Dun dun dun-dun-dun-dun-dun dun dun dun-dun-dun-dun… the best Game of Thrones board games!
A Game of Thrones has been a pretty wild ride. My best friend showed me the first episode years ago that he had saved on a DVR. It was late at night and we decided to throw it on before we called it a night. He went to sleep and I proceeded to marathon the entire first season.
My eyes were bleeding in the morning and that damn catchy theme song was stuck in my head.
This was back in 2012, slightly after Season 1 aired when the hype and popularity of the show were still rising. Luckily, Game of Thrones has so much to keep fans going and a whole host of options for the board game nerds out there.
Find the Best Game of Thrones Board Games below.
Table of Contents
In a hurry? Check out our favorites below.
Best Miniatures
If you can’t wait between episodes, check out some of these Game of Thrones-inspired board games to get your fix. Nothing hits the fandom itch quite like a board game… or maybe the next book… if it ever comes out.
Players: 3-6
Playing Time: 120-240 min
Ages: 14+
Complexity: 3.72/5
“War makes monsters of us all.” — George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice & Fire
The official A Game of Thrones: The Board Game is inspired by an older game called Diplomacy. Any fan of the series will know that the war in Westeros is clearly heavily diplomatic, and usually violent and bloody. Alliances come and go and are usually at the worst possible moment for those involved.
Throughout the course of the game, players will be making political decisions and issuing orders in secret. In the following phases of the game, the orders will be carried out.
You could spend the first half of a round convincing a player to march with you against your enemies only to find your stronghold besieged by your “allies”. It’s happened to me before and will most likely happen again.
Each player controls one of the great houses and will be fighting for domination of the Iron Throne. You’ll find all of your fan favorites in the game: Lannisters, Starks, Greyjoys, Terrells, Baratheons… they’re all here.
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game captures the essence of the books and HBO show beautifully. Players will be making alliances but they’ll also be leaving their allies in the field undefended a few turns later because it’s no longer profitable to be allied.
It’s a brutal game with a heavy mix of warfare, diplomatic alliances, and inevitable betrayal.
Just make sure you set some time aside for it. You can probably get through a few episodes in the time that it takes to play one game. It’s one of our favorite 6-player board games and tabletop war board games, in general.
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Players: 2
Playing Time: 45-60 min
Ages: 14+
Complexity: 2.94/5
“The grey sheep have closed their eyes, but the mastiff sees the truth. Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes.” — George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice & Fire
CMON (Cool Mini or Not) is known for putting out awesome games with highly detailed miniatures. Their version of a tabletop war game is no exception.
A Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game comes in the form of a collectible minis game in which players will have to buy and paint their minis and then will be able to field an army to clash with their opponent.
The minis are very cool looking and oddly enough, my favorites are Reek and Ramsay Bolton. CMON did an incredible job with them and they are super creepy standing next to each other.
The art direction is more like the comics and deviates from the show and I think it looks great. It would be weird building and painting a mini Alfie Allen for the table.
For those of you who know CMON games, you’ll know that they mainly produce board games, and by that, I mean an entire experience in one box sort-of games. This is new territory for them. They don’t normally make tabletop wargames.
You can definitely tell that the designers come from a board game background, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Miniature Wargames are usually very finicky with rules and highly complex.
A Song of Ice & Fire manages to keep everything relatively simple for a new player to get into while still adding a lot of replayability and strategy.
At this point, there are several factions you can pick from that all have different leaders and special abilities. Although the Boltons creeped me right the heck out, I still love their minis.
Players: 3-5
Playing Time: 30-60 min
Ages: 18+
Complexity: 2.71/5
“Some had been heroes, some weaklings, knaves, or cravens. Most were only men—quicker and stronger than most, more skilled with sword and shield, but still prey to pride, ambition, lust, love, anger, jealousy, greed for gold, hunger for power, and all the other failings that afflicted lesser mortals. The best of them overcame their flaws, did their duty, and died with their swords in their hands. The worst… The worst were those who played the game of thrones.” — George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice & Fire
Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne is a hidden gem in the board game community. It’s basically built around the system used by Cosmic Encounter but with a GoT-themed skin thrown over it. It also isn’t quite as complex as Cosmic Encounter, making it much easier to teach new players.
In Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne, everyone will play a different faction and look to spread their influence throughout Westeros. Every turn, players will deal with interactions across the whole board.
These could be hostages or treaties to negotiate. How you deal with these events is entirely up to you, but could also swing influence either to or away from your faction.
The Iron Throne manages to capture a lot of the political intrigue and machinations that go on behind the scenes, while still giving a Game of Thrones feel.
If you’re looking for a highly strategic and highly fun game with an incredible thematic flair for Game of Thrones, The Iron Throne delivers… if you can keep it.
