House Baratheon Faction focus for A Game of Thrones the Card Game Second Edition LCG

In this faction focus we look at House Baratheon.  We will be looking at their strengths, and weaknesses and some of their best cards.

House Baratheon of Storm's End is one of the Great Houses of Westeros, and is the principal house in the stormlands, which they rule as Lords Paramount of the Stormlands. Their seat, Storm's End, is an ancient castle raised by the Storm Kings from the now-extinct House Durrandon. The Baratheon sigil is a crowned black stag on a field of gold. Members of the family tend to be tall and powerfully built, with black hair and blue eyes, as well as strong, square jawlines. They are known for their mercurial tempers, and their words are "Ours is the Fury".

After Robert's Rebellion, House Baratheon split into three branches: Lord Robert Baratheon was crowned King and took residence at King's Landing, thereby creating House Baratheon of King's Landing. Robert gave the seat of Dragonstone to his younger brother, Stannis, creating House Baratheon of Dragonstone. Robert's youngest brother, Renly, became the Lord of Storm's End, continuing House Baratheon of Storm's End.

Lets take a look at some of their cards........

 We start with Robert Baratheon, he is cost 7, strength 6 with military and power icons, he has renown so when you win a challenge he is involved you he gains a power, he also has intimidate, where when you win a challenge you can choose and kneel a character up to the strength of the victor.  He also gets plus 1 strength for each other kneeling character making him best to play late on when he will become brutal in the phase with so many other characters kneeling.  Stannis is a cost 6 strength 5 with military and power, and when he is on the board each player can not stand more than 2 characters during the standing phase.  Melisandre is a cost 5 strength 4 with intrigue and power icons, she has the reaction that after you marshal or play a card with the R`hlor trait choose and kneel one character.  This can be used to gain advantage and get the scariest opponents out the way to clear the decks for you, and of course to power up Robert.

 Ser Davos Seaworth, one of my favourite characters in the series, and here he is at strength 3, cost 4 with military and power icons.  He also has stealth so you can declare someone that can not block him.  He has a useful interrupt, that when he is killed he goes back to your hand instead of the dead pile, so he is good to soak up damage if you can afford to get him back out again.  Shireen is cost 2 strength 1 with only the power icon.  Her interrupt is when she is killed choose and kneel a character, again a good way to shut down your opponent, and power up Robert.  Maester Cressen is cost 3 strength 3 with only power icon, and when he is marshalled in to play you can choose a condition and discard it, which is handy if someone has sabotaged your characters.

 The Kings Hunting party  is strength 6, cost 4 with only military icons, but he does gain an intrigue icon if your opponent controls a character with the king trait.  Fiery followers are the first card with an intrigue icon, they also have a military one, are 3 cost for 2 strength.  It has a reaction to stand in the dominance phase giving you  some extra surprise strength to try and win it.  Selyse is the only other character with an intrigue icon, she also has a power one, is cost 3, and strength 2.  You can pay a gold in the challenge phase to choose a Baratheon character and give it intrigue, so she is really useful to give that intrigue out which this house really lacks.

 Bastard in hiding is a strength 2 cost 2 card with only military and power.  Vanguard lancer is a cost 2 card strength 1, with power and military, but the reaction that after he enters play choose an opponents character card or house card and discard a power from it.  Dragonstone faithful are 1 cost, 1 strength with only the power icon.  They can be knelt to reduce the cost of the next Baratheon character by 1.

 Lightbringer is a  2 cost attachment that can go to Baratheon characters only, if it goes to Stannis he gains renown, and after the character it is attached to gains a power you may stand it.  Ours is the fury is a 2 cost event that can only be used when you are defending a challenge, you pick a kneeling character that adds its strength to the challenge.  Seen in the flames is a 1 cost event that can only be played if you have a Rhlor character out, but it is powerful, you get to look at your opponents hand and discard a card of your choice from it.

Dragonstone port is a 0 cost location that can be knelt to reduce the cost of the next Baratheon card by 1.  Chamber of the painted table is a 2 cost location that has a reaction after you win dominance, you may kneel it move a power from your opponents faction card to yours.  This can cause a big swing, as you gain one from dominance, gain one from your opponent, and they lose one, so it is a 3 power swing.  The Red Keep adds 2 strength to your side during power challenged, and if you do not lose a power challenge you can kneel it to draw two cards.

The Baratheons are a powerful house in military and power, but weaker in intrigue, they look to kneel and lock down opponents, with lots of abilities to keep cards kneeling to power your and let them go in unopposed.


To learn more about A Game of Thrones the card game second edition take a look here
Stick with us as we look at the Factions in future articles to give you an idea of how they play, and take a look at some of the upcoming chapter packs that add more to your game.

Come and join us in all sorts of gaming chat in our Facebook group here, and come follow us on Twitter @rollyoursix join the chat, and tell us about your games!