Heya, thank you for giving that another go and sharing what your thoughts. Will definitely keep the health change as experimental for now and keep collecting feedback on it, certainly changes things up but I hear what you mean. It sounds like you’ve really managed to optimise the strategies as well!
In earlier versions you did have much more direct control over the units, but at the time I thought it ended up feeling more like a ‘bad RTS’ that what I was aiming for. The Ranger and Guard cards are supposed to give a little bit of control back without the player having to give too much of their attention to directing units (otherwise I worry there’d be too much to think about), but if you’re still feeling frustrated then I can try leaning into this a lot more, like with your banner idea, or something similar to a guard post but that covers a much larger area, like half the map.
I agree the Homegrown perk is very strong too, though as I add more perks to the game your chance of finding it in a chest will become less and less, so perhaps it can remain as a lucky find rather than something you'll almost certainly get at some point? I do like your idea about the king's actions charging something too! I'd want to be very carful about adding any more systems to the game so it doesn't become overly complicated, but may well have a play around with that 😊.
Thanks again for your interest and sharing comments, really useful to hear.