Hello,

I've played the game for the first time. I'm not sure how to interpret Stark's starting ability. They begin on the second position on the victory track and... so what? If they conquer a castle or stronghold they are still on the same position on the victory track. So maybe it was meant to be that they have always +1 castle.

Victory track just shows how many castles/strongholds a House has.

So Stark is the only Houst which starts with 2 (Winterfell and White Harbor)

As mentioned above, it simply shows the current amount of strongholds/castles you hold. Stark starts with 2, everyone else with 1. To balance this, Stark starts with 1 barrel on the supply track, everyone else with 2.

i think stark has a little advantage because they have 2 castles and/or strongholds and can stay out of the battles

i think stark has a little advantage because they have 2 castles and/or strongholds and can stay out of the battles

That is actually a disadvantage in most games. The inability to influence what goes on in the south is a big problem for the Starks because by the time you are in a position to have any influence at all in the game major power plays will already have been executed by several of the houses and the result can be that one player has already started dominating. Leaving you to face an emboldened and resource rich enemy using long and very volatile supply lines.

I actually think the Starks is one of the toughest houses to win with because while your region is rarely ever really threatened, its not threatened because its largely irrelevant. There are far easier targets and opportunities on the board for every house to go for than coming after the Starks, but for the Starks to have any influence on how those struggles play out is very difficult. Starks generally don't have to take huge risks, but this also minimizes their potential rewards. They tend to end games close to the top but just out of reach.