reserve)

Win Condition	15 Power
Challenge Types	Military, Intrigue, Power
Hand Size	7 starting, Reserve limits end-of-round
Setup Budget	8 gold worth of cards