Snarling with frustration

Grr! This should not be hard! All I want to do is order two packs of the new edition of the Game of Thrones card game, one for me, one for Pellinor. But can I do it?

Firstly, most sites don't even sell the packs individually, but only sell display boxes that contain a dozen packs. Fine if I'm a shop, but I'm not a shop. I'm just me. I don't want or need a dozen.

Secondly, those few that do sell individual packs don't offer you any chance to specify which pack you want. Starter decks come in six different types, because you can choose to play the game as one of six different warring families. If I can't specify on ordering, presumably I'll get a random pack, which means that there's only a one in six chance that it will contain cards I can actually use.

Grr! Do these people actually want my money?

Ooh, pretties!

Ooh! When Pellinor popped into the games shop near his work, and failed to find the new edition of Game of Thrones card game (thus occasioning my earlier post) he did find The art of "A song of ice and fire". I'm always fascinated by seeing artists' views of book characters, even if half of them end up making me cry, "He doesn't look like that!" I was especially delighted to see the inclusion of my favourite fan artist. Back when I'd read the prologue of A Game of Thrones, and not been grabbed by it, I stumbled on her work and really liked it, and that was what gave me the incentive to return to the series. It always gives me warm, fuzzy feelings when "proper" books acknowledge fan art or fan fiction like this.