I've been eyeing this game for a little while now and looking to jump in. Unfortunately for me, it will be hard to get a group of dedicated players or a lot of games in. When I introduce this to my friends I would like to be able give them an idea of what each house plays like so that they would more likely be interested.

Would someone be able to break down which playstyles the houses tend to favour? Personally I like to be underhanded and sneaky, as well as having enough options available to keep my opponent guessing. Pure military strength seems rather boring to me.

Thanks in advance!

(I have read a word document somewhere outlining the strenghts/weaknesses, but I found it used too much lingo for a newbie like myself)

Stark's traditional strengths are Military challenges - killing characters. They tend to have efficient characters, and the ability to win challenges.

Lannister's traditional strengths are card advantage; drawing a lot of cards, winning intrigue challenges. Their characters tend to be inefficient, but with gold production and card advantage, they can overpower you. To push challenges through, they typically rely on 'soft' control effects (like kneeling characters that might cause problems).

Baratheon's strengths are power - you win the game by claiming 15 power, and baratheon does this better and faster than anyone else. They're most often thought of as a rush (fast) house, although they have a lot of staying power now.

Targaryen's strengths are targetted removal (called burn) to kill key characters, independently of winning challenges. This is thought of as a form of "hard" control. They tend to have a lot of support for the 'attachment' card type (think Weapons, Boons, and other things you'd give to characters to make them stronger).

Greyjoy and Martell are introduced in their own deluxe expansions. Greyjoy's themes are generally considered to be a heavy emphasis on support from their warships (locations), and a propensity for resilience through "Saves" (preventing character deaths) and "Cancels" (cancelling opponent's tricks). Martell's theme is definitely vengeance, the idea of losing challenges and punishing your opponent for winning.

Check out the new player thread in my signature.

Great, thanks guys! I appreciate the help!

From a new player as well, thank you very much for the clarification and guide