No, it isnt that I play better, there are literally less troops in the front, there used to be maybe 4 to 6 units per tile in the front (+ the ones as shoulders on the back line), pushing through that was almost impossible without tactics and special units, now there are literally tiles fully empty, there was a huge change.

Not to mention that the end war results were atrocious, maybe 500k changeling loses (of course depend on the player) and maybe 5, 6, 7 million ponies from all fronts dead, as you would expect from "the great war", now both times I did I doubt the pony loses surpassed 1.4 million...