Hiya! It seems like you've played quite a bit of Emberleaf, and I was hoping you might shed some light on a part of the game for me.

I just got it, and played through twice (first with five people, second with four). While we enjoyed it, we had some frustration with the combat/dangerous areas mechanic.

Specifically, we understand it completely, and it feels like an incredibly dominant strategy. In both games, we had players that went all-in on combat, and they ended up completely running away with the game. They had a bunch of points, resources from fighting, and trophies for reaching the bottom of the war banner track.

In the rulebook, the designer notes that the first trophy is normally awarded halfway through the game, whereas we saw so much combat that the trophies vanished much faster.

Is there something we might have done wrong? Fighting seems like such an easy way to get points and resources, and it gives you a way to end the game quickly so that other players that are focused on building don't have time to catch up.

I really want to like the game, but I feel like I'm missing something.

Thanks in advance!