I like playing a Mage, so I'm not entirely shure how the Balance at the begining fares for non casters. But I generally find I'm hard pressed to be able to explore early on. A single troll can keep me penned near my starting area, and something more scary than a troll can almost wipe any attempt at doing anything if its close enough to my starting area. I'm sure the Ashwake Dragon, while cool to look at, was drooling from the 5 tiles away thinking of snacking on my city, or any troops I might build, and there would be no hope of me ever dropping that guy any time soon. Not to mention that "Easy" quest I was given, to escort some lady to the mansion.... well not so easy, with the army, of trolls, (snake things) and widlings that happened to be between my army and the fact that the mansion appear on the other side of a small lake.

I just would like to be able to wander outside my base a little bit more, without having to start 15 new games to get a good start zone without some over powered creature waiting to snack on my pathetic little spear men, I need to defend my squishy mage. Oh sure, when I get a couple levels, I can roll through entire armies with my mage. The fact is I think even the AI, feels the tight squeeze as well, (perhaps its that Ashwake Dragon) but most games,  anywhere from 3-6 computer oponents get wiped out well before I even meet anyone.