1) FOOD
When you start a game look at how you will be able to get 8 food. It is the most important resource for all factions.
Later in the game you are going to have to feed your armies in winter and you'll want 8 food to do that.
Once you have 8 food , protect it with strategically located fortresses.

2) HEROES
Don’t let the enemy heroes roam around , Kill them
Use you own heroes to explore and find a Dragon throne or Shard .
Try and get 3 heroes and keep hammering the enemy heroes when you can duel and weaken them , and then duel them with a fresh hero.

3) INFULENCE
Save your influence for winter , there is usually a bid in winter for a Dragon Rune. Try to have at least 8 at your disposal.

4) NEAUTRALS
Don’t bother spending too much influence trying to get them to join you early on. Herd them into an area if you really want them , but just attack them and grab the areas that you want.
More often than not they will desert you and cause more trouble than the influence you wasted getting them.
But it is nice to have a Dragon or a couple of Giants on your side.

5) TACTICS CARDS
There are some really cool tactics cards , keep them in your hand and look at them , don’t leave them face down and forget what cards you have , use them wisely and get more when you can.

6)TITLES
The best title is Primarch of the Wizards council , the others are OK , but the Wizards council comes up often and you start hoarding your influence for a rainy day.

7) STRATEGIZE
Use this command as your first card get you troops in a good position , grab a tactics card.

8) FORTIFY
If you can grab some early ground , build a fort out there so when you recruit you have troops on the front line . Protect your food !
Don't be afraid to build a fort in the first year!

9) PLAN AHEAD
You rally should have your 4 command cards worked out in spring.
You can always change you mind , but usually you should have a plan for the coming year.
No plan survives contact with the enemy , but you should have a rough idea of what you want to do.

10) FACTION STRENGTHS
Each Faction has a good chance for victory , I really don't think any faction is better then another.
I enjoy playing with all of them , it really comes down to have the resources to maintain your armies with food and recruiting.

So there you go , I hope this helps some people enjoy this great game.
I'd be interested in other peoples thoughts ?

Thx for the tips, i dont have the game yet, but my girlfriend is gonna buy it for my birthday next week, so im reading as much as possible now to understand the game.

I was wondering if this would be a good strategy:

In the first year, spring i recruit an extra hero, so that i have 2 heroes from the beginning, however since this is a high order card i loose some great supremcy bonuses already in the beginning of the game. What do you guys think of this?

You could go for an early extra hero , but I probably would stick with expanding my empire.

It would depend a lot on your location on the map.

Heroes are handy but food should be your number one priority early on, look at where you are going to expand to and harvest and then recruit.