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It was also a good call-back to Queen Aemma's "women were made to fight their battles in the birthing bed" line earlier in the episode.

Regarding the boardgame, there's an updated version of The Game of Thrones boardgame that came out in 2013. The Game of Thrones: The Board Game (2nd Ed.) There's also this game that came out in 2014 and uses art derived from the HBO show: Game of Thrones: Westeros Intrigue

It's not always about art, it's about paycheck too. And who you get to work with.

There are no rules but the ones you make. I rated 9/10, thought the duel was well-acted, well choreographed, and well-written. Ian Glen, Maise Williams, Roy McCann, Sophie Turner, and Nathalie Emmanuel were terrific, even the beetle speech is growing on me the more I think about it. There are nits to pick as always, but it was a fantastic hour of television.

There were also important character beats that are likely to have payoffs. Most importantly, I think it gave a weight to the Bran Party's mystical journey that I don't think the show really had the opportunity to explore before. Those scenes could have been handled out in the woods somewhere, but the threat presented by the mutineers allowed that the story to breathe. It also first establishes in a heated moment not only Bran's ability to take control of Hodor, but establishes the moral implications of such, given Kristan Narin's able handling of the moment. Finally, it also allowed Jon Snow his first command. In the book, Jon was looked on as a LC contender because of his de facto command of the Castle Black defense in the wildling seige. We don't know if he's going to have that opportunity given the presence of Alliser Thorne and Janos Flynt as Castle Black early. The raid on Craster's Keep establishes Jon's leadership bone fides. Yes, all of that could have been handled differently, but clearly the writers wants to give more screentime to the Bran Party and Jon despite the source material not really having anything here. It's a closed loop, but I disagree that it didn't serve any purpose besides marking time. If nothing else, it gave the "good guys" a brief, but clear win.

Solid 8. Great job by Lena Headey this episode. "Everywhere in the world they hurt little girls." So much packed into that, and Oberyon with his eight daughters gets it. An unlikely pair to be actually talking to each other instead of past or around each other like most Kings Landing conversations. Loved Arya creeping the Hound out and then the Hound schooling Arya the next morning. Also, they're really building the Mountain back up this season, really looking forward to the character's return. They also did a surprisingly nuanced job of showing Hodor's confusion and dismay after the warging. Even good ole' King Cleon got a mention.

Sorry if it's been mentioned, but Mackenzie Crook (Orell the wildling) can be found on Almost Human as Rudy the wacky lab guy. It's a good roll for him. Also, recently listened to the BBC Radio adaptation of Neil Gaimen's Neverwhere, featuring among other talents Natalie Dormer as Lady Door.