by C. C. Helwig

[Version 2.3]

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General Rules:

• The regular rules of Diplomacy apply, except where amended below.
• The game begins in Spring 298 AC (Aegon’s Conquest). The terms Spring, Summer, Fall, Autumn, and Winter will continue to be used to avoid confusion despite the fact that in this universe seasons are actually longer than years. And so the player of House Stark can frequently remind everyone that Winter Is Coming.
• There are 35 supply centers. The victory criterion is 18 supply centers at the end of any Autumn retreat season.
• A draw accepted by all living players can end the game, but not until 5 game years have elapsed.
• Houses may build in any unoccupied center under their control (build anywhere), representing the ability to call new Banner men upon assumption of a new lordship.

Starting Positions
7 Great Houses of Westeros represented in the game, with their capital in bold

House Stark (Grey) – Army Winterfell, Fleet White Harbor
House Lannister (Red) – Army Casterly Rock, Army Crownlands, Fleet Lannisport
House Baratheon (Yellow) – Army Storm’s End, Army Kingswood, Fleet Griffin’s Roost
House Tyrell (Green) – Army Highgarden, Army Oldtown, Fleet Starfall
House Martell (Orange) – Army Yornwood, Army Godsgrace, Fleet Sunspear
House Greyjoy (Blue) – Army Harlaw, Fleet Great Wyk, Fleet Pyke
House Targaryen (Pink) – Army Pentos, Fleet Dragonstone

Map Rules

• All game territories are marked by their name. Any territory or island that is not marked with a name (such as Tarth and Skagos) is not a playable territory in the game
• All coastal territories have one coast except Beyond the Wall, Brandon’s Gift, and Harrenhall each have a west coast and an east coast.
• Rivers are not spaces and may not hold units. However, navigable rivers allow the spaces in which they run to be treated as coastal for the purposes of fleet movement.
  – The Trident: The Trident and its forks are not navigable. That is, Riverrun and the Kingsroad cannot be occupied by ships at all, and the Riverlands only have a west coast (bordering Ironman’s Bay). The point where the forks of The Trident come together is impassable completely, meaning the Riverlands do not border Harrenhal and Riverrun does not border the Kingsroad.
  – The Blackwater: The Blackwater is drawn in light blue to signify that is is navigable, making it possible for fleets to move inland towards God’s Eye, and vice versa. All of the territories that border The Blackwater can be occupied by a fleet.The Blackwater acts as King’s Landing’s border with the Kingswood, the Stormlands, The Reach, and Stony Sept, and as the border between the Crownlands and Stony Sept. These borders are like regular land borders.
  – The Mander The Mander is drawn in light blue to signify that it is navigable, making it possible for fleets to move inland up to Highgarden, and vice versa. This means that Highgarden can be occupied by a fleet, and fleets can be built there. The Mander acts as the border between the Searoad and Horn Hill. This border is like a regular land border.
  – Island Supply Centers: There are 7 island spaces: Bear Island, Dragonstone, Great Wyk, Pyke, Harlaw, Shield Islands, and Tyrosh. Island supply centers may be occupied by armies or fleets and armies in adjacent provinces may move to islands without need of a convoy (i.e. Searoad or Horn Hill to Shield Islands or Disputed Lands to Tyrosh). An army or a fleet may be built in an island supply center, provided other build rules are followed. Armies may move between any of Great Wyk, Harlaw, and Pyke without assistance from fleets. Fleet occupying islands may convoy units as if they occupied a sea space.

King’s Landing

• As the seat of the Iron Throne and capital of the Seven Kingdoms, King’s Landing and the Red Keep are both supply centers.
• The Red Keep is a space on the map that borders all the spaces that are bordered by King’s Landing and vice versa. (e.g. a unit may move Stoney Sept – Red Keep while another unit moves Blackwater Bay – King’s Landing). The special status of the Red Keep and King’s Landing are noted by the light grey dividing line between them.
• At the beginning of the game, the power in King’s Landing is split with the Lannisters holding King’s Landing and the Baratheons holding the Red Keep.
• A unit may move from King’s Landing to the Red Keep or vice versa. A unit’s presence in King’s Landing does not prevent another unit from moving into the Red Keep and vice versa.

Heirs of the Great Houses

• Each House starts with one heir (their gender is irrelevant), except the Targaryens who begin with two (2). If the last heir to a House is executed and the capital of the House is captured by another player, the House is removed from their game.
• Houses removed from the game no longer may issue orders to their units. The player may no longer vote in draws or issue orders. The remaining units of the player are issued hold orders, are autodestroyed if dislodged, and are autodisbanded based on A) Units furthest from an SC owned; B) Units furthest from an owned starting home SC; C) Units furthest from an owned capital; D) Fleets before armies; E) Alphabetical order of the province name starting with “a” (these autodestroy preferences also apply in the event of an NMR).
• Heirs may only move between capitals if they are married to the Heir of another House. Marriages occur if both players issue matching marriage orders during a Spring or Fall turn. Marriage orders look like:
• Example: Stark wrote: Heir Stark weds Heir Targaryen, to live at Dragonstone.
• All three components of the marriage order must match (who, who, and where). An heir may be remarried on the same turn that their spouse dies (i.e. if Targaryen & Baratheon are married at Storm’s End, Baratheon could order: Execute Heir Stark & Heir Baratheon marries Heir Martell to live at Sunspear, during the same turn.)
• Hostages: Houses who have foreign heirs living at their capital (in the above example, the Targaryen’s would have the Heir Stark living at their capital) may during any Spring or Fall turn 1) Return the heir; 2) Execute the heir; 3) Do nothing. Houses with marriage ties may not return their in-law’s heir.
• Houses who have previously executed the heir of another House may never receive support from that House’s units again.
• Example
  Targaryen wrote: Execute Stark Heir
  Stark wrote: Fleet Black Water Bay support Dragonstone Hold (Targaryen unit)… order invalid
• When a capital is taken by a foreign House any heirs living there are captured as hostages by the new owners of the capital.
• A House may promote a new heir by “building” a new one during a build phase. They may do so even if doing so causes a destroy. The new heir will permanently count towards the House’s unit total, even if the heir is later killed (a second replacement will count as a second unit). If a House already has one heir (such as the Targaryens after one is executed) they may not build a second heir. “Building” an heir is only possible if there are no living heirs of the House. If a House builds an heir, not having a build that turn, an autodestroy will be processed to keep their unit count even with their SC count.
• Example
• Stark, 5 SCs 5 Units wrote: Promote new heir, destroy Fleet Blackwater Bay
• If a House without a capital seizes another House’s capital and takes their Heir hostage, the hostage resides continues to reside at the second House’s capital.

Greyjoys SC

• Unlike the other Great Houses, the Greyjoy player begins the game with more units than SCs. This will be corrected during the first winter turn.
• Harlaw, though not an SC, is considered a build site for the Greyjoy player, so long as they control at least one other home SC (i.e. Pyke or Great Wyk) during that same winter phase.

Wildlings

• A unique neutral unit occupies the lands Beyond the Wall. The wildling army does not move and may not be supported to move to any space. Nor does it support any other units to move or hold. If dislodged, it is destroyed and may not retreat. If Beyond the Wall is neutral and vacant during a winter turn, a new wildling army will be built. Once Beyond the Wall has been captured by a Great House it will never rebuild a wildling unit.