Seen an add for this somewhere and it looked pretty cool. Anyone know anything else about what sort of system it uses for combat or what the quality of the board and stuff is like?

if you're talking about the boardgame, then it's system is closest to diplomacy but with lots of extras added. But the deep down in my opinion, it's based on the diplomacy system. I have the game, but I only played it twice and haven't touched in months so I'm kinda shaky about what else to say about it. Go visit some other boardgame sites, they've done some exhaustive reviews on the games.

Oooh, we play it all the time. Here's some highlight and thoughts:

1) No dice. That's right. When you attack someone, there are 2 kinds of troops: footmen and knight. Footmen are worth 1 point, knights are worth 2. Add your points up. Defender does the same. Also, neighbouring province, if ordere to do so (more on orders later), can "support" an attack or a defense. Add supporting troop points to your total. Lastly, you can place +1 attack, +1-2 defense, +1 support orders. Add those points.

So by now, both players have a score like say 5 to 3. This is simple math that both players can calculate (although adding errors happen "oh shit, didn't notice you had a support there" and the like"). What makes the "random" factor, is the choice of the Battle Card you use.

Battle cards are numbered 0 to 3, and have special effects (too many to mention). You add the number to your point total and play the special effect. So in the above example, 5 to 3, with the right card the underdog player can still win.

You have 7 cards, you MUST use one on each fight, and your deck is recycled once you use up all your cards.

AAaaanyway, it's a GREAT game. We love it. There is also a very worth-it expansion pack you can get once you decide you like the main game.

And I don't know shit about the books and still enjoy it, so having read the books is not a prerequisite.

It's slightly imbalanced, though. I've played it I think 6-8 times, and my friends have played it dozens of times, and the Lannisters (the reds, starting on the lower middle left side of the map) have never won in a 5-player game. On the other hand, in a 4-player game, Lannisters have a significant advantage.

I'd played the game about 5 times before first reading the books. The next time I played, I'd just finished the 1st book (Game of Thrones) in the Song of Ice and Fire trilogy, and suddenly I started noticing a lot of interesting details, like the box cover, insignias worn by some people, the choices of characters for house cards, etc. So yeah, you can definitely play it and enjoy it immensely without knowing anything about the books, but admittedly having read the books does it give a little bit of extra twist.

And in addition to the troops, the + and - commands (attack, defense and support) and the House Cards, there is an auction of sorts which (among other things) decides who wins in case of a tie in combat, and a number of other nice details which keep the game interesting.