I like the game a lot, but after many plays I am firmly of the opinion that the Elves are slower at getting to big military strength than the other factions, and therefore much less likely to win.

I have asked around on BGG, and no one has been able to give me an example of Elven play that will result in their being able to match any of the other factions in strength. So far the only responses have been something like, "We played a game the other night and the Elves bought up all the neutral cards before we could get any."

This is, of course, no kind of evidence, as it could just as well be the result of bad play on behalf of the other factions.

Can you give me a play-by-play example of how the Elves can keep up with (for example) the Undead's ability to capture all three of their strongholds within their first two turns (guaranteed), the Daqan's ability to get all 8 footmen in their deck by their third turn (resulting in likely 5 or 6 strength and potentially 8), and the Uthuk Y'llan's ability to (likely) capture a 5 strength city on their second turn (guaranteed on their third)?

Yes, the Elves can essentially spend all their influence twice. But clogging up your deck with twice as many 2 cost influence cards slows you down all the more.

As far as I can tell, the Elves are just too slow to be competitive. There are only two possibilities. Either I am missing something, or they are way underpowered.

If it's the latter, do you have any suggestions for house rules to buff them?

Thanks,

Michael