Game of Thrones (Season 5)

Zach Goodier

We recently finished up another season of our favorite form of self-abuse: Game of Thrones. Some things happened, some character stories advanced forward, and lots of the bittersweet twists/death that we’ve come to expect. We also saw the show deviate even further from the source material, and by the end, many stories have gotten ahead. So did this season deliver, or is it a rare miss for the series? Some SPOILERS to follow, so skip to the last paragraph if you just want the summary.

The season opens with a neat flashback to Cersei's meeting with the Woods Witch.

Well, let’s start off with the new material. This season introduced us to Dorne, a region where violence and blood are as common as the sandy wastes it sits on. We meet the Sand Snakes, the illegitimate children of one of last year’s unfortunate losses, Prince Oberyn. Along with their mother, who was another of last year’s new additions, they want revenge for his death. Towards this end, they send a threat to the Lannisters, who are still reeling from the loss of Tywin. Jaime decides to go on a rescue mission to save princess Myrcella, who was sent to Dorne by Tyrion in the second season to improve relations with Dorne. With the threat of the Sand Snakes, and the hatred of Lannisters growing more and more, Jaime recruits Bronn in order to discretely sail south to save her. Jaime and Bronn make a great combo, and while some might not think of the Sand Snakes as a worthy addition, they have some good moments this season.

The Sand Snakes might not deliver too much this season, but events make me believe they'll be important down the road.

Cersei is struggling in King’s Landing as, with perceived rivals all around her, her paranoia kicks into high gear as she fears a prophecy made that predicts her family’s demise and her downfall at the hand of a woman younger and more beautiful than her. She sees Margery as this person, and tries to change her destiny by instating a new High Septon, Sparrow, who will not be bribed or corrupted, and Cersei tries to use him to get rid of the new Queen. Cersei’s plan succeeds, but all the while Sparrow has known of Cersei’s sins, and soon arrests her as well, leading to a satisfying fall for Cersei. 

These two work well together, too bad they don't stay together.

Meanwhile, Arya arrives in Bravos, and seeks out the House of Black and White to be trained to be a faceless man for the Many-Faced God. Her story takes a lot of twists and turns that follow the books in many places, and deviate in some others. Arya’s story feels very challenging and personal, and you finally feel like she’s developing on her own as a character.

As soon as I saw this I stopped breathing for the next 15 minutes.

Sansa’s story picks up as she is taken to the North, where she is married off to Ramsay Bolton in order to secure Bolton rule over the North, while Littlefinger wants to use Sansa as a means of garnering supporters. However, Sansa is soon in for far more than she bargained for, as Ramsay’s sadism soon reveals itself on their wedding night, and she sees a familiar face in “Reek,” who she remembers betrayed her brother, Robb. This is a great change from the books, as it kept things feeling fresh, and allowed both Sansa and Theon’s storylines to pick up quite a bit.

A meeting that might really change the world.

Dany is still struggling to rule Mareen, where things become more and more difficult as the city sits on the verge of rebellion. She is forced to bear the brunt of a world that is not so easily changed as she had once thought, and watching her idealism clash with reality is a conflict that carries over from last season, but still feels very relevant and interesting to watch. She eventually runs into Tyrion, who meets up with Jorah, who bring Tyrion back to try to win back Dany’s favor. The meeting between these two isn’t until later in the season, but it really allows these two characters to have a conversation that really brings to light the core of Dany’s real conflict throughout the series, which I just mentioned.

None of this kid in season 5, but there's enough other stuff going on to keep everyone busy.

On the wall, Jon Snow is struggling to be the new Lord Commander, and finds that, like Dany, his idealism meets with harsh reality, as he struggles to find a way to save the Wildlings so that they don’t become more meat for the armies of the White Walkers. Like last season, Jon’s story gets probably the best action sequence in the series, when he runs into trouble up at Hardhome in the late season. There, as he struggles to negotiate with the Wildlings, the White Walkers attack. The entire sequence came out amazing, and reminded us that winter is truly coming, and with it will likely come a threat that may very well be the end of all civilization in Westeros. Unfortunately, not all of the Night’s Watch sees the true threat, and the closing scene of the season shows Jon being betrayed by his “brothers” as they take turns stabbing him (F#$# Olly, by the way).

Looks like winter is coming in force now.

Overall, this season seemed to start out fairly slow, and verged on disappointing for the first few episodes; however, it really started to pick up around halfway through, with some of the best action sequences and character drama we’ve seen the entire series. The plot deviations might upset the book purists, but I liked that, having read the books, I really didn’t know anymore than those who hadn’t, since a lot of details in these storylines have been altered to keep things fresh. However, the lack of storylines like White Harbor or the Iron Islands are a major loss to the Stark and Greyjoy fans. This season really delivered in the twist department, with a brutal finale that still has people talking up a storm with speculation. This season also gave us a powerful reminder of who the real enemy is, and that winter is almost upon us.

Good:

- Storylines all feel like they moved ahead to new milestones and chapters.

- Hardhome gave us the best action sequence of the series, in my opinion.

- Deviations from the source material keep things fresh for everyone.

Bad:

- Bit of a sluggish start to the season.

- No White Harbor or Iron Islands stuff from the books for Stark and/or Greyjoy lovers.

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10

A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (2nd Edition)

Zach Goodier

This board game sets 3-6 players in the world of Westeros, playing as the major houses competing for control of the 7 kingdoms.  Favorites, such as houses Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, and Tyrell, all appear (except for house Targaryen, since they don’t reside on the same continent at this point) in this faithfully adapted strategy game.  Houses all compete for influence, which they can acquire by consolidating the regions they control.  This influence can then be spent to help the Night's Watch, or to bid to become the dominant house in King's Landing.  However, houses must also keep up with armies, and the supplies needed to maintain them.  The game only lasts 8 rounds, as players struggle over control over the various castles and strongholds, as well as bid on various influence tracts to gain slight advantages in various categories, all to hopefully take control of the Iron Throne.

Here's the full setup, if you've never played, then I'm sure you're probably reeling at the complexity of it all.  However, if you're fan of the franchise, and don't mind a learning curve, then the rewards are well worth the effort.

Right from the start, this game is intimidating.  It’s complex, and requires an extensive learning curve to figure out.  Fortunately, some of the mechanics are optional, making the game somewhat easier to pick up, but it’s still a toughie.  However, I must say that what you get after that steep and head-crushing (Season 4 pun intended) learning curve, is a game that allows players to truly feel like the lords of Westeros.

As you can see, the board can get very busy, which is part of the inherent difficulty in picking this game up and getting it all down.  It will likely take a couple game before it all makes sense.  Reading the manual is like reading a GRRM book in itself, by board game standards.

Each house really feels authentic, with Houses like Stark starting out with larger territories and better positioning, but with fewer supplies, which limits the size of your armies, while houses like Lannister have no problem keeping ample supply lines to marshal larger armies to dominate the continent, but contend with potential enemies on many fronts.  Navies are also important, and houses like Greyjoy start out with plenty of ships to move troops around the western coast at their leisure, giving them more troop mobility than other houses, but their low supplies and little control on the mainland mean they have to fight hard just to expand their initial foothold.

Influence tracts (above) allow houses to bid, and by leading in influence, you can move before other players, decide ties, and use special orders that grant bonuses to whoever receives them.

Battles are relatively simple, with units each having assigned battle strengths.  Infantry have 1, cavalry 2, and siege engine are 4 when attacking a region with a castle or stronghold, otherwise they only count as 1.  You can include the Tides of War cards, which we didn’t do, that can really affect how battles play out, allowing for smaller armies to potentially devastate larger ones.  You can only muster new forces when an event card prompts it, and supply counters are only adjusted when a resupply event is drawn at the start of the turn.  This all means that players can never be certain when or if they will be able to gain new troops, and the supply track may not change for a while, whether you gained or lost resources.  This can all be a 2-edged sword, with some houses eagerly awaiting fresh troops while others are thanking the Old Gods and the New that their enemies aren't getting the fresh troops needed to push forward.  It's really all luck of the draw, but if you skillfully use your forces, you'll have a major edge by not depending on the luck of the draw to defeat your enemies.

Each house has a different color, but these are the shapes of units.  Siege engines, infantry, fleets, and cavalry.  I'm sure you can figure out which is which.

The biggest game changer for battles, however, is house cards.  Each house has its' own small deck of cards, which consist of prominent characters from the house, or who support it in some way.  House Stark has Ned, Cat, Robb, Greatjon Umber, and other important figures.  Baratheon has Mellisandre, Stannis, and others.  These cards can add combat strength when played, and can often use text abilities to manipulate the tides of battle by negating other abilities, or negating combat strength.  This is how battles can surprise players, and large forces may find themselves victims of smaller ones. 

The numbers at the top left indicate the combat strength the card adds to your forces when played.  Some of the House Cards have swords at the bottom, which mean that the card will result in however many casualties as there are swords, towers negate swords, and other cards have text abilities that can affect the battles in various ways.

The easiest way to win is to hold 7 castles or strongholds; otherwise, after 8 turns, you tally up the scores of supplies, armies, etc.  And the house with the highest score is deemed the winner.  Since there can only be one winner, houses that support the winner really don’t win at all, so if your partner wins, you don’t get a consolation prize.  “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die, there is no middle ground.”

At the bottom, from left to right, is the round tracker and Victory tracker, Supply tracker (as well as how many armies of what sizes your current supply level allows), and the influence tracker.  On the upper part of the track is the Wildling Tracker, and if it gets too high, it can cause troubles in Westeros, demanding all the houses shift their focus to quelling the threat.

Overall, this is a complex game of intrigue, strategy, and domination.  Houses may have different strengths, but all need to work on these elements to compete for the Iron Throne, and the experience is truly worthy of the name it bears.  However, the hefty learning curve can really set you back at the initial pickup, and the intricate nature of this game means that you really can’t enjoy this with most casual board gamers.  This is meant for die-hard fans of the franchise, people who can’t get enough of it, and want to take on the roles of their favorite houses (except for the Targaryens) and battle it out for the Iron Throne.  On that note, it's all worth it.  The game really makes you feel like a lord of Westeros, and the tense relationships with the other players can foster alliances or cause bitter rivalries.  And the limited number of turns means that you can never really settle down and be too patient, forcing players to resort to more assertive tactics to control the Iron Throne.  The game requires a certain balance between patience and assertiveness, challenging players to neither work too fast, nor too slow.  The right balance is impossible to know, because player skill is only part of this, with random events making the game unpredictable enough to the point where even the smartest, most cunning player isn't immune to major setbacks.  The game is far to complex to fully explain here, the only way to learn it is to pick it up and throw yourself into it, it all makes sense but takes a while to wrap your head around.

Good:

-Really captures the feel of each house, and makes the experience feel like a faithful adaptation.

-Plenty of depth in game-play to make replay value high.

-Chance to rewrite Westeros history.

-Brilliant artwork on all around.

Bad:

-Very large learning curve, making initial pickup very difficult.  Plus, there are a lot of pieces to keep track of, making setup and cleanup a somewhat lengthy process.

-No Targaryens.  It makes sense in terms of playing solely on Westeros, but a great number of fans will feel alienated without their favorite house.

Scully Rating: 9.2 out of 10