A Song of Ice and Fire Buyer's Guide

You like A Game of Thrones based on the famous novels of George R.R. Martin? In A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game, you and your opponent will marshal troops from the world of Westeros and fight epic rank and file battles. Don’t know where to start? This buyer’s guide is for you.

Starter Sets

To play A Song of Ice and Fire, you will need at least one starter set. Each of them includes plenty of miniatures along with all the dice, tokens, templates, and cards needed to play.

The first starter set ever released is a double sized box that includes two impressive armies: House Stark and House Lannister.

You can also choose one of the eight standard sets that includes a single faction:

Note that each player must have his own army to play, so you will need two of the standard sets if you don't buy the double sized box.

Combat Units

When playing A Song of Ice and Fire, you and your opponent will choose to fight a small, medium, or large battle made of 30, 40, or 50 points of units respectively. Buying one of the above starter sets will generally give you enough models for a small battle.

To expand your army to 40 or 50 points, you can either buy an extra starter set or a few combat unit boxes. Each of them will add about 5 points to your army.

You cannot mix different factions in the same army but up to 50% of your points can be made of Neutral Forces (mercenaries) like the treacherous Boltons or the greedy Stromcrows.

There are four different types of combat units:

Infantry Units like the Lannister Crossbowmen contain 12 models.
Cavalry Units like the Tully Cavalier contain 4 mid-size models.
Monster Units like the Savage Giants contain 2-3 big models.
War Machines like the Stone Thrower contain 1-2 big models.

Heroes

Heroes boxes usually contain 5 miniatures. They can be Commanders, Attachments, or Non-Combat Units.

Every army must have a Commander to lead them and cannot have more than one. When buying the Stark starter set, for example, you will get to choose between Robb Stark and Greatjon Umber. Each Commander has its own Tactics Cards that will influence your style of play. Commanders do not cost points.

Attachments are special models that boost a Combat Unit. They are champions, captains, wardens, etc. They cost a few points, generally 1 or 2.

Non-Combat Units (NCUs) are politicians and members of the Small Council. In A song of Ice and Fire, characters like Cersei and Tyrion are not on the battlefield but can make political maneuvers to influence the battle.

Because Heroes boxes open new ways to play your army, they are often the first thing players buy after a starter set. You do not need to buy Heroes 1 before Heroes 2.

Card Update Packs

The abilities and the point costs of units are updated once a year to preserve the game's balance. This means you could end up with outdated cards that are not legal in tournaments.

The best way to use the latest stats is to use the free app called War Council. The app has previews of all units and is available on the App Store and on Google Play.

The second way is to print the latest cards yourself by getting the files on the official website of A Song of Ice and Fire.

The last way is to buy a Card Update Pack but since they were released in 2021 about 10-15% of the cards have already changed.

Activation Banners

A unit can activate once per round. After doing so, players must put an activation token next to the unit so it is clear to all players that it won't be used again until next round. Activation Banners are beautiful 3D banners that can be used instead of the flat cardboard tokens provided in the starter sets. They are a lot easier to spot when glancing at the battlefield.

Last updated: April 2023.