If you build the wrong buildings, or in the wrong order, then you will not be able to play anything out of your hand. In the two games I have gotten in so far, it will likely be 3 or more turns before you have a second creature on the table. I have had trouble with how many turns my general spends alone on the field of battle.
Another place I have had learning curve issues are with deck construction. Basically, my decks for each faction are based more on what cards I thought might help. There has been no regard to a strategy or card synergy yet, as I need to handle the mana learning curve more. Currently there is no major online community, so card synergies are very much a learn as you go thing.
The turns are quick and easy to manage, even once you get quite a few creatures on the battlefield. There are 4 card types: Characters, Relics, Spells, and Tactics. If we want to borrow some more from Magic, then it would equate to Creatures, Equipment/Artifacts, Sorceries and Instants respectively. The game runs on little interaction between players during the turns. Tactics must be played face down on your turn, and activated trap card style from Yugioh. Since there are so many buildings and so many cards require specific buildings to build, You will likely not be playing to many cards even as you build most buildings.
Since the play mat (sold separately) or the temporary one that comes in the starter game is only 2ft sq, you don't need much room to play which is nice. Clean up and set up is very quick and painless as well. Terrain is added to the board during the game, and all terrain is templates. The is both nice for game play and to avoid wobbly models. Though you can purchase some model versions of some of them. I picked up a few, and they are actually a nice change of pace to the game.
Finally, lets look at prices. Each figure is purchased separately, unless you can pick up one of either a faction starter or core starter which works for both army's currently available. They are not releasing those sets until they have finished their kickstarter rewards. But, if you were to purchase individual figures, plus the booster packs to build a full deck... Its actually pretty affordable.
Most figures cost between 13 and 17 USD, and then there is shipping from Ukraine. Which can take a while. Booster packs had a cost of $1 USD on the kickstarter, but I am not sure what their price will be once they are on the store. Each booster pack has 3 cards from one faction, and 3 from the other, and the Rare/Legendary/Mythic could be anything. You need 1 General who is priced a bit higher at 30 to 35 USD for that one. Final price for 10 figures, one General, and say 4 boosters to fill out the minimum deck requirements comes out to 175 after shipping to maybe 225 USD. That is a full sized army for this game. Compare this to the beast that is a Warhammer game, which can easily start off at $500 or more, just to start playing. Though if you compare to this games closest competitor in combo card/miniature game Shadespire, this game is likely more expensive.
So, where do we stand? Right now the game has everything in one of two categories, well polished or afterthought. As far as manufacturing goes, the models are great, the cardboard tokens are great, and the physical rule book is well done. The card quality is a bit of an afterthought, and the rules themselves while easy to understand they use 10 words when 2 would do. Both of which are not huge deals and can be compensated for pretty quickly. Card sleeves for the cards does wonders. Since the designers have released the full rules online for free, I am positive that rules updates will make the rules more concise.
TLDR - I'm going to get some more games in soon, as my time is always limited anymore. I see this game doing very well, though it will likely have some growing pains to do.
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