From: "alexrockwell" <rockwell@u.washington.edu>
Subject: [spielfrieks] Game rules CHANGE for Game of Thrones Boardgame 
(5p opening setup)

Fantasy flight has made an official change to the starting 
positions in the Game of Thrones boardgame.  This is:

In a 5 player game, switch the position of House Greyjoy and 
House Tyrell on the King's Court (raven track).  Thus, Greyjoy 
becomes 5th and Tyrell 4th on that track.

This small change fixes problems with the opening which were 
heavily discussed on the AGoT boardgame yahoo group, where 
Greyjoy could crush Lannister on turn 1 regardless of what 
Lannister did, if Greyjoy knew how.  The change is now official, 
and has been added to the FAQ.  Thanks Fantasy Flight!

Here is the change as described by the designer:

"A note from the game designer:

It has come to my attention that in a 5 player game, Greyjoy can 
aggressively outplay House Lannister via attacks on 1) Sunset 
Sea, 2) Lannisport, and/or 3) Riverrun (using a combination of 
special orders, cards, and the Valyrian Steel Blade). We (FFG's 
Kevin Wilson and I) have spent some time examining this problem, 
and have paid close attention to the suggestions of players, as 
well as bringing our own analysis to the issue. After reviewing 
the situation, we indeed agree that, in a 5 player game, the 
Lannister position facing a direct Greyjoy assault on turn 1, is 
not in the spirit of the game balance that was intended for A 
GAME OF THRONES. 

After careful evaluation and testing, we recommend the following 
minor change to the game setup: 

In the 5 player game, switch the starting "Tyrell" and "Greyjoy" 
position on the "Kings Court" track (thus leaving Greyjoy in the 
5th position and Tyrell in the 4th position).

This, in my opinion, brings the starting turns of the 5-player 
game back to the original vision. I wish to thank the players for 
their creative and insightful input, especially as relating to 
'downstream' balance affected by the slight change above. 

-CTP."

And here is a link to the FAQ:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/agotbgfaq.html