New Lords: Plan Around Martin’s Long Delay

I expected George R.R. Martin’s update to give readers a usable horizon for The Winds of Winter — instead, the delay still leaves even a promised book beyond a lord’s reckoning for years. I know what it is to count on a harvest and watch the rain fail; half the crop was gone, and there was no making it back.

New lords, don’t build your plan around gains promised inside an event window — treat them as a bonus, keep a march available, and commit troops only when the reward is actually there. Waiting on a promise can cost you the army you needed elsewhere.