Game of Thrones' next tabletop game is Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team in Westeros
A Song of Ice and Fire: Tactics will retell the Battle of the Trident and other momentous clashes.
If you’re itching for more time in Westeros but can’t stomach revisiting the Game of Thrones television show for multifarious reasons, perhaps this new miniature skirmish game that recaptures the glories and upsets of historic battles might offer a satisfying scratch?
A Song of Ice and Fire: Tactics is a new title from CMON, the heavyweight tabletop publisher behind Zombicide and Cthulhu: Death May Die. Ditching the plotline of the notorious HBO series for author George R. R. Martin’s still ongoing fantasy novels makes sense for this style of tabletop experience - you’re here for plastic dudes on horses crashing against each other, not so much Kit Harrington bravely muddling through another too-dark battle sequence.
All jokes aside, CMON has already established its bona fides merging Westeros with wargaming via the A Song of Ice and Fire Tabletop Miniatures Game. But where that title could support multiple players and massive, pitched battles, its Tactics sibling is built for two players and places more importance on individual units. For example, the former uses trays of units to construct battalions while the latter lets those miniatures roam the map and climb terrain to set up heroic last stands - or cunning flanks.
CMON will crowdfund ASOIAF: Tactics via a Gamefound campaign consisting of two different boxed kits. The first is a core introduction that puts one player in control of Prince Rhaegar Targaryan and his royal troops, while another pilots the rebellious Robert Baratheon and a coalition of kingdoms hoping to buck the yoke of the dragonlords - avid fans will know this conflict as the Battle of the Trident. The other is a crowdfunding exclusive that transforms Drogon into a deadly - and massive - piece of terrain.
Each warband will be composed of well-known characters from the Seven Kingdoms, such as Eddard Stark and Roose Bolton, Barristan Selmy and Jon Connington - each side is bolstered by wardens, knights, honour guards and shield bearers. Each player will pay coins to recruit a select force of units before constructing the map with tiles, terrain and tokens - all of which is included in the box.
All of the miniatures will arrive pre-assembled and unpainted, and the encounters are designed to both evoke conflicts from ASOIAF’s sprawling world while also allowing players to spin out their own “what if scenarios”. All of the miniatures will be the same scale and compatible with the ASOIAF Tabletop Miniatures Game, as the units’ cards display all of the relevant gameplay information.
Victory doesn’t just arrive by wiping out your opponents’ units. Each scenario will dole out shared objectives that both sides will struggle to achieve, but also hidden agendas that aren’t revealed until their owner ticks the requirements. These secret sources of victory points can tip the scales, but so can wisely spending your money. Abilities on cards can be quite costly, so balancing strong units with a fat purse for issuing orders is one of the strategic decisions players make when constructing their warband.
A Song Of Ice & Fire: Tactics’ Gamefound campaign will go live on February 8th at 3 p.m. EST and will have both the core box and the Drogon expansion on offer. No information on estimated shipping dates is available at this time. And if you - like me - are waiting for that next season of House of the Dragon, why not check out this list of more ASOIAF tabletop games?