Game of Thrones: Mother of Dragons Expansion Overview and Impressions

What the Mother of Dragons expansion adds to the Game of Thrones Board Game.
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Thank you for watching! And thank you for all your comments, I love making videos for you all!
If you're new to Actualol, my name is Jon Purkis. My two passions are writing comedy and playing board games, so I decided to combine the two in this KZbin channel.
I make all my videos on my own, in my flat in London, UK, with the help of a diverse selection of wigs.
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[@AsmodeeUK]

Really pleased you liked this one Jon, hopefully it's not too long before you can get some people together to play it again!

[@xshadowscreamx]

It's such an effort to have a game board group.

[@josephtheisii9891]

Thank you so much for all the description and examples! You are a life saver. I’m hosting tomorrow and had questions and you answered them all!

[@bushibayushi]

This is one of the best overviews I've ever seen of any game. Great job man.

[@peterhaslehurst535]

I really enjoyed this video Jon. I liked the change of pace - good to see you talking about a big gamer's game.

[@charlottemalone7375]

Great video!! Thanks for the details. I’m super excited for this expansion.

[@you3001]

A thorough and enthusiast summary. Fun to watch, too. Well done!

[@kristupasmatiekus8376]

thank you for the impressive review! I am looking forward to playing with this expansion!

[@airstrip1836]

This expansion looks fantastic. Can' t wait to get a copy and get it on the table.

[@ZubLord]

Really good review. Enjoyed it very much and i'm super excited with what they've done with the game in this expansion it's everything I've wanted in the original.

[@whitewolf6113]

Amazing video, thanks for making it! :)

[@gortex8383]

Wouldn't it be cool if they'd make an online version of this game. That way everyone could play this awesome game. Because it's an amazing game, but unfortunately I can't gather enoguh people to play it with me, because not evryone has the time or is interested in playing a game this long

[@InYourFaceJerk]

@@kony5021 this is some russian noname bullshit site where there is nothing to do

[@HughJazz13]

@@djtucker141 Most of us found that site initially with a simple Google search. Not sure what's keeping this OP from doing the same.

[@bostoenward]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIPKlqauoZKVock They are making an digital version of the boardgame.

[@efeozcan1825]

Wish granted.

[@mombeeerg]

there is one called GOT the board game online,

[@Skippan]

Really nice vid. One of the additions I appreciate is more actions for the boats. How much of the content is modular?

[@actualol]

It's not really modular at all. Except for if you don't play with the Targaryen house in the game. In that case, you remove the entire Essos board, the dragons and the Iron bank loans. Which basically leaves the vassal system, the Arryns, two sea tokens and the rule about trading power tokens.

[@neilwassell21]

Great review, thanks.

[@JohnQSpartan]

Man, I sold this game a while back because it never got played even a single time. I just didn't have the group to play it with, even though I know I'd love it. This expansion really, really makes me want to get it again ... maybe I should just find someone that owns it and become their new best friend! ha.

[@derekweiland1857]

I love this game.

[@yagztas3518]

how do we know who wins in a situation of, for example baratheon player has 5 castle and targaryen player has 5 loyalty tokens at the end of the 10th turn

[@enjoythestruggle]

The houses playing an active part in smaller player games was an absolutely necessary edition.

[@Avataarkaap]

Wow. I love this game and the expansion looks amazing. Can't. Wait.

[@john-paulmacdonagh1014]

Great review

[@fabiorusso2134]

Best game review so far. I have one question: I struggle finding people to play with, because the main version is quite complicated and people get used to the rules playing few times; it seems this expansion makes the game funnier to play but also harder to understand, so what can you say about finding people to play with? so many people are not interested if the game needs too many hours of playing (and part of them are needed to specify all the rules)

[@simster1503]

Which sleeves do u use for this game?🤔

[@Sjonkelrollff]

The vassals automatically leave power tokens when leaving an area. So you cant take your vassals areas

[@actualol]

Thanks for the clarification! I apologise for the mistake.

[@Sjonkelrollff]

@@actualol But otherwise great video, the first really professional video ive seen on youtube about GOT Boardgame. Exeptional camerawork and good speak. Gameplay video next please?

[@larsjuh13vk]

Is there a Young Griff card in the Targaryen deck?

[@italianstallion389]

Does aryn get another deck for dances with dragons?

[@oscarfranzen4694]

You can use the one from A Feast For Crows expansion

[@GeneralDibs]

Have you ever tried to take a game somewhere else to play and then realized some of the bits are still at home decorating your wall? :p

[@actualol]

Haha! Not yet, but I'm sure I've got that in my future :D

[@TechnicalHotDog]

Really awesome video! This expansion looks absolutely amazing. I do wonder how you feel about the Targaryens , my only worry is that they're a little overpowered.

[@actualol]

I didn't find them to be overpowered but I have only played once. They came close to winning but so did multiple houses. The responsibility of stopping the Targaryens is shared across the other houses so I think they will help balance their power. If Targaryens are doing well early on, it is in the other factions power to protect loyalty tokens and stop them gaining more points. In that respect it's like the rest of the game. You have to watch out for houses getting too powerful and rein them in. It might be risky for dragons to fly in unprotected and if the other houses attack with a house cards that has swords on it they could kill them, permanently.

[@TechnicalHotDog]

@@actualol Thanks for the response! I'm definitely looking forward to trying this expansion soon

[@wakelyn]

Would you say this is a good expansion to pick up for a group's first couple of plays of the game, especially if we only have 3/4 players?

[@actualol]

Good question but a very hard one to answer. Adding an expansion when you're new to a game is generally a bad idea and especially here when there are so many rules. But the expansion would probably improve your experience with 3 or 4. I wouldn't even bother playing the original game with those numbers previously. What you can do is not play with the Targaryens which removes the Essos board and then you only need to understand how vassals work.

[@airstrip1836]

I would normally only play the base game with 6, any other number is a compromise and the game doesn't quite work (with 6 it is my favourite board game). I suggest playing the base game at least once and then moving on to the expansion. It is a heavy duty strategy game as it is without adding more rules and steps. It is worth the effort though!

[@justinemarkdajay7485]

@@airstrip1836 Totally agree with you on the fact that this game has to be played with 6 as much as possible. I've been playing this game for 3 years, on and off ofcourse, but the experience a 6 player game gives you just couldn't be compared to having played it with 3 or 4. However, playing the game just once and then adding in the expansion, atleast in my opinion is still a bad idea. This game has so much rules, you can't grasp the mechanics in just 1 game.

[@airstrip1836]

Absolutely agree that you can't get a good feel for the game with just one play through. But...if someone is desperate to play the MoD expansion ASAP (as he guy who asked the question seemed to be) then jumping straight in without any experience of the base game is a bad idea. Therefore I would play the base game at least once (and yes, preferably several times) before taking on even more rules and complications with the expansion. And if anyone is playing 'warm up' games with fewer than 6 before moving on to MoD, bear in mind that you aren't getting the full experience and might need some patience. @@justinemarkdajay7485

[@HughJazz13]

The base game with 3-players is amazing and possibly even more balanced than 6-players. I'm speaking from 80 games of experience.

[@1mDozer]

So angry I missed this at GENCON last year

[@Coffeemaker1978]

Ok Mother of Dragons went from naaahh don't buy to must buy. Thank you Jon, my banker hates it.

[@Spartan117xxxxxx]

Interesting, for me it went from must buy to don't buy. Those new mechanics seem a little silly to me

[@Coffeemaker1978]

Zonetic cz To each his own I guess.

[@TabletopGamesBlog]

I'm not a Games of Thrones fan, but I do like the look of this game, especially with the expansion. Might have to investigate further. Thank you for yet another great video. Keep them coming...!!! :)

[@johnboy4025]

I played this before I watched the show... and won! I got hooked.

[@RafaelSantos42]

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@daninanestean]

you said it takes a while to play, but how much exactly? would you say it's longer than the base game?

[@actualol]

We played it once at five players and it lasted five hours but for my friends that's shorter than a usual game. I don't think the new features will add significant game length. But the game can now play 7/8 players and I expect that it would be longer at those counts.

[@florianf5268]

I'm thinking about getting the game but i probably won't habe a third player. Would it be possible to play with only two players, especially with the vasal-system?

[@42Randomise]

Great summary, love your content. Unfortunately the game is to big a time commitment. Wish there was an "express" version that would be 2-3 hours..

[@justinemarkdajay7485]

True. Everytime we play this game, we have to set up a time and place, gather up 6 members buy foods and then play this game the whole day, 9am to almost 7pm. And we can only finish the game twice. Lol

[@Skarpo89]

Maybe look for Battle for Rokugan, it might be what you are looking for

[@gortex8383]

I've several questions: 1. Are you allowed to place consolidate power tokens in areas with a power token but without units, and gain a power token? 2. can you place a consolidate power token on a port and gain a power token? 3. If 2 is true: Can you only place a consolidate power token on ports with ships in it, or can you put it on all of your ports? 4. can you place order tokens on a port and the adjacent landarea at the same time? or does the order token on a port count as the same order token for the land area that the port belongs to? 5. are you allowed to remove your power tokens from the board and give up on territory, or can it only be removed if another player captures that area? 6. If you can remove your power tokens from the board, can you only do that when you march your troops back into that area, or can you remove the power token at any time? 7. If you retreat, are you allowed to retreat all your units to different areas or do they have to retreat to the same territory? 8. If an ally moves into one of my territories with no units, but a power token. Does he/she has the choice to leave (not remove) your power token?

[@actualol]

1. No 2. Yes, if you have a boat in your port. 3. Only on ports with ships in it. 4. Yes, you can play a token in the adjacent and the port at the same time. They are considered separate areas. 5. Not 100% sure, but I suspect you cannot choose to remove power tokens from land areas. 6. Not sure 7. Same territory 8. No, it has to be removed. You can't share control.

[@gortex8383]

@@actualol thx for your reply mate.

[@lotusmoon8156]

1 - No 2 - Only in Port 3 - You must have a shit in that port, however you can place consolidate power token on sea to fill up orders (to bluff) it just gets discarded and has no effect. 4 - Yes But you must have a ship in port and a unit on land area 5 - No you cannot, power tokens left behind can ONLY be removed by other player capturing that area and they DO NOT go back to your hand they go into your discard pile. 6 - You cannot remove your own power tokens at all, if your troops move back into the area the token still stays there. 7 - They must go to same territory if they cannot fit in due to supply restrictions than you must kill of troops until they can. 8 - There are no real alliances possible, so your "ally" cannot move into your territory it always counts as attacking and thus would remove the power token.

[@TheMrE]

Out of curiosity: how much time do you estimate each vassal adds to the base game?

[@actualol]

Very hard to say. It comes down to the players controlling them. It's only two extra tokens per vassals to place and activate so it won't be too long. Plus the player controlling them will place them as part of their other plans. I don't expect it to be an annoying amount of additional time.

[@shapeshifter7676]

What's Targaryen relationship with the Wildlings?

[@actualol]

They have to fight them off too.

[@GourmetAcademy]

Do you also feel like throwing the table into the wall, like when you watch season 3 episode 9 ?

[@grilledflatbread4692]

Fast forward fast forward where's Daenerys!

[@gortex8383]

they need to give house lannister some advantages like house targaryen has, because they can only win in a three player game.

[@gortex8383]

but cool expansion though. If only I could play it with someone xD.

[@italianstallion389]

And even then, barathan is the strongest in 3 player.

[@lotusmoon8156]

I don't think this is the case anymore with the expansion, as now greyjoy needs to worry about potential threats from House Arryn, so he cannot go full out after lannister without potential repercussions, this puts less pressure on lannisters early on and lets them use their strong supply and mustering position to build up early on, unlike before where you needed to defend early on. Not every session will play out the same ofcourse but with the bank now there's more options for lannisters. I feel its much more balanced than original and there's less of a gap between those lossing and winning. With iron bank if you're doing well you might not want to take out loans as they can hinder you later on but if you're behind you have nothing to loose and 2 big loans late on can totally swing your position. Personally i feel Tyrells are really strong under this system as they are the only house that didn't get a new potential enemy, so they play very similar to standard 6p game while all others got 1 if not 2 potential new threats.

[@pinkdouche]

Bro i will play this game just to be friends with the Targaryens.

[@dragonomiconxxx]

they literally just use the LCG box art for the Daenerys card....dude XD

[@oidipositas]

Damit the original game was so much better without the negotiations... now there is no way around it.

[@matto4897]

I think the negotiating of power tokens adds to the game. Fixes some issues with houses that aren't able to generate power tokens for whatever reasons. But you could just set a house rule so you can't trade power tokens if you really want

[@oidipositas]

Might be, i have to try to see if i like it.

[@mickeitsgmail8859]

What? The negotiations IS the game imo.

[@oidipositas]

@@mickeitsgmail8859 I see your point but i rather enjoy to play and try to figure out your opponents possible acctions. A bit like a multiplayer chess (all the information is open). If you fancy the negotiations i can recomend diplomacy if you have not tried it already.

[@matto4897]

@@oidipositas you aren't forced to negotiate with anyone. And the great thing is that can be part of your strategy, breaking any alliance you made. The people you're playing with shouldn't know your entire plan and false allegiance can help with that

[@lodovicoodak9401]

It is not true that the Iron throne is the least powerful of the three. Actually is the BEST one, expecially in late game,where being able to decide who goes first and last it's game winning. The vassal system will just make it even more broken. Targaryen mechanics are just awful, too different from the other houses ( also I forsee everbody wanted to play as it for some reason, creating conflict between your friends). Nobody really asked for the Iron Bank thing, which add complexity to a game already complex and long to explain. The positioning of the troops/ houses story-wise makes no sense at all ( though It may be worth playing this expansion with the Dance with Dragon, which is very story accurate). I spare the power trading mechanic, which is actually very cool. But my least favorite thing is the very presence of the targaryen house itself. Game of Thrones the Board Game was all about the books: it came out before the tv show, and followed all the events from the original story, where Dany DID NOT invade westeros to this moment ( and some argue that she never will). What would have been GREAT was to add an Aegon normal faction, with the golden company and so on. In that way the game would have remain story-accurate, it would sill makes you play with 'the targaryen' faction and the startying zone being volantis, or maybe Griffin's roost, would actually makes sense. God, if your really wanted to add a new type of unit, you could have added the elephants from the golden company! Overall, an expansion that is winking towards the tv-fans, betraying the true flavour of this game. Worth buying just for having the arryn tokens/troops to play The Feast for Crowns mini-expansion. For now FFG: Thank you, But not thank you.

[@michelecarbone2896]

Late to the party but hey, the vassal module is worth the price of the expansion alone! If you don't like Targaryen just play without Essos and the Iron Bank and enjoy a more balanced game with 7 factions!

[@grzegorzjakubowski1842]

The same graphics as in Game of Thrones LCG ...really?! So disappointing :(

[@HospisNineveh]

great video, thanks for uploading