"No Song of Ice and Fire?" Topic

Other than a few random pics posted by Tango, I don't see anything on these figures on TMP. I was looking at a lot of boxed sets at the local gaming store a few days ago. The price isn't hateful and, when you buy starter sets, the price drops to a more reasonable level. Everything appears to be in the 32 – 35mm range, so somewhat large figures that probably do not mix well with historical figure lines.

I have never read the books or watched any of the TV series, but the figures look pretty nice from what is on the box.

Does anyone play the game or have any of the figures? Thoughts?

79th, read the books. Very good, although I doubt Martin ever finishes them.

I think it's an excellent game, looks simple on the tabletop, and has simple mechanics, but there is a lot of tactical and strategic depth to it. I also really like the models, but they are out of scale for most other stuff as you note. I got into it in a big way – collected and painted 5 factions, but nobody plays locally where I live, on the shelf it sits.

One of the issues with it is that the rules and cards have been updated many times, but you can get electronic versions of all the information you need to update for free.

Check out some YouTube Battle Reports to get a taste for it.

One of my gaming buddies as several sets. We've played several games in just a couple of hours with two players per side. It is a simple game as DC stated but you really have to think about how you are going to play the various "special" characters.

Jim

Figures are really nice. I have a bunch. Price is right too.

It came and went in my local FLGS in a heartbeat…

Like you I hadn't read the books or watched any of the TV series but after getting the starter set I read all of the books.

The game is very good, the rank and flank part of the game is straightforward and plays well. The tactics card play part of the game adds a lot of flavour.

The tactical board where the Non Combat Unit characters do their stuff to influence the battle brings even more flavour.

There is a good review here link

No one is promoting anything. I am asking about a game and it's figures, which is kind of the point of TMP. As the Big Toe said, relax Francis.

I have seen it played some locally, though the games I saw were of unpainted figures. They are indeed lovely sculpts, if too large with either historical or GW figures, so kind of their own thing. They still keep them in stock on the shelves at Miniature Market retail locations here in St. Louis, so that likely suggests people are buying them (MM tends to rotate out stock that won't sell to just put online).

I saw one game at the store pre covid, and they were using unpainted figures as well. I really didn't get a good look at them, but they seemed nice. I was thinking they would make nice figures for Lion Rampant as well.

I would have purchased a bunch of the minis, if they were the right scale. I feel that the game really limited itself by using an odd scale that doesn't match with existing miniature lines.

I get it, but established historical gamers are not their target audience, the same as with GW and Warlord. They want new customers/gamers who want to buy their battles in a box. Their figures not matching your collection is not their problem, but I understand the frustration.

It is their problem to the extent that they have lost a potential customer for what seems like arbitrary reasons.

The mistake is in thinking that they are making a line of 28mm historical figures for the miniatures gaming market. The figures also do not match 6, 10, 15, 20, 40 or 54mm figures. They are making proprietary game pieces for a proprietary game. The two handfuls of 28mm medieval gamers in the world are not their audience. VW Bug parts don't fit my Chevy Impala. A new 10mm pistol is not compatible with my 9mm pistol. So what?

Anyway, we are straying far off topic.

I found a pretty good deal on a starter set, so I have one on order.

Maybe you can tried with those ones… not exactly the Ice and Fire … but maybe they can work…

modiphius.net

Also…

In 28mm Unreleased Miniatures concern the armies of Rohan and the White Tower…

link

Armand

My son and I play it. He has Baratheon and I have Nights Watch and the Free Folk. They watch the Dark Sword line.

What do you think of it?

It's a fun game. The minis are very nice. As mentioned, they do not match other brands (except for Dark Sword), but they have lots of fractions and lots of options within a fraction. The minis come with cards, but each year they get updated so most use the online app for card reference s during a game.

Thanks, Armand. Yes, I imagine they would work, but they are not what I am looking for.

At the Hamburg convention Tactica was a scenbario with the wall, using the ASOIAF:TMG figures.

My buddy painted up a couple Armies. He says the game is good but I don't think he finds many games.

They look great on the table in our Kings of War games though:
link

As for size, 30mm and up is pretty much the standard expectation in new popular fantasy and sci Fi games, especially those from major companies and from major IPs. As you can see in the battle report above, in their own army, they look fine facing off against more standard 28mm fantasy figures.

That said, seeing his figs does make me appreciate more that my Runewars figures are a more standard heroic 28mm. They fit more seamlessly with other fantasy figures than SOIAF figures do.

Thanks for posting. KoW was another set I was looking at. Yeah, I imagine this stuff is comparable to the popular sci-fi and fantasy stuff out there.

At least I tried my good friend… (smile)

Armand

You're very welcome 79thPA,
I really enjoy KOW. It's definitely a set that prioritizes ease of play over accuracy and granularity but that's exactly what I and most of the club members seem to want out of our big fantasy games rules.

I've played the game extensivly over the past 3 years and have painted Stark, Lannister and Dothraki armies so I will offer some thoughts

The game uses an alternating IGOUGU, there is no dicing for activation or random activation as with modern skirmish games on the market. To add some spice the game has a tactics board and players have field non combat units who job it is to take control of spaces on the board. The spaces confer abilities such as allowing a unit to move , or fight. These are in addition to the fact that the unit can activate and do those things for itself. This introduces an additional layer of decision making as you have to consider if you want to control the board or activate your unit, you may even anticipate your opponent's wishes and prevent him taking a space.

The game also has a deck of tactics cards which are dealt and allow you additional abilities or counters

All units have abilities to add a bit more interest so for example Unsullied Pike or Lannister Halbadiers may fight before their opponent when charged, or certain units may form a shieldwall and negate hits. While some of the abilities, such as the ones described above are easy to understand others are every abstracted. So for example Tywin Lannister is able to place condition tokens to weaken units and the tactics cards he brings into play allow you to use those tokens to do some hefty damage.

The mechanisms are pretty much roll to hit followed by roll to save, there are no long tables of modifiers.

The core rules are pretty straightforward however, the alternating activation and the tactics board introduce a lot of decision making. As the game is based on the novels- it introduces various characters from the books who have different play styles. Unlike Warhammer, the characters are essentially upgrades for a unit and a lot of the depth of the game lies in developing the synergies that characers, units and non combat unit create and the designers have tried to give each army a different character rather than being homogenised as happens with more generic games.

It should be noted that there are a lot of abilities to keep track off and this means that the game has a lot of decision making beyond, " do I charge" . This appeals to certain players more than others, as the depth of play and the range of customisation can be overwhelming. It is also true that the tactics desks are not created equal and that some of the factions NCUS are better than others. Some might find this all a case of overload, or feel frustrated that they are defeated by an opponent's ability to create a better army, likewise you may find that you struggle to remember all the unit abilities. The game is not really for casual play and takes a few plays to get to grips with it.

CMON have made the rules and unit cards available for free via App which seems an interesting choice given that the cards are tied in with the figure ranges. What is perhaps a little frustrating is that the cards are frequently tweaked by via App which can make keeping track of it confusing. Some units get worse while others seem to get better.

I would say that if you want an immersive game with depth and do not mind the added complexity . The game does require a lot of planning and cordination and, I suspect that the game may not appeal to those who prefer games such as Dragon Rampant or SAGA which do not have such a steep learning curve. That is not intended as a criticism of those games simply an observation

Sound quite interesting… thanks…

Armand

thx for review.

low opinion of the books, and rules sound like a headache.

I'll pass.

i like the system but i find the scale of the figures and trays too big

Its simpler than 40k but more involved than say Dragon Rampant or Oathmark . horses for courses

Those looks good…

cmon.com

Armand

The figures are great. The game-play so-so. It suffers from the same thing a lot of recent games do: Every unit has to have some unique special ability so that people will buy it. And as you get more and more units available they have to stretch harder and harder to find new special abilities for them. Some get kind of ridiculous and can even break the game.

Those could work as Savage from the North…

coolminiornot.com/465737

Armand

STARK OUTRIDERS AND BLACKFISH

coolminiornot.com/455537

Armand

STARK SET

coolminiornot.com/465842

Armand

Scotswashburn

As I said the added spice of the abilities will appeal to some more than others, I really enjoy the game and the challenge of creating armies so I do not feel that it is a so-so game but it really is a case of horses for courses. If the game is to complex than stick to something simpler like say Dragon Rampant

I ended up buying the Stark/Lannister starter set and the Lannister City Guard set. Beautiful figures, IMO. I am sure that I will buy some more support boxes. I'll probably never get around to painting these, so I anticipate using them as-is for Lion Rampant games with my son.

From what I have seen you don't have many units on the table so the unit special abilities doesn't become overwhelming and just adds a bit of character to the game rather than those vanilla games where every unit type is the same.
The tactics board and the way characters provide support is perhaps the hardest part of the game to learn, the tabletop combat mechanisms are very straightforward.

johnp

A typical game is about 4-6 units and I agree that the special abilities do stop the game being vanilla