Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne from Fantasy Flight Games is a fun and competitive tabletop game experience. 3-5 players take on the role of one of the great houses of Westeros. Players each have an influence board (that fits together with other houses' in the center of the table), house leader cards, character markers, and 25 house cards. On a player's turn he draws an encounter card which tells him which house we will have an encounter with. The challenger (this player) and the defender (who is being encountered) choose which of their characters they want to add to the encounter. Each character starts the game with four crowns, indicating their power. Next, every other player can support one of the two active players, lending the strength of one of their characters, or can remain neutral. Finally, the two active players play house cards which can either add strength to their total power, declare a truce, or offer unique text that affects play. Players receive different rewards or punishments for winning or loses and encounter, and if both parties agree to a truce (and don't backstab each other), they can reach an accommodation. By winning an encounter, a player may move one of his influence tokens off of his board and onto the board of a loser. The first player to move all five of his influence markers off of his board wins. If more than one player achieves this at the same time, there are multiple winners. Game of Thrones: Iron Throne is based upon Fantasy Flight Games' Cosmic Encounters, and the two games are very similar. With several expansions, Cosmic Encounter has more variety, but the Game of Thrones theme (which features photos from the TV show, rather than artwork) will draw many people toward this version. The game is intense, as players frequently make and break alliance every turn. Players can also take hostages from other players (their house cards), and use them as leverage. Players' characters can die if they lose all of their power, forcing players to be cautious with their resources, yet willing to risk all for the chance to win an encounter. I love negotiation games and this is a game where you are constantly negotiating. Every turn you're looking to make a deal. The unique text for leaders and character cards also provides a fun, unique asymmetrical game every time you play. This is another truly great game from Fantasy Flight Games, and I think at the end of the day I like it better than Cosmic Encounter. The only problem I had is that sometime timing issues came up that were not easily resolved, even though the rulebook gives what appear to be clear instructions on the matter. I really enjoyed this game overall. Weiterlesen