Just finished a game on normal, now that I have a hang of the game mechanics and strategy.
The Good:
-Now that paladins work, I appreciate the roles of each unit more than ever.
-Casting sovereign spells really is fun - even dinky soldiers can take on a stack of grouped stalkers if my sovereign has the mana to support the doughboys. I used to mind losing a turn to cast, but now it almost seems right.
-So many quests!
-Ships!
Needs work:
-Sorcerer king is WAAAAAAAY too easy to kill. Just to get to him, I waded through an entire army, and had a full stack with a level 15 or so Tandis. One blizzard cast wiped out most of SK's support units, then my horsemen flanking and Tandis mauling immediately whittled down his HP. SK got off a cast of coalstones, which hurt, but he really needs some more battlefield control spells (he has stinking mud, did not use). His initiative must be super high, too.
-The new abilities given to archers sound like a good idea, but seem like some other unit's abilities. How about a leg shot ability, or snipe? Having an archer shock units seems incongruent.
-Battling SK's armies can get a bit repetitive. Can he group his units into bigger stacks, rather than sending in waves of hopeless cannon fodder?
-Killed the Sorcerer king and the game didn't end!
-On the mountain pass map, there is a shard on an island of swamp terrain. I could not settle an outpost with a pioneer because of the terrain. Are terraforming spells forthcoming?
