Tyrions Chains chapter pack for a Game of Thrones the card game from Fantasty Flight games unboxing and review

Ahhh its time for another Chapter pack for A Game of Thrones the card game.  Its always an exciting time, as I never look ahead to see whats in the pack, so its maximum fun at opening time.  The other chapter packs have been excellent, will this one continue the tradition? As always you get 60 cards, 20 new one with 3 copies of each.

Davos could make out the striped hulls of Salladhor Saan's ships beyond, but he knew he would never reach them. A wall of red-hot steel, blazing wood, and swirling green flame stretched before him. The mouth of the Blackwater Rush had turned into the mouth of hell.
   –George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

 

The War of the Five Kings has reached its tipping point. Stannis Baratheon marches on King’s Landing by land and by sea, sending his powerful navy up the Blackwater Rush to seal off any escape. Tywin Lannister moves south with all speed, leaving the north to House Stark and House Greyjoy, but his mighty armies will never arrive before the city is besieged. In the end, the man who sits the Iron Throne at the end of the battle may be determined by nothing more than the ingenuity of Tyrion Lannister’s defenses.

With the Tyrion’s Chain Chapter Pack, the War of Five Kings cycle approaches its dramatic conclusion. Here, you’ll find plenty of new support for Summer and Winter decks, inviting you to draw your strength from the warm zephyrs of summertime or the howling gales of winter. As the final chapters of A Clash of Kings play out in the card game, you’ll also find iconic characters entering the game for the first time, including Qhorin Halfhand, Salladhor Saan, Podrick Payne, and Ser Arys Oakheart. It’s time for you to rally behind your King and enter one of the greatest battles in the game of thrones!

Lets take a look and see what we get!

Starting with House Stark we get the House Manderly Knight, 2 cost 1 strength with military and power icons.  Seems weak? well when there is a winter plot revealed he gets +2 strength.

Wolf in the Night is a 1 cost event, that as an action you choose a stark character attacking alone, and they get +3 strength until the end of turn.  When you combine this with a character with renown as well it can really nasty.

House Tyrell get Ser Robar Royce, a 3 cost 4 strength knight with the military icon.  He has a reaction that after a summer plot is revealed he can gain a power,  therefore getting you closer to winning quicker, but he is forced to kneel if a winter plot is revealed so against some decks he may suffer.

Renlys pavilion is a 2 cost location that as an action lets you kneel it, then you choose 2 characters (does not need to be your own) one gets +1 strength, and one gets -1 strength.

The Baratheons get Salladhor Saan, a 4 cost 3 strength character with military and intrigue icons.  He has a reaction that after you win a challenge in which he is involved, you can put a warship or weapon into play from hand.... which is useful as the other card in the pack happens to be a warship.....

The Valyrian is a 1 cost location warship that can be played as ambush 2 if needed.  You can kneel it to                                                          . 

The Knights Watch get Qhorin Halfhand the ranger, 6 cost with 5 strength military and power icons he's certainly a powerful character.  He has renown as well and the reaction that after you win a military challenge he is involved in choose and kill a non unique character with a lower strength than Qhorins, so he can really start ripping through things and causing damage.

Fist of the First Men is a 2 cost location that gives you the effect.... While your reserve (found on your plot) is higher than your opponents, any rangers you control get +1 strength and can not be bypassed with stealth.

House Lannister get Podrick Payne, a 3 cost 1 strength character with military and power icons.  That seems pretty expensive right? yes.. but he has his uses, he has an interrupt.  When a character you control would be killed for military claim, pay 2 gold, and put podrick into pay to save it, then if it was Tyrion you can pay 2 gold to kill an attacking character.  So this is a devious plan to wipe out a heavy hitter, but you need to make sure everything is ready for it to be unleashed so it does not go wrong.

Tyrions Chain is a 1 cost event that is a reaction.  After you win a challenge in which you control a unique Lannister, choose a revealed war plot, initiate the when revealed ability on it... Very nice as this allows you to get the benefits of a war plot twice.

The Greyjoys get Esgred, a 5 cost 2 strength character with all the icons.  Another one that seems very expensive for the strength you get, until you look further into the card.  He has stealth, and my bypass another character whilst using stealth, and if you control Asha you can sacrifice him to gain a power, and that could be the one you need to win the game.

the Sea Bitch is my favourite art in the pack as well as 1 cost location.  It has the action, sacrifice the Sea bitch to choose a non limited location to take control of that location until the end of the phase.  Really useful if you need some money from a kings road, or something else.

The Targaryens get the Quaithe of the Shadows.  A 2 cost 2 strength character with military and intrigue icons, and ambush 3 which can be useful.  The ambush ability is great if used in a challenge, as if Quaithe enters play during a challenge you remove each character of str 2 or lower.

Houses of the undying is a 6 cost location, so very pricey.... but what does it do? Well it has a challenge action.. Remove house of the undying from the game to chose an opponent.  Put each character in their dead pile into play under your control and at the end of the phase return them to the dead pile, so this lets you really swamp an opponent for a turn if played at the right time.

House Martell get Ser Arys Oakheart, a kingsguard knight who is cost 4, strength 3 with military and power icons.  He has a reaction that when he enters play you can choose an ally character (your opponents with that trait) and discard them from paly.

The Greenblood is a 3 cost location that gives each Martell character +1 strength for each summer plot revealed, so if you and your opponent both have one, that's a hefty boost.

For neutrals we get Northern Refugee who is 2 cost, 1 strength with intrigue and power.  Whilst there is a winter plot active they get a -1 marshalling cost making them a potentially cheap filler.

Relentless Assault is a 0 cost event used as a reaction.  After you wina challenge by 5 or more strength as the attacking player kneel your faction card, then you may make an additional challenge of that type in this phase.

Tarred Heads is a 1 cost event that has a reaction after you win a power challenge.  you discard 1 card at random from the losing opponents hand, and if its a character put it in their dead pile.

Lastly we have a new plot, the Battle of blackwater.  Its a 4 income, 6 initiative 1 claim cost with a reserve of 5, and the siege and war traits.  When revealed choose an opponent and discard each duplicate you and your opponent control.

This is another great pack, I am continually impressed with how much content they can find and create. I always enjoy looking at the new options it gives to the houses, and with neutrals getting more every pack too, you can really start to theme and tailor your decks to your own personal play style.  Its good seeing new variants of old characters too as they progress through the story its only right their abilities should change, its great seeing new characters come in and have ways to change the decks you build.  There are certainly some things in here that are going to change my decks and I'm really looking forward to getting them out on the table to see.  I rally like the way more cards have effects depending on if its a summer or winter plot as well, making plot choices even more important.

To learn more about A Game of Thrones the card game second edition take a look here
and check out our articles on Factions and plots 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.

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Head on over to your local game store to pick this up with an RRP of £13.99 it will add plenty to your game!