SPOILER ALERT! So am I the only one excited about a new round of GoT?

[manic _miner]

 Really enjoyed this episode.Lots to take in and will have to re-watch it again.

[Hammers]

I just finished episode 3. I am sure you will mock me but I was quite anguished through the whole thing. I don't think I've been this affected by a film/series since the first installment of Lord of the Rings.

I need to sleep on it before I can comment the plot, I feel. *If* I can sleep. Phew...


EDIT: Little Lyanna Mormont got a very worthy end, I like that.

[AKULA]

Little Lyanna Mormont got a very worthy end, I like that

100%

Tbh, was surprised the body count of characters wasn’t significantly higher - Beric, Theon, Lyanna and Jorah.

Watched it three times today while building some more Unsullied, and started on a small band of Mormonts for my project.

Makes the final 3 episodes more interesting though - “the greatest army in the history of Westeros” is gone, and with the Night Kings defeat, Cersei is in a strong position.

[Belligerentparrot]

I just finished episode 3. I am sure you will mock me but I was quite anguished through the whole thing.

No way man  I admit I got bored of the battle by the end, but the way they racked up the tension to begin with - that was full on!

Akky and others gaming GoT: how do you game the night king now? Every model his army kills comes back to fight on his side - seems kinda impossible to wargame with him on the table now?

[AKULA]

Akky and others gaming GoT: how do you game the night king now? Every model his army kills comes back to fight on his side - seems kinda impossible to wargame with him on the table now?

Been thinking about that - for some games I’d use one of the other White Walkers that presumably have much more limited resurrection powers, but everything is about Balance.

If you game with the Night King on a table I’d suggest he can only play his resurrection “joker” once per game, and that it requires all his concentration during which time he is vulnerable (as we almost saw in Episode 3)...who knows, maybe the dragon fire would have worked if he was using his powers for something else at the time?

Ultimately though, it’s worth bearing in mind he was defeated by the actions of a single heroine, so the rules I’m going to write for my games will have to somehow reflect those extra special contributions, while allowing for mass battles with hundreds of figures per side, AND fit on a double side of A4...

 

[Captain Blood]

I actually found that a bit boring in places and silly in others. Not as good as the Battle of the Bastards to be honest. But it had some good cinematic moments. And some nice moments too. Mainly the quiet bits. As I suspected, that’s the Night King plotline wrapped up and done with, leaving the rest if the final season for the real business of the Game of Thrones... Good. I think both dragons survived by the way 

[Elk101]

The trailer for next week shows both dragons.

Lyanna Mormont stole a big piece of that episode, she is/was a great character. Apparently she was only ever meant to have been in one episode but the actress did such a great job that they kept her in.

I thought it was a little over long too, but glad the night king is gone, he was basically the Westeros Plague with about as much character (which was probably the intention).

[pixelgeek]

I just want to know what poor bastards have to clean up after the battle

[Silent Invader]

I liked the way the battle ran through : sacrifice of the many (“you can’t beat death”) to draw the Night King into the garden for whomever might have the chance to finish him off. I’m glad it wasn’t Jon who did the crucial deed, it’d have made him too much of a ‘legend’.

I thought the length was fine, and watched in a dark room, the night-time setting was immersive.

The sacrifice of the army to draw in the Night King makes for a more   interesting set up in the next episodes, as there’ll be no conventional (and repetitive as we’ve already seen dragons against infantry etc) battle for Kings Landing and the iron throne but instead, hopefully, something more duplicitous.

[Hammers]

I just want to know what poor bastards have to clean up after the battle

There will a boom in  the undertaker business in the greater Winterfell area, that is for sure.

I think my secon most favorite moment of the battle (of.. what, has it gotten a name yet), was the whole build up and conclusion of the Charge of the Light Dothraki Brigade. Cinematically I thought it was a brilliant. They are all riled up and empowered, setting of into a murky distance just and we see them be engulfed, flicker and die, one by one. All this with the camera basically being fix in one place.

I think my first pang of loss was to see the dire wolf Ghost set of with he riders. While the relation between man and beast (with the exception of the  dragons) is not a central theme of neither film nor book, I always mourned the dire wolves (only Arya's pooch is still alive, right?). Sure, they are metaphors for the struggles of House Stark, but like with some other human characters a part of me wanted to see them triumphant. Another trick by the writers to keep also us animal lovers engaged, I am sure.

[Dr. Zombie]

I was actually very disappointed by this episode. First of all it was waaay to dark I was sitting there squinting at my screen to try and figure out what on earth was going on. The amount of stupid tactical blunders were inexcusable. Even for at fantasy series with undead and dragons. Why the hell would you place your army in front of all your defenses!? And when you know the enemies one weakness is fire, why don't you have much more of it? And why is the fire you do have dependant upon someone blundering around in the fog on her dragon..? I mean it is quite standard equipment in any siege that you have oil you pour down on your attackers and set fire to it.

Although it was kind of cool that it was Arya and not Jon who killed the Night king it was a very Deus ex machina moment. She just flew in from nowhere to do it.
Someone clearly forgot to invite any of the Dothraki to any kind of strategi meeting. The only thing that would have made the charge of the Dothraki light brigade cool would have been if the Night king had sent an undead Dothraki charge right back..

Lyanna Mormonts badassery was the high point of this episode for me.

[Hammers]

Lyanna Mormont stole a big piece of that episode, she is/was a great character. Apparently she was only ever meant to have been in one episode but the actress did such a great job that they kept her in.

Very much a LotR moment, when you think about it. A midget desperately stabbing a hulk of a monster.

I thought it was a little over long too, but glad the night king is gone, he was basically the Westeros Plague with about as much character (which was probably the intention).

I never felt it was too long.

[AKULA]

I think my first pang of loss was to see the dire wolf Ghost set of with he riders. While the relation between man and beast (with the exception of the  dragons) is not a central theme of neither film nor book, I always mourned the dire wolves (only Arya's pooch is still alive, right?).

Ghost survived - spotted in the sneak peak for Ep4
 

I was actually very disappointed by this episode. First of all it was waaay to dark I was sitting there squinting at my screen to try and figure out what on earth was going on.

Turn up the brightness on your TV, trust me, it makes a difference, particularly to the first 20 minutes.

you know the enemies one weakness is fire, why don't you have much more of it? And why is the fire you do have dependant upon someone blundering around in the fog on her dragon..? I mean it is quite standard equipment in any siege that you have oil you pour down on your attackers and set fire to it.

I agree, the catapults were barely used...I was hoping they were a plot device to illuminate the battlefield if nothing else. The trench was obviously meant to be set fire to, but again made for a dramatic moment. 

The amount of stupid tactical blunders were inexcusable. Even for at fantasy series with undead and dragons. Why the hell would you place your army in front of all your defenses!?

The tactics piece is an interesting one...during the series, the three greatest military leaders were mentioned as Tywin Lannister, Ned Stark and Randyll Tarly...the last of which was captured and executed by Dany when he refused to bend the knee. Perhaps if he’d been allowed time to cool off in chains, as Tyrion suggested, he would have signed up to the battle, and kept the Unsullied behind the castle walls.

If you look at the leaders at the strategy meeting in Ep2 - none of them were proven military commanders - Jon is a fighter, but effectively lost the Battle of the Bastards, Tyrion is a political adviser, Daenerys is prone to mood swings...even Greyworm despite being a highly capable “regimental” level Officer seems to lack the strategic perspective (unsurprising given he started as a slave soldier).

[Belligerentparrot]

On tactics - yeah, I see the complaints. BUT......

.... in the key respect their tactics were spot on given the nature of the enemy. Lure the NK into the godswood, and kill him. Doesn't matter what else you do, because if you don't do that you're going to lose. (They needed some luck for this, but who doesn't in battle?)

Tywin and the other military experts may not have realised that this was Warhammer 4th ed (big hero on flying monster kills big hero, game over). Jon and co. did. Hence Jon trying to hold Dany back early on - they were waiting with their dragons until the NK appeared.

Hence my question about gaming it upthread - how do you stop a wargame featuring the NK from turning into Herohammer?

[Plynkes]

They really did waste their time building all those trebuchets. When you have the castle you don't want siege weapons, you want anti-siege weapons. That effort would have been better spent on cauldrons, ballistae and other such stuff on the walls.

But that didn't really bother me any, if I'm honest. It's just a talking point.


I'm not quite sure why the Night King was so obsessed with Bran, though. If he had lurked at the back his minions would have easily killed Bran for him and the baddies would have won. He was defeated by his desire to do the deed himself. What does he even gain from Bran's death that he doesn't already have? I'm sure someone can come up with a lore reason, but it seems to me that it is entirely for the plot's sake.