General AGOT 2nd Ed Influence track re-balancing

Joined
May 18, 2020
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Norway
I really like what FFG did to the influence tracks in the expansion! In our games, Iron Throne has always been rather "meh" (it's a bonus if you can get it cheap, but rarely does it provide a bidding war). And if you got the 2nd position on the IT track, that was horrible. That usually meant you bid some tokens, and didn't even get the dominance token.

The blade is hit or miss, sometimes it can be vital, other times it will be as above, bonus if you get it cheap. Everyone saving most of their tokens to secure star orders..

However, in MoD:

Iron throne dominance token:

+ Chooses vassal first (or the only one with vassal in 7p). This can be vital, as you get to pick the vassal that fits properly for your campaign. This is also the reason why I think the game is NOT recommended with 8 players, as that removes the vassal system completely. With 7, Iron Throne holder can be the only one with a vassal. Big plus.
+ During CoK ties for King's Court, you can place vassals above players, negating star order tokens from your opponents. Previously, you still had to pick a player (A or B), but now you'll be able to pick a vassal (which cannot use star orders anyway), over players.
+ First to get a loan. The only one secured to get a loan that they want, if several players have the loan token during this turn.

Not just the dominance token has gotten more important, also the ORDER (and being higher up), matters more! Iron throne order:
+ Higher up = more likely to get a vassal/the one you want.
+ Higher up = more likely to get a loan/the one you want.

I'm loving this
external image


Blade dominance token:
+ Can choose the unit to be killed, when other players do not pay their interest to the Iron Bank! Great touch.

As for the star tracks.. Yes, we now have 3 houses without star orders, as opposed to 2 previously. That said, we got two more tokens to use!

From 2 -> 3 marches and 2 -> 3 support orders, for those without stars, is pretty big. I think they did this also to negate the effects of star orders, making it possible to do big plays/offensive maneuvers, even without star orders. The increase there is higher than those with stars getting from 3 -> 4.

TLDR: Better balance between the influence tracks. Blade slightly more important, iron throne token and its order significantly more important.
Star orders slightly less important as all houses got more marches and support tokens.
 
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