So far I've only had one real game against an actual opponent. Do to the excitement I have over this game and lack of opponents I've played three more mock games by myself. All four games the Uthuk has easily taken over the board and won.

I know I have a ton of gameplay to do before I can come to my own conclusion, but I was wondering what others experiences were. Who wins more in your games? Or the more important question do you think the two factions are balanced?

I have only played 3 or 4 solo games myself and the Uthuk Y'llan consistently come out on top. I did play the starter scenario once with my wife and she won as the Daqan, but I was going easy on her so that I didn't turn her away from yet another game.

In case, can you spot out what you believe to be Uthuk's greatest strength that could lead to unbalance? Or Daqan's biggest weakness. Just wondering. As for me, we're more or less 50-50, but we noticed that the biggest impact on scenarios is the way you run the setup. Reading what army to deploy according to the objectives of the two halves of the scenario and the terrain is quite challenging.

In case, can you spot out what you believe to be Uthuk's greatest strength that could lead to unbalance? Or Daqan's biggest weakness. Just wondering. As for me, we're more or less 50-50, but we noticed that the biggest impact on scenarios is the way you run the setup. Reading what army to deploy according to the objectives of the two halves of the scenario and the terrain is quite challenging.

I myself do not have an opinion of balance between the two factions yet. I really have only played one game. My first impression of the Uthuk is that they seem to hit a lot harder than the Daqan. But just because one faction is better at putting out damage doesn't mean there's an imbalance. And just to reiterate, it's only my first impression of Uthuk that they hit harder, my opinion on that might change over time.

I'm glad to see someone who seems to have experience with the game attest to the fact that there is balance between the factions.

I more so posted this to get others opinions on the factions and start some debates. It seems there's a lack of chatter on the forums about this game that I'm very excited about.

I think our games have been mostly won by the humans so far. They aren't as great in combat but seem to get VPs more quickly in our games.

Not really "experienced" here, but for now I noticed humans to have a better movement and to tag team a lot better, so that different units can actually enhance each other and become an impressive force.far better than demon units (who are definitely stronger in terms of brutal attacks).

For example, two Riverwatch Riders can enhance each other, resulting in both units gaining the bonus for Flanking, and this can be impressive (especially if defending from a Forest Hex or similar). Plus, they cannot be countered. And they move 4 hexes, which is impressive. And so on.

What impressed me the least (so far, at least; certainly I need to play more) is the Chaos Lord: cool guy, but also too slow.

About a dozen games under our belts and I think the Daqan have 1 or 2 more wins so it's been pretty even. We have no favorites and just alternate sides each game. I think the unit balance is good, but am starting to look more closely at the scenario balance where I think the Daqan might have an edge.

It's a small point, but I think the Daqan can easily field the Command Tent in their 2nd row without sacrificing much in terms of position (most scenarios have few deployment hexes beyond that) while the Uthuk have to either put it out in their 3rd or 4th row where it's pretty vulnerable or put it farther back and lose the advantage of placing units close to the middle.

In my opinion, the Daqan Lords actually hit harder than the Uthuk if you maximize the abilities of their units, especially the Archers, Guards and River Riders. For poison to be effective you need that extra step of poisoning a unit first, which requires massed shooting or, in the case of frenzy, you're suffering pretty severe consequences for the extra damage output. Granted, the Daqan Lords work best when comboing too, but it just seems easier to put together those combos.

Now, the slaughter brutes and Obscenes are pretty awesome too. I tend to maximize them whenever I can.

Unfortunately, the game is not balanced, the forces of evil have better units and skills (the skill of the flesh rippers is insane - 5rolls for the unit that costs 4pts? Oh, come on! Same thing with brutes - with pursue and second special ability they often desolate 2 groups of units easily). The good thing is the Roc warrior, he often saves the day.

In my opinion when you are playing forces of evil forget about the archers, just get tons of rippers and brutes plus obscenes and as long as you're not entirely out of luck, the game is yours.

ultimately, when I play the second army I tend to avoid archers - 2 groups max simply because they are ineffective and it's a waste of points.

We always switch sides after every game so no one gets frustrated.

we played since the release of 2nd ed. 30-40 games.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the lore cards are better for evil ones. Still, I love the human ' barier' card

approx. 70% of games were won by evil ones

I disagree. Our win ratios between Uthuk and Daqan, while I haven't tracked them specifically, are reasonably close to even. The Uthuk have stronger units, but the Daqan are generally faster and have their own tricks, and I think have some better Lore cards overall.

I see a lot of people saying Uthuk are overpowered and unfair. But then I see a lot of people saying just the opposite. I think it largely boils down to how people are approaching each faction, and if you try to play each faction with the same general strategy, it's not going to work - they both have very different feels and don't have a common strategy that will suit both equally well.

if you try to play each faction with the same general strategy, it's not going to work

This. They are very different, and they do all play very differently so that one tactic that is effective with one side could not work when playing the other side

I second the previous posts suggesting that the two armies are in fact quite balanced. I just played 6/7 games with a friend with similar experience with C&C games, and it's pretty clear that the victory goes to the side that commits less mistakes, both in initial placement and actual game flow. The number of VP of the two factions at the end was always pretty close. The way in which the scenarios are designed, that is board control and plenty of units, also seems to reduce the "luck" factor with respect to other C&C games. The feeling is really the one of a well thought out and massively play tested game. I think the designers and publishers should be praised for this.

I have just played my 6th game of battlelore, I always play with the Daqan and my hubby plays as the Uthuk. I have won 2 games, I feel the Uthuk do have some slightly stronger moves but i generally find gameplay comes down to the initial set up and also if you make any mistakes during the game. The Uthuk always seem to have more dice for combat and also the poison ability is a bit of a pain. I always play my ROC as he is pretty good at clearing some units off the board, however has low health!

I think we've probably played 14 games or so - the Uthuk won the first 2, then Daqan won the next 6, since then it's been back and forth very evenly. I think the game's beautifully balanced.