If the game is played by expert players, win rates are probably really about similar. However, I would like to hear your opinion on how to change the game if you play it at home with some friends who are inexperienced. For me, it is hard to get 6 people to play the game for 5-7 hours. As a result, we don't play often and there are always some new participants that have never played the game before. Needless to say that in this situation the game is not balanced at all. For example, when two new players play Lannister and Greyjoy, the one playing Lannister gets totally crushed as this house is hard to play and you can not afford to make any mistakes. Also even though I place the newest players to play Greyjoy and Stark, they nevertheless always have a very good game.
These are current statistics from this website (2nd edition):
Greyjoy: 24.8%
Stark: 23.4%
Baratheon: 18.2%
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Martell: 13.9%
Tyrell: 10.1%
Lannister: 9.7%
If they had equal win rate, win rate for each house would be 16.6%.
Therefore, I would like to change house cards and give new players around the same chance of winning for all houses. We will play standard 2nd edition Game of Thrones. There are some rules I would like to impose on you when making such changes:
1.) Only swaps between standard and DWD house cards are allowed
I don't want to hear suggestions about changing borders, territory symbols, changing combat strength of different cards (like Balon is 1 combat strength instead of 2)... I simply want to hear suggestions regarding swapping some standard house cards for DwD house cards.
2.) Characters are not allowed to duplicate in the deck
Do not build a deck where Stark has Roose Bolton (2 strength) and DwD Roose Bolton (4 strength) as characters are duplicating.
3.) Not too many changes
Don't change the entire standard deck. Maybe swap 0-2 cards per house. 3 at max!
4.) No auto-win/OP mechanics
There is nothing wrong with cards that counter one another like Ariana counters Loras and maybe DwD Quen of Thorns counters Ariana. However, I don't like OP cards like Balon that can be countered only in specific circumstances (Catelly Stark, Kevan Lannister) and are mostly autowin.
Here is what my group came with so far. Please present your suggested changes in this format.
PROPOSITION
Changes are marked with blue color.
Baratheon:
The one house that is the very close to 16.6% win ratio. It is hard for them to get supply, nevertheless they will usually have plenty of power tokens and be able to get good track position. Also they can assist in case one house becomes so strong.
As a result I would not make any changes to this house.
Martell:
Hard to break out and hard to invade. They seem to be weak in power production. As a result we changed Nymeria Sand with Ser Gerris Drinkwater. Now Martell has agressive playstyle with many swords and fords only on high value cards. Doran Martell and Ser Gerris Drinkwater ensure Martell can increase position on influence tracks regardless of power production problems.
Tyrell:
Weak at start as they don't have any stars. They depend on mustering or clash of kings. Another weakness is that other players do not attack with footman, but rather with knights so Mace Tyrell is useless. Also players tend to attack Tyrell and delibrately use a low house card as they know if Tyrell chooses Loras (3) or Mace (4), he will be unable to cause casualties and will waste high cards. This is why we changed standard Mace Tyrell with DwD Mace Tyrell that has a sword and a ford. This is usefull for sea battles and now opponents are risking losing a unit. Another changes were made regarding 0 and 1 cards. Now we introduced DwD Margary Tyrell (0) and DwD Quen of Thorns (1). DwD Quen of Thorns is nice addition as Martell, Bara and Lannister have soo many good text ability. Now Tyrell and Martell cancel each other out. Ariana cancels Loras and DwD Quen of Thorns cancels Ariana, Doran... DwD Margary Tyrell is there as it is necessary to replace 0 card. Not so usefull, but can be critical in defence sometimes.
Greyjoy:
The eternal Lannister/Greyjoy conflict. In my experience if they decide to fight each other I have to literally tell Lannister what he has to do in order to not getting devasteted. It is not interesting for anyone. We decided to get rid of Balon Greyjoy and replace him with Rodrick the Reader. OP card is gone and new card is one of the best 2 card in the game. Greyjoy can force muster, supply, clash of kings etc. This is very strong. Other cards are unchanged and are still good for winning battles.
Lannister:
Since Greyjoy lost Balon, not much change is neeeded. We replaced Kevin Lannister with Ser Addam Marbrand. This is becaue Lannister struggles in the middle of the board and so he needs something for the late game.
Stark:
I left this for the end as it is the hardest one to change. Stark is always strong in our games. The ability to replenish your hand and defence cards are making him a formidable opponent. Since taking away Roose Bolton would totally change the playstyle, we nerfed one sword card and took away one defence card. Instead of Greation Umber we gave Stark Steelshands Walton (one fortification), instead of Ser Rodrick Cassel we gave him Damond Dance-For-Me (one sword) and instead of The Blackfish we gave him Walder Fray (if any other player gave support to your opponent, he must give you this support instead). This way Stark does not have swords only on Eddard (4) and lose his ability to retreat without losing forces twice (now he will take more casualties).
LAST REMARKS
Stark/Greyjoy/Lannister balance is probably the most important one as Greyjoy is a militant house and has to attack somebody in order to progress. Now with Balon gone Lannister has a chance. At the same time, Stark has only one house card with fortification so he takes casualties more often when fighting Greyjoy.
What do you guys think?