The Dragon Dance - Ambush

Definitely one of the more interesting House abilities there is, Ambush is one of the key reasons that influence is important. (otherwise it's mostly about events and some random thingy) Ambush gives the Targaryens one of the most valued edge in any strategy game - unpredictability.

How many times have you happily blocked the Targaryen's attack, confident in your own ridiculously high STR, and then have your character shot in the face by Ambushing bows, or Kissed to death, or harassed by random Dothrakis who appear out of nowhere? And this, is the might of Ambush.

Granted, by looking at the influence providers on the table one can probably guess the possibilities involved, but that itself is another danger. Good Targaryen players can definitely use this to their advantage, and keep their opponents guessing - is there a Bow on the way with those 2 free Influence I just got from the Hand, or maybe my Red Keep will fund the next Dragon Chaser to frighten all my Refugees away. Now this is an incredible advantage that one can exploit - especially against more informed players - making opponents think too hard is always a good thing.

And as if these advantages is not enough, Ambushing cards sometimes come with good triggers - for example, the Dragon Thief is good for getting rid of those Frozen Solids and Fishing Nets. This is not common yet, but it definitely sets a standard and we can all hide in fear of what is to come for the Ambush power.

And there are quite a good number of support for Ambush, there are cards that reduce Ambush costs, cards that bounce back to hand to increase the annoying level of the Targaryen player, and now the Dragons have Ambush.

Absolute rubbish, don't you think?

However, Ambush is not a simple no-brainer ability that you can just trigger and use for fun - unlike more "efficient" ability, such as Intimidate, a character or card with Ambush requires some careful deck construction to ensure that there are enough Influence-providers in the deck to give them a chance to Ambush out into the open - The Hand of the King is not always available. That of course, didn't seem like a problem for all the Targaryen Ambushers out there~

Lastly, the Banner of the Targaryens doesn't give Ambush - it would be completely pointless~ :)

(o.o)